Phillip Margolin - Lost Lake

“So Miss Kohler did not go to her father’s house voluntarily?”

“No, Ma’am.”

“No further questions, Your Honor.”

Brendan Kirkpatrick rose slowly and approached the witness. On the way to the stand, the prosecutor handed Ami copies of several documents.

“Your Honor, I’ve just given counsel copies of State’s Exhibits 1, 2, and 3, which I have previously marked. Mrs. Vergano is willing to stipulate, for purposes of this hearing only, that they are Mr. Rice’s army records from his official file. I move their introduction into evidence.”

“You’re willing to stipulate, Mrs. Vergano?” Judge Velasco asked.

“Yes, for this hearing only, Your Honor.”

“Very well. The documents will be admitted.”

“I just have a few questions for you, Mr. Rice,” Kirkpatrick said as he handed the witness copies of the exhibits. “You’ve testified that you were in this so-called secret unit from the early nineteen-seventies until 1985, when you went AWOL?”

“Yes.”

“And you had numerous missions overseas?”

“Yes.”

“Look at your records. After your first combat mission, do they show any more overseas service?”

“No, but these records are false. My missions were never on paper when I was in the Unit.”

“So you have testified. Still, your official records do not support your testimony, do they?”

“No.”

“What was your rank in 1985?”

“I was a captain.”

“But the records list you as a sergeant, don’t they?”

“Yes.”

“Look at Exhibit 3. That’s the psychiatric evaluation written by Dr. Howard Stienbock.”

“I was never interviewed by this man. This is false.”

“But it does say that you were discharged from the service for pretending to be a captain and the doctor does conclude that you may have been experiencing delusions as a result of the stress you suffered in your only combat mission.”

“It was not my only combat mission. These documents were prepared by General Wingate to cover up my membership in the Unit.”

“I see. They were written as part of the conspiracy against you?”

“They were prepared as part of a cover-up.”

“And you no longer have the records you took from Lost Lake?”

“I gave them to the General.”

“And the men in the Unit are all conveniently dead? Their bodies are in North Vietnam?”

“It wasn’t convenient for them, Mr. Kirkpatrick. They were brave men and they died a hard death.”

“So you say, but you can’t prove your story, can you?”

Rice paused for a moment before shaking his head.

“We need you to speak up for the record, Mr. Rice. Do you have any proof to support your accusations against General Morris Wingate?”

“Other than my word, no,” Rice said, is voice barely above a whisper.

“Then the judge pretty much has to take your word for the existence of this secret unit, your exploits in it, and the falsity of the official army records, doesn’t he?”

Rice stared at the papers he held in his hand and did not answer. Kirkpatrick let the matter drop and introduced a new subject.

“When you and the defendant were in high school, did she ever tell you how she felt about her father?”

“Yes.”

“Would it be fair to say that the defendant hates her father?”

“Yes.”

“Did she ever tell you that she believed that General Wingate murdered her mother?”

“Yes.”

“And was part of the conspiracy to kill President John F. Kennedy?”

There was a gasp in the courtroom and some laughter. Judge Velasco gaveled for order.

“She never told me that she thought her father was involved in the Kennedy assassination.”

“But she does hate her father?”

“Yes.”

“And she would do anything-say anything-to hurt her father, wouldn’t she?”

“Objection,” Ami said. “That question calls for speculation.”

Before the judge could rule, Kirkpatrick said, “I’ll withdraw the question, and I have no further questions for the witness.”

The guards helped Carl out of the witness box. When he passed by the defense table, he looked at Vanessa and she smiled. He smiled back as he was led out of the courtroom, but the smile lacked conviction.

“Call your next witness,” the judge instructed.

“Miss Kohler calls Dr. Leroy Ganett,” Ami said.

Dr. Ganett walked to the stand without looking at Ami or Vanessa. He was upset when he took the oath.

“Dr. Ganett,” Ami asked after establishing the doctor’s credentials and his position at the county hospital, “you were Carl Rice’s treating physician, were you not?”

“Yes,” he answered tersely. It was obvious that he wished he were anywhere other than in the witness box being questioned by Ami on behalf of Vanessa Kohler.

“And you knew him as Daniel Morelli?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s refer to him by his true name-Carl Rice-from now on, okay?”

“If you wish.”

“Why were you treating Mr. Rice?”

“He was brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds. I operated on him, and after he was placed in the security ward I continued to treat him.”

“Doctor, I’m handing you defense Exhibit 1. Please identify it for the court.”

“It’s my medical report on Morelli’s-uh, Rice’s-condition.”

“Did you write it after examining him?”

“Yes.”

Ami pointed at a line in the report. “Would you read this sentence to the court, please?”

Dr. Ganett saw where she was pointing and cleared his throat.

“Uh, this sentence says that an X ray of Mr. Rice’s abdomen showed metal fragments compatible with shrapnel.”

“And shrapnel is a metal fragment from a bomb or grenade that is exploded during war, is it not?”

“Well, not necessarily wartime, but from a bomb, yes.”

“Most shrapnel wounds are received during war, aren’t they?”

Dr. Ganett thought for a moment then nodded. “I would say that you would see a larger number of shrapnel wounds during a war.”

“No further questions.”

“Dr. Ganett,” Brendan Kirkpatrick said, rising from behind the prosecution table, “you used the term ‘compatible with shrapnel’ in your report, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you just say that the metal fragment was shrapnel? Why use the word ‘compatible’?”

“We have no way of knowing that the fragment is shrapnel. It is a metal fragment, it is consistent with shrapnel, but it could be something else.”

“It could be a metal fragment that penetrated Mr. Rice’s body during an explosion in this country?”

“Yes.”

“An auto accident could result in the creation of a metal fragment like the one you found in his body?”

“I suppose so.”

“Or a water heater could have exploded? That could result in the creation of a fragment like this one, couldn’t it?”

“I suppose.”

“So there’s no way of knowing where Mr. Rice received this wound, or under what circumstances, just from looking at an X ray, is there?”

“I guess not.”

“Assuming for the sake of argument that Mr. Rice did receive this wound in combat, is there any way that you can tell if it was inflicted in 1985 as opposed to the early nineteen-seventies?”

“No, I don’t think you can do that.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

Relief flooded Dr. Ganett’s features when Ami said that she had no further questions and he hurried out of the courtroom.

“Any more witnesses, Mrs. Vergano?” Judge Velasco asked.

Ami stood again. “Miss Kohler calls Detective Howard Walsh.”

After Walsh took the oath, Ami established that he was the detective in charge of the Little League case.