Marc answered Yuki’s questions, filling in details about the neckties, his protests, his terror, and the fact that he’d taken a chance in recording the rape.
“Briana had sex with me against my will,” he said. “She kept the gun on me until I was tied up. Then she did things to make me get hard.”
He stopped talking, shot a panicky look at Yuki, and said, “Then she did it. She raped me.”
Yuki said, “Thank you, Mr. Christopher. Please remain seated.”
She turned to the judge and said, “Your Honor, we’re ready to show the recording.”
“Go ahead, Ms. Castellano. Will someone please get the lights?”
CHAPTER 72
ARTHUR BARON HAD cued up the video, positioned the laptop at the edge of the table, and set up the screen so that it faced the jury. But before Yuki got a chance to say, “Roll it,” James Giftos got to his feet and said angrily, “Your Honor. May we approach?”
Rathburn signaled to the attorneys to come to the bench.
He said, “Mr. Giftos, I’ve already ruled. The video is in.”
“Judge Rathburn, with all due respect, I’ve seen this recording and you have not.”
The judge said, “Let’s take this into my chambers.”
Counsel for both sides followed the judge through his private doorway out of the courtroom and into his office. He took his desk chair and the four attorneys grouped at the front of his desk.
Giftos said, “Judge Rathburn, I feel strongly that by showing this recording, the prosecution is going to perpetrate a miscarriage of justice.”
Rathburn said, “As I said before, James, and will say again, you will have your chance to rebut the video and cross-examine the witness. What don’t I understand?”
Giftos was red faced and the cords in his neck were standing out. He said, “Your Honor, I don’t think you understand that this recording is hard-core porn. There is full-on nudity and full-on sex, or more accurately, bondage.
“As I have said from the beginning, this video is a setup. Marc Christopher recorded it in such a way—”
“Using the same argument isn’t going to change my ruling.”
“Putting our argument aside,” Giftos said, “watching the stark visualization of this sex act is inflammatory and prejudicial in the extreme.
“Once the jury sees it, it cannot be unseen. The spectators and the press will also see it, and even though Briana is entirely innocent of this charge, she will be convicted in the court of public opinion, and that verdict will cling to her for the rest of her life.”
Yuki thought Giftos was making a strong case for excluding the video, and that was very worrying. Without it, her case would hang entirely on Marc’s testimony—and Giftos hadn’t yet set out to discredit him.
Giftos went on.
“Once again I move that the video be excluded. It’s prejudicial, defamatory, and the basis for a whopper of a civil suit against the People of San Francisco.”
Rathburn said, “All right, Mr. Giftos, you’ve made your point. Ms. Castellano?”
Yuki said firmly, “Your Honor, the video is a recording of Ms. Hill threatening violence, brandishing a gun, and raping Mr. Christopher. It’s irrefutable evidence. The jury has to see it or they won’t have the full facts of the crime.”
Rathburn leaned back, considered the remarks, and then returned his seat to its upright position.
“James, here’s what I’m willing to do. I’ll clear the courtroom. The spectators, including the press, will not see the tape, just the jurors. Fair enough?”
Giftos snorted, huffed, and, after a walk over to the windows, returned to the grouping around Judge Rathburn’s desk.
“All right,” said Giftos. “Jurors and no spectators.”
Said Rathburn, “If Ms. Castellano agrees.”
Yuki was ready with her answer. “That works for me, Judge.”
Giftos said, “If it’s okay with you, Your Honor, Ms. Benson can sit with Ms. Hill outside your chambers while Ms. Castellano runs the video.”
Yuki said, “Mr. Christopher can wait in the hallway.”
“Another hurdle cleared,” said Judge Rathburn. “The recording is in.”
CHAPTER 73
THE COURTROOM HAD been cleared of spectators and press.
Sixteen men and women sat in the jury box staring at Yuki as she told Arthur to play the recording.
Lights were dimmed, but it was bright enough for Yuki to see the resolute faces of the jurors. During voir dire they had been told that evidence would include a sexually explicit video, and they were asked if they were willing and able to see such a recording and remain impartial. The twelve plus four had all said yes.
Truth was, it was still hard for Yuki to watch. The screen faced away from her, but she’d seen the ten-minute-long video so many times, she could see the action in her mind.
In the first moments the view of the bed was partially blocked by Marc’s body as he faced the hidden camera and struggled to tie his left hand to the headboard with his right.
Briana’s voice was heard clearly.
Briana: That knot isn’t tight enough, damn it. Fix that, Marc, you stupid little bitch.
Marc: I’m doing it. I’m doing it. Put the gun down, okay? Please, Briana. That thing could go off.
Yuki knew that Marc tightened the knot and then rolled flat onto his back.
Briana: Grip the other bedpost with your right hand. Do what I tell you, Marc, or I will shoot you and walk the hell out of here.
Yuki saw alarm on the jurors’ faces. Mrs. Moloney, for instance, a mother of three and a bank executive, was frowning. At the other end of the row Mr. Koenig, a twentysomething high school math teacher, had drawn back in his seat and was covering his mouth with both hands.
On-screen, even in the darkened room, Marc could be seen nude and spread-eagle on the sheets. Briana Hill, fully dressed, was standing at the foot of the bed, holding a gun with both hands, the muzzle aimed at Marc.
Yuki knew that it was at this point that Briana put the gun down on a chair and cinched a necktie around Marc’s wrist, lashing it to the headboard.
Briana: There. There we go. Got you now.
On the tape Marc was breathing loudly. Could be from panic.
Marc: You’re going too far, Briana. I’m not into this. I don’t even know you right now.
Briana checked each of the ties, then slowly undressed, folding her jacket, sweater, slacks, stacking them on the chair. She peeled off her panties and passed them over Marc’s face, then hung her bra over the footboard.
Marc strained at the ties and could be heard saying, “This is crazy. This is wrong. This isn’t going to work, Briana.”
“We’ll see about that,” she said.
When she was naked, she got onto the bed and, kneeling between Marc’s spread legs, manipulated his genitals with her hands and her mouth before she mounted him.
Two women jurors partially covered their eyes, but there was no way to shut out the sounds of both parties breathing hard, moaning, Briana saying, “Say it, Marc. You like this. This is what you want.”
Briana’s rising, falling, grinding motions would continue for another five minutes and some seconds.
Yuki had an impulse to grab the remote and hit Fast Forward. Arthur shot her a questioning look, and she shook her head no. Eventually the sounds stopped.
Yuki knew that Briana had rolled off Marc’s body, pulled up the blankets around her shoulders, and fallen asleep without untying him or speaking again.
Yuki said, “Your Honor. Both parties slept until the camera’s memory card was full and had stopped recording.”
The judge muttered, “Thank God.”
Art shut down the laptop, crossed to the front of the room, and brought up the lights.
Yuki felt blasted as the dim light gave way to brightness in the courtroom. She looked at the jurors. She had never seen a jury look so shattered.
Even the judge looked disturbed. He grabbed at the tissue box and blew his nose.
Yuki said, “The People enter this recording into evidence, Your Honor.”
“Done. And this would be a good time to take a half-hour recess. Back here at eleven sharp.”
He brought down the gavel and left the courtroom.
CHAPTER 74