no time to die // J. Barber ✔

seventeen

Laurie knocked on the door as Jacob and Amelia were in a videocall with Sara on Jacob's laptop, making Jacob stop the call and look at their mother.

"just hanging these on the door", Laurie said as she hanged Amelia's and Jacob's clothes.

"ok, thanks", Jacob nodded. "who you two talking to? ", Laurie asked as she held the doorknob.

"Sara", Amelia smiled. "oh... ok", Laurie nodded, "tell her I said hi", Laurie said, making Amelia nod.

"sorry about that", Amelia said, making Sara continue her talk.

⇏-------------------------⇍

WITNESS #5

"you've been with the state's crime labs for how long? ", Logiudice asked. "11 years, almost 12", Karen said.

"Ms. Carlson, could you describe the blood evidence at the point of attack? ", Logiudice asked.

"there were a few small spatters, less than an inch in diameter", Karen explained.

"yesterday, we heard defence contend that there should've been blood on the clothing of the attackers in a stabbing like this... do you have an opinion on that? ", Logiudice asked.

"yes, that's not necessarily true since the spatters cast off with force , it's also possible that the attackers stood behind the victim which would've meant they were out of the rejection of the blood or spatter", Karen explained.

"well, can you tell us about the murder weapon? ", Logiudice asked. "we were looking for a knife of a 4-6 inch blade and a serrated edge", Karen explained as Logiudice took a box.

"I see", Logiudice said before putting the box down at his table. "so.. knives like this? ", Logiudice asked as he took about a bag, consisting of the 2 knives that Jacob and Amelia had.

everyone started whispering as Jacob and Amelia looked at each other in shock, "objection! ", Joanna said calmly.

"commonwealth moves to-", Logiudice got cut off by Joanna, who shouted 'objection! '.

'your honor, you judge will soon hear testimony from the defendants best friend but the defendants owned a knife exactly like these ones", Logiudice raised the bag for everyone to see.

"your honor, this is a cheap stunt, the commonwealth has yet to link any such knives to the defendants, wave it in here now is irresponsible, it's inflammatory", Joanna reasoned.

"agreed, subjection sustained, put away the knives, Mr. Logiudice", the judge said, making Logiudice put the knives back to the box.

"in that case, no more questions, your honor", Logiudice nodded. "cross? ", the judge asked, making Joanna nod, "absolutely, your honor".

"Ms. Carlson, we were just on the subject of blood, was there any blood evidence recovered from the defendants? ", Joanna asked as she walked behind Logiudice's table.

"no", Karen shook her head. "genetic evidence? DNA? hairs? fibers? ", Joanna asked.

"no, just the fingerprints", Karen said. "may I propose a hypothetical? ", Joanna asked, making Karen nod and reply with a simple 'ok'.

"let's suppose the defendants, Jacob and Amelia, were on their way to school.. and came across the victim laying on the ground.. and suppose Amelia and Jacob lifted the victim by the collar, see if he was ok. might that create fingerprints consistent with the one you found? ", Joanna asked.

"yes, that is possible", Karen nodded. "now the knives, that the commonwealth attempted to enter into evidence, have you ever seen it before? ", Joanna asked, making Logiudice open his mouth.

"objection! relevance? ", Logiudice said. "overruled! you opened the door, councilor", the judge said.

"yes, the DA's office asked me to determine if that particular model of knife was consistent with the victim's wounds", Karen nodded.

"and I assume they gave you other models to compare as well? ", Joanna asked. "no", Karen shook her head.

"no? did they at least ask you to determine how may other knives might have made those wounds? ", Joanna asked.

"no", Karen shook her head. "well, how many would you think? ", Joanna asked as she smiled.

"I don't know", Karen stammered as she shook her head, "that would be speculating".

"a thousand? ", Joanna guessed. Karen shook her head again, "a large number".

"700? 500? ", Joanna guessed again. "somewhere.. somewhere in that range", Karen said.

"in other words, the chances of it being the actual knife are one in 500, correct? ", Joanna smiled.

"objection! calls for speculation", Logiudice spoke up. "sustained", the judge agreed.

Joanna laughed quietly, "no further questions, your honor", Joanna said before going back to her seat.

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ BREAK ROOM ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

"you two doing all right? ", Laurie asked as she sat down. "yeah", Jacob nodded.

"one of them smiled", Jacob said, making Amelia smile slightly, "yeah, one of the jurors, the guy with the goatee".

"he smiled? really? ", Andy asked as he looked at Joanna. "yeah, when she admitted it was a 1 in 500 chance, he smiled", Jacob smiled.

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ BREAK ROOM ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

"you and Mr. Barber have worked together on many cases, is that right? ", Logiudice asked.

"we go back, yes", Duffy nodded. "would you describe him as diligent when it came to his work? ", Logiudice asked.

"more than that, he was relentless", Duffy said. "was that relentlessness on display when you were attempting to cut through the school's red tape? ", Logiudice asked.

"he didn't feel the classmates were a priority", Duffy shook her head, "we'd already interviewed Ben's close friends".

"once you did interview the students, finally, was there anything useful that came out of that? ", Logiudice asked.

"after the initial meetings, nothing but with some follow up, we came to learn that there was an ongoing beef between the victim and the defendants", Duffy said.

"meaning Ben had been bullying the defendants", Logiudice said. "for some time, yes", Duffy nodded.

"was this around the time that you started to view the defendants as a suspect? ", Logiudice asked.

Duffy hesitated, "it was". "even as their father was still running the investigation? ", Logiudice asked again.

Duffy hesitated again, "certain aspects of the investigation had to be carried out without Mr. Barber's knowledge"

"what did that reveal? ", Logiudice asked. Duffy looked down before looking back up, "that the defendants supposedly has a knife consistent with the wounds, that they had sufficient motive and they had opportunity in the movements the morning of the attack placed them near or at the scene".

"did you arrest them at this time? ", Logiudice asked again. "not until the fingerprints came back", Duffy shook her head, "we then obtained a warrant and searched the house to try to find the knives, which we did not".

word count: 1092 words.