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“Fifty-one if you include non-criminal acts such as accidents and natural causes.”
“That’s a large number,” Reese comments. “How many loved ones, spouses, daughters, sons, and significant family members and friends of those people did you interact with?”
“Hundreds.”
“Of those hundreds, how many were deeply connected to one of the deceased?” Reese asks.
“All of them.”
“How many of those people, when told they’d lost someone close to them, cried?” Reese asks.
“Roughly seventy percent,” Officer Marks replies.
“In other words, if you talked to three hundred people, at least ninety of them didn’t cry.”
“Correct,” Officer Marks says.
“Did you find this strange?” Reese asks.
“Objection,” the prosecutor shouts. “Leading the witness and speculation.”
“I’ll rephrase,” Reese says. “Is it true, officer, that you’ve been trained to observe and expect certain physiological reactions from individuals involved in death investigations?”
“Yes.”
“How many hours?”
“It’s ongoing,” Officer Marks replies. “Hundreds of hours. Our training is constantly on repeat. It’s impossible to log the number of hours.”
“Hundreds of hours,” Reese repeats. “And based on this training, what is a normal reaction to grief?”
“There’s a wide range of normal reactions.”
“Is it normal to cry?”
“Yes,” Officer Marks replies.
“Is it normal not to cry?” Reese asks.
“Yes,” he answers again.
“Why is this a normal reaction?”
“Shock is a key factor,” Officer Marks explains. “They aren’t fully processing the death to be real. The body often shuts down to protect us from what we can’t handle. It’s survival.”
“How many homicides have you investigated?” Reese asks.
“Twenty.”
“During those investigations, did you have close family members demonstrate this type of shock?”
“Yes,” Officer Marks replies.
“Of those people who went into shock and shut down, how many of those were guilty of the crimes?”
“Ten percent.”
“Ten percent. In other words, another ninety percent of those close to the victims who did not cry were not responsible for the homicide?”
