Once the prosecutor has paraded all his witnesses, he tells the judge that he is resting his case, and the defense calls his witnesses, and the same ritualistic procedure starts all over again: direct, cross, redirect, recross.
It is sometimes tedious and confusing.
On Wednesday morning, the ninth day of January and the third day of the Carella murder trial, Henry Lowell called his second witness, a Ballistics Section detective named Peter Haggerty. Short and squat, with a thick black mustache and eyeglasses with matching rims, Haggerty took the stand, swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but, so help him God, and then looked out comfortably over the rows of benches, conveying the impression that a courtroom was second home to him. When Lowell asked him how many times he had been called to testify as an expert witness, he said, "This is my forty-eighth time.”
"In how many courts have you testified as an expert witness?”
"Eleven.”
"In how many counties?”
"Four.”
"How long have you been working with the Ballistics Section?" Lowell asked.
"Twelve years.”
"Can you tell me what sort of training you've had in identifying and ...?was For the next ten minutes, Haggerty paraded his credentials, telling the court about the extensive training he'd had, the seminars he'd attended, the lectures he himself had given on ballistics to various police departments all over the nation.
At the end of that time, Di Pasco accepted him as an expert witness, but instructed the jury that whereas his expertise should be considered, it was not necessary that they accept it either wholly or in part.
"During the course of your everyday duties,”
Lowell asked, "are you called upon frequently to identify the makes and calibers of various firearms?”
"I am," Haggerty said.
"And during the course of your everyday duties, are you also called upon to identify bullets fired from various firearms?”
“I am.”
"Does your work also involve comparing bullets and cartridge cases against other bullets and cartridge cases in order to determine whether they were fired from the same gun?”
"I do that every day of the week, as a matter of routine.”
"I show you a pistol previously marked and moved into evidence and ask if you performed certain examinations on this pistol?”
"I did.”
"Can you tell me what kind of pistol it is?”
"It's a nine-millimeter Uzi.”
"And what is that? If you'll explain to the jury ...”
"It's an Israeli-made assault pistol, a shorter and lighter version of their Uzi submachine gun.”
"When you say `lighter ...`was "It weighs about four-and-a-half pounds fully loaded.”
"What constitutes `fully loaded`?”
"Well, it carries a twenty-round magazine. That means you can fire twenty bullets without having to reload. That's what fully loaded means. Twenty bullets.”
"Now, when you say it's a nine-millimeter pistol, what does that mean?”
"It means that the gun fires a nine-millimeter Parabellum cartridge.
That's the caliber. Nine millimeters.”
"And when you say it's a shorter gun than the submachine gun, what are its dimensions, actually?”
"Its overall length is two hundred and forty millimeters.”
"Perhaps inches would be more understandable to the jury. Can you translate that into inches for us?”
"Well, without a slide rule ...”
"Approximately. So the jury will understand it.”
"The overall length would be about nine-and-a-half inches.”
"And the length of the barrel? Again, in approximate inches, please.”
"About five inches.”
"Can this gun be held in the hand?”
"Oh, yes, it's designed to be held in the hand. It's what is known as a hand-held, semiautomatic pistol.”
“What does semiautomatic mean?”
"It means that a separate pull of the trigger is required for each shot. As opposed to a fully automatic weapon, where the gun will continue firing as long as pressure is exerted on the trigger.”
"Would you say that this weapon is capable of firing a great many shots in rapid succession?”
"Well, as many as twenty. That's the magazine capacity.”
"But in rapid succession?”
"Yes. The gun is designed to absorb recoil. This enables rapid fire with enormous control and therefore accuracy.”
"Would this gun be capable of firing, say, three shots in rapid succession?”
"Oh yes. Certainly.”
"Your Honor, I would like to offer in evidence, three nine-millimeter Parabellum bullets recovered during autopsy on the body of Anthony John Carella.”
"Mr. Addison?”
"No objections.”
"Mark them Exhibits Two, Three and ...”
"Your Honor, since there'll be more evidence of this nature, may I suggest that it might be simpler to mark the three bullets as a single exhibit rather than ...”
"Yes, fine. Mark them Exhibit Two.”
Carella cut a glance at his mother. She was sitting erect, her face impassive, watching Lowell as he walked back to the prosecutor's table and picked up another sealed plastic bag with a Police Department EVIDENCE tag on it.
"Your Honor," Lowell said, "I would also like to offer in evidence three spent nine-millimeter Parabellum cartridge cases recovered by Detectives Wade and Bent in the AandL Bakery Shop at 7834 Harrison Street on the night of July seventeenth last year.”
"No objection.”
"Mark them Exhibit Three.”
"Lastly, Your Honor, I would like to offer in evidence three cartridge cases and three bullets recovered in test firings in the Police Department's Ballistics Section.”
"Mr. Addison?”
"No objection.”
"Mark them Exhibit Four.”
“Detective Haggerty, I ask you now whether you performed comparison tests on all of these bullets and cartridge cases?”
"I did.”
"Can you tell me now whether all of these bullets were fired from the same pistol?”
"They were.”
"Can you tell me whether all of the cartridge cases were ejected from the same pistol?”
"They were.”
"Detective Haggerty, which pistol did you use in your test firings?”
"The assault pistol you showed me just a few minutes ago.”
Lowell picked up the gun.
"Are you referring to this nine-millimeter semiautomatic Uzi assault pistol marked Exhibit One in evidence?”
"I am.”
"And are you willing to say without qualification that the bullets recovered from the body of Anthony John Carella were fired from this gun?”
"They were. The markings on the recovered bullets and the test bullets are identical.”
"Similarly, were the cartridge cases found on the floor of Mr. Carella's bakery shop ejected from this gun?”
"Without question. The markings on the recovered shells and those examined after the test firing are identical.”
"Thank you, no further questions.”
"Mr. Addison?”
Addison rose ponderously, shaking his head even before he approached the witness chair, conveying to the jury the certain impression that somebody was being hoodwinked here, but that he intended to set that little matter straight as soon as possible.
"Detective Haggerty," he said, "when did you receive the bullets allegedly recovered from the body of Anthony John Car ...”
"Objection, Your Honor!" Lowell shouted, leaping to his feet. "Unless the integrity of the Medical Examiner's Office is being challenged here, then there is no question that those bullets are the ones recovered from the corpse. There's nothing alleged here, Your Honor. Dr. Josef Mazlova signed the necropsy report and also signed the evidence tag attached to the three bullets. Those are the bullets. I ask that you instruct Mr. Addison ..."
"Question withdrawn," Addison said, and again shook his head as though the entire world-including his opponent and the sitting judge-were against seeing justice done in this courtroom. "Detective Haggerty," he said, "when did you receive these bullets?”