Erle Gardner - The Case of the Troubled Trustee

"Well, I was looking around. He wasn't standing up. He had to be someplace if he was there."

"I see," Hamilton Burger said, "so within a few seconds of the time you arrived at the seventh tee you began looking for him on the ground?"

"I didn't say within a few seconds."

"No, you didn't," Hamilton Burger said, "but it follows as a necessary inference. You expected him to meet you. You looked around; you didn't see him outlined against the lights of the horizon. So you started looking around. Now, it didn't take you over two or three seconds to ascertain that he wasn't standing up silhouetted against the horizon. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, sir."

"So then, right away, you began looking around- You'll pardon me, Mr. Dutton, I want to be fair with you. I want to see that the jury understands your story, that's all. It was within a few seconds, wasn't it?"

"Yes, I guess it was."

"So, you were then looking on the ground at least by five minutes after ten?"

"I guess I must have been, yes."

"And as soon as you looked on the ground, you discovered the body?"

"Well, not right away."

"But within a matter of seconds, eight or ten seconds?"

"I don't know that it was eight or ten seconds."

"Well, let's time it," Hamilton Burger said. "Just get up from the witness stand, if you will, and start walking around in a circle. I'll consult my watch and let you know when ten seconds are up."

The witness got up from the stand and started walking.

He made a circle, then another circle.

"That's ten seconds," Hamilton Burger said. "Now then, considering your starting place as being at the seventh tee, would the body have been within that circle?"

"Well perhaps a little wider circle."

"Then, perhaps it was twenty seconds after you started looking around that you found him?"

"I would say so. Perhaps even as much as thirty seconds."

"Thirty seconds would be the extreme limit?"

"I would say so, yes, sir."

"All right, then, within that circle that you made in thirty seconds, your foot struck against something?"

"Well, I saw something dark and prodded it with my foot."

"And found it was a body?"

"Yes, sir."

"And immediately dropped to your knees?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now then," Hamilton Burger said, "that was within thirty seconds. Let's say that you dropped to your knees- Oh, let's give you plenty of time, Mr. Dutton. Let's say that by six minutes past ten you had dropped to your knees by the side of the body."

"Yes, sir."

"That seems fair to you?"

"I think it is very fair."

"And you ascertained at once the man was dead?"

"Well, within a few seconds."

"Ten seconds again, Mr. Dutton?"

"I would say so, yes. Well within ten seconds."

"Now then," Hamilton Burger said, "you ascertained the man was dead and then what?"

"Well, I was just going to run and call the police when my foot struck against something heavy and I reached down and saw it was this gun."

"And then what did you do?"

"I recognized the gun as mine."

"You were sure it was yours?"

"I felt certain it was."

"So then what?"

"Then I suddenly realized I was in a peculiar position.

"One would certainly say so," Hamilton Burger said. "In fact, that's the understatement of the week. You were in a most peculiar position."

"Yes, sir."

"So you wanted to stop and take a while to think it over?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, eventually you reached a decision and decided to leave the golf club without reporting the fact that you had found the body to the police?"

"Yes, sir."

"Once you reached that decision, you hurried from the seventh tee, out through the club house, crossed to where your car was parked, jumped in and drove away?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now then, we have that time fixed," Hamilton Burger said. "That was ten-twenty-two. Now, by ten-o-six you had found the body and found the gun; that left you with an interval of over fifteen minutes, Mr. Dutton."

"Well, I didn't think it was that long."

"The indisputable evidence shows that it was that long, Mr. Dutton. An interval of fifteen minutes, during which time you were sitting by the corpse, holding that gun."

"It couldn't have been that long."

"What else were you doing?" Burger asked.

"I- Nothing else."

"Fifteen minutes," Hamilton Burger said. "A quarter of an hour. What were you trying to do, Mr. Dutton?"

"I was trying to clarify the situation."

"Were you, perhaps, concealing any evidence?"

"Certainly not. I wouldn't do that."

"But you knew the gun was evidence?"

"I assumed it was."

"And you concealed that."

"I took it with me."

"And concealed it in a culvert?"

"Yes, sir."

"So then you did conceal evidence?"

"Well, yes."

"Then there's no need in assuming a self-righteous attitude in front of this jury," Hamilton Burger said, "that you wouldn't conceal evidence. So, I'm going to ask you again, what you were doing during those fifteen long minutes, during that quarter of an hour that you sat there in the dark by the corpse?"

"I don't know. I was trying to adjust myself."

"Now, you could see the sky. That was rather well lighted?"

"Yes, the horizon was lighted."

"But the ground was dark?"

"Well, not too dark."

"But dark enough so that you didn't see the body immediately?"

"I saw something dark."

"But you have just told us that it took from twenty to thirty seconds; in your own words, you were walking around for perhaps thirty seconds."

"Well, it wasn't that long. It was- I'll go back to my original statement that it was eight or ten seconds."

"Then you want to change your testimony that it was not thirty seconds?"

"I think the thirty seconds was an estimate of time that you placed on it. 1 said it was longer than ten seconds; that it might have been twenty seconds and you said you would give me thirty seconds to be sure and be fair."

"Yes, yes," Hamilton Burger said, "then your own estimate was twenty seconds?"

"Yes, sir."

"But now you say you think it was less than ten seconds"

"Well, after all, I didn't carry a stopwatch."

"That's right," Hamilton Burger said, "you didn't carry a stopwatch but you did testify to this jury under oath that you thought it was longer than ten seconds; that it might have been twenty seconds."

"Well, yes."

"Now you insist that it was under ten seconds."

"I think it could have been."

"Which was right?" Hamilton Burger asked, his voice taking on an edge, "ten seconds or twenty seconds?"

"I would say nearer ten seconds."

"Now, you picked up this gun?"

"Yes."

"And thought it was yours?"

"Yes."

"What made you think so?"

"Well, I saw it was a Smith and Wesson revolver of exactly the same type I had purchased."

"You saw it was a Smith and Wesson revolver?"

"Yes, sir."

"How could you do that if it was so dark you couldn't see the corpse for a matter of ten or twenty seconds? How in the world could you tell the make of the gun?"

"I had a small pocket flashlight."

"You what? " Hamilton Burger exclaimed, as though the defendant had just admitted to murder.

"I had a small pocket flashlight."

"Well, why in the world didn't you tell us about that?"

"Nobody asked me."

"Oh, you had a pocket flashlight with you and you didn't tell us about it because no one asked you."

"That's right."

"Do you have any other incriminating admissions to make that you have hitherto withheld because nobody has asked you?"

"I don't consider that an incriminating admission."

"You don't!" Hamilton Burger said. "You now admit you had a flashlight, why didn't you use that flashlight when you were looking around?"