Parnell Hall - The Wrong Gun

“I have no knowledge as to that. I only know that bullet came from that gun.”

“You compared it to a test bullet under the comparison microscope?”

“Yes, I did.”

“The barrel of that gun was not defaced, so the bullets are absolutely identical?”

“Yes, they are.” Manning cleared his throat. “With regard to that-”

Vaulding held up his hand again. “Please, Mr. Manning. You’ll have your say, but I need all these matters cleared up. Now, two days ago you were asked to compare a bullet from the gun, People’s Exhibit Three, to a bullet from the gun, People’s Exhibit Four, in order to show how many similarities you could find. Did you perform that test?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Did the bullets compare?”

“No, they did not. They came from separate guns.”

“But the new bullet, People’s Exhibit Five-A, did come from the gun, People’s Exhibit Three?”

“Yes, it did.”

“And the bullet, People’s Exhibit Five-B, came from the gun, People’s Exhibit Six?”

“Yes, it did.”

“Neither of these new bullets came from the gun, People’s Exhibit Four?”

“No, they didn’t. However-”

“Yes?” Vaulding said. “What is it, Mr. Manning?”

Manning cleared his throat again. “I had hoped that one of these new bullets would prove to have come from the gun, People’s Exhibit Four, since it could only have done so prior to the murder, and therefore prior to the time the barrel of the gun had been defaced, and would therefore be a test bullet with which we could make an absolute match. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Nonetheless, as I was instructed to compare all these exhibits against each other, I did attempt to match up these new bullets with test bullets from the gun, People’s Exhibit Four. I was unable to do so.”

“Naturally,” Vaulding said.

“No, not naturally,” Manning said. “You see, both bullets lined up in some regard due to the class characteristics. Which made comparison hard, since I had to allow for the tampering done by the file.”

“But the bullets did not match?”

“No, they did not. And with bullet Five-A, this was readily apparent. Only one class characteristic lined up.

“Bullet Five-B proved more difficult. In attempting to align the bullets, I was able to find three points of similarity.”

Vaulding frowned. “Three?”

“That is correct. That is the same number that I found in comparing a test bullet from the gun, People’s Exhibit Four, with the fatal bullet, People’s Exhibit One.”

Vaulding held up his hand. “Wait a minute.” He blinked his eyes, and in that moment his face betrayed the fact that he could feel his case slipping away from him. But he had no choice other than to go on. “Let me be sure I understand this,” he said. “Are you saying that because you found three points of similarity between this new bullet from this new gun, People’s Exhibit Six, and a test bullet fired from the gun, People’s Exhibit Four-are you saying this weakens your identification of the gun, People’s Exhibit Four, being the gun that fired the fatal bullet?”

Manning shook his head. He took a breath. “I’m afraid it goes a little deeper than that. You must understand. I was dealing with a gun that had been defaced. With bullets to which additional scratches had been added. I was trying to work around that. I was giving you a professional opinion based on the best information that could be gathered from the materials I had to work with at the time. I-”

Vaulding held up his hand. His face was hard. “Mr. Manning. Let me be sure I understand this. Are you now testifying that in light of this evidence you have reversed your opinion? That it is now your opinion that the gun, People’s Exhibit Four, did not fire the fatal bullet?”

“That is correct.”

Vaulding was incensed. “Well, how can you do that, Mr. Manning? Two days ago you testified positively that this was the gun that fired the fatal bullet. It’s one thing to say that this new evidence creates some doubt as to the finding. But it’s something else to retract your testimony and now state positively that this gun did not fire that bullet.”

“I have no other choice. I now have indisputable evidence to the contrary.”

Vaulding stared at him. “And how can that be?”

“From the new evidence.” Manning took a breath. “As I would have told you to begin with,” he said with some exasperation, “if you’d just asked me to state my findings, instead of insisting on putting everything in order. But as it happens, I know the bullet didn’t come from the gun, People’s Exhibit Four, because I now have a match for the fatal bullet. You see, when the bullet from the gun, People’s Exhibit Six, showed the same points of similarity with a bullet from the gun, People’s Exhibit Four, as that bullet had shown with the fatal bullet, I next put the bullet from People’s Exhibit Six and the fatal bullet under the comparison microscope. And they match absolutely. That’s how I know the fatal bullet didn’t come from the gun, People’s Exhibit Four. There’s no question about it. The fatal bullet came from this new gun, People’s Exhibit Six.”

Steve Winslow couldn’t sit still. He kept flinging himself around his office, practically bouncing off the walls.

“Take it easy,” Tracy said.

Steve wheeled on her. “Easy? You’re telling me to take it easy? I just framed my own client!”

“It’s not that bad.”

“No? How is it not that bad? It’s exactly what happened.”

“You didn’t frame your own client.”

“Sure I did. I substituted guns on him and handed the murder weapon over to the D.A.”

“I don’t know how that happened.”

“You and me both. But the fact is, I did. It puts me in a hell of a position. Not to mention the position I put my client in. And what makes it worse is, he doesn’t even know it. He must suspect it. He knows something happened. I mean, the poor son of a bitch is sitting there in court. As far as he knows, People’s Exhibit Six is the gun he put in the safe-deposit box-a gun he knows for sure couldn’t have committed the crime, because it’s been locked in a safe-deposit box from the time I gave it back to him to the time I got it out of that box and brought it into court. From his point of view, there’s no way that gun could have anything to do with the murder. Then, kick in the chops, it does! And the one explanation as far as Timberlaine is concerned, is his attorney switched guns and framed him.”

“He can’t think that.”

“What else can he think? And he’s right. The fucker’s head must be coming off trying to figure out why I framed him, but he’s gotta know I did.”

Tracy shook her head. “Jesus Christ.”

“And there’s no way to straighten it out,” Steve said. “Even if I wanted to take the rap for this-which I sure as hell don’t-but even if I wanted to beat my breasts and come clean, march into court and say, ‘Pardon me, Your Honor. Excuse me, Mr. Vaulding, but I can straighten this out. The reason the gun and bullets match up is it’s not really Mr. Timberlaine’s gun, I switched guns on him’-well, nobody in the whole fucking courtroom is going to believe me. They’d think it was a stupid story I was making up in a desperate attempt to account for the fact that my client had the gun. They’d also think I was a total moron for trying to claim I had the gun. And I’d have to agree with ’em there.”

“Granted that is not the smooth move,” Tracy said. Steve gave her a sharp look and she held up her hand. “But the fact is, you got a kick in the chops just as much as Timberlaine did. And for the same reason. You’re sitting in court, and as far as you know, there’s no way in hell People’s Exhibit Six fired the fatal shot.” She smiled. “I believe it was just last night you told me that was the one thing in this case you knew for sure. Then it blew up in your face. You’re blaming yourself for not anticipating that? No lawyer in the world could have anticipated that.”