“Yes, sir.”
“Then what happened?”
“I told the defendant I wanted him to go to Headquarters with me.”
“Did he make any objection?”
“No, sir.”
“He went to Headquarters?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And, while he was there, did he make any statement to you?”
“He did, yes, sir.”
“What did he say?”
“He made a statement about what he had done the night before, and about the time he had seen Meridith Borden. I asked him if he had any objection to writing down what he had said and giving us a signed account of what had happened. He said he didn’t, so I gave him pencil and paper and he wrote out a document.”
“Do you have that document with you?”
“I do, yes, sir.”
“That was entirely written, dated and signed by the defendant and is in his handwriting?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did anyone tell him what to put in there?”
“No, sir, only to write down what had happened.”
“Did anyone offer him any promises, threats or inducements?”
“No, sir.”
“Was he subjected to any physical or mental pressure whatever in order to get him to make this statement?”
“No, sir.”
“He did it of his own free will and accord?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you have that statement here with you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“If the Court please,” Drew said, “I will offer this gun in evidence and also this statement.”
“Very well,” Judge Erwood said.
“Those are all the questions I have of this witness at this time. I may wish to recall him later,” Drew said.
“Quite all right,” Mason said. “I know the witness will be available. We waive cross-examination.”
“You waive it?” Drew asked incredulously.
“Certainly,” Mason said. “I have no questions, none whatever.”
“Call your next witness,” Judge Erwood said.
Sam Drew said, “Call Harvey Dennison to the stand, please.”
Harvey Dennison came forward and was sworn. He testified that he was an owner and proprietor of a general hardware store known as the Valley View Hardware Company, that he had been with the company for a period of more than three years, that he had examined the Colt revolver, Number 613096, that his records showed that this revolver had been purchased from the wholesaler, placed in stock, but that it had not been sold. He said that some three years ago it had been called to his attention that the gun was missing from the showcase, that this theft had turned up in connection with an inventory which was being taken, and the only possible conclusion was that the gun had been stolen, that there had been two occasions at about that time when the store had been entered by someone who had picked the lock on the back door, that certain things had been missing, but the fact that the gun was missing was not discovered until sometime after the burglaries.
“Any cross-examination?” Sam Drew asked of Mason.
“No cross-examination,” Mason said.
“Call Alexander Redfield,” Drew said.
Redfield came forward, was sworn and qualified himself as a ballistics expert and an expert on firearms and firearm identification.
“I show you a Colt .38 which has previously been introduced in evidence and is marked People’s Exhibit 13. This weapon bears the manufacturer’s serial number of 613096. Have you seen that weapon before?”
“I have.”
“Have you fired a test bullet from it?”
“I have.”
“Describe briefly what you mean by a test bullet.”
“Each individual barrel has certain defects, irregularities or individualities; little scratches, projections, et cetera, which leave a mark on any bullet which is fired through that gun.”
“Are you referring now to the lands and grooves?”
“Oh, no, those are entirely different. Those leave what is known as class characteristics on a bullet. I am referring now to the striations which are known as the individual characteristics of a bullet.”
“And by firing a test bullet through a gun, you collect evidence of these defects and irregularities?”
“We do. They cause bullet striations, numerous tiny scratches which are spaced at irregular distances, yet which are always uniform in any bullet fired from any given barrel.”
“You mean that it is possible to identify a bullet which has been fired from any particular barrel?”
“That’s right, if you have the gun, the fatal bullet and a test bullet.”
“And how do you get these so-called test bullets?”
“We fire the gun into a long box in which there are materials such as cotton waste, pieces of paper, cotton, or things of that sort, to retard the bullet without defacing it.”
“You fired a test bullet through this gun you are now holding?”
“I did.”
“And did you subsequently have occasion to compare that bullet with another bullet?”
“I did.”
“Where did you get that bullet?”
“From the coroner.”
“When?”
“Tuesday afternoon, the ninth.”
“And what can you say, with reference to the two bullets?”
“The bullet given me by the coroner agreed in such a large number of details with test bullets fired from this gun that I have no hesitancy in declaring that the so-called fatal bullet was fired from this gun.”
“Do you have the bullet which was given you by the coroner?”
“I do.”
“And one of the test bullets?”
“I do.”
“Will you produce them, please?”
The witness took two small, plastic vials from his pocket, said, “This is the bullet given me by the coroner which, in my photographs, I refer to as the fatal bullet, and the bullet in this container is what I refer to as the test bullet.”
“You made photographs showing a comparison of those bullets?”
“I did. I made photographs in which the test bullet was partially super-imposed upon the fatal bullet so that it was possible to follow the striations of the bullets as they continued on the overlapping image.”
“The striations matched?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you have those photographs here?”
“I do, yes, sir.”
“I will ask that these be received in evidence,” Drew said.
“No objection,” Mason announced cheerfully.
“Any cross-examination?” Drew asked Mason.
“None, Your Honor. I have the greatest confidence in Mr. Redfield’s integrity and ability.”
“That’s all,” Drew said.
The coroner was then called to testify that, under his supervision and direction, an autopsy had been performed upon the body of Meridith Borden, that a bullet had been found imbedded in the torso of Borden, that this bullet had been carefully removed by the autopsy surgeon, placed in a plastic vial with a screw top, sealed in the vial, and the vial had been turned over by him to Alexander Redfield, the ballistics expert.
“That’s all,” Drew said.
“No questions on cross-examination,” Mason announced.
Judge Erwood settled back in his chair with something akin to relief. Sam Drew, on the other hand, acted like a man who is walking over a mined area and momentarily expects an explosion to blow him into kingdom come. His case was proceeding all too regularly, all too swiftly and according to blueprint specifications. Everyone who was familiar with Perry Mason’s courtroom strategy knew he never permitted cases to proceed in such a manner — not for long.
Drew called the autopsy surgeon to the stand and questioned him concerning the findings at the autopsy. The surgeon read from notes stating that he had recovered a .38-caliber bullet which he had placed in a plastic container and turned over to the coroner, who, in his presence, had turned it over to Alexander Redfield; that the bullet which the coroner turned over to Redfield was the same bullet which he had recovered from the body of Meridith Borden, that the bullet had entered the left chest at a point slightly to the left of the median line and had ranged slightly down-ward, that he had recovered the bullet in the skin of the back, that the bullet had torn one corner of the heart completely out, and that in his opinion, death had been due to this bullet wound and had been virtually instantaneous.