The 17th Suspect (Women's Murder Club 17)

“We will also introduce to you the unedited recording that Mr. Christopher made of this assault, and you will see for yourself what happened to him on the night of October eleventh.

“Now, some might say, ‘So she made him have sex at gunpoint. Big deal. They’d had sex before.’

“But it is a big deal.

“Marc Christopher said no. As Judge Rathburn told you,” Yuki said, “forcing someone, menacing that person, causing that person to be reasonably afraid that he would be harmed, to have sex with someone without his consent is a felony. You will see that Mr. Christopher did not consent and that Ms. Hill clearly knew that he did not.

“She took what she wanted for her own gratification, without any regard for Mr. Christopher at all.

“After our witnesses have testified and you have seen the evidence, the People will ask you to find the defendant, Briana Hill, guilty of rape and punish her for that crime.”

CHAPTER 45

YUKI STEPPED AWAY from the jury box filled with a tremendous soaring feeling. She had delivered the best opening statement of her life. No regrets. No wish for a redo. She’d done good.

As soon as she was reseated at her counsel table, Judge Rathburn said, “Mr. Giftos. Is the defense ready to make their opening statement?”

James Giftos stood up, looking as straight and sharp as a knife. He responded to the judge, saying, “No, Your Honor. We reserve the right to make our statement at a later time.”

“Okay, then,” said Rathburn. “Ms. Castellano, please introduce your first witness.”

Yuki was surprised by Giftos’s decision. He was leaving her version of Marc Christopher’s night-from-hell story uncontested in the jury’s mind until he put on his case. Normally, that would be a risky, even reckless move. But Giftos wasn’t reckless. He had a plan. What was it?

“Ms. Castellano,” the judge said.

“Yes, Your Honor. The People call Officer Phyllis Chase.”

The bailiff opened the heavy wooden door at the front of the room, and Officer Chase, wearing khaki pants and a blue blazer, sporting a choppy blond haircut, entered the room and strode up the aisle. She was sworn in at the witness stand, and after she’d taken her seat, Yuki approached her.

Yuki had had a good feeling about this Sex Crimes cop from the first time she met her. She was absolutely professional and confident. She was a perfect witness.

Yuki elicited preliminary information from Chase—where she worked and when she’d received Marc Christopher’s call saying that he had been sexually assaulted.

“Please go on,” Yuki said.

“My partner, Officer Phil Thompson, and I invited Mr. Christopher down to the station and took his statement.”

Yuki asked the officer a series of questions about the interview, and Chase answered that she had observed fading bruises on Mr. Christopher’s wrists and ankles that appeared to be ligature marks. Photos had been taken, and after that Chase and Martinez had accompanied Mr. Christopher to his apartment, where he showed them the clock that was also a low-tech recording device.

Yuki guided Officer Chase through her testimony that the recorder and the video had been reviewed by the techs at the SFPD, that Ms. Hill had been brought in for questioning.

Chase said, “She denied that a rape had taken place. She said the sex was consensual. We showed the recording to the DA’s office, and then we arrested Ms. Hill and logged in her S&W .38 handgun.”

Briana Hill put her folded arms down on the defense table, lowered her head, and began sobbing softly.

Yuki showed the photographs of Marc Christopher’s faded bruises to Chase, who said, “Yep, I took those photos.”

Yuki passed the photos to the jury foreman, and then, after entering them into evidence, she thanked Officer Chase for her testimony.

“Your witness,” Yuki said to James Giftos.

Giftos had his arm around his client’s shaking shoulders, and he spoke from his seat. “No questions,” he said.

Of course Giftos had no questions. Chase was unimpeachable. Yuki was thinking ahead to her next witness when Rathburn called for a lunch recess.

“We will resume at two. Don’t be late,” he said.

CHAPTER 46