AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes. When we got back to headquarters and I was watching Alexandra’s interview, I began to suspect that we had gotten things wrong.”
“What was the time frame from when you entered the scene and experienced all those overwhelming emotions, to when this epiphany finally came to you? This realization that you might have gotten things wrong?”
“It was probably two hours later.”
Garrett checked his notes. “You responded to shots fired at the Quinlan home at twelve forty-six a.m. You called for backup and EMTs at twelve fifty-eight, after entering the home. Detective Alvarez started his interrogation of Alexandra Quinlan at three-twenty in the morning. So almost three hours had passed from the time you responded to the call until the time you watched Alexandra being interviewed. Do I have the timeline correct?”
“Yes.”
“So after you entered the Quinlans’ bedroom, it took you three hours to process images and emotions few officers ever experience in their careers. It took three hours to allow those overwhelming emotions to dissipate. Three hours to allow reason and logic to attach themselves to the confusing crime scene and allow common sense to sort things out. Do I have that timeline correct?”
Donna nodded and wiped away tears. “Yes.”
Garrett paused for effect. He stood without speaking long enough for the silence to make the jury uncomfortable. To make them alert and hyperfocused.
“When those emotions settled, Officer Koppel, and reason and logic came to you, what was it that you noticed?”
Donna cleared her throat. “I watched Alexandra being questioned in the interview room and assessed that she was no longer in shock, as she clearly had been when we found her at the scene. It was then that I saw a girl who was lost and confused about what she was being accused of.”
“You noticed after three hours—a time period sufficient for Alexandra to process what had happened—that she finally understood she was being accused of killing her family. And when that understanding dawned on her, what in Alexandra’s demeanor changed?”
“She was no longer in a trance. It looked to me like she finally understood that she was being interrogated, and she looked scared and lost and like she needed help.”
“So a seventeen-year-old girl who was the sole survivor on the night her family was killed needed help from the adults around her. Is that what you thought?”
“Yes.”
Garrett walked from behind the podium to the front of the jury box.
“The idea that a young girl in that situation would need adults to protect her seems like common sense, doesn’t it?”
“Objection. Argumentative.”
“Sustained.”
“It seems like the first thing adults should do is protect this girl who just lost her mother, and her father, and her brother. But instead of help, what Alexandra Quinlan got were responding officers who misread the scene and jumped to conclusions, didn’t she?”
“Objection! Argumentative.”
“Sustained.”
“Instead of help, what Alexandra Quinlan got was an aggressive detective who, during an illegal interrogation of a minor at three-thirty in the morning, accused her of killing her family. Instead of help, what Alexandra Quinlan got for surviving that night was a two-month stay at a juvenile detention center. Instead of help, what Alexandra Quinlan got was to be dragged in handcuffs from her home while a news crew recorded every detail and broadcasted it to the world. Instead of help, what Alexandra Quinlan got were weeks and weeks of headlines accusing her of killing her family—because we all know that in the news media, if it bleeds, it leads. We also know that the twenty-four-hour news cycle is quick to cast judgment, but slow to repent. So what Alexandra Quinlan got was a lifetime’s worth of branding and slander to overcome. What Alexandra Quinlan got was the terrible nickname of ‘Empty Eyes,’ given to her by an overzealous reporter and repeated by every news organization in Virginia, and many around the country. All because a young girl had the audacity to look lost and confused in the moments immediately following her entire family being killed. What Alexandra Quinlan got was the exact opposite of what a civilized society and an ethical, impartial justice system should have given her.”
“Objection!” Bill Bradley was on his feet and angry. “Your Honor, Mr. Lancaster is giving a closing argument when he should be questioning a witness.”
“Mr. Lancaster,” the judge said, “you’re testing my patience. Do you have a question for Officer Koppel?”
“I do.”
Garrett’s voice softened as he looked from the jury members back to Donna.
“Alexandra’s family was killed on the night of January fifteenth. Alexandra survived. Officer Koppel, do you agree that the misconduct of the McIntosh Police Department that night, and in the weeks to follow, will negatively affect Alexandra for the rest of her life?”
“Objection!”
Garrett watched as Donna began to cry. It nearly ruined him to exploit his wife’s role in this situation.
“Withdrawn, Your Honor. I have no more questions.”
