“I see,” Dirkson said. “Tell me. This teenager-the one with the green hair-was he alone?”
“No, sir.”
“There was someone with him?”
“Yes, sir. There was an old man.”
“And did you know the man?”
“Yes, I did.”
“And who was he?”
“Jack Walsh.”
“Jack Walsh? Then you knew Jack Walsh?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Where did you know him from?”
“From the subway. He was one of us. He used to sleep down there.”
“You’re sure it was Jack Walsh?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Did you speak to him?”
“No, but he spoke to me.”
“What did he say?”
“Just something like, It’s all right, Joe, go back to sleep.’”
“I see. And did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Go back to sleep?”
Joseph Bissel shook his head. “Not right away.”
“What did you do?”
“I watched them.”
“Jack Walsh and the kid with green hair?”
“That’s right.”
“And what did they do?”
“They were talking.”
“Could you hear what they were saying?”
“Some of it I could.”
Dirkson looked up at the judge. “Some of this may be hearsay, You Honor, but I believe what Jack Walsh said at the time would be part of the res gestae.”
“So far there’s been no objection, Counselor,” Judge Grimes said. “Why don’t you proceed, and we’ll argue this if and when there is one.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. And what did you hear Jack Walsh say?”
“I only got the gist of it.”
Dirkson smiled. “The gist is all we want. What was it?”
“Something about how the boy had done him a favor, and now Jack was gonna do one for him.”
“Was that all?”
“That’s all I remember. There was some talk about a pen.”
“A pen?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember what it was?”
“No, I don’t.”
“All right. And what did you see them do?”
“Well, they sat down on the platform.” Joseph Bissel frowned. “Actually, I think I heard this after they sat down on the platform-what I just told you, I mean. If that matters.”
Dirkson smiled. “I don’t think it does, but thank you for pointing it out to us. And did you see them do anything else?”
“Yes, I did.”
“And what was that?”
“Well, he-Jack Walsh-he took some paper out of his pocket and started writing on it.”
“Do you know what he was writing?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Did you see how he was writing?”
“Yeah. He spread the paper flat on the platform, and was bent over writing on it.”
“And the boy with green hair?”
“He was watching him write.”
“I see,” Dirkson said. “And the man who was writing on the paper-this was Jack Walsh, whom you’ve known personally for some time?”
“That’s right.”
“And the other person-the boy with green hair-had you ever seen him before?”
“No, I had not.”
“Have you ever seen him again?”
“Yes, I have.”
“And do you know who he is?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Is he in this courtroom?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Could you point him out for us, please?”
“Yes, sir.”
Joseph Bissel raised his arm and pointed. “That’s him, right there.”
“Let the record show that the witness is pointing at the defendant, Jeremy Dawson. Now, I want to be certain about this,” Dirkson said. “You’re saying that the boy you saw on the subway platform, the boy with Jack Walsh, when Jack Walsh was writing on the paper-that boy was Jeremy Dawson, the defendant sitting right there?”
Joseph Bissel nodded. “That’s right. That’s him. In the subway station he had green hair. He don’t have green hair now, but that’s him all right.”
Dirkson nodded. “And this was the 66th Street Station, the Broadway line?”
“That’s right.”
“And this was on February 26th?”
Bissel shook his head. “That I don’t know. I just know it was the day of the fire.”
Dirkson nodded approvingly. “Thank you very much, Mr. Bissel.” Dirkson turned to Steve Winslow. His smile was smug and his eyes were hard. “Your witness.”
In the back of the courtroom, Tracy Garvin bit her lip. Steve had said it was going to be hard, but she hadn’t quite understood just how hard. And in light of the way Dirkson had handled the witness, Tracy didn’t really see anything that Steve could do.
Judge Grimes looked down at the defense table. “Mr. Winslow, do you care to cross-examine?”
Steve Winslow rose. “I do, Your Honor. But before I do so, I have a motion that had best be made outside the presence of the jury.”
Judge Grimes frowned. “Will this take long?”
Steve smiled. “The motion is brief, Your Honor. But I imagine the ensuing argument might be lengthy.”
Judge Grimes took a breath. “Very well. Bailiff, if you will escort the jurors to the jury room.”
After the jurors had been led out, Judge Grimes said, “Proceed, Mr. Winslow.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. At this time I would like to move that the testimony of the witness, Joseph Bissel, be stricken from the record, and the jurors be instructed to give it no weight.”
Judge Grimes blinked.
Dirkson lunged to his feet. “Oh, Your Honor-”
Judge Grimes held up his hand. “One moment, Mr. Dirkson. Mr. Winslow, I assume you have some grounds for making your motion?”
“Certainly, Your Honor. It appears that the entire testimony of the witness, Bissel, is for the purpose of establishing that my client and the decedent were seen together at the scene of the crime.” Steve Winslow shot a glance at Dirkson. “Though I note the prosecutor has not made any attempt to show that the time they were seen there was even remotely near the time of the murder.”
“That’s no grounds for such a motion,” Dirkson put in. “If the witness doesn’t know the exact time of the events he was describing, that’s a matter to be brought out on cross-examination. But that in no way should affect the admissibility of the evidence, or preclude what I brought out on direct examination.”
Judge Grimes nodded. “I think Mr. Dirkson is essentially correct, Mr. Winslow.”
Steve Winslow bowed. “Yes, Your Honor. I apologize. That was a side issue, which I shouldn’t have even brought up. Mr. Dirkson jumped in before I could get to my argument.
“My objection is this: the testimony of Joseph Bissel is for the purpose of implicating my client in the crime.”
Judge Grimes smiled dryly. “That is the purpose of a murder trial.”
“Yes, Your Honor. But a murder trial must be conducted according to the rules of evidence. And Mr. Dirkson has not yet shown the corpus delicti. And it is an elemental rule of law that the corpus delicti must be proven before any evidence can be introduced for the purpose of linking the defendant with the commission of the crime.”
Dirkson was on his feet again. “Your Honor, Your Honor, this is utterly absurd. The corpus delicti is proven. We have showed evidence that the decedent died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head. Now I admit that Counsel also had grounds to argue that the decedent died from burning, but he didn’t do that. The medical examiner testified that death was due to the gunshot wound to the head, and could not have been from burning. Mr. Winslow could have cross-examined him on those points, but he chose not to do so. Therefore, the only testimony in evidence is to the fact that the decedent died from the gunshot wound. Since that testimony is uncontested, there is no grounds for Mr. Winslow to be raising the point at this time.”
Judge Grimes nodded. “I think that is essentially correct, Mr. Winslow.”
Steve smiled. “I think so too, Your Honor. But I’m afraid you and Mr. Dirkson misunderstand the point of my objection. My client has been accused of the crime of murdering Jack Walsh. So far, all the prosecution has shown is that the decedent died as the result of a gunshot wound to the head. Which I readily concede. What the prosecution has not shown-which is the reason the corpus delicti has not been proven-is that the man who died of a gunshot wound to the head is, indeed, Jack Walsh. The prosecution certainly can’t introduce any evidence tending to link my client to the murder of Jack Walsh, unless they first show that Jack Walsh is, indeed, dead.”