23
a murder in wellesley 245 Miller. “You keep putting yourself in that place. I kept thinking how could anyone have done this to their children? It was beyond comprehension.” It would only get worse when the recipients of those e-mails embarrassingly took the stand to acknowledge their postings that attracted casual_guy2000 . Listening to Harry Page’s hesitant narration of his kinky electronic conversations with Dr. Greineder, the jurors couldn’t help noticing the wounded demeanor of his children. “I thought I saw signs of cracks in Kirsten,” remembered Dr. Bill Giesecke. “I thought she was showing signs of doubt.” The jurors were strictly following Judge Chernoff’s instruction not to discuss the case, but Colin’s distress over his father’s sordid dalliances briefly surfaced in the jury room. At one point he was observed rolling his eyes before resting his chin on his clenched hands and shaking his head. “I think it crushed him when it was brought to light,” said juror Stephanie Vitzthum. “That was the first time I noticed his head hung. We did not discuss the case. We know a lot about each other, let me tell you, but we did at one point say, ‘Did you see that poor kid hang his head?’” 23 Dr. Dirk Greineder woke up in excruciating pain in the early morning hours of Thursday, June 14, suffering a bout of diverticulitis. The day’s testimony from Lt. Ken Martin would do nothing to make him feel better . The fast-talking Martin’s interpretation of the blood covering Dr. Greineder was far easier to understand than Dr. Robin Cotton’s dense DNA testimony. The jurors were spellbound by Martin’s conclusion that the defendant was “within inches or feet” of his wife when she died. Rod Englert, however, would not have the same effect on the jury, even though much of his testimony mirrored Martin’s. Unable to effectively block Martin’s devastating testimony, Murphy would be far more confrontational with Englert. But before the defense attorney could get to the polished expert, he had to watch the jurors soak up his opinion drawn from 246 tom farmer and marty foley prosecutor Rick Grundy that the flow of blood on Halloween morning in 1999 pointed to the defendant as his wife’s killer. Frequently interrupting Grundy’s questions with objections, Murphy finally asked the judge if the lawyers could confer at sidebar. Grundy fought not to laugh when Murphy objected to the mannequin that the prosecutor planned to dress with Dr. Greineder’s bloodstained clothes. “The mannequin is a male mannequin that has a bald or shaved head, has a very high eyebrow ridge and has painted brown eyes,” Murphy said excitedly. “I would ask the court to step down and take a look at this mannequin because I believe it would be very difficult to imagine a more sinister looking mannequin,” Murphy said in all seriousness. “I know there are mannequins available that are much less featured than this mannequin and, you know, to dress up a mannequin in the defendant’s clothes, especially one that has facial features that make him look like a vicious killer is incredibly prejudicial. I think whatever this witness wants to do can be done just by an examination of the clothing itself,” Murphy concluded with a shot at Englert. “Mr. Grundy?” Judge Chernoff asked, shifting his bemused expression to the smirking prosecutor. “Briefly, your Honor, the vicious killer is a mannequin from a tuxedo rental store,” Grundy explained while trying not to laugh. “And he has the same exact expression as he did when he was attempting to get people to rent tuxedos.” Judge Chernoff decided the mannequin could stay, but not directly in front of the jury box, so the “menacing” figure was moved to the middle of the courtroom. Murphy would have died had he known about another statue the prosecution had commissioned that looked exactly like the defendant. “It was Dirk,” laughed Marty Foley. “We had it made down to every detail. It was on wheels and must have weighed three hundred pounds. It’s still in the basement over at Wellesley PD.” Finally getting a chance to question Englert after lunch as the temperature in the humid courtroom again soared toward ninety degrees, Murphy wasted no time in trying to discredit the expert’s methods and conclusions. “Now, you’ve said on occasion, sir,” Murphy mockingly began, “that a crime scene speaks to you?” [3.145.191.214...
OR
Buy This Book in Print