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“And so you disarmed her?”
“Yes. We followed department protocol for disarming an active shooter.”
“And then you placed Alexandra in handcuffs?”
“Yes.”
“During those initial moments when you entered the master bedroom—when you stepped over Raymond Quinlan’s body and saw Dennis and Helen Quinlan dead in their bed, the sheets stained red, blood spatter covering the wall behind them, and a teenaged girl sitting on the floor with a shotgun across her lap—would you describe those moments as confusing?”
“Yes.”
“Officer Diaz,” Garrett said, flipping a page on his note pad, “who was the second on the scene, also described the scene as ‘terrifying. ’ Would you agree with that notion, as well?”
“Yes, we were all scared.”
“Objection,” Bill Bradley said. “Again, Officer Koppel cannot offer testimony about how her fellow officers were feeling.”
“Sustained.”
“Your Honor, I understand that Officer Koppel can’t speak for her fellow officers, but their testimony is already on the record. Each of them described feelings of confusion, horror, sadness, and a sense of being overwhelmed by what they found inside the Quinlans’ home. I’m asking if Officer Koppel felt those same things.”
“The objection was sustained, Mr. Lancaster,” the judge said. “Move on.”
Garrett took a moment before he nodded and readdressed Donna.
“Officer Koppel, in the moments after entering the Quinlans’ bedroom you felt some powerful emotions. Was confusion among them?”
“Yes.”
“Horror and shock?”
“Yes.”
“Sadness?”
“Yes.”
“A sense that the scene was overwhelming?”
Tears welled in Donna’s eyes. “Yes.”
“With all those emotions coursing through you at once, was it possible that seeing a teenaged girl sitting at the foot of her parents’ bed—parents who had clearly been shot—was it possible that you could have mistaken the scene for something it was not?”
“Yes. We obviously did.”
“With your emotions so high and wild, you assumed Alexandra Quinlan had killed her family. Is that correct?”
“That was my assumption, yes.”
“Did you ever while you were at the Quinlan residence consider that there was another explanation for what you found?”
“Not while I was at the crime scene, no.”
“Did you speak with any of your fellow officers about other possibilities that might explain what you found inside the Quinlan home?”
Donna shook her head. “Not while I was at the scene, no.”
“But there was a moment, Officer Koppel, wasn’t there, when it dawned on you that your interpretation of the crime scene was inaccurate?”
