Without a Doubt

by Marcia Clark

I leaned over to Lisa Kahn, the deputy who was handling DNA for our side, and whispered, “Did he say what I think he said?” Lisa just shook her head in disbelief. “Your Honor.” I jumped up, interrupting Ito in midsentence. “May I ask the court to take some further evidence?” Ito fixed me with an icy glare. “I think that perhaps defense counsel has misled the court as to the nature of the testing that is going to be performed. You’re depriving us of ever conducting the poly-marker test completely by giving that ten percent to the defense… . You are taking evidence out of our hands forever.” Ito seemed embarrassed and angry. I’d put him on the spot. On national TV no less. He must have realized that he could not safely ignore my objection. What if I was right? What if this screwy order wound up trashing all the blood evidence? So he ordered a hearing during which experts from both sides would testify as to how much evidence we had and what we could afford to give up.