Murder of Stanley Cohen Part XI

Could a simple tissue hold the key to unraveling a murder mystery? Join us as seasoned criminalist Gopinath Rail delves into the forensic evidence surrounding Joyce Cohen's trial. Rail's expert analysis of gunshot residue offers a tantalizing insight into how particles on Joyce's hands could link her to the crime scene. Despite evidence suggesting she handled a recently discharged weapon, Rail intriguingly asserts that Joyce did not pull the trigger herself. This revelation adds layers of complexity to an already intricate case, leaving listeners on the edge of their seats as they ponder the implications of handling versus firing a weapon.

The plot thickens as we follow Alan Ross's discovery of a deceitful character who inadvertently cracks open a long-standing murder investigation. Bernard A House emerges as an unlikely but crucial figure, with his unassuming actions potentially shifting the course of the trial. His unintentional involvement goes unnoticed until Charlotte Miller's casual mention to Kastranakis unravels a web that challenges the defense team. With Dr. Charles Whitley's testimony looming, the courtroom drama reaches a fever pitch. Tune in to experience the escalating tension and witness the twists and turns that make this case a compelling tale of justice.

Chapters

• 1:23 Murder Book
• 19:32 Uncovering Crucial Witness Testimony

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:23

Welcome to the Murder Book. I'm your host, chiara, and we continue with the murder of Stanley Cohen. Let's begin. Shortly before 9 am on Monday, october 30th, ross Ansel and Joyce Cohen walked down the hallway from their encampment on the fourth floor, a large room provided as a courtesy to counsel and defendants in lengthy criminal cases. The room, which Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerald Cogan used when he was in town, was stocked with dozens of file cabinets, files, legal pads, books all the paraphernalia of the case. It was where Joyce Cohen and her attorneys had lunch every day, a brief respite from the media and the courtroom spectators. It was also where Ross kept witnesses on ice awaiting their turn in the box.

Speaker 1: 2:24

The defense attorney arrived in court shortly before the scheduled starting time, but the prosecutors were late. Again they show up about 9-12. Degregory pushed an ungainly heavily loaded evidence cart ahead of him into the crowded courtroom. He couldn't get an elevator down from his sixth floor office and he apologized. Judge Smith was not impressed. He said this is the last day. An apology is going to work. She warned it's only 12 or 13 minutes, but it all adds up. From now on, be on time. We'll hold you in contempt. The bailiff let the jurors out of the tiny, cramped jury room where they had been waiting and they settled themselves in the jury box.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Degregory called the state's next witness, gopinath Rail, a small meat man with gray and dark hair. Rail had been a criminalist on the MetroDate staff for eight years and he spoke with a strong Indian accent. His job, he said, was to analyze gunshot residue particles the tiny bits that collect on the hands of the shooter, on the weapon and on the target the gunshot victim, the gunshot victim. These particles lead, barium and antimony eject from the primer and gunpowder of a bullet as it is fired. Kevin DeGregory handed Rao Stan Cohen's .38 caliber Smith Wesson the gun that killed him to illustrate the particles according to Rao as he explained it to the jury. He says these particles spew from the breech of the gun in a fine cascade called breech blast. They also shower out of the muzzle with particles from the bullet itself in what is called a muzzle blast. Some of the muzzle blast blows back toward the shooter. It's called the blowback. So by analyzing the number and type of gunshot residue particles found, experts can determine whether the particles are breech blast or muscle blast. The particles that collect on the shooter's own hands are mostly breech

Speaker 1: 4:49

blasts. Degregory led his expert witness methodically through the technical testimony. These particles are very tiny, Rao continued, nearly invisible. 90% of them cannot be seen with the naked eye. The particles are collected from hands, weapons and targets by swabbing with alcohol. Then the swabs are sent to the laboratory for

Speaker 1: 5:16

analysis. And finally Rale turned to his analysis of evidence. In this case he had examined a paper facial tissue with a blue and white print on it. He said the tissue had been collected at the Cohen home. Found under an empty tissue box in Joyce Cohen's private bath, there was a dark stain on the tissue. The evidence tacked on the plastic sleeve holding the tissue indicated that it had previously been tested by a serologist. Indicated that it had previously been tested by a serologist, kathy Nelson, who determined the presence of nasal mucus from a person with type B blood. Riel had isolated the area of the dark stain on the tissue and flooded it with alcohol to put any particles in suspension. Then he poured the alcohol through a polycarbonate filter to trap the particles. After the filter was dried in an oven and specially coated, he examined the filter under a scanning electron microscope, state-of-the-art technique and gunshot residue analysis. He found 15 bismuth particles common in ladies' cosmetics, and 12 pure lead particles. That could only have come, rale said, from a bullet. The conclusion was obvious the tissue had come into contact with muscle blast. But how? Next DeGregory handed Ralph State's exhibit number 147, the gunshot residue hand swab

Speaker 1: 6:53

kit. Rale identified four alcohol swabs taken of Joyce Cohen's hands on that long ago morning at the Miami Police Department. The swabs were labeled right web, that's the area between the thumb and first finger where a pencil or a gun would line left web, right palm, left palm plus a control swab to be analyzed for inadvertent contamination. Inadvertent contamination. Riel had prepared a filter as he had before. Then examined the filter, trapped particles on each swab under the electron microscope. He found five gunshot residue particles on the swab from the left hand, 26 from the right, a total of 31 particles. His conclusion a total of 31 particles. His conclusion Joyce Cohen's hands had been covered with muscle

Speaker 1: 7:55

blast. So Gregory asked his expert witness did Joyce Cohen fire the weapon? And Rayle replied no. Based upon the number and type of particles that he found, he said this person could not have fired the weapon. What other ways are there to get this gunshot residue? Degregory asked, could she have been between the gun and the target? And Rael answered yes, standing next to the shooter, yes, touching the wound

Speaker 1: 8:35

yes. Did you find any blood on Joyce Cohen's hand swabs? The reply no, sir. He said based on the number of particles that you found on the defendant's hand swabs, are the results that you got consistent with this defendant having handled a recently fired gun that was fired four times? Rales said yes, sir, and now Duke Gregory moved in for the kill. He handed Rayo State's exhibit number 135. This is the soil, blue and white tissue. Based upon the number of particles you found, he asked are the results consistent with this tissue, having touched a recently fired gun? And Rayo answered yes, sir. He asked are they consistent with the defendant having taken the gun in her hands, having it wiped down with this tissue, that is, states Exhibit Number 135? And Rios said it is consistent,

Speaker 1: 9:44

sir. So it was, of course, evidence supporting the prosecutor's basic theory, the solution to the problem of putting the murder weapon in Joyce Corhen's hands. This was the strategy that the Gregory and Castronakis had worked out so sorry. And Castronakis had worked out so Sorry, so painstakingly, over long hours, with the physical evidence scattered like pieces of a puzzle across the Gregory conference table. So now defense attorney Alan Ross leaped to his feet for cross-examination and he asked aren't your results also consistent with her, having touched the victim's pillows or the victim and touching the tissue? And Rios said

Speaker 1: 10:54

yes. So at Ross's urn Rales described how Joyce Cohen could have gotten gunshot residue on her hands by touching her husband's bedding or his shoulders and then could have transferred residue particles to a tissue that she used to wipe her nose. But DeGregory had one more question on redirect. He said If the defendant touched the victim or his bedding and then blew her nose and transferred gunshot residue to the tissue, would you expect to find the number of particles that you found on her hands to still be there? And then the expert said not likely, sir. First of all there are too many particles to contend with to come on the tissue and secondly, by going through that kind of activity you would not have that kind of residual present. So if the jury had followed D Gregory through the maze of technical jargon and the legal sociology, they would conclude that Joyce Cohen had used that tissue to wipe down the gun that killed her husband. But that was a big if. And Ross had handed the jury a plausible, innocent explanation for the defendant's soil hands and tissue? Would this be one of the reasonable doubts Ross had promised the jury? So now we have another

Speaker 1: 12:37

witness. The state's next witness was Anthony Middleton. He's a tall young man whose long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He wore a loose white shirt, tight black pants and he was the former floor manager at Biscayne Baby and he told the jury in a clip British accent and he recognized Joyce Cohen because she used to come into the champagne room at Biscayne Baby about twice a week. He said he saw her there occasionally with Maya Wenning or Jerry Carroll. Once he noticed Joyce with her husband Stan and once she was with Lynn Barkley. Middleton recognized photos of two other Champagne Room customers, anthony Carasiello and Tony Lamberti. He told the jury about one busy evening in February 1986. He was delivering liquor to the Champ champagne room when he tripped and knocked over the drinks of two customers, caracciolo and Lamberti. As he regained his balance he looked up and recognized Joyce Cohen standing right in front of him and she asked him are you all right? Middleton didn't see any conversation between Joyce Cohen and Caracciolo and Lamberti didn't see any conversation between Joyce Cohen and Caracciolo and Lamberti. He wasn't sure she was with them, but it was a very small

Speaker 1: 13:56

room. So during the lunch break the television monitors were installed in the courtroom. The videotaped testimony of Bernard A House, taken by John Krastanakis and Bodamso the weekend before, would be shown at 1 o'clock. When the jury assembled in the courtroom after lunch, kastranakis rose dramatically. He said the state calls as its next witness Bernard A House, who was testified by videotape there. He was finally the mystery witness from New York who had been a guest in a condominium not far from the Cohens house. In the grove in the night the nightstand was shot An older man with a weathered face, white

Speaker 1: 14:40

hair. He was dressed for the occasion in a blue suit and tie and he was he told the video camera a grain farmer. Had been one for over 44 years. So in response to Krasnacki's questions, a House told his story. In March of 1986, he said he went to Florida with his wife Eileen to visit her mother in Lake Worth. On March 6, he flew to Miami alone to meet with Frank Miller. He had some business with Miller, whom he had known for several years. He arrived in Miami about 10 o'clock that night. A-house continued and Miller picked him up at the airport. They drove to Miller's condominium in Coconut Grove where he spent the night with Miller, whose wife, charlotte, was out of town. It was an elaborate apartment, he recalled, up on the fourth or fifth

Speaker 1: 15:33

floor. That night A-House said he went to bed around 11. He slept in the bedroom facing South Bayshore Drive. There were sliding glass doors overlooking the street and he left them slightly open. When he went to bed During the night A-House was awakened by gunshots, bang, a slight pause and then bang, bang, bang. Total of four shots. He got up, walked across the bedroom, looked out the sliding glass door and he saw nothing. And then he said I heard a sound like backing into a garage door. A-house said the sounds came from the left and toward the front of the building. It was very quiet, a still night. I happened to look at the digital clock in the bedroom. It said three o'clock. I went back to sleep afterwards. There it was the last piece of the puzzle the prosecutors had assembled so patiently. A-house had heard exactly four shots at three o'clock in the

Speaker 1: 16:32

morning. So Castro asked a product, do you know what kind of gun it was? And a house said a small caliber handgun. My opinion based on what I heard, it was a 38 caliber weapon. He was familiar with firearms. He explained he owned 10 rifles and 6 shotguns. He had handled handguns in the Army during World War II and he had friends who owned handguns. He said I can distinguish between rifle shots, shotgun and handgun fire, he

Speaker 1: 17:06

said. When A-House had awakened at 7 the following morning, frank Miller called him to the television and to the kitchen there was a crime scene that looked like something out of Miami Vice. And then Miller told him look out the window and he saw the same scene Yellow tape, police officers, swat cars, cars about 200 to 300 yards down the street in the direction from which the noises had come the night before. So he told Miller about the shots he had heard. After breakfast they left to drive to Lake Worth where Aikau's wife was staying, but first Miller drove him past the crime scene on South Bayshore Drive. As they turned the corner a police officer leaned toward the car and told them to keep moving. He never heard anything about the case again until Castranacki's call from

Speaker 1: 18:00

Miami. As Amso watched the videotape on the courtroom television, he relieved his frustration. A-house testimony seemed tailor-made for the prosecution frustration. Ahau's testimony seemed tailor-made for the prosecution and Ansel had had precious little to go on for cross-examination, but he had been determined to give it his best. And Ansel asked Ahau, where was the clock? And Ahau said to the left, on a dresser nearby the bed. It was a digital clock with a light that showed up in the dark. And so he asked him are you certain about the time? And he said yes, I recall it was three o'clock. It could have been a half hour either way. Could it have been as late as 5.30? Ensor asked, and A-House said

Speaker 1: 18:50

no. Ensor plotted

Speaker 1: 18:52

undoubtedly. How long before you heard the crunching

Speaker 1: 18:56

sound? What time did you fall back asleep? Did you hear anything else out of the ordinary that night? An alarm sirens. But despite his best efforts, ensor could not budge A-House For the life of him. He couldn't figure out how A-House might be connected with the case, what motive he could have to lie. The old man must be simply mistaken, ensor concluded. But how could he prove it to the

Speaker 1: 19:25

jury? The videotape concluded abruptly and Judge Smith excused it At the court. The jurors had run out of. That had played out before. After years of fruitlessness, the one man that morning had found the story of a lying, conniving, skimming soccarello, as Alan Ross described him, had told Detective John Spear more than three years before that the shots were fired between 2 and 3 am. Apparently, bernard A House was unaware of the significance of what he had heard, but given the publicity that had surrounded the murder, it was surprising that Frank and Charlotte Miller had not grasped the importance of what he told them. At least Charlotte Miller had remembered, but it was just plain dumb. Luck that she had mentioned it to Kastranakis and that he had found a house. But a house was bad news for the defense Defense attorney. Ross's shoulders slumped with exhaustion as he stood up to pack his briefcase. Tomorrow would be another day. The state planned to call Dr Charles Whitley and Ross had to be ready. Thank you for listening to the Murder Book. Have a great week.