Page 95 of Resurrection Walk

“That is correct, yes.”

I glanced at the judge before moving on. She was staring at the screen. Another good sign.

“Doctor, did you form an opinion as to where the shots did come from?” I asked.

“I did, yes.”

“Can you share that with the court?”

“Yes, I have a final re-creation that I believe, based on the known facts regarding trajectory and victim location, shows where the shots were fired from.”

As Arslanian started the final re-creation on the big screen, I watched Morris. There was a look of dread on his face.

On the screen, the male avatar emerged from the house and the door was slammed behind him. This time as the figure crossed the lawn, red tracer lines started from the front wall of the house, to the left of the stoop. The male figure was struck, went down, and was struck again. Arslanian stopped the playback.

“What other facts were you able to determine from this re-creation, Doctor?” I asked.

“Well,” Arslanian said, “if you place the shooter against the front wall of the house, you can create a triangle — with the sides being the ground, the wall, and the bullet trajectory — that gives us an approximate height from which the shots were fired.”

“And what height was that?”

“Between five foot two and five foot six would be a liberal range.”

“And if you had a woman who was five foot two, like Ms. Sanz, could she make those shots from a high-ready stance?”

“No, she would not be tall enough. For a woman that height to make that shot at that angle, she would have to be holding the weapon above eye level. Over her head, in fact. When you take into account the proximity of the impacts in the victim’s center mass, I believe that it would be impossible for her to make one of those shots, let alone two in a short space of time.”

Morris stood and weakly objected, again citing unfounded speculation by the witness.

And again, I didn’t need to respond.

“Mr. Morris, you did not object when I accepted Dr. Arslanian as an expert witness,” the judge said. “Now that her expertise runs counter to your case, you object. I find the factual basis behind her opinions and testimony sufficient, and the objection is overruled.”

I waited to see if Morris would make a different challenge but he remained quiet.

“Proceed, Mr. Haller,” the judge said.

“Thank you, Judge,” I said. “At this time I have no further questions for Dr. Arslanian, but I reserve the right to recall her if needed.”

“Mr. Morris, do you care to question the witness?” Coelho said.

“Your Honor, it is approaching noon,” Morris said. “The State asks for a recess now so that we have the lunch hour to digest the witness’s presentation and opinions and decide whether to conduct a cross-examination.”

“Very well, we will break,” Coelho said. “All parties will return at one o’clock to continue with the witness. And Mr. Morris, please check your sarcasm at the door. We are adjourned.”

The judge left the bench. Morris was left chin to chest at his table. I didn’t know if it was the judge’s final rebuke or the weight of Arslanian’s testimony, but he looked like a man on a sinking ship that hadn’t come with a life raft.

I turned to Lucinda and saw that she had been crying. Her eyes were rimmed in red and there were smear marks on her cheeks from wiped-away tears. I realized that I had forgotten to warn her about the re-creations, which showed the man she had once loved and had started a family with being shot down in her front yard.

“I’m sorry you had to see that, Lucinda,” I said. “I should have prepared you for it.”

“No, it’s okay,” she said. “I just got emotional.”

“But you have to know Dr. Arslanian did us a lot of good with it. I don’t know if you were watching the judge, but she was all in. I think she’s convinced.”

“Then it’s good.”

The marshal came to take her back into holding. He paused to let us finish our conversation, a nicety he had not shown previously. I took it as an indicator that he too had been swayed by what he had seen on the big screen.

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