"Gary loves football. He went. out for the team in ninth grade. The coach let him work out with the other leone con- boys, but he did not have the ability to really play.
Learning all but the simplest plays would be beyond him. So, the coach let him suit up. Every once in a while, if the team was really behind or really ahead, Gary would go in for a play or two. He would be told to block a specific person.
anted "His senior year, the coach put Gary on varsity, but pracf she he was only in five or so plays all year. They gave him a varsity letter because he tried so hard, not because he his 's did the things the other kids did to earn the letter."
"I have one final series of questions, Mr. Brock. How easy would it be to foot Gary into believing that he had supernatural powers that would enable him to project himself into the mind of a dead woman and see how she was killed?"
"It would be very easy. Gary wants very much to please people. He would do or say anything for approval."
"Would he invent a story to make a person in authority happy?"
"Most definitely. Gary has a very limited imagination, but he would pick up cues if the person talking to him suggested what he wanted to hear."
"What effect would there be on Gary if the person questioning him was a policeman?"
"That would have a big effect. Someone with Gary's IQ will follow people in authority without question. If a' policeman made suggestions to someone like Gary, there would be no way of telling if the mentally handicapped person Was remembering something or making it up to please the policeman."
After lunch, Peter called Don Bosco, who voiced his opinion that Dennis Downes had unwittingly placed Gary Harmon in a trance state during the interrogation, thus making any statement he made unreliable for evidentiary purposes. Bosco told the jury that Sergeant Downes's 'projection transfer" technique would invi ite someone of Gary's limited intelligence to fantasize in order to please his interrogator. He pointed out many sections of the transcript where leading and suggestive questions had elicited answers from Gary that echoed suggestions made by Downes.
"Mr. Bosco," Becky O'Shay said, when it was her turn to cross-examine, "if I understand you correctly, you are concerned that the defendant's statements may be unreliable because he may have parroted back suggestions made by Sergeant Downes instead of relating incidents in which he was actually involved."
"That's right."
"You weren't at Wishing Well Park when the murder was committed, were you?" O'Shay asked with a kind smile.
"No."
"So you don't know whether Gary Harmon committed this murder and was telling Sergeant Downes about an incident he remembers or whether he was not present during the murder and is making up a story?"
"That's true."
"Would one way of telling whether the defendant was making up what he told the officer be to see if he knew things about Sandra Whiley's murder that were not common knowledge and were not suggested to him by Sergeant Downes?"
"Yes."
"Thank you. No further questions."
Peter had saved his final witness for late in the day, so his testimony would be the last thing the urors heard.
He wanted the jurors to think about that testimony all night.
"Mr. Harmon calls Zachary Howell," Peter said.
A slender young man with curly brown hair entered the courtroom and walked to the witness stand.
"Mr. Howell," Peter asked, "are you a freshman at Whitaker State College?"
"Yes, sir."
What are you studying?"
Uh, I haven't settled on a major, yet. I'm thinking, maybe, biology."
"DO you have a girlfriend, Mr. Howell?"
"Yes."
"What's her name?"
"Jessie Freeman."
"How did you come to be a witness in this case?"
"There was an ad in the school paper. It asked anyone with any information about the murder to call you."
"Was the ad more specific?"
"You wanted to talk to anyone who'd been around Wishing Well Park from 11 P.m. to 2:30 A.M. on the evening that Sandra Whiley was killed."
"Do you remember what -you were doing on the evening that Sandra Whiley was murdered?"
"I was on a date with Jessie. We went to a late movie.
Afterward, we went to Wishing Well Park and, uh, we were in the park for a while."
Peter did not press Howell for more detailed testimony. He could tell from the amused looks of some of the jurors that they were well aware of what a young couple would be doing in the park on a romantic summer evening.
"When did you start to leave the park?"
"A little before eleven-thirty."
"How can you be certain of the time?"
"We were going white-water rafting the next day and we had to get up early, so I looked.at my watch to see what time it was."
"What path did you take to get out of Wishing Well Park?"
"We walked along the river until we reached the wishing well. Then we walked up the path and left through the main entrance."
"Did you see a dead body next to the well when you passed by?"
"No, sir."
"Would you have noticed a body?"
"Yes, sir. Jessie made a wish at the well and threw in a penny. We were standing there looking down."
"Do you know what Jessie wished for?"
"Yes, sir," Howell smiled.
"Tell the jury how you figured out Jessie's wish?"
"When we reached the place where the stone pillars are, Jessie kissed me."
"And did you kiss her back?' -Yes, sir."
"What happened then?"
"Jessie was holding on to my hand and she swung away from me and said, "See, wishes do come true." -She swung away," Peter repeated.
"Yes." -Why do you remember all this so well, Mr. Howell?"
"The girl who was murdered, Sandy, she was in one of my classes. Everyone was talking about it the next day when we got back from rafting. I realized that we must have been right where the murder took place, right before it happened. That really scared me."
"Mr. Howell, how long did it take between the time you decided to leave the park at a little before eleven-thirty and the time you actually left the park?"
"Not long. We were pretty near the well. Then, we stopped so Jessie could make her wish. That wasn't much time. I'd say no more than five minutes."
"So, it was around eleven thirty-five when you were at the entrance to the park?"
eyes)
"How was Jessie dressed?"
"Jeans and a tee shirt."
"Mr. Howell, are you taller or shorter than Jessie?"
"Taller. She's only about five four, five five."
"One last question. What is the color of Jessie Freeman's hair and does she wear it short or long?"
"Jessie's hair is blond. She has long blond hair."
Mi "Are you telling me that you didn't know a thing about this witness?"
Becky O'Shay shouted at Dennis Downes.
"Calm down, Becky."
"Don't you realize that our whole case depends on the theory that Harmon made up his story about seeing two people kissing at the entrance to Wishing Well Park? Didn't you hear me tell the jury during opening statement that there were never two people kissing at the park entrance, that the two people at the entrance were Sandra Whiley and the murderer, Gary Harmon?
Now, we've got two cute teenagers smooching at the pillars at eleven thirty-five. He is taller than she is, just as Harmon said. She swings away from him, just as Harmon said. And the girl has blond hair and was wearing jeans and a tee shirt, just like Sandra Whiley. Finally, we have Harmon eating biscuits and gravy at the Ponderosa without a drop of blood on him at midnight. The case is falling apart."
Downes shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what to tell you. No one knew about Howell until he called Hale. It's just a bad break."
O'Shay clenched her fists in frustration. Then she sank onto her chair and sagged.
"I'm sorry I yelled, Dennis. I'm just tired. You go and interview Howell for me. See if you can get me something I can use on cross. Call me at home if you com@ up with anything."