“Ms. Castellano is right when she says no body, no crime.
“Not only is there no body, there’s no weapon, and in this day of advanced forensic science, there isn’t even a microscopic trace of evidence at the so-called crime scene. Oh, yes,” Davis said as if it were an aside. “After an intense, and I would say mind-blowing, interrogation by the police, my client confessed to a crime she didn’t commit.
“An expert witness will talk about this syndrome of false confessions, a sign of emotional battery, which is what happened to Ms. Moon. And Ms. Moon will tell you about the night of January twenty-first herself. All the prosecution has to present to you is the retracted confession of a terrified young woman who was intimidated by the interrogation of an aggressive, motivated team of homicide inspectors who had an agenda: to hang the disappearance of the governor’s son on someone.
“They picked Junie Moon.
“Over the next few days, you will hear the preposterous case against her. There will be no DNA evidence, and Henry Lee won’t be coming here with photos of blood spatter to tell you how this so-called crime went down.
“Even Ricardo Malcolm, Ms. Moon’s former boyfriend, won’t be called to testify for the prosecution, because he told the police that Junie never met Michael Campion. He said nothing happened.
“So what did happen to Michael Campion?
“We know — everyone in the free world knew — Michael Campion had a serious, congenital, and potentially fatal heart condition, and that he was living on borrowed time. After he left his house on the night of January twenty-first, something happened. We don’t know what that something was, but it’s not our job or yours to speculate.
“When you’ve heard this case in its entirety, the prosecution will ask you to find Ms. Moon guilty beyond reasonable doubt. And common sense will tell you that Ms. Moon is not guilty of any of the charges against her. She’s not guilty of tampering with evidence. She didn’t help dismember a body in her bathtub or dispose of that body.
“And as sure as I’m standing in front of you, Junie Moon is not guilty of murder.”
Chapter 36
THE BAILIFF CALLED MY NAME and I got up from the bench in the hallway, stiff-armed the double doors of the vestibule to the courtroom, and strode up the aisle. Heads turned as I approached the witness stand. And I was reminded again that the case against Junie Moon would hang in large part on my testimony. And that L. Diana Davis was going to do her best to crush me.
I swore to tell the truth and took my seat, and my good friend Yuki asked me preliminary questions, setting up my time and grade as a police officer.
Then she asked, “Sergeant Boxer, did you interview the defendant on April nineteenth?”
“Yes. Inspector Richard Conklin and I first interviewed her in her house, and then later at the southern division of the SFPD, on the third floor of this building.
“Did she seem afraid or anxious or intimidated?”
“Actually, no. She seemed quite comfortable. In fact, she agreed to come to the Hall for questioning.”
“At that time, did you ask her about Michael Campion?”
“We did.”
“And what was her response?” Yuki asked.
“At first she told us that she had never met Michael Campion. Approximately two hours later, she asked us to shut off the video camera.”
“And what happened after that?”
In answer to Yuki’s questions, I told the jury what Junie had told me and Conklin — how the victim had expired, that she had called Ricky Malcolm, and what the two of them had done with Michael Campion’s body.
“Did you have any reason to doubt this story?” Yuki asked.
“No. I found her quite credible.”
“Did you interview the defendant at any other time?”
“Yes. We met with Ms. Moon a few days later at the women’s jail. We hoped Ms. Moon might remember the name of the town where she and her boyfriend disposed of Mr. Campion’s remains.”
“And did she remember?”
“Yes. The town of Jackson, about three and a half hours northeast, in Amador County.”
“So to be clear, this was a second interview?”