Chapter 60
CAINE MADE SOME notes on his tablet, then got to his feet and approached the witness.
“Sergeant Degano, you saw that Ms. Carmody had suffered grave injuries to her head. You testified that she was going in and out of consciousness. And yet you trusted the veracity of her testimony?”
“I had no choice. For all I knew, this was her last hour on earth.”
“I understand. But when you showed her the picture of my client and asked if he was the one who hurt her, is it possible she didn’t understand your question?”
“I don’t understand yours.”
“Let me rephrase it, then,” said Caine. “Ms. Carmody had been physically and emotionally traumatized and had lost a lot of blood. Isn’t it possible that when you asked her who hurt her and showed her the picture of Rick Del Rio, she said ‘Rick’ because it was his picture?”
“I asked. She answered.”
“Detective, how long have you been a police officer?”
“Eighteen years.”
“When you ask a person to make an identification, isn’t it standard practice to show them a lineup, or a photo array?”
“There was no time to pull one together.”
“So you violated procedure, and now we cannot be sure what kind of ID the victim made, can we?”
“I had the man’s picture in my jacket pocket.”
“Just answer the question, please, Detective. If you could have, you would have shown her an array, yes or no?”
“Yeah. In a perfect world. A world I don’t happen to live in.”
“Thanks, Detective. I have no further questions.”