[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Yes, sir."
"Was that reputation good or bad?"
"It was very bad."
"And based on that reputation, would you believe her on her oath?"
"I wouldn't believe her if she was standing on a stack of Bibles. I
told Tom-" Benson was just getting warmed up.
"Just answer the questions," Garland stopped him. "All right, your
witness."
Weller dispatched Tom's fellow farrier quickly. Looking chagrined,
Fred Benson turned to the judge. "Your Honor, I didn't get to say all
I wanted to say-" "You have said all they will allow you to," Judge
Wofford explained.
Pursuing his strategy to cast doubt on Tom's identification in the
lineup, Garland called Hugh Maples, a private investigator working for
the defense team, to the stand. He recalled the circus atmosphere that
Fourth of July weekend at the East Point police station.
"Did you have occasion," Garland asked, "to be at the East Point jail
in the presence of Tom Allanson on an occasion when there was a
disrobed hippie girl?"
The jurors exchanged glances. Every day there seemed to be a surprise
or two in the testimony.
"Yes, sir."
"Tell the jury about that incident."
"This was on a Saturday prior to the lineup. . . . Pat was back there
. . . talking with Tom. . . . Chief of Police Godfrey was up at the
other end of the hall talking with this hippie girl . . . she had just
taken a shower and was complaining about no towels.
"How was she dressed?"
"She wasn't dressed."
"Did that attract any attention from the policemen?"
Several jurors smiled and a few gallery members tittered.
"Several. Yes, sir. . . . Detective Zellner leaned around the
corner.
He called someone to come there, and I turned and saw it was Officer
McBurnett."
"And could Officer McBurnett see the defendant, Tom Allanson?"
"Yes, sir."
Garland ended his questioning there. Had the jurors understood that
this prior viewing would have further contaminated McBurnett's
Page 88
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
identification of Tom in the lineup?
Ed Garland knew in his bones that Pat had concocted a story for Tom to
tell, believing her version would fly better than what he might say.
Garland didn't want Tom on the stand, and he certainly would not put
Pat on the stand; she was so unstable emotionally that he couldn't
predict what she might do. So Garland was left with a defense that
only nibbled at the edges of the questions in the jurors' minds.
Bill Weller kept making sarcastic references to the fact that most of
Tom's witnesses were "horse people," as if that would automatically
make them lie for him. Bill Jones, the liquor store eyewitness, had
been pretty well tainted as a defense witness. So Garland could only
chip away at the lineup and at Carolyn Allanson's reputation for
honesty.
None of it was really enough to fight double murder charges.
There was a hush in the courtroom as an old man made his way to the
witness stand. Walter Allanson-Paw-had come to testify for his
grandson in a murder trial where his own son and daughter-inlaw were
the victims. He had loved Tommy since the day he was born. He didn't
look like a sentimental man. Actually, he appeared to be a
weather-beaten old cuss whose expression reflected no discernible
emotion.
"Did you have occasion, Mr. Allanson," Garland asked, "to have a
telephone call from Carolyn Allanson?"
"Yeah . . .
"When did Carolyn Allanson call you?"
"About six weeks ago."
"In that conversation, what did she say to you?"
"She wanted to come out to the house but I had company coming. I asked
her to wait till Sunday to come. Then in talking to her, she's telling
me she loved Tom, and I asked her what all went on out at the house at
the killings. She said, 'Mother Allanson got killed." That's what she
called her mother-in-law, see, and then [she said], 'But we didn't mean
for Walter to get killed-' " What could she have meant: that there had
been a plot to kill her mother-in-law, and her father-in-law was killed
by mistake? It was doubtful that young Carolyn had been romantically
involved with her husband's father, as Margureitte had suggested. Was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • thierry.pev.pl

    •