Erle Gardner - The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink

“You are, of course, aware of the fact that there can be no evidence of another crime, Mr. District Attorney. The defendants are called upon to meet one accusation and...”

“And that rule, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger interrupted firmly and positively, “is subject to the well-recognized exception that when evidence of motive has to do with another crime, that evidence is perfectly admissible.”

Judge Lennox said, “I have always enforced the rule rather strictly in this court. I think there is a tendency at times to relax this rule far too much. Quite often, under the guise of proving motivation or a similar pattern of crimes, an attempt is made to prejudice, the defendant.”

“I understand, Your Honor, but when you hear the evidence in this case I think you will realize that it falls well within the exception, and that the prosecution is amply justified in introducing evidence of another crime, the murder of a policeman who...”

“Another murder?” Judge Lennox interjected.

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“By both defendants?”

“No, Your Honor. By the defendant Dayton. That is, she was involved in the murder of a young police officer, and it was because of an attempt to cover up her connection with that crime that this murder took place... It may well be that the decedent, George Fayette, was blackmailing her in connection with that other murder.”

“Well,” Judge Lennox said, “this presents an interesting situation. Now, let’s get back to discussing one thing at a time. You object to Perry Mason appearing as attorney for the defendants?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“What do you have to say with reference to that, Mr. Mason?”

“I say it’s none of his business,” Mason said curtly.

Judge Lennox flushed.

“Without meaning any disrespect to the Court,” Mason added. “I’ll handle my own business, and the district attorney can handle his.”

“It’s unethical,” Burger said.

“You watch your ethics, and I’ll take care of mine,” Mason snapped.

“Come, come, gentlemen,” Judge Lennox said. “Let’s not have personalities interjected in this case. Do you think Mr. Mason is disqualified, Mr. District Attorney?”

“I think he should disqualify himself.”

“There is no specific statute against it?”

“It is a matter of good taste and good ethics.”

“We’ll discuss ethics at the proper time and the proper place,” Mason said. “As far as good taste is concerned, I now have a matter of my own to present. I submit to Your Honor that when a district attorney influences a young woman, who is one of my witnesses, to resign her position, hurl an accusation at her employer that he is trying to get her to perjure herself, and arranges to have the press present while she is so accusing her employer in a telephone conversation — that when he bribes the young woman to take such a step by seeing that she is offered a position in one of the county offices at a greater salary...”

“I object to the use of the word ‘bribe,’” Hamilton Burger said.

“Pardon me,” Mason said with elaborate sarcasm. “Perhaps I should have said that you influenced her to take such a step.”

“I didn’t do any such thing,” Hamilton Burger said. “She did whatever she did of her own free will and accord.”

“You’d arranged for the job in the county office before she picked up the telephone to submit her resignation,” Mason said.

Hamilton Burger said, “Nonsense.”

“Deny it,” Mason challenged.

“I don’t have to.”

“You don’t dare to.”

Judge Lennox banged his gavel. “Now, gentlemen, I don’t know what this is all about. I haven’t read the papers in connection with this case, but obviously there is acrimonious feeling between Counsel. I want it controlled. I want Counsel to confine themselves to the trial of the case. You go ahead, Mr. District Attorney, and put on your first witness, and the Court will rule on matters as they come up.”

“Specifically, I object to Mr. Mason appearing as attorney in the case.”

“Is there any law that disqualifies me?” Perry Mason asked.

“As I have previously pointed out to the Court, it’s a matter of ethics.”

Mason said to Judge Lennox, “If the district attorney wishes to set himself up as an arbiter of good taste and good ethics, I submit that using an offer of county employment to get a young woman to quit her position and make a public accusation...”

“We won’t go into that, Mr. Mason,” Judge Lennox said, “and as far as this Court is concerned, Mr. District Attorney, Mr. Mason is not actually disqualified. If you have subpoenaed him as a witness, and if he is called as a witness he’ll have to take the stand. If he takes the stand he’ll be subject to the same rules of examination as any other witness. Now proceed with your case.”

“Very well, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said. “My first witness will be the autopsy surgeon.”

In swift, kaleidoscopic sequence of routine witnesses, Hamilton Burger laid the foundation for the murder charge: the discovery of the body of George Fayette, the nature of the bullet wound, the recovery of the bullet, the microscopic characteristics of the bullet for the sake of subsequent firearms identification.

“I’ll now call Carlyle E. Mott.”

Mott took the witness stand and the district attorney qualified him as an expert on firearms and ballistic evidence.

“Mr. Mott, I call your attention to the bullet, People’s Exhibit A, which has been identified as the fatal bullet which brought about the death of George Fayette. I will ask you if you have examined that bullet.”

“I have.”

“Through a microscope?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You have made photographs of that bullet?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you been able to determine the type of weapon from which that bullet was discharged?”

“I have.”

“What weapon was that?”

“The weapon which I have here in my hand. A Smith and Wesson police special, thirty-eight caliber, with a three-inch barrel.”

“We ask that that be introduced in evidence as People’s Exhibit B,” Hamilton Burger said.

“No objection,” Mason said.

“Cross-examine,” Burger snapped.

“No questions,” Mason said.

Hamilton Burger, caught completely by surprise, blurted, “You mean you aren’t going to ask him about—” He stopped abruptly, catching himself as he realized what he was saying.

“Call your next witness,” the judge said.

A distinctly annoyed Hamilton Burger called as his next witness the officer who had arrested Morris Alburg as he stepped from a taxicab in front of Mason’s office.

The officer testified to making the arrest and to finding the revolver in Morris Alburg’s possession, the revolver from which the bullet had been fired which had killed George Fayette.

“Cross-examine,” Burger said.

“How do you know this is the same gun?” Mason asked the officer.

“Because I took the number of the weapon, sir.”

“Did you make a note of that number in writing?”

“Certainly.”

“Where?”

“In my notebook, a notebook I always carry with me.”

“You know what that number is?”

“Certainly.”

“You can give us that number?”

“Yes, sir. It is S64805.”

“You’ve remembered it all this time?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then you didn’t need to write it down, did you?”

“I wrote it down in order to be safe.”

“And this is the same number you’ve written down?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You may know it’s the same number that’s on the weapon, but how do you know it’s the same number you wrote in your notebook?”