Why Me?

We prepared a report that would be delivered to the Police Integrity Branch in the morning. Exhausted, we went to bed, we had a big day ahead.

CHAPTER FIVE.

Gilbert Rawlings was talking to the gathered media as we walked up the courthouse steps. He placed extra emphasis on the fact that being a member of the police force, did not give you any immunity from prosecution and the opposite was the case, it would result in longer jail time than a civilian offender. The message was clear, Kathy was as guilty as hell and he would delight in seeing justice done.

"Ms Jackson, would you care to comment?" One of the reporters asked.

"Not at this time, why don't you ask me that question after the trial when my client is cleared of all charges and Mister Rawlings is forced to eat his words."

Rawlings looked sharply at her to see if she was bluffing or not. Deeadra would have made a great professional poker player.

To say that the first hour of the trial was dramatic would not be doing it justice.

Gilbert Rawlings rose to deliver his opening remarks to the jury. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury it gives me no pleasure to have to stand before you today to prosecute a member of our fine police force on a charge of murder in the first degree. At eleven pm on Thursday, the fifth of July Sergeant Richard Reichert responded to a 911 call and proceeded to an address in the warehouse district to investigate an alleged homicide. On arriving at the scene he was shot and killed by his own wife and fellow serving police officer, Officer Kathleen Reichert."

"We will present evidence that the gun used in this heinous crime was Officer Reichert's service pistol and that it had been recently fired. We will also produce evidence that there were traces of gunshot residue on the sleeve of a jacket owned by Officer Reichert. Officer Reichert has been unable to provide an alibi for the time of the murder. You, ladies and gentlemen of the jury will be left with no option other than to find the defendant guilty of this crime that has seen the death of a highly respected and well-liked member of the police department of this city." He sat and cast a smug expression in our general direction.

It was now Deeadra's turn. "Ladies and gentlemen, you have witnessed a fine example of Mister Rawling's grandstanding. The truth is that my client Kathleen Reichert did not kill her husband. During the course of this trial, we will prove that the evidence that will be presented to you is a tissue of lies. Evidence that has been fabricated to implicate an officer who is a credit to her uniform and a person who was very much in love with her husband. A person who had no reason to kill the man she loved. She did not have the opportunity. She did not have the motive and we will disprove evidence that she had the means. During this trial, we will reveal that this crime was not one of passion but one of greed, greed at the highest level. Sergeant Reichert was about to expose corruption in this city that reached the highest levels of power. Corruption that involved large amounts of money. Corruption that involved systematic homicide carried out to protect those in power. Corruption that has led to his assassination by those hired to carry this out. We, ladies and gentlemen, are standing on the very tip of a very big iceberg, an iceberg that will send greater shock-waves through this world than the one that sank the Titanic. You had better strap yourselves in, you are in for a bumpy ride."

"This is preposterous!" Rawlings leapt to his feet. "The defence is making a mockery of this trial. They are making allegations that are totally without foundation. They are holding this court, this judicial system, in contempt. This is just a feeble attempt to cast doubt on the irrefutable evidence that I will present."

Deeadra spoke in a voice just loud enough for him to hear, "Go ahead, present your evidence, we're waiting to shoot it down in flames."

He played the 911 call followed by the 911 operator relaying the message to Rick. Then he played the coms calls between Rick and the dispatcher. This was followed by the frantic call from Rick's partner "Shots fired, officer down. Request ambulance attendance and reinforcements".

Rick's partner was called to the stand. He was taken through the details of what happened and what followed. "Tell me, Officer Juliani, did you see anyone at the scene of this heinous crime?"

"I saw someone running from the scene."

"Did you pursue that person?"

"No, my first thought was to assist Rick, I mean sergeant Reichert. He was bleeding badly and I was attempting to stem the flow until the ambulance arrived."

"So, your first thoughts were the safety of a fellow officer?"

"Yes."

"Tell me, Officer Juliani, how was Sergeant Reichert? Was he his normal self, or was there something about his demeanour that was different?"

"Objection!" Deeadra was on her feet. "Mister Rawlings is leading this witness."

"Objection sustained, you should know better than that, be careful in future." The exchange was ordered to be struck from the record, but the damage was done.

"No further questions."

"Officer Juliani, how long have you and Sergeant Reichert worked together?" Deeadra asked.

"Six or seven months."

"In that time, had Sergeant Reichert spoken of his wife?"

"Yes."

"When he spoke of her, did he happen to mention if there were any tensions within their relationship?"

"No, in fact, he spoke highly of her and their relationship. On the night that he was killed he wondered what she would have for his dinner when he got home, he thought it would be pizza."

"That will be all, thank you."

Rawlings called Officer Smith to the witness. "Officer Smith, did you access the vision from the CCTV camera installed in the locker room?"

"Yes Sir, I did."

"Can you explain to the jury what we see in this vision?"

"In the bottom margin is the time and date stamp that coincides with this vision that shows someone entering the locker room and removing a service pistol and jacket from the locker belonging to Officer Kathy Reichert.

"On looking at the image, can you tell if it is Officer Kathleen Reichert?"

"It certainly looks like her."

"No further questions."

Deeadra stood and approached the stand. "Officer Smith, you said just now that it certainly looks like Officer Reichert. How certain are you, a hundred percent, ninety percent, eighty percent?"

"Probably eighty percent?"

"So you are not one hundred percent certain that it was her?"

"No."

"Officer Smith, I am going to show you a receipt, can you tell me the time and date on this receipt?"

"Yes, it was 9:37 pm on Thursday the fifth."

"Now, could you take a look at the vision, in particular the time and date stamp, what does that tell us?"

"That it was taken at 9:43 on Thursday the fifth."

"The location of the pizza restaurant, how far from the station would you estimate that to be?"

"That would be at least three miles away."

"For my client to get from the pizza restaurant to the police station would require some superhuman speed, would it not?"

"Yes."

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are prepared to bring the proprietor of that pizza restaurant here to give evidence, that's if Mister Rawlings insists that we do that. This witness has been deposed and in his deposition," she handed one copy of the deposition to Rawlings and the other to the Court Clerk, "he states that Kathy Reichert was a regular customer of his restaurant and that he served her on that night. He remembers her telling him that she would eat her share while it was hot and reheat the remainder for Rick when he got home. He did suggest to her that he could always deliver a hot pizza for Rick. Mister Rawlings, do you want us to bring him in to give evidence?"

"That won't be necessary."

"Officer Smith," Deeadra was just about to make another hole in the prosecution case, "Apart from the pistol and jacket, does this person remove anything else from the locker?"

"No."

"If you look closely at the vision you will notice that there is no ammunition clip in the pistol, is there?"

"No."

"Officer Smith, is there vision of the gun being replaced in the locker?"

"No."

"That will be all, thank you."

"It being twelve-thirty, this court is adjourned. We will reconvene at one-thirty."

Rawlings was shouting into his cellphone as he stormed from the court, his watertight case had just sprung a leak.

Sergeant McLeary, the Forensic Pathologist was next on the stand. "Sergeant, you conducted the ballistics examination of the bullet removed from Sergeant Reichert, did you not?"

"Yes."

"And what were your findings?"

"It was a 9mm bullet, there was very little deformation so it was easy to view the striation patterns left by the rifling."

"And when you compared those patterns with the gun taken from Officer Reichert's locker, what did you find?"

"That they matched."

"That they matched. So we can conclude that this is the very gun used in this crime?"

"Yes."

Turning to Deeadra. "Your witness." He sat down with a satisfied smile.

"Tell me Sergeant McLeary, this pistol, a Glock 19 I believe, is that a common weapon in the police force?"

"Yes, that and the Sig Sauer are the weapons of choice."

"So ammunition clips for these weapons are readily available are they not?"

"Yes."

"So, if someone wanted to incriminate my client, he or she could have used a spare clip in this case?"

"Yes, that could have happened."

"When you examined that clip, were there any finger prints on it?"

"No, it had been wiped clean."

"This clip, were there any markings on it?"

"No."

"That will be all, thank you. Your Honor, I may need to recall this witness, that's if Mister Rawlings has no objections."

"Mister Rawlings?"

"I can't see the need for this, but I have no objections."

Rawlings produced the vision of the record of interview between Lieutenant George Bronski, Officer Melanie Winton and Kathy.

"Officer Reichert, can you retrace your movements this evening?"

"I went home, bought a pizza on my way and ate some and then I went to sleep watching TV."

'Where were you at eleven pm?"

"I must have been asleep."

"Do you have any witnesses to support this?"

"No."

"Your service pistol, is it a Glock 9 millimetre pistol?"

"Yes."

"Where was it on the night that Sergeant Richard Reichert was brutally killed?"

"What do you mean where was it? It is my locker where I always leave it."

"When was the last time that you fired it"

"About a month ago, I had a day at the firing range."

"Is this your jacket?" He produced a jacket and placed it on the desk.

"Yes, that looks like mine. Why are you asking me all these questions? You can't suspect that I would shoot Rick."

"Forensics have detected gunshot residue on the sleeve of this jacket. How do you explain that your pistol has been matched with the bullet that killed your husband, your jacket has gunshot residue on the sleeve and you have no alibi for the time that your husband was killed. That is a very strong indication of your guilt, wouldn't you say?"

"But I didn't do it! Why would I do it?"

"I would like to call the defendant to the stand at this time."

Kathy was sworn in.

"Officer Reichert, Kathy, can you enlighten us as to your movements on the night that your husband Sergeant Rick Reichert was brutally shot down in cold blood?"

"Yes, I worked late that evening and left the station just after nine pm. The duty log will show the exact time that I signed out. I then walked to my favourite pizza restaurant and purchased a pizza, a pepperoni pizza. I chatted with the owner while he made the pizza. I went home, ate a couple of slices, set the box with the remaining pizza aside and sat down to watch TV while I waited for Rick to get home."

"Do you remember what you watched?"

"I started to watch CSI but it was depressing, so I changed channels and started to watch a documentary on penguins. I dropped off somewhere, I don't remember much after the second ad break until I was woken by the credits. I stretched out on the sofa and dozed off. I was woken by the police when they came to arrest me."

"That will be all."

Deeadra stood and approached Kathy. "Where do you keep your service pistol?"

"In my locker. Rick used to tease me that if I was threatened, by the time that I had gone to retrieve it I would be dead."

"Did you keep the ammunition clip with the gun?"

"No, the clip was wrapped in a cloth and kept in my desk along with a box containing ammunition that I used when I went to the range to practice."

Deeadra took the Glock from the evidence table and handed it to Kathy. "Is this your gun?"

"Yes."

"Is this the clip that goes with this gun?"

"No. My clip has a line scratched across the end."

"So you haven't seen this clip before?"

"No, it's not the one that I use."

"This jacket, do you recognise it?"

"Yes, it's mine"

"When was the last time you wore it?"

"The last time that I was at the range. I wear it whenever I shoot at the range to protect my clothes."

"Where was it that you last saw it?"

"In my locker when I got my bag from it before going home."

"Who apart from you had a key to your locker?"

"Rick had one, we used to access each other's locker to leave messages for each other, and I would pack a lunch for him and leave it in his locker."

"Is there a master key to these lockers?"

"Yes."

"So, if someone had the master key, they could access your locker?"

"Yes."

"Now the prosecution has stated that these items were taken from your locker. We have vision of them being removed by a person unknown,"

"Objection."

"On what basis, Mister Rawlings?"

"The prosecution has proved that it was Officer Reichert who removed these items from the locker."

"I beg to differ, Officer Smith stated that he not one hundred percent certain that it was Officer Reichert. Objection dis-allowed."

"As I was saying, we have vision of these items being removed, but not of them being replaced. Yet the prosecution asserted that these items were found in your locker. How did they get back there I wonder? That's a rhetorical question. Officer Reichert, your marriage, were there any problems there?"

"Apart from a few minor disagreements, no."

"No financial problems?"

"No, we weren't rich, that would be difficult with our salaries. We had enough to cover expenses and put some aside to buy a house."

"Do you have more than one bank account?"

"No, we have a joint account and both of us have access to that account. We have one credit card to cover emergencies but that is paid each month so that we don't have to pay interest."

"You mentioned minor disagreements, what were they?"

"The main one was that when we got around to having kids that he would have given up smoking."

"Did you murder your husband?"

"NO!"

"That will be all, thank you. Your Honor, I would like to recall Sergeant McLeary to the stand.

McLeary took the stand.

"Sergeant, Lieutenant Kenneally asked you to carry out additional tests on Officer Reichert's Jacket, is this correct?"

"Yes."

"What was the nature of these tests?"

"I was asked to swab the inside of the sleeves and collar of the jacket for DNA."

"Did you carry out these tests?"

"Yes. I identified two differing DNA strands present. One belonged to Officer Reichert."

"And the other obviously did not. Did you identify the source of this DNA?"

"No."

"This other sample, did your tests indicate which was the most recent?"

"Officer Reichert's DNA was not the most recent."

"Thank you."

"Do you wish to question this witness mister Rawlings?"

"No, your honour."

Rawlings got to his feet to administer the kicker that he hoped would seal Kathy's fate. "I would draw the courts attention to peoples exhibit 2a. When tracking through Sergeant Reichert's financial records we came across a second bank account. We were shocked when we saw the balance of that account, it currently stands at seventy-three thousand dollars. We have to ask ourselves, where would Sergeant Reichert get this amount of money on his salary. On further investigation, we found that this account was receiving payments from an account used to launder money from various criminal activities including drug trafficking."

"While we cannot prove his involvement in drug trafficking we have to ask ourselves, if not, where did it come from? This discovery has formed a part of a new and far-reaching criminal investigation. Again, we cannot prove that the defendant was involved in this enterprise, or that she found out about it and they argued about it, and this led to her murdering him. i have just been informed that the defendant has accessed this account and withdrawn funds from it." Having thrown the cat among the pigeons, he sat, satisfied that he had implicated both Rick and Kathy in criminal activities.

Deeadra stood and approached the jury panel. "Mister Rawlings has just now made unsubstantiated allegations against both my client and her husband who, until now had been held up as an exemplary police officer. Now he has been branded a criminal, along with my client. This is what is known in the Lawyer biz as misdirection. This is designed to draw attention away from the real guilty party or parties. I will save the DA and the police a lot of time. Yes, there was an account, but no, neither Sergeant Reichert nor the defendant was aware of the existence of this account The money used to set up this account came from an offshore account used by criminal elements to use as future blackmail in case Sergeant Reichert released his findings to the police integrity branch. As part of his investigations into recent homicides, he established a link between them. This information and other information has been forwarded by us to the Police Integrity Branch. The money used to set up the account in Sergeant Reichert's name came from an account used to hire the services of professional hit-men at the behest of certain people very high up in the financial food chain, so high up that they believed that they would have immunity from prosecution."

"The information that we have forwarded to the Police Integrity Branch not only identifies the hit-men involved but the names of those availing themselves of the services of these murderers. It also identifies, and this is the kicker, those who set up this operation. I would be only too happy to provide Mister Rawlings with a copy of our findings, that is if he is interested in the pursuit of justice." Oh, and for your information mister Rawlings, the defendant has not accessed this account. An attempt was made to transfer funds from this account into the joint account held by the defendant and her husband, but this was blocked by us."

Court was adjourned for the day.

CHAPTER SIX.

Rawlings was not in court the next morning. He had phoned his office to say that he was unwell and arranged for his Deputy Jason Williams to take over for him.

It was late morning when he stood to deliver his closing remarks. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, This case has been one of contrasts. On the one hand, the prosecution has presented the facts that prove that the defendant Kathleen Reichert did murder her husband. It was her gun that was used, the evidence proves that. It was her jacket and the gunshot residue found on it also proves that she fired the fatal shot that killed Sergeant Reichert. As to the motive for this crime, the defendant was adamant that she had no reason to kill her husband. The prosecution has provided seventy-three thousand very good reasons for this crime, the number of dollars in his bank account that she has decided that she would not share with him. She had the means to carry out this crime, her service gun. She had the opportunity, we only have her word for the fact that she was at home at the time of the murder. She had the motive, the money in that bank account. When investigating crimes the police look for, means, opportunity and motivation. The existence of all three, is enough to establish a very strong case. The verdict must be guilty."