The 17th Suspect (Women's Murder Club #17)(29)

“I’m going to define some terms,” Rathburn said.

The judge listed and defined the terms. “If the victim was reasonably afraid that he would be harmed, his consent was not freely given.

“Furthermore,” he said, “if Ms. Hill and Mr. Christopher were intimate previously, that in and of itself does not constitute consent.”

“So what exactly is consent?”

“Consent means that the person acted freely and voluntarily and understood the nature of the act. The People must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Hill did not reasonably believe that Mr. Christopher had consented to this sexual act.

“If the People have not met this burden, the jury must find the defendant not guilty.”

Yuki shot a look at James Giftos. In a word, he looked pleased.

Rathburn told the spectators again about proper decorum and then swiveled his seat so that he was directly facing Yuki.

He leaned back in his chair. Springs squeaked, and when he said, “Ms. Castellano. Are the People ready to make their opening statement?,” Yuki felt an adrenaline rush—and she liked it.

“Yes, Your Honor,” she said, “the People are ready.”





CHAPTER 42


YUKI PUSHED BACK her chair and walked around the counsel table to the podium that stood at the midpoint of the well, facing the jury box.

She adjusted the mike attached to the stand, greeted the jurors, and introduced herself and her second chair, Arthur.

Feeling the wind beneath her wingsuit, Yuki took a breath and launched the prosecution’s version of the events that had brought the defendant to trial.

“The defendant, Briana Hill, committed rape,” Yuki said. “She may not look like a rapist, a criminal, but that is exactly what she is.

“The defendant and Marc Christopher both worked at an advertising agency called the Ad Shop. Ms. Hill was head of the TV production department, and Mr. Christopher reported to her. They started dating, going out to dinner once a week for a couple of months and often spending the night together.”

Yuki continued, “On the night of October eleventh the defendant and Mr. Christopher had dinner at a restaurant called Panacea, and afterward they hung out in the bar, talking and drinking. According to the bar tab, which has been preadmitted into evidence, the defendant had three shots of Jameson and Mr. Christopher drank five beers.

“Mr. Christopher will tell you that at about midnight they went back to his apartment, where, if things had progressed according to their habit, they would have had sex and fallen asleep. In the morning the defendant would have gone home to change her clothes, and separately they would have gone to work.

“Now, here’s the critical piece of this incident. The defendant customarily carried a registered Smith and Wesson .38 revolver in her purse for protection. You will see and hear evidence,” Yuki said, “that the defendant had that gun in her possession on the night in question.”

At this point in the trial the jurors were uncommitted to the outcome because they had not heard the story. Yuki had to engage them, inform them, and leave them with an indelible vision of how Marc Christopher had been victimized by the defendant.

Putting a gun on Briana Hill’s person had set the hook.

From here on Yuki would lay out the scene so that the jurors would not just hear but visualize, even feel, what the defendant had done to the victim—how Briana Hill had derailed the trajectory of his life.





CHAPTER 43


YUKI CASTELLANO WAS five foot two in heels, but she commanded the room in her fire-engine-red suit as she left the podium and took a position ten feet away from the jurors. Then she began to lead them directly into the heart of her case.

Yuki said, “On October eleventh, after their evening out, Marc Christopher opens his apartment door and the defendant follows him inside. He strips off his clothing in the living room, and after using the bathroom, feeling the effects of dinner and much beer, he goes into the bedroom and falls facedown on his bed.

“He wakes up because the defendant is sharply calling his name. He turns over and sees the defendant is holding a gun pointed right at his face and saying that she wants to have sex. At that moment Mr. Christopher thinks she’s just kidding around.

“He tells the defendant that he is wasted. Can’t. Doesn’t want to. Needs to sleep. So what does the defendant do? She opens Mr. Christopher’s closet and brings out a handful of his neckties. She demands that he tie his feet to the footboard or she will shoot him.”

Yuki continued, walking slowly in front of the jury box, taking the time to look at each of the jurors.

She went on.

“Mr. Christopher says, ‘You’re being ridiculous, Briana. Come to bed.’ But that’s not what happens. The defendant taunts Mr. Christopher, tells him that she is going to do whatever she wants with him. Again Mr. Christopher asks her to ‘knock it off.’ He says, ‘Briana, stop.’

“But she doesn’t stop. She waves her gun in his direction and again orders him to tie his ankles to the footboard. Mr. Christopher knows that the defendant is drunk and maybe she’s crazy, too. He figures that the gun is loaded and might even go off by accident.

“The defendant is not slurring her words, but she is acting totally unhinged, and now Mr. Christopher has gone from stupefied to irritated to terrified. This crazy woman may actually fire the gun. That, Ladies and Gentlemen, goes directly to the victim’s state of mind.