Page 93 of Dissection of a Murder
“Do you also see that the lipsticks appear to be different shades?”
“I’m a man. I’m unable to differentiate between these things.”
“Are you colorblind?”
“Miss Reynolds,” the judge intervenes.
I need to be cautious. I’m starting to piss her off now; Julian will think he’s got the upper hand.
“DCI Brady, that’s potentially two other people who could have been in that flat on the night of the murder, yet you failed to follow that up.”
“Those glasses could have been there for days, weeks,” he says, holding the photo up and waving it around. He doesn’t like being questioned in this way.
“Perhaps. But they also could have been placed there minutes before Anton Smythe was killed, couldn’t they?”
“It’s unlikely.”
“Is it? What about the strands of hair belonging to seven different individuals that were discovered in the same room where Mr. Smythe’s body was found? Or the lighter with unidentified prints on it?”
“There’s no way of knowing when they were introduced to the room.”
“So, it could have been the night of the murder. In total, that’s potentially thirteen other people whose DNA was present inside Mr. Millman’s flat. The fact is, you didn’t even attempt to consider whether there might have been someone else responsible for this, did you?”
“We didn’t need to,” he answers quickly, shaking his head.
“As far as you were concerned, you had your man, and you’d make it fit your narrative because it was easy. That’s right, isn’t it?”
“I’ve been a police officer for over twenty years. I’ve solved countless murders. We’ve got our man.”
He isn’t budging. I’ve made my point and now I need to get out of here. Never push your luck.
“No further questions, Your Ladyship.”
First witness down and I’ve basically called a police officer incompetent.
This isn’t going as well as I’d hoped.
46
Leila
R v Jack Millman
Day 1
12:19 p.m.
The pathologist isnext.
Always a vital witness in any murder trial because the prosecution must prove that the defendant’s act caused the victim’s death. The jury sit up as he walks into the witness box. After undertaking years of training and experience to get where they are, pathologists are aware that in situations such as these, people hang on to their every word. They’re capable of ending a case with their opinion alone.
Dr. Parker is the kind of man who looks as if he knows what he’s doing. The sort of man who never makes bad choices but does make sound financial investments. Clean-shaven, with silver-rimmed glasses sitting perfectly on his face, his black hair marks him out as someone who’s reached the professional level he’s attained at such a young age through hard work and dedication.
Julian runs through his qualifications before moving on to the postmortem itself. It’s written using clinical and medical terms—something juries often struggle with. It’s a win for Julian, of course. Using these terms makes the offense more brutal, minimizing thisfather, husband, and friend into a series of stark facts: male, five foot nine, fourteen and a half stone. At the time of his death, he had seventy-eight milligrams of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of blood in his body. Eighty milligrams is over the limit to drive.
“Mr. Smythe suffered a dynamic head injury, or a blunt head trauma, in more common terms. This went on to cause a subdural hematoma and his eventual death.”
“Can you please explain to the jury what that is?”
