Jury of One

25

Dan Morphew carried through on his promise and turned over the prosecution’s evidence by messenger to her office. She spread out the file on her office table with a rush to her heart. She would now begin to learn what kind of a case they had on Alex.

The police had two witnesses to the shooting aside from Officer Miroballi’s partner. One was a forty-two-year-old homeless man who had been south of the alley, on the opposite side of the street where the shooting occurred. According to the police report, the man saw Alex Baniewicz walking southbound on the 200 block of South Gentry Street on the commercial district’s west side, which put him south of the City Athletic Club and south of Bonnard Street, the nearest perpendicular street to the north.

According to the report, the homeless man-one Joseph Slattery-saw a police squad car slowly follow Alex, then turn on its overhead lights. Officer Raymond Miroballi left the vehicle and followed Alex on foot. Alex began to run, and the officer pursued him into the alley. Mr. Slattery moved further north to watch and saw Alex open fire on the officer and flee through the alley on the opposite street.

The other witness was a thirty-three-year-old architect named Monica Stoddard, who had an office on the nineteenth floor of the building across the street from the alley. She had a view of the alley from her window, the report said, and she looked out when she saw the sirens flashing. She saw a man-whom she obviously could not identify as Alex-running from a police officer. She saw him turn into an alley and watched the officer pursue Alex.

She saw Alex shoot the officer.

The report of Miroballi’s partner, Officer Sanchez, indicated that he and Miroballi saw a young man carrying drugs on the 200 block of South Gentry Street. The squad car pulled over, but when the suspect began to flee, Miroballi gave chase while Sanchez returned to the vehicle to pursue by automobile. Miroballi radioed in a call for assistance as he turned down an alley after the suspect. Before Sanchez could reach the alley, he heard a gunshot. He found Miroballi dead in the alley and no sign of the suspect. Sanchez then called for assistance-reporting an officer down-and stayed with the fallen officer.

All available units had converged on the area. They cornered Alex about a half-mile away, unarmed and compliant. It was a miracle that Alex had survived that confrontation, she thought.

Back at the scene, they found two one-gram packets of cocaine and an unregistered firearm with the serial number scratched out. A fingerprint analysis did not turn up any identifiable prints, certainly not those of Alex Baniewicz, and a ballistics test showed that the gun was not the one used to kill Ray Miroballi.

So they had a weapon, but not the murder weapon.

Weird.

Blood spatterings were found on Alex Baniewicz’s sweatshirt and in his hair that were matched to Officer Miroballi. Miroballi’s blood was A-positive and Alex’s was O-negative. So that negated any argument that the blood was Alex’s. For good measure, the lab had run a DNA test to confirm that the blood was Miroballi’s.

Shelly rubbed her eyes and stretched. She got up from her chair and looked out the window, just to change the scenery for a moment. This case, she thought, was defensible. She had pleaded self-defense to squeeze the U.S. Attorney and to scare off any cops who might want to hurt Alex or her. But she could always change the plea to a straight not-guilty. The woman was a problem. She had seen Alex pull the trigger, according to the report. If she could crack that nut, the state, thus far, would not even be able to put a gun in Alex’s hand.

Which reminded her. She found the results of the residue test. The police performed a gunpowder residue test on Alex Baniewicz the evening of his arrest. Residue often, though not always, found its way onto the person or clothing of someone who fired a firearm. The results in the county attorney’s report were characterized as “inconclusive,” which to Shelly meant that they didn’t find any residue but didn’t want to admit that fact. She sighed. This was one of the fun details with which she was unfamiliar. She would need help on this.

She turned next to the transcript of the officers’ radio calls to police dispatch. She had been supplied audiotapes as well, but didn’t think it necessary-or savory-to listen to them just yet. The first exchange came at 7:44 P.M. on the night of the shooting.

SQUAD 13: Dispatch, this is Thirteen. We got a white male, late teens, appears to be holding narcotics.

DISPATCH: What’s your location, Thirteen?

SQUAD 13: 200 block of South Gentry. Southbound.

DISPATCH: Do you need assistance?

SQUAD 13: Don’t think so. I’m going to check him out.

DISPATCH: Watch your back, Thirteen.

That was the first call. The next call came two minutes later, from Officer Miroballi’s handheld walkie-talkie, which appeared to be coded “Radio 27.”

RADIO 27: Dispatch, we have a white male on the run. I’m in pursuit.

DISPATCH: Do you need assistance, Twenty-seven? Do you copy? Twenty-seven? Officer, we are sending available squads.

The next call, one minute later, at 7:47 P.M.

RADIO 27: Dispatch, advise all units that suspect is armed. I repeat, suspect is armed.

DISPATCH: Copy that, Twenty-seven. Vehicles are responding. Where is he running? Twenty-seven? Twenty-seven, do you copy?

The next transcript must have been from Miroballi’s partner, Julio Sanchez, from the squad car the next minute of the hour, 7:48 p.m.

SQUAD 13: Dispatch, this is Radio Twenty-six. I’m in the squad car.

DISPATCH: Give us your location, Thirteen. Thirteen, advise of your location. 200 block of South Gentry? Thirteen?

The final transcript, from “Radio 26,” was obviously Officer Sanchez’s handheld. The call came two minutes later-7:50 P.M.:

RADIO 26: Dispatch, we have an officer down. Officer down. Officer-we have an-oh, God, Ray.

DISPATCH: Twenty-six, paramedics and ambulance are responding. Keep your man alive, Twenty-six.

RADIO 26: 200 block, South Gentry. We’re in an alley. We have an-Ray Miroballi’s been shot. One suspect, I think. I think there’s only one. Oh, God help him.

DISPATCH: Stay with me, Officer. A white male?

RADIO 26: Late teens, early twenties. Oh, God, come on, Ray. Ray. Ray.

DISPATCH: Twenty-six?

RADIO 26: White male, black coat, green cap, headed west-he went through the alley. He’s going to be headed-oh, there’s so much-probably south on-on I guess Donnelly. Maybe north. I don’t know where he went.

DISPATCH: Stay with your officer, Twenty-six. Stay with him.

DISPATCH: All units, we have an officer down at the 200 block of South Gentry. That’s a Code Blue. I repeat, this is a Code Blue. Suspect is a white male, late teens or early twenties, black jacket, green cap. Suspect believed to be headed north or south on Donnelly. Suspect is armed. Suspect is armed. We have a Code Blue, officers. Suspect is armed.

Shelly had been holding her breath, she discovered, and let out a long exhale. She made note of her personal reaction, because it would be the same one the jurors would feel. Revulsion. Horror. A desire for justice for the fallen officer. Dan Morphew, if he had any sense, would put this transcript front and center in the trial.

She had a defense, she thought, and maybe more than one. But she knew how the men and the women of the jury would feel after hearing these tapes and hearing the eyewitness accounts of the shooting. They would want to punish someone. And they would only be given one choice, only one young man sitting in the courtroom.