Defending Jacob

On the stand, Duffy reveals that “‘Certain aspects of the investigation had to be carried out without Mr. Barber knowing’” (313). He believes that Jacob wrote the story on the Cutting Room because it describes the angles of the knife wounds correctly. He reveals that the knife they did find in the park was the wrong one; he thinks it was planted there to mislead investigators. However, he continues to maintain that Andy did not suspect anything. Finally, Logiudice asks when Duffy learned that Andy’s father was a murderer, causing Jonathan to call for a mistrial. Exiting the court, Andy spies a stranger watching him, and connects it with the car on their street. The grand jury transcript reveals that Andy knew “from the start” (325) that Laurie planted a kitchen knife at the scene of the crime.

Andy receives a collect call from Billy. Billy tells him that he can deny his paternity all he wants—it won’t change the fact that Jacob is his grandson. He asks Andy about Patz. He also tells Andy that he is “‘not in prison […] [he’s] everywhere’” (332). After he hangs up, Laurie tells Andy never to accept his father’s call again.

Judge French does not declare a mistrial. Karen Rakowski, a criminalist, explains that stabbing Ben would not necessarily produce blood spatters. She notes that the fingerprint on Ben’s sweatshirt was definitely applied after his death. Finally, she agrees that the knife described in the Cutting Room story would perfectly match Ben’s stab wounds. Jonathan tries to cast doubt on this testimony, asking Karen if other knives could also leave the same wounds. He notes that Jacob’s links to the Cutting Room and the supposed knife both come from Derek, a “mixed-up boy” (344).