The Fifth Witness - Michael Connelly [78]
She testified that on the day of the murder she had followed her routine and found an unassigned parking slot approximately ten spaces from Mitchell Bondurant’s assigned space. After leaving and locking her car, she walked toward the bridge that connected the garage to the bank building. It was then that she discovered the body. She first saw the spilled coffee, then the open briefcase on the ground, and finally Mitchell Bondurant lying facedown and bloodied.
Sanchez knelt next to the body and checked for signs of life, then pulled her cell phone out of her purse and called 911.
It’s rare to score defense points off a scene-setter witness. Their testimony is usually very prescribed and rarely contributes to the question of guilt or innocence. Still, you never know. On cross-examination I stood and threw a few questions at Sanchez just to see what might pop loose.
“Now, Ms. Sanchez, you described your very precise morning routine here but there really is no routine once you drive into the bank’s garage, correct?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I mean that you do not have an assigned parking space so there is no routine when it comes to that. You get into the garage and have to start hunting for a space, right?”
“Well, sort of. The bank isn’t open yet so there are always plenty of spaces. I usually go up to the second floor and park in the area where I did that day.”
“All right. In the past, had you walked into work with Mr. Bondurant?”
“No, he was usually in earlier than me.”
“Now on the day that you found Mr. Bondurant’s body, where was it that you saw the defendant, Lisa Trammel, in the garage?”
She paused as if it was a trick question. It was.
“I don’t—I mean, I didn’t see her.”
“Thank you, Ms. Sanchez.”
Next up on the stand was the 911 operator who took the 8:52 A.M. emergency call from Sanchez. Her name was LeShonda Gaines and her testimony was used primarily to introduce the tape of the call from Sanchez. Playing the tape was an overly dramatic and unneeded maneuver but the judge had allowed it over a pretrial objection from me. Freeman played forty seconds of the tape after handing out transcripts to the jurors as well as to the judge and the defense.
GAINES: Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?
SANCHEZ: There’s a man here. I think he’s dead! He’s all bloody and he won’t move.
GAINES: What is your name, ma’am?
SANCHEZ: Riki Sanchez. I’m in the parking garage at WestLand National in Sherman Oaks.
(pause)
GAINES: Is that the Ventura Boulevard location?
SANCHEZ: Yes, are you sending someone?
GAINES: Police and paramedics have been dispatched.
SANCHEZ: I think he’s already dead. There’s a lot of blood.
GAINES: Do you know who he is?
SANCHEZ: I think it’s Mr. Bondurant but I’m not sure. Do you want me to turn him over?
GAINES: No, just wait for the police. Are you in any danger, Ms. Sanchez?
(pause)
SANCHEZ: Uh, I don’t think so. I don’t see anybody around.
GAINES: Okay, wait for the police and keep this line open.
I didn’t bother asking any questions on cross-examination. There was nothing to be gained for the defense.
Freeman threw her first curveball after Gaines was excused. I expected her to go with the first responding officer next. Have him testify about arriving and securing the scene, and get the crime scene photos to the jury. But instead she called Margo Schafer, the eyewitness who put Trammel close to the crime scene. I immediately saw the strategy Freeman was employing. Instead of sending the jury to lunch with crime scene photos in their minds, send them out with the first ah-ha moment of the trial. The first piece of testimony that connected Trammel to the crime.
It was a good plan but Freeman didn’t know what I knew about her witness. I just hoped I got to her before lunch.
Schafer was a petite woman who looked nervous and pale as she took the witness stand. She had to pull the stemmed microphone down from the position Gaines had left