The Innocent Woman

30

Steve Winslow stood before the jury in his corduroy jacket and jeans. He shook his head, chuckled. His long brown hair fell over his face. He pushed it back, raised his head, looked at the jury.

“A particularly strong one?” he said. “Did you hear what the District Attorney said? A particularly strong one.” Steve smiled at the jury. “I have to tell you, I was worried going into this case. Just this morning, I was sitting here at the defense table, thinking, what’s the District Attorney got? Then I heard that, and suddenly I’m not worried anymore.

“A particularly strong one?” Without taking his eyes off the jury, Steve pointed in the direction of the District Attorney. “If his case were a particularly strong one, he wouldn’t have to say it. It would be obvious. The fact he has to say it, indicates that it’s not.

“Oh boy, is it not. From what I see, the man has no case at all.”

Steve smiled. “Now Mr. Dirkson told you I’m going to make a big deal about the gun. I’m not. So they didn’t find the gun? Big deal. Some gun shot him. Some person shot him. They haven’t found the person, what’s the big deal if they haven’t found the gun? The medical examiner will say he was shot with a gun. We concede he was shot with a gun. There’s no problem proving the corpus delicti here. We’ve got a dead man who was shot with a gun.”

Steve spread his hands. “What we don’t have, is one shred of evidence connecting this particular defendant to the crime. The District Attorney says he has eyewitnesses who will place the defendant at the scene of the crime, well, I say bring ’em on. Let’s hear what they have to say. Just between you on me, I don’t think they can prove a thing.

“But it’s not up to me. That’s up to you. You listen to their testimony and you listen to the cross-examination, and then you make a determination how much these people actually know. I think you’ll find it adds up to nothing at all.

“No, when you come right down to it, I think you’ll find the District Attorney’s whole case turns on the fact Amy Dearborn said the petty cash drawer was open and the cops found it shut.”

Steve spread his arms. “That’s all he’s got. I know that’s all his got, because I saw what lengths he went through to make sure you understood he had it. You will recall he emphasized that when confronted with the shut drawer, Amy Dearborn did not say a thing. I could have objected there, and that objection would have been sustained. Because, under law, a District Attorney has no right to infer guilt from a defendant’s refusal to explain.

“What happened was simple. Amy Dearborn was telling her story to the police. Cooperating fully. She had phoned them, reported a crime, waited for them to arrive, and was in the process of telling them all she knew. At which point she was suddenly confronted with a closed drawer.”

Steve paused, raised one finger in the air. “The fact is, the defendant had no idea how that drawer came to be closed. And yet, the officer was asking her to explain.

“And by asking her to explain, he was doing something else.

“He was suspecting her of a crime.

“He showed her that closed drawer in an attempt to contradict her story. In an attempt to get her to make an admission. He was, at that point in time, suspecting her of a crime. Not only was the defendant under no obligation to explain, but at that point in time, the officer was under obligation to inform her of her constitutional rights, to inform her that she was under no obligation to explain.”

Steve stopped, spread his hands wide. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is all the defendant in this case is actually guilty of. Of exercising her constitutional rights. Confronted with this accusation by this police officer, all the defendant said was, I would like to consult a lawyer.”

Winslow pointed again. “The District Attorney would like you to take that as an admission of guilt. It isn’t. It cannot be used in that manner. That’s the law.

“That’s the law, and he knows it. He’s the District Attorney. He knows it, yet he tried to do it anyway. When I heard that, that’s when I realized the man hasn’t got a case.

“Even so, Dirkson’s going to argue, she said the drawer was open, it was closed, she can’t explain it, she must be guilty. If that’s his whole case, let’s dispose of it now.

“The District Attorney has pointed out that this is a case of circumstantial evidence. The judge will inform you that in any case involving circumstantial evidence, if the circumstances can be explained by any reasonable hypothesis other than the guilt of the defendant, than you must find the defendant not guilty. That is the doctrine of reasonable doubt.

“The circumstantial evidence in this case is that the defendant said that drawer was open when it was actually shut. Can we come up with any reasonable hypothesis other than the fact that she’s guilty? I should think so. How about this? She arrives at the office, finds the cash drawer robbed. Goes into Fletcher’s office, finds him dead. She runs back into the outer office and calls the police. And where is the phone she calls the cops from? On the same desk where the drawer was robbed. The defendant’s hysterical, she’s just had a huge emotional shock. And while she’s calling the cops, she unconsciously and automatically closes the drawer and doesn’t remember doing that.

“You think that’s farfetched? Remember, this was the defendant’s own desk. The one she used to work at. When making a phone call from her own desk, you think setting that desk in order wouldn’t be automatic, practically a reflex action?

“If you don’t like that, try this. While she’s being questioned in the other room, cops are searching the office. A rookie who doesn’t know any better happens to close the drawer.”

Steve Winslow shrugged, shook his head, pointed again. “Now I’m sure the D. A. will argue, oh no, the cops are pros, they’d never do that. Maybe not. But impossible? I don’t think so. I think it’s entirely possible.

“And if it’s possible, we have to assume it happened. Any reasonable hypothesis other than guilt.”

Steve stopped, waved his hand. “I could go on, but I don’t want to take up your time. I have a feeling this is going to be a very long case. You know why? Because it’s so weak. If the prosecutor had a strong, convicting case, he’d put it on bang, bang, bang, and be done with it. If it’s weak they drag it out, try to make the points seem more important by making them take more time.

“Don’t fall for it.

“One more point before I go. The D. A. also sought to emphasize the fact that Amy Dearborn had previously been accused of petty theft. He slipped that in by making it part of the motive, her desire for revenge. Well, that’s well and good. But he also sought to emphasize the fact that the crime was stealing petty cash from this very petty cash drawer. Damning as the District Attorney would like to make that seem, the simple fact is, Amy Dearborn didn’t take that money. For the record, it took a jury of her peers less than fifteen minutes to determine that fact.

“She was innocent of that crime, just as she is innocent of this one.”

Steve smiled. “And I expect to hear you say so.”