“Well, doctor, if I understand your testimony, you found this blow to the back of the head to be important enough to shave away a three-inch-square section of the hair on the back of the head, considered it important enough to photograph that bruise, and you considered it important enough to blow those photographs up to eight-by-tens, but you did not consider it important enough to mention on the stand in your direct examination yesterday.”
Dr. Blessing smiled. “As I’ve already stated, I was asked to describe the cause of death. The blow to the head was not the cause of death.”
Steve took a breath. Things weren’t going as planned. He wanted to do something, anything, to rip the smug look off the doctor’s face. But with the doctor calmly conceding everything he wanted to prove, and Vaulding raising no objection, Steve had nothing to push against. The end result was, all Steve had accomplished was the introduction of a bunch of photos destined to prejudice the jury against his own client.
Steve stole a look at Vaulding, saw him watching the proceedings with a superior smirk. But there was nothing he could do about it.
Steve took another breath, blew it out again. “No further questions.”
When Dr. Blessing had been excused from the stand, Robert Vaulding stood up and said, “Your Honor, I now wish to call a witness for a limited purpose only. This is a gentleman who will be a main witness for us later on, but right now I am attempting to establish orderly proof, and at the moment I am concerned with the corpus delicti, specifically the identification of the body. I am now calling the witness for that limited purpose. I apologize in advance for this witness giving his testimony piecemeal.”
“So noted,” Judge Hendrick said. “Call your witness.”
“Call Melvin Burdett.”
Melvin Burdett gave every indication of being a hostile witness. He took the stand reluctantly, smiled encouragingly at Russ Timberlaine, then glared at the prosecutor.
“What is your name?” Vaulding asked.
“Melvin Burdett.”
“Are you familiar with the defendant, Russ Timberlaine?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Where you familiar with a man by the name of Jack Potter?”
“Yes, I was.”
“You had met Jack Potter?”
“I just said so, didn’t I?”
Judge Hendrick held up his hand before Vaulding could ask another question. “That will do,” he snapped. “Mr. Burdett?”
“Yes?”
“Call me Your Honor.”
Burdett glared at the judge a moment, then said, “Yes, Your Honor.”
“This is a court of law. You have been called as a witness and you are required to answer questions. Please do so in a civil manner or I will hold you in contempt of court. Is that clear?”
After a moment’s pause, Burdett said, “Yes, Your Honor.”
“Thank you. Proceed, Mr. Vaulding.”
Vaulding looked up at the judge. “I trust Your Honor recognizes this as a hostile witness and will allow leading questions?”
“Ask away. You have your ruling.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. Mr. Burdett, on how many occasions had you met Jack Potter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it more than once?”
“Yes, it was.”
“More than a dozen times?”
“I don’t think so.”
“More than six?”
Burdett hesitated a moment. “I don’t know.”
“I see. Mr. Burdett. Directing your attention to the night of the murder, were you asked by police officers to look at the body of a man?”
“Yes, I was.”
“Did you look at that body?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Did you recognize the man whose body you saw?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Could you tell us who that was, please?”
“Jack Potter.”
“Thank you. No further questions.”
As Burdett rose to leave the stand, Steve Winslow stood up. “One moment, Mr. Burdett. I have a few questions.”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Vaulding said. “This witness was called for a limited purpose only.”
Judge Hendrick raised his eyebrows. “Mr. Vaulding, you can’t object to a witness being cross-examined.”
“May I have a sidebar, Your Honor?”
Rather reluctantly Judge Hendrick said, “Very well.”
At the sidebar Vaulding said, “Your Honor, I think the situation is clear. This witness is hostile to the prosecution and favorable to the defense. As such, he can logically be expected to repeat any words the defense attorney wishes to put in his mouth. Given any latitude in my direct examination, that might be permissible. We could at least debate the points. But he was called for the limited purpose of identifying the body. And that should not allow counsel to go on a fishing expedition for the express purpose of getting me to put my case on out of order.”
“I understand your contention,” Judge Hendrick said. “Still, counsel has the right to cross-examine. If his questions go afield, you can object, and those objections will be sustained.”
“Giving the jury the impression that the prosecution is hamstringing the defense and that I have something to hide,” Vaulding said in exasperation.
Judge Hendrick’s eyes narrowed. “Mr. Vaulding,” he said with just an edge in his voice. “Give me some credit for being able to run my courtroom. If counsel’s questions are irregular, he will be told so and instructed by the court not to ask them. Now could we please get on with it? It is somewhat extraordinary to have an objection before a single question has been asked.”
When they had resumed their positions, Steve Winslow said, “Mr. Burdett, you stated you met Jack Potter several times?”
“That is correct.”
“Tell me, where did those meetings take place?”
“At Russ Timberlaine’s mansion.”
“And all the occasions when you met Jack Potter were at Russ Timberlaine’s mansion?”
“That is correct.”
“Tell me, on the weekend of the murder, did you meet Jack Potter at that time?”
“Absolutely.”
“And in the course of the weekend, did you have occasion to speak to him personally?”
“Yes, I did.”
“And on or before the day of the murder, did you have a conversation with Jack Potter, asking him to tell you what gun Russ Timberlaine intended to bid on in the auction?”
“Objection, Your Honor!”
“Absolutely not!” Burdett snapped angrily.
Judge Hendrick’s gavel smacked down. “That will do,” he growled. He turned to the witness. “Mr. Burdett, you have been warned before. You are now warned again. In the event of an objection, you will wait for the judge’s ruling before answering the question. Is that clear?”
“It’s clear, Your Honor. But I’m not going to sit here and let my reputation be smeared.”
“Your reputation is not on trial here, Mr. Burdett. And I’ll thank you to heed the court’s instructions.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Burdett mumbled.
“Now then, the objection is sustained. That question and answer may go out. Mr. Winslow, please confine your questions to any specific meetings and not what was discussed in them.”
Steve Winslow smiled. “No further questions, Your Honor.”
When Burdett had been excused from the stand, Vaulding recalled Lieutenant Sanders.
“Lieutenant,” Vaulding said. “Directing your attention once again to the scene of the murder at Russ Timberlaine’s mansion, you arrived at the scene and discovered the body on the floor. The body that we have now identified as Jack Potter. Now then, was there any weapon in sight?”
Lieutenant Sanders hesitated, then smiled. “I think you’d better rephrase that, counselor,” he said. “You’ll recall this was Russ Timberlaine’s gun room.”
The remark produced a laugh in the courtroom.
Vaulding smiled good-naturedly. “Well-said, lieutenant. Then let me ask you this: was there any weapon in particular that you took notice of?”
“Yes, there was.”
“And what would that be?”
“A Colt.45 lying on the floor next to the body.”
“Was there anything in particular you noticed about this Colt.45?”