Most murder cases, in real life, are not murder mysteries. The culprit is clear, the arrest takes place quickly, and the evidence is marshaled for ultimate presentation in court. Unfortunately, some of the evidence, such as crime scene photographs, can be disturbing. They are taken by hardened evidence technicians working alongside even more hardened homicide detectives. They spend their professional lives observing the depths to which humanity can sink.
I was prosecuting a defendant who had raped and murdered his 12 year old niece. At the time, my oldest daughter happened to be exactly that age, which made reviewing the scene photographs all the more difficult for me. Working with me at the time was a female law student who was doing a summer internship. She wanted to do more than just legal research. She wanted to participate as fully as possible in the preparation of the case for trial. She wanted to see the photos of the crime scene.
I attempted to dissuade her, to no avail. The case was spread out on my desk while I prepared my Order of Proof, that is, the order in which I would present the witnesses and evidence in court at trial. Are you sure you can handle looking at some grisly photos, I asked her. She assured me that she could. They’re in that manila envelope, I said, gesturing.
I returned to my work as she sat in front of my desk, pulled out the 8 x 10 photos, and started to peruse them one by one.
Suddenly I heard a low moan and looked up in time to see her passing out. She fell forward, her head slamming against my desk. She hit the floor with a distinct thud; she was not a small gal. I jumped up, raced around my desk, and there she laid, her dress having redeployed above her waistline.
She came to pretty quickly and her condition became one of acute embarrassment. Notwithstanding the whack on the head, all I could see was a red mark. The skin was not broken. As soon as she realized she was exposed from the waist down, she blushed so that the red mark on her forehead disappeared completely. She arose immediately.
The case of the murderous uncle had as a sidelight the case of the fainting intern. The defendant? Following his conviction as charged, he was sentenced to death years before I got the case. The crime had occurred in the late Seventies and, following a reversal by the United States Supreme Court for re-sentencing, I tried it in 1987. Again he was sentenced to death. The last time I looked, he was still incarcerated in what the State of Florida somewhat inappropriately refers to as Death Row.