The Fifth Witness Part 27

"Ms. Freeman, redirect?" the judge asked, once I had returned to my seat.

"No, Your Honor. No redirect."

"The witness may step down."

I had Freeman's witness list stapled to the inside flap of a case file on the table in front of me. I drew a line through the names Abbott and Roberts and scanned the names that were left. The first day of trial wasn't even quite over and she had already put a sizable dent into the list. I scanned the remaining names and determined that Detective Kurlen was most likely the next witness up. But this presented a bit of a problem for the prosecutor. I checked my watch. It was 4:25 and court was scheduled to end at 5. If Freeman put Kurlen on the stand she would just be getting started when the judge recessed for the day. It was possible she could lead him toward a revelation that would be nice to have the jury considering overnight, but this might entail shuffling the delivery of his testimony and again I didn't think Freeman would consider it a worthy trade.

I scanned the list again to see if she had a floater, a witness who could be dropped in anywhere in the prosecution's case. I didn't see one and looked across the aisle at the prosecutor, unsure what move she would make.

"Ms. Freeman," the judge prompted. "Call your next witness, please."

Freeman rose from her seat and addressed Perry.

"Your Honor, it is expected that the witness I planned to call next will be providing lengthy testimony on both direct and cross-examination. I would like to ask for the court's indulgence and allow me to call the witness first thing in the morning so that the jury will not feel a disruption in testimony."

The judge looked over Freeman's head at the clock on the rear wall of the courtroom. He slowly shook his head.

"No," he said. "No, we're not going to do that. We have more than a half hour of court time left and we are going to use it. Call your next witness, Ms. Freeman."

"Yes, Your Honor," Freeman said. "The People call Gilbert Modesto."

I had been wrong about the floater. Modesto was head of corporate security at WestLand National and Freeman must have believed his testimony could be dropped into the trial at any point and not be detrimental to momentum and flow.

After being sworn in and taking his seat on the stand, Modesto proceeded to outline his experience in law enforcement and his current duties at WestLand National. Freeman then brought the questioning around to his actions on the morning of Mitch.e.l.l Bondurant's slaying.

"When I heard it was Mitch, the first thing I did was pull the threat file to give to the police," he said.

"What is the threat file?" Freeman asked.

"It's a file we keep that contains every mailed or e-mailed threat to the bank or bank personnel. It also contains notes on any other kind of threat that comes in through phone or third party or the police. We have a protocol for weighing the severity of the threat and we have names that we flag and so forth."

"How familiar are you personally with the threat file?"

"Very familiar. I study it. It's my job."

"How many names were in that file on the morning of Mitch.e.l.l Bondurant's murder?"

"I didn't count but I would say a couple dozen."

"And these were all considered legitimate threats to the bank and its employees?"

"No, our rule is that if we get a threat it goes into the file. Doesn't matter how legitimate it is. It goes into the file. So most of them are not considered serious, just somebody blowing off steam or a little frustration."

"In the file that morning, what name was on the top of the list in terms of seriousness of the threat?"

"The defendant, Lisa Trammel."

Freeman paused for effect. I studied the jury. Almost all eyes looked toward my client.

"Why is that, Mr. Modesto? Did she make a specific threat against the bank or any bank employee?"

"No, she didn't. But she was engaged in a foreclosure fight with the bank and had a history of protesting outside the bank until our lawyers got a temporary restraining order keeping her away. It was her actions that were perceived as a threat and it looks like we were right about that."

I jumped up and objected, asking the judge to strike the end of Modesto's answer as being inflammatory and prejudicial. The judge agreed and admonished Modesto to keep such opinions to himself.

"Do you know, Mr. Modesto," Freeman said, "whether Lisa Trammel had made a direct threat against anyone at the bank, including Mitch.e.l.l Bondurant?"

Rule number one was to turn all weaknesses into advantages. Freeman was asking my questions now, robbing me of the chance to inflect them with my own outrage.

"No, not specifically. But it was our feeling in terms of threat a.s.sessment that she was someone we should keep an eye out for."

"Thank you, Mr. Modesto. Who did you give this file to within the LAPD?"

"Detective Kurlen, who was heading up the investigation. I went directly to him with it."

"And did you have occasion to speak to Detective Kurlen again later in the day?"

"Well, we spoke a few times as the investigation was progressing. He had questions about the surveillance cameras in the garage and other things."

"Was there a second time when you contacted him?"

"Yes, when it came to my attention that one of our employees, a teller, had reported to her supervisor that she believed she had seen Lisa Trammel either near or on the bank property that morning. I thought that was information the police needed to have so I called Detective Kurlen and set up an interview for him with the teller."

"And was that Margo Schafer?"

"Yes, it was."

Freeman ended her direct examination there and turned the witness over to me. I decided it would be best to get in and out, sow a few seeds and come back to harvest later.

"Mr. Modesto, as chief of corporate security at WestLand, did you have access to the foreclosure action the bank was taking against Lisa Trammel?"

Modesto emphatically shook his head.

"No, that was a legal case and as such I was not privy to it."

"So when you gave Detective Kurlen that file with Lisa Trammel's name at the top of the list, you wouldn't have known if she was about to lose her house or not, correct?"

"That is correct."

"You wouldn't have known if the bank was in the process of backing off her foreclosure because it had employed a company engaged in fraudulent activities, am I-"

"Objection!" Freeman shrieked. "a.s.sumes facts not in evidence."

"Sustained," Perry said. "Mr. Haller, be careful here."

"Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Modesto, at the time you gave the threat file to Detective Kurlen, did you mention Lisa Trammel specifically or did you just hand him the file and let him go through it on his own?"

"I told him she was on the top of our list."

"Did he ask you why?"

"I don't really recall. I just remember telling him about her but I can't say for sure whether that was volunteered by me or whether he asked me specifically."

"And at the time you spoke to Detective Kurlen about Lisa Trammel as being a threat, you had no idea what the status of her foreclosure case was, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"So Detective Kurlen didn't have that information either, am I right?"

"I can't speak for Detective Kurlen. You would have to ask him."

"Don't worry, I will. I have no further questions at this time."

I checked the back wall as I returned to my seat. It was five minutes before five and I knew we were finished for the day. There was always so much that went into prepping for a trial. The end of the first day usually was accompanied by a wave of fatigue. I was just feeling it start to hit me.

The judge admonished the jurors to keep an open mind about what they had heard and seen during the day. He told them to avoid media reports on the trial and not to discuss the case among themselves or with others. He then sent them home.

My client went off with Herb Dahl, who had returned to the courthouse, and I followed Freeman through the gate.

"Nice start," I said to her.

"Not bad yourself."

"Well, we both know you get to pick off the low-hanging fruit at the beginning of a trial. Then it's gone and it gets tough."

"Yes, it's going to get tough. Good luck, Haller."

Once in the hallway we went our separate ways. Freeman down the stairs to the DA's office and me to the elevator and then back to my office. It didn't matter how tired I was. I still had work to do. Kurlen would likely be on the stand all day the next day. I was going to be ready.

Twenty-six.

The People call Detective Howard Kurlen."

Andrea Freeman turned from the prosecution table where she stood and smiled at the detective as he walked down the aisle, two impressively thick blue binders known as murder books under his arm. He came through the gate and headed toward the witness stand. He looked at ease. This was routine for him. He put the murder books down on the shelf in front of the witness chair and raised his hand to take the oath. He shot me a sideways look at that point. Outwardly, Kurlen looked cool, calm and collected, but we had done this dance before and he had to be wondering what I would be bringing this time.

Kurlen wore a sharply cut navy blue suit with a bright orange tie. Detectives always put on their best look to testify. Then I realized something. There was no gray in Kurlen's hair. He was closing in on sixty and had no gray. He had dyed it for the TV cameras.

Vanity. I wondered if it was something I could use as an edge when it was my turn to ask him questions.

After Kurlen was sworn in, he took the witness seat and made himself comfortable. He'd probably be there the whole day and maybe longer. He poured himself a gla.s.s of water from the pitcher set up by the judge's clerk, took a sip and looked at Freeman. He was ready to go.

"Good morning, Detective Kurlen. I would like to start this morning with you telling the jury a little bit about your experience and history."

"I'd be glad to," Kurlen said with a warm smile. "I am fifty-six years old and I joined the LAPD twenty-four years ago after spending ten years in the marines. I have been a homicide detective a.s.signed to the Van Nuys Division for the past nine years. Before that I spent three years working homicides at the Foothill Division."

"How many homicide investigations have you worked?"

"This case is my sixty-first homicide. I was a detective a.s.signed to investigations of other crimes-robbery, burglary and auto theft-for six years before moving to homicide."

Freeman was standing at the lectern. She flipped back a page on a legal pad, ready to move on to what mattered.

"Detective, let's begin on the morning of the murder of Mitch.e.l.l Bondurant. Can you walk us through the initial stages of the case?"

Smart move saying "us," implying that the jury and prosecutor were part of the same team. I had no doubts about Freeman's skills and she would be at her sharpest with her lead detective on the stand. She knew that if I could damage Kurlen, the whole thing might come tumbling down.

"I was at my desk at about nine fifteen when the detective lieutenant came to me and my partner, Detective Cynthia Longstreth, and said a homicide had occurred in the parking garage of the WestLand National headquarters on Ventura Boulevard. Detective Longstreth and I immediately rolled on it."

"You went to the scene?"

"Yes, immediately. We arrived at nine thirty and took control of the scene."

"What did that entail?"

"Well, the first priority is to preserve and collect the evidence from the crime scene. The patrol officers had already taped off the area and were keeping people away. Once we were satisfied that everything was covered there, we divvied up responsibilities. I left my partner in charge of overseeing the crime scene investigation and I would conduct preliminary interviews of the witnesses the patrol officers were holding for questioning."

"Detective Longstreth is a less experienced detective than you, correct?"

"Yes, she has been working homicide investigations with me for three years."

"Why did you give the junior member of your team the very important job of overseeing the crime scene investigation?"

"I did it that way because I knew that the crime scene people and the coroner's investigator who were on scene were all veterans with many years on the job and that Cynthia would be with good experienced hands."

Freeman then led Kurlen through a series of questions about his interviews with the gathered witnesses, starting with Riki Sanchez, who had discovered the body and called 911. Kurlen was at ease on the stand and almost folksy in his delivery. The word that came to mind was charming. charming.

I didn't like charming but I had to bide my time. I knew it might be the end of the day before I got the chance to go after Kurlen. In the meantime I had to hope that by then the jury hadn't fallen completely in love with him.

Freeman was smart enough to know you can't keep a jury's attention with charm alone. Eventually, she moved out of the scene-setting preliminaries and started to deliver the case against Lisa Trammel.

"Detective, was there a time during the investigation when the defendant's name became known to you?"

"Yes, there was. The bank's head of security came to the garage and asked to see me or my partner. I spoke to him briefly and then accompanied him to his office, where we reviewed video from the cameras located at the vehicle entrance and exits to the garage and in the elevators."

"And did the review of those videos provide you with any investigative leads?"

"Nothing initially. I saw no one carrying a weapon or acting in a suspicious way before or after the approximate time of the murder. n.o.body running from the garage. There was nothing suspicious about the vehicles going in and out. Of course, we would run every license plate. But there was nothing on video upon that initial viewing that helped us and, of course, the actual murder itself was not captured by any camera. That was another detail that the perpetrator of the crime seemed to be aware of."

I rose and objected to Kurlen's last line and the judge struck it from the record and told the jury to ignore it.

"Detective," Freeman prompted, "I believe you were going to tell us how Lisa Trammel's name first came up in the investigation."