Andrew Price - Without A Hitch

“Yeah.”

“So this statement in the report, ‘forced entry when saw suspect hold firearm’ was incorrect?”

“Yeah.”

Beckett didn’t let up. “You actually had no reason to force entry, did you?” This would mean they had no right to search Beaumont’s apartment and the documents would be legally inadmissible.

Russell didn’t answer.

“Answer the question, Officer?”

Russell remained silent.

“You lied when you said you forced entry because you saw a gun, didn’t you?”

“It was a mistake, that’s all, no lie.”

“Let’s cut to the chase, Sergeant. Beaumont never opened the door, did he?!”

“Yes, he did,” Russell responded immediately.

“You forced entry on a closed door, didn’t you?” Beckett continued in rapid fire succession.

“No, sir.”

“Beaumont never had a gun, did he?”

“Yes, he did.”

Beckett paused for effect. “One last question, Sergeant: will Officer Webb back up your version, whatever that may be?”

“Objection,” Pierce yelled.

“Withdrawn,” Beckett said, turning his back on Russell and returning to his seat.

Several members of the jury shook their heads. Most glared at either Russell or Pierce. Pierce stormed over to the podium.

“Sergeant, you saw the gun, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” Russell said, staring hatefully at Beckett.

“You removed the gun from Mr. Beaumont personally, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Nothing further,” Pierce growled as he returned to his seat.

Beckett rose to his feet. “Nothing further.”

“The witness is excused. Call your next witness, Mr. Pierce,” Judge Sutherlin said.

When Beckett sat down, Beaumont leaned over to him. “Why did’n chu ask him about beating me?”

“Because your story is a lie.”

“The people call Maggie Smith,” Eddie Pierce proclaimed.

“Interesting,” Beckett whispered to Corbin. “I guess they haven’t found Webb yet?”

Based on the order of their witness list, comments made by Pierce during the pre-trial conference, and simple trial tactics, Corbin and Beckett expected Pierce to call Webb as his second witness, especially after Beckett successfully kept Russell from talking about Webb finding the documents. Putting Webb off would present problems for Pierce, problems an experienced trial attorney like Beckett was ready to exploit.

“Do you want me to find Webb?” Corbin volunteered.

“No, I don’t want to trigger any desire on his part to come testify. Let sleeping cops lie.”

All eyes turned to the rear of the courtroom as a bailiff opened the wooden door. In walked a Rubenesque, middle-aged woman in a slightly-dated, dark-blue, skirt suit. She wore an enormous gold watch on her wrist and smelled strongly of perfume, even from great distances. She made her way to the witness box and was sworn in by the clerk. This was Maggie Smith.

For the next ten minutes, Pierce struggled to get basic background information out of Smith. It wasn’t that Smith wanted to be difficult, but like many people who never testified before, she felt intimidated by sitting in the witness box with dozens of people staring at her. Like a million witnesses before her, this caused her to confuse simple details, to provide wrong or incomplete answers, and to sound nervous. Pierce, who had seen this hundreds of times before, patiently walked her through those details. As she became more comfortable, he moved on to more important topics.

“Now, you say you’ve been the branch manager at Penn Bancorp, down on Fulton, for five years, correct?”

“Yes.”

“In your role as branch manager, were you the person responsible for opening new accounts?”

“Right.”

“Were you at work on June 14th of last year?”

“I was,” she said, doing her best to be helpful.

“Did you see anyone in this courtroom enter the bank on June 14th of last year?”

Smith looked around briefly before nodding her head.

“Can you please provide a verbal answer. The court reporter can’t record you nodding your head,” Pierce said, responding to her nod.

“I’m sorry. Yes, I saw the defendant,” Smith said, pointing at Beaumont.

Pierce looked at the judge. “Your Honor, may the record reflect that Ms. Smith has identified the defendant, Mr. Beaumont.”

“It may,” Sutherlin responded.

“Now, Ms. Smith, what did Mr. Beaumont do, if anything.” By adding the “if anything,” Pierce avoided any possibility Beckett could object to the question as leading. Leading questions are not allowed on direct examination, though they are allowed on cross examination.

“He asked to open an account.”

“Did he identify himself as Mr. Beaumont?”

“No, he did not.”

“Did he identify himself at all?”

“Yes, or I couldn’t have opened the account,” she replied politely.

“How did he identify himself?”

“He said his name was Scott Stevens and he showed me identification.”

Pierce walked over to Morales, who handed him some papers. “Ms. Smith, I’m going to show you a set of documents.”

Beckett immediately objected. “May we approach, Your Honor?”

“Approach,” Sutherlin ordered, placing his file down and leaning forward so he could speak to the attorneys without the jury overhearing.

“The prosecution is about to question Ms. Smith about documents allegedly recovered from Mr. Beaumont’s apartment, but they have not yet provided any evidence placing those documents in Mr. Beaumont’s possession,” Beckett said.

“Officer Webb will testify that he personally removed these documents from Mr. Beaumont’s apartment,” Pierce responded.

“Why haven’t we heard from Officer Webb yet, Mr. Pierce?” Sutherlin asked. He seemed annoyed by this.

“He was called away, Your Honor. We expect him to testify tomorrow evening or Wednesday morning.”

Beckett began to speak, but Sutherlin raised his hand. “Mr. Beckett, I’m going to overrule your objection for the moment. Mr. Pierce, I’m going to allow you to proceed, though I will not let you use this witness to explain where those documents were found. I also caution you. If . . I say, if Webb does not testify as promised, I’m going to take a long, hard look at dismissing this case. I am already wondering whether or not all the evidence collected by Sgt. Russell and Officer Webb should be suppressed, as they clearly had no probable cause to enter Mr. Beaumont’s apartment and they had no warrant either. At this point, I am only waiting to hear what Officer Webb has to add. Do you understand me, counselor ?”

Pierce was visibly shaken by Sutherlin’s warning. “Yes, Your Honor.” He returned to the podium. “I’m going to show you some documents, Ms. Smith.” Pierce looked to Sutherlin again. “May I approach the witness?”

“You may.”

“Take a moment to look at these.” Pierce handed the documents to Smith. He then placed a copy of the first document on the document projector, which displayed it on a large screen directly across from the jury. “Do these look familiar?”

“Yes.”

“Can you identify these documents?”

“These are the documents he signed.”

“You mean that Mr. Beaumont signed?”

“Yes.” Every member of the jury turned to watch Beaumont’s reaction. He had none. He just sat in his chair, leaning back slightly with his arms folded over his stomach and a blank expression on his face.

“He signed those in your presence on June 14th, correct?”

“Yes, there’s the date,” she said, pointing at the date on the document on the screen.

“These are your standard account documents?”