"Yes."

"You are aware that the courts accept and allow testimony from any number of so-called experts in many different fields such as doctors, psychologists, engineers and natural scientist, just to name a few?

"Yes."

"This does not necessarily mean that all of these are one hundred percent correct in their testimony.

It just means that the court accepts and allows it.

Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Sources of error can exist in handwriting a.n.a.lysis, can they not?

There are a lot of judgment calls just like there is in most professions, isn't that correct?"

"Yes."

"So we really have no evidence that handwriting a.n.a.lysis is infallible.

In fact, there are doc.u.ment examiners that are honest enough not to claim that."

"Well, they must be graphologists. We are on a different basis and it cannot be carried over to what we are doing."

Trenchant then named a well known doc.u.ment examiner and asked if Avery knew of him.

"Of course."

"Is he a graphologist?"

"No."

"We talked to him about this situation and asked him questions.

Unfortunately, it was much too expensive to bring him here to testify, however, he did agree to make an affidavit. I will read from it now.

Quote. 'It is my opinion that the identification of handwriting is not as positive as fingerprint identification. While a doc.u.ment examiner may feel that his or her opinion is 100 percent positive, the facts are that the opinion is based on qualifications, training, experience and judgment, any of which may be limiting or otherwise subject to question. In addition, the known standards used in the comparison for the Belmont case may be tainted or under dispute.'"

"I don't agree." The doc.u.ment examiner said, visibly upset.

Henry called a recess.

When the session opened again, Diana asked, "If you had your druthers, would you agree with other doc.u.ment examiners that original standards are preferable to copies?"

"Yes."

"You have said that you could not reach a conclusion from the first lot of so-called standards sent to you. If you had not been sent all that additional material going back 20 to 30 years, what would have been your conclusion?"

"I would have no conclusion."

"I am interested in your report of this note. The other unknown material you were sent was written on evaluation forms.

I am speaking now of the note." Trenchant held up her copy.

Avery nodded and located his copy among the papers before him on the table.

"Now, you report that you cannot be sure of the authorship of this note which has quite a few words but you can be sure of the authorship of this evaluation form which has only two words."

Avery found the other doc.u.ment referred to and looked at them and then at his notes. "Yes," he agreed. "I could not be sure of the note because it contains block printing."

"So do these other SmurFFs that you say you have identified.

There is some block printing on the note that we are talking about, but most of it is small case printing."

"Well, there were not enough individualistic examples in the note to be sure."

Henry wished that they had never let that note be sent to the doc.u.ment examiners. It had been nothing but trouble and was not related to the SmurFF forgery that Diana was charged with.

That d.a.m.n note which had come out of nowhere--reportedly given Lyle by his good friend but never verified, was not identified as being written by Diana by either of the two doc.u.ment examiner firms.

The two examiners also differed on the identification of one of the 'suspect' medical school SmurFFs. One was sure of Exhibit 2 but not of 3. The other was sure of 3 but not of 2.

Henry recalled that now both doc.u.ment examiner witnesses agreed that the handwriting did change over the years. Jesus, if this woman keeps it up, she'll destroy all our evidence. Quickly, Henry stepped in and Amos Avery, the second doc.u.ment examiner that the Belmont administration had hired, was excused.

Chapter 33

After Avery left the hearing room, Diana put the expert doc.u.ment examiner's affidavit, that she had read from, into evidence. The expert had sworn in this affidavit that all of the student evaluations for the medical school courses for those years should be a.n.a.lyzed. It was possible that another person or persons had handwriting or printing that was similar to Diana's. She read this portion to the committee and added that she hoped they would read the complete affidavit which contained several pages of the doc.u.ment examiner's credentials.

All along, the women kept their eyes either on these papers or on the witness. They steadfastly refused to look at Diana or at the chair. They asked few questions of the witness, tonelessly, and did not ask any follow up or clarifying questions.

Annette gives new dimension to the act of keeping a low profile, thought Henry. Her demeanor resembles that of a puppy that has just been whipped for p.i.s.sing on the new carpet. Jane, on the other hand, adopts a superior mien. Her greatly elevated nose brings her whole being into an alt.i.tude seemingly far above the detestable situation she finds herself in.

As for Esther, well, she's a wreck. Never terribly lucid in her thought processes, she babbles incoherently and then apologizes when asked to repeat them. Her piggy eyes dart from witness to her papers in a flurry of indecisiveness.

Frank a.n.u.se is up to form though and really enjoying it.

Henry watched Frank proudly as he flung Diana a s.h.i.t eatin' grin at every opportunity and at times actually taunted her in a way reminiscent of a town bully.

At this point in the proceedings, a.n.u.se laughed aloud in a derisive, taunting fashion, causing everyone on the panel to look at him in shocked silence. The chair put up a warning hand.

Esther, all the way out in left field and looking bewildered asked, "I don't remember. Did we receive something from the students?"

Diana stood up and walked over to where a.n.u.se sat. Jowl to jowl with him, she said succinctly, "It isn't funny, Mr. Frank a.n.u.se. It is not funny, it is serious." To Esther, she said, "You probably don't see everything that comes in or goes out of this committee.

"Again, I want to state that I have been denied access to all these student evaluations that are needed for my defense.

In addition, this committee has steadfastly refused to confirm the testimony of their witnesses concerning these doc.u.ments by demanding that they be produced." Diana returned to her chair.

Her attorney, Al Garret, leaned over and whispered into her ear.

He congratulated her on heeding his advice to be a.s.sertive and demanding.

Diana continued, "I would like to call Dr. Stacy Denton who has information on the writing of the suspect doc.u.ments."

"Is this. . .", Henry floundered. "Is this new information referring to the doc.u.ment examiner we just heard from? This hearing is restricted, as I told you, to his testimony and--"

"This witness has very pertinent information for the committee regarding my innocence of your charges."