Parnell Hall - The Underground Man

Steve stopped and shook his head. “But that was a little much. Even for Jeremy Dawson. Even for Carl Jenson’s opinion of Jeremy Dawson. He found that hard to swallow. Just as the prosecution found it hard to swallow. Just as you’re probably finding it hard to swallow now. I mean, come on, the guy’s so stupid he puts the murder weapon back in his own locker?

“But that was the premise under which Carl Jenson had to operate. The gun had to be found in Jeremy Dawson’s locker to link Jeremy Dawson to the crime. How could he do that without making it seem such a clumsy, obvious frame?

“And what is the answer? He set the body on fire. He set the body on fire so it would appear Jeremy Dawson set the body on fire in an attempt to disguise the crime. So the prosecution would have reason to argue, as it is arguing now, that Jeremy Dawson could logically have kept the gun, because he expected the crime would be written off as a wilding incident, and the fatal bullet never discovered.”

Steve shook his head. “Well, that’s mighty thin. But the prosecution’s arguing it. I’m sure they’re not happy about it, but they’re arguing it. They’re arguing it because they have to. Because it’s the only grounds on which they can support their theory that Jeremy Dawson killed Jack Walsh. Because if that doesn’t hold water, neither does their whole theory. Which shows you what a weak case they actually have.”

Steve paused and looked at the jury. “I want you to think about that for a moment. I want you to think about the prosecution’s case. I want you to think about the fact that they’ve been forced to argue that Jeremy Dawson burned the body so he could keep the gun. I want you to realize that that is the weakest part of their case, the part they would be most eager to build up and support. And I want you to consider that they have not done so. That they have, in my opinion, sluffed the matter off.”

Steve paused, shrugged. “Now, you can say the matter is debatable. The prosecution says one thing, I say another thing, so we have a dispute.”

Steve paused again and raised his finger. “But there is one fact in this case on which there is no dispute. One fact on which all the witnesses agree. And that fact is this: whatever else may have happened, on February 26th and February 27th, the defendant, Jeremy Dawson, had green hair.”

Steve waved his finger. “Green hair. A green mohawk. That fact is indisputable. On that, all the witnesses agree.

“And now, I ask you to consider this. We know the prosecution was attempting to shore up the one weak point in its case, the point that Jeremy Dawson burned the body. The prosecution and the police, with their extensive manpower, have been conducting an exhaustive search to uncover evidence connecting Jeremy Dawson to the crime. You’ve seen for yourself the results of their work in locating Martin Steers, who saw Jeremy breaking into the high school.

“But there is one thing you haven’t seen. Which is why I ask you this: with all the publicity surrounding this case, with all the efforts of the police department to uncover information pinning the crime on Jeremy Dawson, and with the prosecution so desperate to prove that Jeremy Dawson burned the body-” Steve raised his voice, “-is it conceivable, is it remotely possible, is there any chance whatsoever-” Steve paused, and then hammered it in: “-that on February 26th a service station attendant sold a can of gasoline to a boy with green hair, and the police haven’t found him?”

Steve paused. Some of the jurors blinked. Some looked at each other.

Steve nodded. “Yeah. Pretty incredible. If a service station attendant had sold a can of gasoline to a boy with green hair, he’d remember it. And with all the publicity surrounding this case, he’d hear about it, and he’d come forward. And even if, by some far stretch of the imagination, he didn’t hear about it, the police would still find him.

“But they haven’t found him, have they?” Steve said. “We know that because if they had, he’d have been the star witness for the prosecution, the most damning witness of all, the one who clinched the case. But they haven’t found him. And they can’t find him, and they won’t find him, because he doesn’t exist. Because Jeremy Dawson didn’t buy a gallon can of gasoline on February 26th. And Jeremy Dawson didn’t set the body on fire.

“And if he didn’t do that, he didn’t fire the fatal shot, because by the prosecution’s own argument, if, and only if, he set the body on fire, would he have fired the fatal shot and then kept the gun.”

Steve shook his head. “Not possible. Couldn’t have happened.

“And now consider this: if a straight businessman in a suit and tie, a man like Carl Jenson whom you have just seen on the witness stand, were to walk into a filling station looking somewhat hassled and say, ‘My car just ran out of gas on the highway, can you sell me a gallon can?’ would the filling station attendant think anything of it and even remember it? You know and I know he would not.”

Steve looked around and shrugged. “You see why I put on no case. The evidence as it is is overwhelming. Jeremy Dawson could not have committed the crime. Carl Jenson could.

“As you review the evidence in this case, I want you to remember what I told you at the start. It is a case of circumstantial evidence. In such a case, for the prosecution to get a conviction, it is necessary that the circumstances point only to the guilt of the defendant, and are not open to any other reasonable interpretation. I ask you to look carefully at the evidence, examine it, consider what it means.

“And then weigh it.

“And when you do, remember this: it is not necessary for the defense to tip the scale. We don’t have to make the stronger case. I personally believe there is more evidence in this case that Carl Jenson committed the murder than that my client did. But you don’t have to agree with that to bring in a verdict of not guilty. It is not necessary that you consider it more likely that Carl Jenson committed the crime. It is only necessary that you consider it possible. Any reasonable hypothesis other than that of guilt. If you believe it possible that Carl Jenson committed the crime, you must give the defendant the benefit of that reasonable doubt, and return a verdict of not guilty.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, your task is clear. I leave you to you sworn duty.”

Steve smiled at the somewhat dazed looking jurors, bowed and sat down.

It took the jury two and a half days to bring back a verdict of not guilty.

Mark Taylor came in grinning like a Cheshire cat, flopped into the overstuffed chair and said, “Heard the news?”

Steve Winslow looked up from the stack of law books on his desk. In the two weeks since the verdict he had been boning up for the will contest, a task for which he was admittedly not well suited, and one which he did not particularly enjoy. Thus he was not in the best of moods, and he frowned at the interruption. “No,” he said. “What?”

“The grand jury just indicted Carl Jenson for the murder of Jack Walsh.”

Steve set down the book. “You’re kidding me.”

“No. Got it straight from the horse’s mouth.”

Steve chuckled, shook his head. “Son of a gun.”

“I thought that might interest you.”

“I’ll say. So what’s the case against him?”

“I don’t know all the details, but apparently they got a fingerprint from Jeremy Dawson’s locker.”

Steve grinned. “You’re kidding.”

“No. And the damaging thing about it is it’s from the inside of the locker.”