Dark Justice

Chapter 47

Ben stayed in the courtroom during the lunch hour and reviewed his notes. Maybe it was overkill, but he had never cross-exed anyone like this next witness before and he didn’t know what to expect. Best to be as prepared as possible.

At one-thirty, the bailiff escorted the jury back into the courtroom and Judge Pickens reconvened the trial. Granny called her next witness.

“The State calls Dr. Richard A. Grayson to the stand.”

The bailiff stepped out of the courtroom and called for Grayson, who was standing just outside the door. He was a middle-aged man, probably thirty or forty pounds overweight. He was bald, but compensated for it with an exceptionally bushy beard. He walked like a man altogether at ease with himself, one hundred percent confident, not a worry in the world.

Granny took him through the painstaking process of establishing his background and expertise. Dr. Grayson was a dentist who had an office in the suburbs of San Francisco, was a graduate of UCLA, and was a member of several medical and dental professional associations. But part of his office was devoted not to private practice but to research.

“What is the nature of your research?” Granny asked.

“I’ve spent the last eighteen years investigating ways to make trace injuries more apparent.”

“Can you tell us what you mean by trace injuries?”

“Well, for instance, bite marks.”

Several jurors’ heads lifted. They had been all but dozing during the credentials, but now they began to see where this testimony was headed.

“Is there a reason why trace injuries would need to be made more apparent?”

“Dealing with trace evidence is always a problem for law enforcement,” Grayson explained. He had an easy manner, informative, confident, but not too pretentious. “I think you’ve already gotten a taste of that in this trial. Footprints are found, but the imprint is not deep enough to identify the shoe tread. A bite mark is found on the victim’s arm, but the impression is not sufficient to allow the coroner to make a conventional analysis via dental records. I’ve been working on ways to make what is not immediately apparent more so.”

“You mentioned the process of identifying bite marks by conventional dental records. Could you explain that to the jury?”

“Certainly. It’s really very simple. May I have my charts?”

Granny stepped back to her table and lifted a tall stack of enlarged exhibits mounted on poster board. She placed them on a lectern next to the witness stand. Ben winced when he saw the thickness of the stack. By the looks of it, they could all settle in for a long winter’s nap.

Grayson stood next to the exhibits and pointed toward the first one, which appeared to be an enlarged bite mark on flesh. “This is an example of a good bite mark, that is, one that’s absolutely clear. The indentations of most of the teeth are quite evident. Even so, there can be problems.” He pivoted toward the jury. “The principal identification difficulties come from the fact that human tissue is soft. It can be stretched and compressed. Therefore, the record left by the bite can be distorted.”

“Are there ways of dealing with that problem, Doctor?”

“Of course. We have a battery of tools for just that purpose. We use a measuring rule, scale or tape, moulages of the tissue and teeth indentation, and of course models of the suspect’s teeth. Computers can also be used to create a probable range of orientations a bite mark could take. By comparing with the dental records of the suspect, we can determine whether the bite mark came from his teeth.”

Grayson displayed the next poster board in the stack. What the jury saw was a long row of teeth, and beneath them, a series of numbers. “This is a standard tooth-numbering chart. It uses two of the most common tooth designation systems, Universal and Palmer, plus the new Federation Dentaire International System.” He pointed to the numbers beneath the first tooth on the left. “For instance, the lower right molar is designated number 30-on the Universal system, L.R. 6-on the Palmer, or 36-on the new FDI. Actually, the FDI recently changed its quadrant designations so that the first odd numbers consistently refer to the right side and the first even numbers consistently refer to the left side.”

Absolutely fascinating, Ben thought. Probably had nothing to do with this case, but it made Grayson seem like one smart dental dude.

Grayson turned to his next chart. “On the right, beside the teeth, you can see the marking codes commonly used to identify teeth anomalies. Any unusual characteristics, rotations, tooth and bone color oddities-such as pink, yellow, or tetracycline discoloration-can be noted here. Antemortem dental records, those most commonly found in a dentist’s office, will also typically contain notes regarding various treatments and services rendered. Postmortem records will not have that, but will typically provide far greater detail about the current condition of the teeth.”

Grayson then took the jury through the remainder of his charts, explaining the role of X-rays and other dental tools, which he called armamentaria. All in all, Ben thought it was boring as hell, but it served Granny’s purpose. After hearing the man rattle on in this manner for well over an hour, it was hard to doubt that he was in fact an expert in the science of forensic dentistry.

“And in this manner,” Grayson concluded, “we are able to trace an injury back to the person who made it. After taking these extensive and detailed records, we simply compare the chart compiled on the injury with the chart compiled on the suspect. If they match, we know the suspect is guilty. Dental patterns are quite unique. They’re like fingerprints; no two mouths are exactly alike.”

Granny smiled. “Thank you, Dr. Grayson, for that exhaustive”-Ben would’ve said exhausting-“description of contemporary dental identification techniques. You indicated that you have been doing some research yourself. Why?”

“Well, these traditional methods work fine as long as the imprint of the wound is such that the teeth marks can be distinguished. But sometimes, even when there’s been a good solid bite, the imprint is not immediately clear. As I said before, flesh tissue is soft. It’s not the ideal medium for a bite mark. So I’ve been working on ways to make difficult bite marks more apparent.”

“Have you had any success?”

“I have. It’s taken years of research, but I’ve managed to develop a way of making visible imprints that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. Mind you, they’re there. They just can’t be seen without visual augmentation.”

“How do you enhance the injury traces?”

“I use a long-wave ultraviolet light-what you would call a blue light. Then I wear a pair of yellow-lensed safety goggles that have been chemically treated in a solution I developed myself. The combination of the ultraviolet light and the chemically treated goggles enhances features on the surface of the skin.”

“That seems amazing, Doctor. How does it work?”

“It’s simple, really. For years, scientists have experimented with different light frequencies as a means of increasing visual acuity. We all know that light takes many forms, depending upon its frequency. Some of those forms are visible to the naked eye-what we call visible light-and some of them are not-such as infrared light and X-rays. But even though we can’t see X-rays, we know that if they are used properly, they can enable us to see things that would not otherwise be apparent to the naked eye. My process is just the same. I use infrared light to make visible what is there, but can’t be seen in the visible light spectrum.”

“That’s fascinating, Doctor. You should be congratulated for your pioneering research in this field.” Ben wondered if she was going to offer him the Nobel Prize on the spot. “Have you done any work with regard to the current case, the murder of Dwayne Gardiner?”

“Yes I have.”

“Please tell the jury what you’ve done.”

Grayson retook his seat, then adjusted himself to face the jury. “I was asked to examine the bite mark found by the coroner on the victim’s arm. The injury was clearly a bite mark, but the impression was not deep. To make matters worse, the burning of the skin in the area made any identification all the more difficult. Conventional identification techniques were of no avail.”

“So what did you do?”

“I used the ultraviolet technique I described for you earlier. Frankly, I was not optimistic. The damage to the skin was so extensive I wondered if even my special techniques would work. Happily, they did.”

“Were you able to make a dental identification?”

“I was. May I return to my charts?”

Judge Pickens nodded. Grayson retook his former position and pointed to the last remaining chart. “This is a record of the bite mark as it first appeared when the coroner discovered it. As you can see, the impression is vague in places and indistinct. It was not useful. But after being viewed through my special infrared process”-he overlaid a clear transparency that fit perfectly atop the principal chart-“it became this.” Jurors’ eyes widened, obviously impressed. What they now saw was an almost perfectly detailed row of teeth.

“Was this record sufficient to make a comparison?”

“It was. I obtained the dental records of the defendant, which the police had already subpoenaed. Watch what happens when I now lay his teeth on top of the enhanced bite mark.” Grayson overlaid yet another transparency, bearing another row of teeth, precisely on top of the other. As was almost immediately apparent, it was virtually identical.

“Dr. Grayson,” Granny asked, “in your opinion, does this constitute a match?”

“It most certainly does.”

“Then let me ask you the most important question. Would you say, based upon your extensive medical knowledge and analysis, that this bite mark was made by the defendant George Zakin?”

“Indeed and without a doubt.”

“Thank you, Doctor. I have no more questions.”