After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 52

January 20, 1993. 10:47 AM.

The remainder of the previous day's testimony was taken by a few several more witnesses from the Marine Corps first responding team who spoke to corroborate Officer Lenardon's accounts about the rescue scene and the hunting sticks. Dana Barnes was keen on convincing the jury that sharpening and carrying the hunting sticks was a premeditated first step toward cold-blooded murder. And Ralph Langley was pretty sure it was working.

It was starting to feel to Ralph like a sense of deja vu was creeping up on him in the first day or so of the court's fixation on Simon's death. Just like back in the first couple weeks of the trial in December, it started with the rescue scene and all the physical evidence found when the boys were found. All day yesterday, and so far all morning today, the witness list was comprised with a slew of officers whose purpose was to simply establish the rescue scene. Ralph was starting to think that every shift in focus would begin in such a way.

It looked to be just about 1045 hours, according to the clock on the wall, when Reynolds returned to his seat at the defense table after cross-examining the most recent Marine Corps officer. Barnes' next witness, Ralph would soon discover, was a far cry from a Marine officer.

"The state of Georgia calls Dr. Jillian Keller to the stand" Barnes proclaimed loudly for all to hear.

Ralph didn't know any Dr. Jillian Keller.

As if on cue, a well-dressed woman with dusty brown, slicked back hair entered through the double doors at the back of the courtroom and made her way down the aisle. She looked surprisingly young, Ralph thought, younger than his parents. She wore thick, black framed glasses on top of her pasty white skin. She looked a lot like a school secretary, Ralph considered, though seemingly less mean and bitter.

After the bailiff swore in the witness and Barnes had her state her name for the record, the questioning could formally begin.

"Thank you for joining us here today, Dr. Keller. Could you please inform the ladies and gentlemen of the court what your job title is and what exactly it is you do?" Barnes requested.

"Of course" the woman who looked too young to be a doctor agreed. "I am a forensic scientist or examiner at the Georgia State Forensic Laboratory. I did my M.D. with a specialty in forensic psychology at the Savannah State University right here in Savannah."

"That's quite impressive, Dr. Keller, for a woman of your young age. Can you please tell me what it is you do at the Georgia State Forensic Lab?" Barnes prompted the witness.

"My job is to examine forensic evidence that comes in from different scenes, often crime scenes. The evidence consist of identifying information such as DNA, fingerprints, blood and other bodily fluids, skin, hair, fibres, and debris. I often put together laboratory reports for legal proceedings such as this one, outlining the results of the forensic evidence found at the scene of an injury, death, and/or crime" Dr. Jillian Keller explained.

"That sounds like quite a heavy load you have on your plate there, Miss Keller. What an important job you do. Now, could you tell me if you happened to be working in the lab on January 28th 1991?" Barnes asked. And when she did, Ralph's heart skipped a beat. Here we go.

"Yes, I was in the lab that day."

"And did you have any DNA evidence brought into your lab for examination that day, Dr. Keller?" the prosecutor asked knowingly.

"Yes, I was informed in advance that there would be DNA evidence coming through from an overseas shipment later that afternoon. The investigators informed me that the evidence was found at the scene of a search and rescue mission on a North Atlantic Ocean island, and asked me to recover all the DNA possible, and requested we also test for animal DNA as well" the doctor explained.