“I mean that they told me that I had better come clean and throw myself on their mercy and— Well, they were the ones who said they had the deadwood on me and it would mean that I got life as an habitual criminal and they’d see that I served every minute of it, unless I co-operated and helped them clear up a bunch of unsolved crimes.”
“So then the conversation took another turn, didn’t it?” Mason said. “You started talking about what would happen to you if you were able to help the officers clear up a murder that they wanted to make a record on.”
“Well, something like that.”
“You told Lieutenant Tragg that you could clear up some matters for the police if you received immunity for your part in the crime, and if you received immunity for the holdup of the supermarket. Isn’t that right?”
“Well, I believe I brought the matter up, yes.”
“In other words, you told Lieutenant Tragg you were willing to make a trade?’
“Not in those words.”
“But that was what it amounted to.”
“Well, yes.”
“And you wanted to be guaranteed immunity before you told your story to the district attorney.”
“Well, that was good business.”
“That’s the point I’m getting at,” Mason said. “This conscience of yours didn’t take over all at once. You decided to do a little bargaining before letting your conscience take over.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to tell the police what I knew unless I got immunity. I wasn’t going to put my head in a noose just to accommodate them.”
“And did you get immunity?”
“I got the promise of immunity.”
“A flat promise of immunity?”
“In a way, yes.”
“Now, just a minute,” Mason said. “Let’s refresh your recollection. Wasn’t it a conditional promise of immunity? Didn’t the district attorney say to you in effect that he couldn’t give you immunity until he had first heard your story? That if your story resulted in proving a murder and bringing the murderer to justice, that then you would be given immunity provided your testimony was of material help?”
“Well, something like that.”
“That was what you were angling for.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s what you got.”
“Yes.”
“So,” Mason said, leveling his finger at the witness, “as you sit there on that witness stand, you are charged with a crime which, with your prior record, will probably mean a sentence to life imprisonment, and you have made a bargain with the district attorney that if you can concoct a story which you can tell on this witness stand, which will convince this jury so that they will convict the defendant of first-degree murder, you can walk out of this courtroom scot free and resume your life of crime; but if, on the other hand, your story isn’t good enough to convince the jury, then you don’t get immunity.”
“Now, just a minute, just a minute,” Hamilton Burger shouted, getting to his feet. “That question is improper, it calls for a conclusion of the witness, it’s argumentative—”
“I think I will sustain the objection,” Judge Flint said. “Counsel can ask the question in another way.”
“The district attorney told you that if your story resulted in clearing up a murder you might be given immunity?”
“Yes.”
“And that he couldn’t guarantee you immunity until he had heard your story on the witness stand.”
“Not exactly.”
“But the understanding was, as he pointed out, that you had to come through with your testimony on the witness stand before you got immunity.”
“Well, I had to complete my testimony, yes.”
“And it had to result in clearing up a murder.”
“Yes.”
“And bringing the murderer to justice.”
“Yes.”
“In other words, obtaining a conviction,” Mason said.
“Well, nobody said that in so many words.”
“I’m saying it in so many words. Look in your own mind. That’s the thought that’s in the back of your mind right now, isn’t it? You want to get this defendant convicted of murder so you can go free of the crimes you committed.”
“I want to get square with myself. I want to tell the truth.”
Mason made a gesture of disgust. “The truth!” he exploded. “You had no intention of telling your story to the police until you were apprehended in the commission of a crime. Isn’t that right?”
“Well, I had thought about it.”
“You’d thought about it to this extent,” Mason said. “You’d thought about it to the extent of believing that you had an ace trump which you could play when you got into trouble. That you were going to go out and hit the jackpot. You were going on a crime binge; and that in the event you were caught, you would then make a deal with the prosecutor to clean up a murder case in return for immunity.”
“I didn’t have any such idea.”
“How many other crimes had you committed during the period between the Dorrie Ambler episode and your attempt to rob the supermarket?”
“I... I... not any.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Mason said. “Didn’t your bargain with the police include the fact that you were going to clean up certain other holdups and clear the record on them?”
“Well, yes.”
“In other words, you were going to confess to all those crimes.”
“Yes.”
“And be given immunity.”
“Yes.”
“Did you or did you not commit those crimes that you were going to confess to?”
“If the Court please,” Hamilton Burger said, “this cross-examination is entirely improper. The questions are purely for the purpose of degrading the witness in the eyes of the jury and they have no other reason.”
“The objection is overruled,” Judge Flint said. “Had you or had you not committed all those crimes that you were going to confess to?” Mason asked. “Crimes that you did confess to.”
“I hadn’t committed all of them, no.”
“You had committed some of them?”
“Yes.”
“And on the other crimes,” Mason said, “you were going to tell a lie in order to clear up the records so that the police department could wipe them off the books, with the understanding that you would be given immunity for all those crimes and wouldn’t be prosecuted.”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly like that,” the witness said. “They wouldn’t buy a pig in a poke. I had to make good first.”
“Make good in what way?”
“With my testimony.”
“Exactly,” Mason said. “If your testimony wasn’t strong enough to result in a conviction for this defendant, the deal was off. Isn’t that right?”
“I... I didn’t say it that way.”
“You may think you haven’t,” Mason said, turning on his heel and walking back to his chair. “That’s all the cross-examination I have of this witness at this time.”
Hamilton Burger, his face flushed and angry, said, “I’ll recall Lieutenant Tragg to the stand.”
“You have already been sworn, Lieutenant Tragg,” Judge Flint said. “Just take the stand.”
Tragg nodded, settled himself in the witness chair.
“Lieutenant Tragg,” Burger said, “I will ask you if, following a conversation with Dunleavey Jasper, you made a trip to the vicinity of Gray’s Well by automobile?”
“I did.”
“And what did you look for?”
“I looked for any place where the automobile road ran within a few feet of a sloping sand dune so constituted that one man could drag a body down the slope of the sand dune.”
“I object, if the Court please,” Mason said, “to the last part of the witness’ statement as a conclusion of the witness, not responsive to the question and having no bearing on the facts of the case as we have those facts at present.”