Part 17 (1/2)
”I don't know.”
”You don't know?”
”No.”
”You didn't mark the bullets so you could distinguish them?”
”Certainly not. Both bullets came from the body. Both would have been fatal. I mean either would have been fatal. I put them in a test tube, put the code number of the case on it--which was, I believe, C- 122--and personally handed the test tube to Mr. Redfield.”
Redfield, who was smiling, got to his feet, started to say something, then changed his mind and sat down.
Mason said, ”In other words, Doctor, the gunshot wounds in the body of Nadine Ellis showed that one wound, where the bullet actually penetrated a portion of the heart, was probably almost instantly fatal. The other inflicted a wound which would have been fatal within a few minutes. Now, you can't tell which of these bullets inflicted which wound?”
”I made no attempt to keep the bullets separate. They are both the same caliber, they were both fired from the same gun. I will state, however, that the bullet which we have referred to as bullet number two--the one which hit a portion of the heart--lodged in the spine and was somewhat flattened by the vertebra. I notice that one of these bullets is somewhat flattened, and on the strength of that I would state that in all human probability that bullet is the bullet I referred to as bullet number two--the one that hit the heart.”
”Was your autopsy such that you traced each bullet as to its course?” Mason asked. ”All the way through the body?”
”I traced one bullet from the point of entrance through the heart and I traced the other bullet from the point of entrance through one of the major blood vessels. I may state, however, that I did not--or perhaps I should say that I was not able--to keep the paths of the bullets completely separate because they started to converge slightly, and the deterioration of the body due to decomposition and putrefaction was such that it was virtually impossible to segregate the course of the bullets all the way through the body.”
”And you can't tell which of these bullets was fired first?”
”That's right,” Dr. Calvert said. And then suddenly added, in indignation, ”And that, Mr. Mason, is because I am a man of medicine and not a medicine man.”
”And,” Mason went on urbanely, ”you don't know for certain that these were the bullets that you took from the body of Mrs. Ellis. You only know that they were two bullets which you recovered in the course of your autopsy work.”
”I took these two bullets from the body of Mrs. Ellis and handed them to Alexander Redfield on the evening of the twelfth,” Dr. Calvert said.
”Thank you,” Mason said. ”That's all.”
”No further questions,” Fraser said. ”You may be excused, Doctor. I'll call Alexander Redfield as my next witness.”
Redfield, smiling slightly, came to the stand.
”Your name is Alexander Redfield, you are employed by the county as a ballistics expert and scientific investigator?” Fraser asked.
”That's right.”
”Are you acquainted with Dr. Andover Calvert, the witness who just testified?”
”I am.”
”Did you see him in this county on or about the twelfth of this month?”
”I did.”
”Did you have any conversation with Dr. Calvert on that date?”
”I did.”
”Did Dr. Calvert give you any objects on that date?”
”He did.”
”What objects did he give you?”
”Two bullets.”
”And what did you do with those two bullets, Mr. Redfield?”
”I put them in a test tube, sealed the test tube and marked the test tube for identification. Then I locked the test tube in a special compartment in the safe in my office.”
”You made no comparison of the bullets with any test bullets?”
”Not at that date.”
”When was that done?”
”Later, when I was given a weapon and asked to tesi fire that weapon.”
”And what weapon was that?”
”That was a Smith and Wesson revolver with a twoand-a-half-inch barrel.”
”Do you know the number of that gun?”
”I do. It was 133347.”
”Do you have that gun?”
”I do.”
”Will you produce it, please?”
Redfield reached in his brief case and pulled out the gun.
”I ask that this be marked for identification,” Fraser said.
”It will be marked People's Exhibit B,” Judge Keyser said.
”Now then, you received two bullets from Dr. Calvert. I will ask you if you have those bullets with you?”
”I just gave them to you.”
”Here they are. Will you tell us whether or not those are the same bullets which Dr. Calvert gave you?”
”Those are the same bullets.”
”How do you know?”
”They have been in my custody since the time Dr. Calvert handed them to me.”