Page 131 of The Lincoln Lawyer

Minton gathered himself, reviewed his notes and tried to salvage something.

“Mrs. Windsor, did you or your son call the police after he found you?”

“No, we didn’t. Louis wanted to but I did not. I thought that it would only further the trauma.”

“So we have no official police documentation of this crime, correct?”

“That’s correct.”

I knew that Minton wanted to carry it further and ask if she had sought medical treatment after the attack. But sensing another trap, he didn’t ask the question.

“So what you are saying here is that we only have your word that this attack even occurred? Your word and your son’s, if he chooses to testify.”

“It did occur. I live with it each and every day.”

“But we only have you who says so.”

She looked at the prosecutor with deadpan eyes.

“Is that a question?”

“Mrs. Windsor, you are here to help your son, correct?”

“If I can. I know him as a good man who would not have committed this despicable crime.”

“You would be willing to do anything and everything in your power to save your son from conviction and possible prison, wouldn’t you?”

“But I wouldn’t lie about something like this. Oath or no oath, I wouldn’t lie.”

“But you want to save your son, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And saving him means lying for him, doesn’t it?”

“No. It does not.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Windsor.”

Minton quickly returned to his seat. I had only one question on redirect.

“Mrs. Windsor, how old were you when this attack occurred?”

“I was fifty-four.”

I sat back down. Minton had nothing further and Windsor was excused. I asked the judge to allow her to sit in the gallery for the remainder of the trial, now that her testimony was concluded. Without an objection from Minton the request was granted.

My next witness was an LAPD detective named David Lambkin, who was a national expert on sex crimes and had worked on the Real Estate Rapist investigation. In brief questioning I established the facts of the case and the five reported cases of rape that were investigated. I quickly got to the five key questions I needed to bolster Mary Windsor’s testimony.

“Detective Lambkin, what was the age range of the known victims of the rapist?”

“These were all professional women who were pretty successful. They tended to be older than your average rape victim. I believe the youngest was twenty-nine and the oldest was fifty-nine.”

“So a woman who was fifty-four years old would have fallen within the rapist’s target profile, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell the jury when the first reported attack occurred and when the last reported attack occurred?”