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“Thank you, Doctor. No further questions.”
Judge Dow turns to Tess Hardy. She’s already on her feet. The first thing she does is click off the video screen.
“Good morning, Dr. Woods.”
“Good morning.”
“Dr. Woods, let’s return to this mysterious little hyoid bone. Isn’t it true that a hyoid bone can be fractured by impact in a car accident, by hard contact in an athletic event, or even by violent vomiting?”
“Yes, but I saw no evidence of—”
“Violent vomiting? There would be no evidence of that in skeletal remains, correct?”
“Vomiting? No.”
“So when you make an educated guess that the victim was strangled–”
“Objection!” Bastinelli interjects. “Defense is mischaracterizing the witness’s testimony.”
“Sustained,” says Dow.
I watch Hardy shift gears in a flash. “So when you came to anopinionthat the victim was strangled, you did not consider other possibilities, is that right?”
“I used my best judgment,” says Woods.
“But it’s possible that the victim’s hyoid bone was fractured in a mannerotherthan strangulation, correct?”
“Yes. It’s possible,” Dr. Woods concedes.
“Thank you, Doctor. I’m glad we could put that to rest.”
Hardy goes over and whispers to her client. I watch him give an almost imperceptible nod. The defense attorney walks to the lectern and picks up a stapled set of pages. “Now I’d like to turn your attention to your preliminary autopsy report. Your Honor, this is defendant’s exhibit twelve B.”
She flips through the pages until she reaches a highlighted section. I can see the neon-green color from where I’m sitting.
“Dr. Woods, you offered an opinion that the victim was pregnant at the time of her death.”
An undercurrent of surprised murmuring rolls through thecourtroom. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this pregnancy theory, but I’m surprised that Hardy is the one to bring it up. What does this mean for the defense’s trial strategy?
“That’s right,” Dr. Woods says.
“But there were no fetal remains? No way to check for fetal DNA?”
“Correct.”
“And you were unable to extract placental DNA from the bones?”
“True.”
“So what, in your expert opinion, makes you think that the victim was with child?”
Dr. Woods doesn’t immediately respond. She seems to be organizing her thoughts. She looks over at the jury, then speaks directly to them.
“When a woman becomes pregnant, the body undergoes physical changes to prepare for delivery. By the start of the second trimester, ligaments attached to bones in the pelvis start to loosen. That causes changes in the composition of the bones in those areas that we can see under a microscope. I saw evidence of those changes in the pelvic bones of the victim.”
“Conclusive evidence?” Hardy asks.
“That might be overstating it.”