No Way Out (34 page)

Using the information she had, she set about gaining access to the Ventura Local Database Index System. It took her a while to track down the IP address of the server that hosted the LDIS but once she did, she used the Telnet protocol to take her to the root prompt and from there she typed in “pgreenberg” as the username and “Berman” as the password. Her reasoning was that Greenberg was evidently a lazy person for using such a short and obvious password to begin with, so it was probable that he used some form of his name as his username.

In a matter of seconds, she had root control over the LDIS server!

She downloaded copies of the evidence sample file and Claymore’s reference sample file. She then copied over the data from Claymore’s reference sample file to the evidence sample itself, thereby bringing the evidence sample file into line with the Elias Claymore reference sample. Finally she deleted the old evidence sample file from the server and uploaded the false evidence sample file in its place.

When Alvarez got the report showing a perfect match, Claymore’s fate would be sealed.

“You’re spoiling me,” said Alex, as Martine served him a plate that was full to toppling point.

Alex had invited Martine again for Friday evening dinner, which they had prepared together this time.

Like last week, Martine had stayed the night, as he had predicted she would from the overnight bag in her hand when he answered the door. But this time, she had stayed over till Sunday and was now reciprocating his culinary hospitality by treating him to a traditional English Sunday roast, complete with roast beef (he drew the line at pork), roast potatoes and parsnips, sage and onion stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, Brussels sprouts, carrots and peas.

“So they said they’ll courier the results over?” asked Martine

“As soon as they get them.”

They were talking about the DNA results of the new tests. They were due to get them today, in preparation for the Court hearing tomorrow.

“Any bets on what they’ll show?”

“Not with me. All bets are off.”

“She was looking at him across the table.”

“You look uncomfortable.”

“It’s the waiting,” he said.

“What about it?”

“The waiting is the hardest part.”

“For us or for Claymore.”

Alex shrugged sheepishly.

“You’re right. Here we are feeling sorry for ourselves when it’s Elias who’s fate is hanging in the balance.”

It was later, when they were clearing away the plates and loading up the dishwasher that the doorbell rang Alex went to answer it, looking through the spy hole first. It was a man in a brown uniform, a courier. Alex had been expecting this. He opened the door and signed for the envelope. In his excitement, he was already ripping it open as he walked back to the dining room.

“The DNA results?” asked Martine, meeting him in the corridor?

“Yes.”

Alex flipped past the first page to look at the crucial second page with its results. And what it showed was
not
good news.

Much to Alex’s disappointment, it showed that the Y-STR profile of the sample marked as “Reference, Elias Claymore”
did
match the Sample, with no exclusions. Not that this made him guilty. They had already established that the chance of a random match between the evidence sample and an African-American was 1/500 and that was confirmed on this report too. It’s just that after the way he had exposed Steven Johnson’s tampering, it was bitterly disappointing.

The question was, could he block this evidence? Technically, the prosecution had rested their case. Even if the case wasn’t dismissed, Alex could argue that the prosecution could not introduce this report, as they could not now introduce any new material, except to rebut new evidence. And the defense had offered nothing to rebut. They hadn’t offered any evidence that purported to show that the DNA was
not
from Elias Claymore. They had merely discredited the evidence purporting to show that it
was
.

On Monday morning he would move that this new evidence be excluded. If the judge granted the motion, the prosecution would then move to dismiss the case without prejudice, intending to go for a retrial. Alex would then argue that there were no grounds for dismissal, as it was not a procedural error in the trial, but merely a careless mistake at the lab. He was already planning his argument:

“The prosecution have introduced flawed evidence that had now been discredited and they are now looking for a second bite of the cherry. But that is not what the law says, Your Honor. The law says that if the prosecution were sloppy with the evidence they introduced then they must live with the consequences.”

But then he noticed another line on the report that stated: “Neither Elias Claymore nor Louis Manning can be eliminated as suspects on a basis of this comparison. He flipped over to the grid with the comparison. So focused had he had been on comparing Elias Claymore’s line to that of the evidence sample, that he had missed the other line – that of Louis Manning. And the numbers of repetitions in that line also matched the evidence sample.

Then in the Frequency of Occurrence Estimates, it gave the figure for Caucasians as 1/4000, for Blacks as 1/500 and for Hispanics as 1/6500.”

So the cops or the DA had a second suspect? But who was this Louis Manning? And why was his name so familiar? Whoever he was, this report referred to him as a suspect. But he hadn’t been mentioned in the first report. Maybe he was some one who had come to the attention of the police since then. But why had Alex not been notified? Maybe it had only happened recently.

“What is it?” asked Martine, seeing the look on Alex’s face.

“There’s another suspect. And he also matches.”

“Let me see!” she said, snatching the report from Alex’s hand.

“Oh my God!” she blurted out.

“What?”

“It’s Louis Manning.”

“That name sounds familiar.”

“Good God! For a lawyer, you sure could use a bit more attention to detail. That’s the name of the man who tried to rape me!”

Paul Greenberg was sitting at the console of the network server looking at an information log-on the screen. It was one of the routine checks that he did at the start of his shift. He took his role as Systems Administrator very seriously, so the first thing he did whenever he started his shift was run a series of checks to find out in what state the system had been left by whoever was last on duty as Systems Administrator.

It was while he was making these routine checks that he noticed something unexpected. He leaned forward and peered intently at the screen. What he saw shocked him. It showed him logged on earlier during the day. That didn’t make any sense. He wasn’t even here at the time.
He was on nights.

He typed in an instruction and called up another screen-full of information. Not only did the user log show him as logged on to the system, but the activity log even showed him uploading and downloading files
–
something that he hadn’t done all week. The only time he would download or upload files was if he was requested to help staff members of law enforcement agencies who were having trouble using the system.

A few more information requests typed in at the keyboard gave him a clearer idea of what had happened. Some one had accessed the system from outside, via the web server and not only gained “root” control over it, but from there gone on to gain access to the DNA database server via the network server. That could mean trouble.

He transferred his attention to the DNA database server and checked the activity log there. And what he saw filled him with horror

Some one had remotely deleted a file and replaced it with another.

That wasn’t right!
The DNA server wasn’t supposed to be accessed remotely at all – and certainly not with superuser privileges. It was a Local DNA Database Index, with the emphasis on the word “Local”. It was only supposed to be used by the local DNA lab in the government center itself. Indeed one of the conditions for the LDIS being allowed to upload to the California SDIS and the NDIS in Washington DC was that they use dedicated, unswitched lines. But some hacker had evidently bypassed this by logging on to the web server for the building and maneuvering their way through the internal trusted connections. And what was worse – Greenberg realized – they had done so by impersonating
him
.

He had to tell some one. But at this time there was no one to tell. He had to find out more. He had a long night ahead of him.

It was Monday morning and once again the lawyers were in Justice Ellen Wagner’s chambers to deal with the issues arising out of the results of the DNA tests.

As they were all familiar with the results already, Justice Wagner was taking the initiative. Right now, she was speaking and the others were listening.

“We have now established that neither Elias Claymore not Louis Manning can be eliminated as suspects based on the DNA alone. As matters stand now, the jury are aware of the falsification of the original DNA evidence by Steven Johnson. As they have been made aware of this, it cannot be held that this will have a prejudicial effect against the defendant. However, the new evidence cannot now be introduced by the prosecution because the prosecution has rested its case.”

Sarah Jensen leaned forward.

“Your Honor, we would seek to introduce this as rebuttal evidence.”

Justice Wagner looked at Sarah Jensen with condescension bordering on contempt.”

“You’ve got to kidding Ms Jensen. There’s no way this could be considered rebuttal.”

“Steven Johnson was a defense witness Your Honor. It’s in response to his testimony. Therefore technically…”

She trailed off, realizing just how weak her argument really was. Justice Wagner spoke.

“This isn’t rebuttal of Steven Johnson’s evidence. This is
new
evidence. You’re not challenging the fact that the State’s own DNA testing was flawed by Steven Johnson’s carelessness and subsequent chicanery. You’re asking for a second shot to make up for the fact that your original DNA evidence was discredited.”

Sarah Jensen remained silent.

“I can understand your concern. You fear that if I declare a mistrial, even without prejudice, you won’t be able to persuade Bethel Newton to testify at the retrial after what she’s been though already. Mr. Sedaka, you’re also caught on the horns of a dilemma and you don’t know whether to push for a mistrial or not. I’ve made it clear that I won’t grant a mistrial with prejudice, but will simply order a retrial. You fear that if the case goes to retrial, Bethel Newton might yet be persuaded to testify and will be better prepared this time around. You also fear that a retrial will deny you the benefit of having discredited the prosecution’s DNA evidence and even open the door to the people introducing the new DNA tests, although you will, for your part, be allowed to introduce the fact that that the genetic profile also matches Louis Manning.”

“I can do that now, without a retrial, Your Honor.”

“Except that if you do, then I would have to rule that you have opened the door to the prosecution introducing
all
the results of the new tests including the fact that they match the defendant.”

“That’s not fair Your Hon
–
” Andi blurted out.

She was silenced by a slight motion of Alex’s index finger. The judge continued.

“It’s perfectly fair Ms Phoenix. In order to introduce the facts pertaining to Louis Manning, the defense will have to introduce the results of the new test itself. Once the defense does that, the prosecution will be able to introduce whatever else is in those same tests. There is no way that the results can be separated or isolated.”