Sexton, and two adult women, Barbara Sherman, age twenty-two, and Mrs. Corrine Tarin, age twenty-seven. Tamar drank a tumbler full of sherry, and then Fred Sexton undressed her and committed an act of oral copulation. She testified that her father then performed both oral sex and an act of intercourse and was followed by Barbara Sherman, who orally copulated with her.
Tamar's direct testimony was followed by what the newspapers described as 'two blistering days of cross examination by Giesler's partner, attorney Robert A. Neeb.' On the second day, with Tamar just about to leave the witness stand, Neeb begged, 'Just one more question, Your Honor.' He stepped in close to the young teenager on the stand, turned and looked into the eyes of the jurors, paused for dramatic effect, and then demanded of the witness:
Tamar, do you recall a conversation you had with a roommate at the Franklin House by the name of Joe Barrett? And do you recall, in that conversation, making the following statement to him: 'This house has secret passages. My father is the murderer of the Black Dahlia. My father is going to kill me and all the rest of the members of this household because he has a lust for blood. He is insane'?
The courtroom was shocked into silence as all eyes focused on the witness, awaiting her response. My sister's eyes darted to meet the eyes of her father, who was seated with defense counsel, wearing his most conservative dark suit. Then they quickly averted. Trembling and fearful with her eyes downcast, she could not speak. Ordered by the judge to answer, she simply stated, 'I don't remember saying that to Joe.'
The following morning, December 17, the
The 14-year-old daughter of a prominent Hollywood physician 'plotted his downfall' with fantastic stories, including one that he killed Elizabeth (Black Dahlia) Short, his attorney, Robert A. Neeb Jr., sought to prove today.
Neeb hammered at the 'fantasies' of blonde Tamar Hodel in her cross-examination at the morals trial of Dr. George Hill Hodel, 38.
Dr. Hodel, who has denied the charges, will seek to show that his daughter is a known 'pathological liar' in matters dealing with her alleged relations with men.
Over the next few days the court saw more prosecution witnesses take the stand. Corrine Tarin testified to being present in the bedroom, but denied she had participated in any way. She told the jurors that she saw Tamar kiss Fred Sexton 'very passionately,' and then Sexton, in the presence of herself and George Hodel, undressed Tamar, orally copulated with her, and then had sexual intercourse with her. She admitted that after Sexton completed the act, Doctor Hodel pulled him off Tamar, they had heated, angry words, and he ordered Sexton out of the bedroom. Tarin remained in the bedroom while Hodel performed cunnilingus on his daughter and began an act of sexual intercourse. She completed her testimony by saying, 'I am the mother of two daughters, and at that point, I became very disturbed, and I walked out of the bedroom.'
Fred Sexton was called and reluctantly testified that the four of them were in the bedroom, that Tamar was undressed, and he 'kissed her and attempted to have sex with her, but did not complete the act.'
The third adult present in the bedroom, twenty-two-year-old Barbara Sherman, was called but refused to testify before the jury. Sherman recanted her earlier statements to the police as well as the sworn testimony she had provided at the October 14 preliminary hearing. Prosecutor Ritzi threatened her with arrest if she refused to tell the truth, but still Sherman would not cooperate. She was immediately arrested in the courthouse and charged with perjury and morals violations based on the fact that she had previously provided sworn testimony to having performed sexual acts with Tamar and to having witnessed the sexual acts on Tamar performed by both her father and Sexton. Juvenile officer M. H. Brimson was then called to testify to 'finding the pornographic literature and lewd statuary in the mansion at 5121 Franklin Avenue.'
After the prosecution had rested its case, the defense called fourteen witnesses, each of whom testified that Tamar was a 'pathological liar' and was not to be believed. The first three witnesses were all family members: her grandmother, her own mother, and her half-brother Duncan, who all hammered home the point that whatever Tamar swore to under oath should not be believed. All of this was exhilarating fodder for the dailies chronicling the testimony with headlines such as 'Grandma Calls Tamar Hodel 'Untruthful'' and 'Tamar's Ma Calls Her an Awful Liar.' What was more, a host of Tamar's friends and acquaintances were flown down from San Francisco, and all repeated the same testimony that her mother and grandmother had given. Each of them in turn admonished the jury not to believe anything Tamar said.
December 21, the shortest day of the year, was the longest of Dad's life, because on that day the wealthy Hollywood doctor at the center of the media frenzy was called to testify in his own defense. Calm and dignified as he unfolded his version of the events that led to his arrest, he held the jury spellbound with the story of how he was 'demonstrating hypnosis to the four adults in his bedroom.' Barbara Sherman was the subject, and Sexton and Corrine Tarin watched as he ordered Sherman to raise her hands, suggesting to her they were 'bars of steel.' He told the jury that when he 'turned to the others to have them note the experiment,' he saw that Tarin's arms were likewise extended, and then he saw his daughter and Sexton sprawled on the bed. He claimed that Tamar 'had her blouse and brassiere off and Sexton was fully clothed.' He immediately 'pulled Sexton off of her, and ordered him out of the bedroom.' After Sexton left he ordered Tarin out of the bedroom and sent Tamar to her room.
He related to the jury that Tamar was mistaken on her dates, and the hypnosis session was not July 1, but rather June 18, the same night she had come down from San Francisco to live at the house. He informed the jurors how he had asked her mother, Dorothy Anthony Barbe, not to send her down because he had recently suffered a heart attack and was in no position to give his daughter the close supervision that she needed. He concluded his testimony by informing the jury that Tamar's account was 'nonsense, and was the fantasy of a vengeful and incorrigible child.'
It was my father's word against Tamar's and the other witnesses', particularly Corrine Tarin and Fred Sexton, as well as against the boxes of evidence retrieved from the Franklin House, all of which pointed to my father's deep interest in sexual fantasy, clearly focusing on the perverse. Despite the attacks on Tamar's credibility by her mother and grandmother, Corrine Tarin's and Fred Sexton's testimony corroborated Tamar's testimony as to the sexual nature of the events that evening and the fact that she had been molested by an adult. It would be up to the defense to get my father off the hook in the face of very damning evidence. If Dad's defense attorneys could not find a way through the maze, my father would go to jail, lose his medical license, and his career would be over.
In his summation, Neeb directly attacked the testimony of the adult witnesses present in the bedroom by not only assaulting the credibility of the witnesses themselves, but arguing that the jury couldn't even consider their testimony:
