Chapter 50
The person who acquired the thallium and added it to the ginger cookies did so either in private or in Eleanor’s room when the hospital was quiet.
Matilda was the only possible suspect who could have doctored the cookies either at the law office or at her apartment.
But she was gone and no longer involved in the trial.
There was not a speck of proof against her, only speculation.
There was no procedural gimmick that would allow the defense to haul her back to court for more questions.
And if there had been, why bother? She would simply take the stand again and deny every hint of culpability.
Simon still found it difficult to believe Tillie was involved, but was wavering. Her little romance with Jerry Korsak added plenty of suspicion.
What intrigued him were the comings and goings at the hospital. There was virtually no security or surveillance. Most of the doors to the patients’ rooms were partially open all the time and never locked.
At his suggestion, the first witness for the defense was Loretta Goodwin, the charge nurse who supervised the east wing of the third floor of the hospital.
Raymond had plenty of time and much ground to cover.
He liked to roam his side of the courtroom, asking questions and listening as he gave various looks to the jurors.
Loretta had been a registered nurse at the hospital for eight years and a floor supervisor for the past three.
One of her duties was to coordinate care for her patients, including Eleanor Barnett.
She met with Simon Latch on several occasions and was impressed with his willingness to help his client.
She got the impression he did not want to be in the middle of Eleanor’s problems, but there was no one else.
Loretta was in the room when Eleanor signed the advance directive and power of attorney, and, while it was an unusual event, she believed Simon was acting in the best interest of his client.
Raymond belabored this to the point of overdoing it. Simon scribbled, “Okay, move on,” and Raymond must have read his mind.
Raymond talked about the security at the hospital, the visitation procedures, the flow of traffic between the floors and down the halls. As in many hospitals, there was a constant stream of health care workers in and out of the rooms.
How many? To prove that dozens of people had unlimited access to Eleanor’s room, Raymond went to the big screen.
He began with a large color photo of Dr. Connor Wilkes, the CEO, a witness the jury had already met.
Then Dr. Samuel Lilly, the attending physician.
Then Dr. Joe Huber, the chief resident. With each, Raymond asked the same questions, which were becoming monotonous.
Loretta patiently explained that the doctors had unlimited access to Eleanor’s room, as did the nurses, beginning with Loretta herself.
She was amused to see her smiling face on such a large screen and quipped, “A bad hair day.” The jury thought it was funny.
Two registered nurses followed. They were followed by four licensed practical nurses and four certified nursing assistants.
Raymond asked what role each nurse played in Eleanor’s care, and Loretta patiently explained things to the jury.
Blue Ridge Memorial had two NPs—nurse practitioners—who ranked above Loretta and periodically checked on Eleanor. Their faces went up on the screen.
By ten-thirty, it felt like the entire hospital staff had been introduced to the jury. Finally, Ms. Cook had had enough and said, “Your Honor, this is all quite fascinating but I’m losing any sense of relevance here.”
Judge Shyam said, “So am I. Mr. Lassiter?”
Raymond anticipated the interruption and pounced.
“Your Honor, we have the right to prove that as many as thirty hospital employees had unfettered access to Ms. Barnett’s room twenty-four hours a day with little or no surveillance, registration, or observation.
We cannot prove, nor has the Commonwealth, who actually poisoned the deceased, but we can prove that her door was open at all times. ”
“That’s enough, Mr. Lassiter. I didn’t ask for a closing summation. Let’s take a break and we’ll continue in twenty minutes.”
A cup of coffee did nothing to throttle the defense.
With Loretta back on the stand, Raymond picked up where he had left off.
With photos, they introduced three nurse’s aides (uncertified), three orderlies who did a variety of jobs, two janitors assigned to the third floor, and five technicians who worked on every floor and could come and go as needed and for the most part went unmonitored.
Finally, Raymond pressed a button and the screen disappeared.
He went to the podium and flipped through some notes as the courtroom relaxed.
That ordeal was over. He addressed the witness: “Ms. Goodwin, we’ve just introduced to the jury almost thirty hospital employees.
Does every one of them record every visit to every patient’s room? ”
She sighed as her shoulders sagged. “Well, not really. Every doctor or nurse who enters a patient’s room is supposed to log the visit and give a brief description of the service or what happened.”
“But this is not always done, is it?”
“No, it’s virtually impossible. We just don’t have enough time to record everything.”
“What about the non-professional people—the orderlies, technicians, janitors, repairmen? Do they keep detailed records of every visit?”
“No,” she said softly.
He handed her a copy of the visitation logs and asked questions about who stopped by Eleanor’s room. Mr. Latch had signed in twice, but usually skipped that requirement. Mr. Wally Thackerman signed in once. Another lawyer had also signed in.
Loretta got another laugh when she said, “When there’s a car wreck, we usually get a lot of interest from the lawyers.”
She also admitted that the visitation process was not run with military precision. In fact, it was quite unstructured at times, even “porous.”
She said, “Look, we’re a community hospital and we encourage visitation. We try our best to monitor things, but it’s just not always possible. And, we’ve never had a serious problem.”
By noon, Loretta was fading. Raymond and the defense had not only made the point but had driven it home with a sledgehammer: There were dozens of people with plenty of opportunities to poison Eleanor.
Cora Cook’s cross-examination of Loretta lasted only ten minutes, but was effective, at least in Simon’s opinion. She reviewed the names of the doctors and nurses and asked Loretta if she was implying that one of them had used the poison. Of course not.
Loretta was excused, and as she was leaving the witness stand, Judge Shyam said, “We’ll break for lunch and be in recess until one-thirty.”
Raymond startled everyone when he announced, rather dramatically and at full volume, “Your Honor, the defense rests.”