'The knife you used on Rhoda Kassellaw.'
'It wasn't me.'
Like a slow and cruel executioner, Ernie took a long pause and huddled with Hank Hooten again. He then picked up the autopsy report and asked Danny if he remembered the testimony of the first pathologist. Was his report also a part of this conspiracy? Danny wasn't sure how to answer. All of the evidence was being used against him, so, yes, he figured it must be bogus as well.
And the piece of his skin found under her fingernail, that was part of the conspiracy? And his own semen? And on and on; Ernie hammered away. Occasionally, Lucien would glance over his shoulder at Danny's father with a look that said, 'I told you so.'
Danny's presence on the stand allowed Ernie to once more trot out all the evidence, and the impact was devastating. His weak protests that everything was tainted by a conspiracy sounded ridiculous, even laughable. Watching him get thoroughly decimated before the jury was quite gratifying. The good guys were winning. The jury seemed primed to pull out rifles and form a firing squad.
Ernie tossed his legal pad on his table and appeared ready for lunch, finally. He jammed both hands into his front pockets, glared at the witness, and said, 'Under oath, you're telling this jury you didn't rape and murder Rhoda Kassellaw?'
'I didn't do it.'
'You didn't follow her home from the state line that Saturday night?'
'No.'
'You didn't sneak in her patio door?'
'No.'
'And hide in her closet until she put her children to bed?'
'No.'
'And you didn't attack her when she came in to put on her night clothes?'
'No.'
Lucien stood and said angrily, 'Objection, Your Honor, Mr. Gaddis is testifying here.'
'Overruled!' Loopus snapped at the defense table. The Judge wanted a fair trial. To counteract all the lying done by the defense, the prosecution was being allowed considerable freedom in describing the murder scene.
'You didn't blindfold her with a scarf?'
Padgitt was continually shaking his head as the narrative approached its climax.
'And cut off her panties with your knife?'
'No.'
'And you didn't rape her in her own bed, with her two little children asleep not far away?' 'I did not.'
'And you didn't wake them with your noise?'
'No.'
Ernie walked as close to the witness chair as the Judge would allow, and he looked sadly at his jury. Then he turned to Danny and said, 'Michael and Teresa ran to check on their mother, didn't they, Mr. Padgitt?'
'I don't know.'
'And they found you on top of her, didn't they?'
'I wasn't there.'
'Rhoda heard their voices, didn't she? Did they yell at you, beg you to get off?'
'I wasn't there.'
'And Rhoda did what any mother would do—she yelled for them to run, didn't she, Mr. Padgitt?'
'I wasn't there.'
'You weren't there!' Ernie bellowed, and the walls seemed to shake. 'Your shirt was there, your footprints were there, you left your semen there! You think this jury is stupid, Mr. Padgitt?'
The witness kept shaking his head. Ernie walked slowly to his chair and pulled it from under the table. As he was about to sit, he said, 'You're a rapist. You're a murderer. And you're a liar, aren't you, Mr. Padgitt?'
Lucien was up and yelling. 'Objection, Your Honor. This is enough.'
'Sustained. Any further questions, Mr. Gaddis?'
'No, Your Honor, the State is finished with this witness.'
'Any redirect, Mr. Wilbanks?'
'No, Your Honor.'
'The witness may step down.' Danny slowly got to his feet. Long gone was the smirk, the swagger. His face was red with anger and wet with sweat.
As he was about to step out of the witness box and return to the defense table, he suddenly turned to the jury and said something that stunned the courtroom. His face wrinkled into pure hatred, and he jabbed his right index finger into the air. 'You convict me,' he said, 'and I'll get every damned one of you.'
'Bailiff!' Judge Loopus said as he grabbed for his gavel. 'That's enough, Mr. Padgitt.'
'Every damned one of you!' Danny repeated, louder. Ernie jumped to his feet, but could think of nothing to say. And why should he? The defendant was strangling himself. Lucien was on his feet, equally uncertain about what to do. Two deputies raced forward and shoved Padgitt toward the defense table. As he walked away he glared at the jurors as if he might just throw a grenade right then.
When things settled, I realized my heart was pounding with excitement. Even Baggy was too stunned to speak.
'Let's break for lunch,' His Honor said, and we fled the courtroom. I was no longer hungry. I felt like racing to my apartment and taking a shower.
Chapter 18
The trial resumed at 3 P.M. All the jurors were present; the Padgitts hadn't knocked one off during lunch. Miss Callie gave me a grin, but her heart was not in it.
Judge Loopus explained to the jury that it was now time for the closing arguments, after which he would read to them his formal instructions, and they should have the case to decide in a couple of hours or so. They listened carefully, but I'm sure they were still reeling from the shock of being so flagrantly intimidated. The entire town was reeling. The jurors were a sampling of us, the rest of the community, and to threaten them was to do the same to everyone.
Ernie went first, and within minutes the bloody shirt was back in play. He was careful, though, not to overdo it. The jurors understood. They knew the evidence well.
The District Attorney was thorough but surprisingly brief. As he made his last appeal for a verdict of guilty, we watched the faces of the jurors. I saw no sympathy for the defendant. Fargarson, the crippled boy, was actually nodding as he followed along with Ernie. Mr. John Deere had uncrossed his arms and was listening to every word.
Lucien was even briefer, but then he had far less to work with. He began by addressing his client's final words to the jury. He apologized for his behavior. He blamed it on the pressure of the moment. Imagine, he asked the jurors, being twenty-four years old and facing either life in prison or, worse, the gas chamber. The stress on his young client—he always referred to him as 'Danny' as if he was an innocent little boy—was so enormous that he was concerned about his mental stability.
Since he could not pursue the goofy conspiracy theory advanced by his client, and since he knew better than to dwell on the evidence, he spent half an hour or so praising the heroes who'd written our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The way Lucien interpreted the presumption of innocence and the requirement that the State prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt made me wonder how any criminal ever got convicted.
The State had the chance for a rebuttal; the defense did not. So Ernie got the last word. He ignored the evidence and did not mention the defendant, but chose instead to talk about Rhoda. Her youth and beauty, her
