of the things the prosecution was counting on to demonstrate recklessness and depraved indifference to human life. Yet here was Sheetz, about to admit that in terms of having been able to see what had happened behind him, Drake's speeding would actually work in his favor.
SHEETZ: A little less than two seconds.
JAYWALKER: I see. You don't know exactly how long it took for the van to go over the embankment, do you?
SHEETZ: No, sir.
JAYWALKER: Or to explode?
SHEETZ: No.
JAYWALKER: Or to burst into flames?
SHEETZ: No.
JAYWALKER: So you'd have to agree that it's entirely possible that the driver who continued on never saw, in his rearview mirror, the van leave the roadway. Wouldn't you?
SHEETZ: It's possible.
JAYWALKER: Never saw or heard the explosion?
SHEETZ: It's possible.
JAYWALKER: Never saw the flames?
SHEETZ: Possible.
JAYWALKER: Probably never saw other motorists pull ing over and stopping?
SHEETZ: Probably not.
JAYWALKER: Certainly never saw troopers and EMTs at the scene?
SHEETZ: No, sir.
In the space of three minutes, Jaywalker had taken the witness from plausible to possible to probable to certain that Carter Drake had been totally unaware of the destruction he'd left in his wake. And if it was one part seman tics and two parts sleight of hand, who cared? At least it would send the jurors home on a note of uncertainty.
JAYWALKER: By the way, those gasoline fumes you mentioned? Where did they come from?
It seemed like an innocent enough question, something that any third grader should have been able to answer. Fr om the gas tank. But Sheetz didn't say that. In fact, for just a second, he didn't say anything. And that second was enough for Jaywalker to know that he had him on that, too.
Way back in the early weeks of the case, when Abe Firestone had bombarded him with three huge cartons of worthless duplicated nonsense, and Jaywalker had bitten the bullet and combed through every page of it, his reward had been a sleepless night, a sore back and four nuggets of gold. The first of those nuggets had been Moishe Leopold's mistaken belief that there'd been not one but two people in the Audi. The second had been the lack of any reference whatsoever to Amy Jo O'Keefe, the little redheaded firecracker who'd matched Carter Drake drink for drink before driving herself home safely to New Jersey. Right now, Jaywalker was about to cash in nugget number 3.
SHEETZ: The fumes?
JAYWALKER: Yes, the fumes. Where did they come from?
SHEETZ: They came from the van.
JAYWALKER: Can you be more specific?
SHEETZ: Some came from the van's gas tank.
JAYWALKER: And others?
SHEETZ: We found the melted remains of a five-gallon metal gasoline container.
JAYWALKER: Were you able to determine whether that was an approved gasoline container?
SHEETZ: I don't recall.
Jaywalker pulled a document from his file and had it marked for identification. Dispensing with the usual protocol of asking the court's permission to approach the witness, he walked up to the stand and handed it to Sheetz. Then he stayed right there. In the movies, the cross-examiner and the witness are often pictured together. It makes for what Hollywood calls a nice tight shot. In real courtrooms, lawyers aren't supposed to crowd witnesses. But Jaywalker had once had a client who told him it made him absolutely nuts when the prosecutor had 'gotten in his face.' So Jaywalker did it every chance he got, and showing an adversary's witness a document provided a perfect opportunity.
JAYWALKER: Take a look at that document, will you?
SHEETZ: Yes, sir.
JAYWALKER: Do you recognize it?
SHEETZ: I do.
JAYWALKER: What is it?
SHEETZ: It's a memo I wrote on May 31 of last year. A long time ago. I'd forgot about it.
JAYWALKER: And does reading it now refresh your recollection and help you recall that the metal gasoline container you found was an unapproved type?
SHEETZ: Yes, sir.
JAYWALKER: What made it unapproved?
SHEETZ: It could have been several things. It might have been unvented, which means it might have been prone to burst on impact, instead of expanding or con tracting. Or it might have been the type that spill when turned over. Or it might not have been spark resistant.
JAYWALKER: Or it might have had all three of those defects?
SHEETZ: Yes, sir.
JAYWALKER: Was there in fact an impact to the van?
SHEETZ: There was.
JAYWALKER: Did the van in fact turn over?
SHEETZ: It did.
JAYWALKER: And is it your opinion that there was in fact a spark?
SHEETZ: It is.
JAYWALKER: The van's gas tank is by law constructed to withstand all of those things. Correct?
SHEETZ: Correct.
JAYWALKER: How about the unapproved gasoline can?
SHEETZ: It was apparently built without regard to those things. That's why I referred to it as unapproved.
JAYWALKER: What's an accelerant?
FIRESTONE: Objection. He's not an arson investigator.
THE COURT: He may answer if he knows.
JAYWALKER: Do you know what an accelerant is?
SHEETZ: Yes, sir. It's a highly volatile, and therefore in flammable, substance that's often used to get a fire started.
JAYWALKER: Is gasoline an accelerant?
SHEETZ: Yes, sir. One of the best. Or worst, depending upon how you choose to look at it.
JAYWALKER: And if you choose to look at it from the point of view of those eight kids in the van?
SHEETZ: One of the worst.
JAYWALKER: In your expert opinion, but for the pres ence of that unapproved gasoline can, which was prone to burst, spill or explode in the presence of a spark, might those kids be alive today?
The fact that Firestone's objection was sustained made little difference to Jaywalker. This wasn't some civil case he was trying, after all, in which the jury would be called upon to determine negligence and apportion fault among the defendant, the driver of the van, and the company that owned or operated it. But just as William Sheetz's earlier concession-that Carter Drake might never have been aware of the accident he'd caused in his wake-would give the jurors something to think about over the weekend, so too would Sheetz's implicating the exploding gasoline can, particularly when coupled with his dubious claim that he'd forgotten all about it.
So if Jaywalker hadn't actually succeeded in outdueling John Wayne, at the very least he'd knocked him off his high horse just a bit. But still, he wasn't quite finished. He had a teaser for the jury, one last thing for them to take
