Beware the Curves

Chapter 24

It was eight-seventeen when the jury announced it had a verdict.

The jury came filing into Court. Some of the women had obviously been weeping.

The foreman of the jury, a grim-visaged, weather-beaten rancher, announced to the Court that a verdict had been reached.

The Court went through the usual formalities, and the verdict was read. The jury found the defendant guilty of manslaughter.

The foreman of the jury cleared his throat. “May I be heard, Your Honor?”

“What is it?” the Court asked.

“The jurors unanimously expressed sympathy with the defendant but they felt that, under the law, it was necessary to convict him of manslaughter.”

“Very well,” the Court said. “The verdict of the jury is received, and the jurors are discharged. Do counsel wish to set a date for sentencing at this time?”

Quinn said, “Just a moment, Your Honor.”

He came over to the rail to confer with me.

“You have your Penal Code there?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I handed him a slip of paper. “All right, read this to the Court.”

Quinn glanced at the slip of paper. His eyebrows shot up. He looked at the paper again.

“The Court is waiting, Mr. Quinn,” Judge Lawton said.

Quinn walked slowly back to the counsel table.

“If the Court please,” Quinn said, “I feel that it is only fair to state to the Court that in this matter I have had the benefit of advice from Mr. Donald Lam, who has had a legal education. I have just received a document from him which is so startling I feel I must have time to digest it. However, the gist of what I have received is this: that murder is a crime which never outlaws. In other words, a prosecution for murder can be maintained at any time.”

“There is no question about that, and no need to call that a startling doctrine,” Judge Lawton said.

“The crime of murder,” Quinn went on with a bow to the Court, “includes the crime of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and manslaughter.

“Now, however, we come to a very peculiar situation in the law. The crime of manslaughter outlaws within a period of three years. In other words, there can be no prosecution or conviction for manslaughter after a period of three years has elapsed from the date of the crime. Apparently the authorities are uniform on this, and since the defendant has now been convicted of a manslaughter which was perpetrated more than three years ago, the Court has no alternative but to release him.

“It is, of course, well known that a verdict of manslaughter constitutes an acquittal of murder in the first and murder in the second degree.”

Judge Lawton looked at the district attorney. He studied Quinn. He looked at me. His forehead was creased in a frown, but I thought there was the trace of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

“Let me see that memo which was just handed to you, Mr. Quinn,” Judge Lawton asked.

Quinn brought it up to the bench.

Judge Lawton ran his hand over his head. He reached for his Codes. He started studying the Penal Code. He looked up some of the decisions.

“Does the district attorney wish to be heard on this?” he asked Irvine.

Irvine said, “The district attorney is totally unprepared to argue this matter at this time, Your Honor.”

“Well,” Judge Lawton said, “there doesn’t seem to be any room for argument. I note on this memo that Mr. Lam refers to the famous case of the so-called Spider Man, who lived for years in the attic of the victim. The defendant in that case was represented by Earl Seeley Wakeman. The same situation developed in that case.

“Now that the Court’s attention has been called to that case, the Court remembers what was done at that time. The legal doctrine raised by the defense seems to be sound.

“I may state that, under the circumstances, the judgment which the Court is about to render is in accordance with the sympathies of the Court and apparently with the sympathies of the jury. The Court is not entirely convinced that some of the testimony given in this case is entitled to be considered at its face value.

“In view of the fact that the defendant has now been acquitted of murder in the first degree, and acquitted of murder in the second degree, and it appearing that the time limit has long since passed during which he could be prosecuted for manslaughter, the verdict of conviction by the jury is set aside, and the defendant is discharged from custody.”

What happened in the courtroom was little short of pandemonium. Spectators cheered. Newspaper reporters climbed up on tables, chairs, anything they could get hold of to take pictures.

I had characterized Elizabeth Endicott as being poker faced. For once, her emotions came through. Starry-eyed, she rushed toward John Ansel, threw her arms around him and kissed him with tears streaming down her face.

And then before I knew it, she was kissing me, babbling her thanks between kisses.

Judge Lawton gave up all effort to maintain order. He smilingly left the courtroom.

Mrs. Endicott kissed Bertha. Then she kissed Barney Quinn.

Bertha Cool moved over to my side.

“You brainy sonofabitch,” she said.