“And in your opinion could he have read this document and understood it?” Principal Yates put his glasses on and read the document.
“Yes, I believe he could.”
“And, even though he was a very affable person, if Detective Brume had presented this document to him before he began his questioning and Rudy had read this document, in your opinion he would have understood that he had the right not to speak to Detective Brume?”
Bill Yates hesitated for a moment. He could see that Clay Evans had backed him into a corner. He didn’t want to hurt Rudy but he had to answer the question honestly.
“Yes. I believe that he would have understood that he had the right to refuse to speak to Officer Brume but — ” Clay cut him off before he could go any further.
“Thank you, Mr. Yates. I believe you have answered my question. One other thing: Does Rudy in your opinion know the difference between right and wrong?”
“Yes, I believe he does.”
“Thank you. No further questions, Your Honor.”
Tracey had no re-direct. Clay had scored his points but she wasn’t arguing that Rudy did not have the capacity to understand what he was signing.
“Call your next witness, Ms. James.”
Tracey followed Bill Yates with Benny Dragone.
“Detective Brume wanted to take Rudy off the job and over to the station for questioning,” he told Tracey in response to a question. “I told him that I wouldn’t let him speak to Rudy until I talked with his mother.”
“Why did you tell him that?”
“I knew he was looking at Rudy as a suspect in that girl’s murder and I didn’t trust him. I knew Rudy just couldn’t handle himself with a snake like that.”
“Objection.” Clay tried to sound outraged but his opinion of Wes actually coincided with Benny’s.
“Sustained,” Judge Wentwell replied, not waiting for argument. He looked down at Benny. “Mr. Dragone, stick to the facts. We don’t need the derogatory comments.”
“Yes, Your Honor. Sorry.”
But Tracey wasn’t letting it go just yet. “The person you referred to as a snake, Mr. Dragone, who was that?”
“Objection.”
“Overruled. The record needs to be clarified. You may continue with this one question, Ms. James.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. Do you need me to repeat the question, Mr. Dragone?”
“No. The snake I was referring to was Wesley Brume.”
“Thank you, Mr. Dragone. Now, what was Detective Brume’s response when you told him you wouldn’t let him speak to Rudy until you called Rudy’s mother?”
“He threatened me.”
“He threatened you? How did he do that?” Tracey did her best to sound surprised, as if she didn’t know what was coming next.
“He told me he’d get the health department over to my store for an inspection. I knew what he meant.”
Tracey decided to end her questioning there. Leave it up in the air a little. See if Clay had the guts to jump in. “No further questions, Your Honor.”
“Your witness, Mr. Evans.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. Mr. Dragone, to your knowledge did Detective Brume need to ask you for permission to take Rudy in for questioning?”
“No, of course not.”
“So he could have just come into the store, asked Rudy to come with him and left without even saying hello?”
“I guess so.”
“But he was polite enough to talk to you and explain to you what he was about to do?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it being polite.”
“Whatever, he did explain to you what he was about to do?” The Fourth snapped the question out.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Benny replied, almost reluctantly. It was that noncommittal answer that angered Clay, causing him to go a little too far.
“And you also ‘guessed’ that because Officer Brume mentioned the health department after looking around at your premises that he was somehow making a threat?”
“No, that wasn’t a guess. That was a fact.” Clay had pressed Benny’s button. “I come from Chicago. I know a threat when I hear one. Any fool knows when a cop tells you he wants somethin’ and you refuse, and then he says he’s gonna call the health department-that’s a threat.”
“In your opinion?” It was all Clay could come back with although he bathed the question in sarcasm.
“Yeah,” Benny replied. “In my opinion and a thousand other people if they were asked the same question.” Clay had no place else to go so he just stood there looking at Benny with disdain, hoping he could convince the judge that Benny was an uncooperative piece of shit who insulted lawyers.
“I have no further questions of this witness, Your Honor.”
Tracey called her next witness, another surprise for the Fourth, who was starting to feel like a punch-drunk fighter.
“The defense calls Maria Lopez.” The name did not ring a bell with the Fourth.
“I’m the receptionist at the police department,” Maria told Tracey. She went on to tell the judge that Elena had arrived at the police station at 3:16 p.m. on January 24th. She knew the exact time because Elena had asked her to write it down.
“What happened when Elena-Ms. Kelly-arrived at the station?”
“Nothing. I was told to have her sit and wait.”
“For how long?”
“Maybe twenty minutes. Then Detective Shorter came out to talk to her.”
“Did he come out on his own or did you have to call him?”
“I had to call him. Ms. Kelly insisted that I call again to let them know she was there.”
“Was she allowed to see her son after that?”
“No.”
“No further questions.”
Clay had no cross.
Tracey kept the pressure on, following Maria Lopez with Elena, who repeated Maria Lopez’s testimony almost verbatim, adding only the substance of her conversation with Del Shorter.
“He told me that my son could be a very valuable witness to them since he worked at the convenience store. I almost believed him but when he continued to talk and finally admitted that he wasn’t going to let me see my son, I knew it had been a stall all along. Detective Shorter flat out lied to me about what was going on.”
Clay couldn’t let that last statement stand. “I move to strike the last sentence, Your Honor. It is opinion testimony.”
“I believe a witness can give an opinion about whether she believes somebody is lying to her or not,” Tracey said.
“I’ll allow it,” the judge ruled. “Motion denied. Any further questions, Ms. James?”
“No, Your Honor.”
“Cross-examination, Mr. Evans?”
Clay wanted to take a shot at Elena, wanted to establish through Rudy’s own mother that he had the capacity to read and write and make decisions. But he already had that testimony from the principal, and it was always dangerous to keep a sympathetic witness on the stand.
“No questions, Your Honor.”
The stage was now set for Harold Victor Fischer. He strode confidently into the courtroom dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt, red tie-his power outfit. Actually, H.V. didn’t fit the mold very well. He was tall enough but slumped over like a sack of potatoes, soft in the middle and around the shoulders-more like the Marshmallow Man than Superman.
Tracey started building him up right away, having him recite his credentials: Cornell, Penn medical school, and so on. When she was finished, she simply turned H.V. loose. It was on the stand, lending his expertise to the process, that H.V. transformed into a formidable figure.
“Doctor, have you had occasion to visit Rudy?”
“Yes, I met with him for approximately two and a half hours.”
“And have you formed any opinions in this case?”
“Yes.” And off he went. “I not only met with Rudy, I performed a battery of tests including the Wechsler Aptitude Test. I have reviewed his entire medical chart and his school records.
“Rudy’s IQ is seventy-five, which means he is not retarded but is what we call borderline. He has many characteristics of the retarded, including his affect. What do I mean by affect?” Posing his own questions was classic H.V. “I mean that Rudy always had a smile on his face, always greeted-no, greets, even in his present circumstances-the world with open arms. He’s a happy person, very gullible, very naive.