No Way Out

Andi kept a neutral look on hers face. She was forcing Bethel to elaborate on her answers, taking her into unfamiliar territory.

“But you were aware that there is always an element of danger when one gets into a stranger’s car?”

“Yes.”

“Assuming of course that you didn’t want what ultimately happened?”

“Objection,” Sarah Jensen interrupted.

“Sustained. Counsel will refrain from embellishing her questions. The jury will ignore defense counsel’s last remark.”

“You’re honor we have the right to raise the issue of what this witness actually wanted.”

“Is the defendant changing to a consent defense?”

“No, but the intentions of the witness have a bearing on her overall credibility.”

“Then phrase it as a question Ms. Phoenix, not as an inflammatory statement.”

“Miss Newton, did you want to have sexual relations with the driver of the car?”

“No of course not.”

“Then would not the wisest course of action have been not to get into his car in the first place?”

“I suppose so.”

“Yet you did get into the car?”

“I didn’t think about it.”

“Nevertheless would you not concede that by getting into a stranger’s car you advertised that you had less concern for the consequences than the average female?”

“Objection!”

Again Sarah Jensen was on her feet. Andi tried to sound calm as she replied.

“Your Honor, if I may quote a ruling of Justice Compton in the California Court of Appeal — ‘Under such circumstances it would not be unreasonable for a man in the position of the defendant here to believe that the female would consent to sexual relations.’”

“Your Honor, counsel for the defense forgets that Justice Compton specified that it only applied — quote ‘in the absence of an emergency situations’ unquote. In this case, the vict- witnesses car had broken down in the middle of nowhere and her cell phone battery was dead. Furthermore, the official grounds for the reversal was that the trial judge allowed the jury to consider the defendant’s previous conviction for a sex offense — for which he was still on a suspended sentence.”

Ellen Wagner nodded.

“I believe that it was also pointed out that if it were applied consistently it would also allow hitchhikers to rape drivers and allow drivers to rape male hitchhikers and hitchhikers to rape male drivers.”

Andi was feeling flustered. She had overplayed her hand and Alex was now looking at her with unconcealed anger. The judge continued.

“I am directing the jury as a matter of law that the act of getting into a stranger’s car does not in itself entail an absolute forfeiture of the protection of the law against rape.”

Sarah Jensen sat down, casting a smug side-glance at Alex, who in turn looked somewhat frustrated.

“Miss Newton,” Andi continued, “is it possible that the reason you felt you had no choice but to hitch a ride is because you were tired of trying to get your car started and anxious to get back into town?”

“Yes,” said Bethel, grateful for the chance to revert back to one-word answers. She had said in direct examination that she had been unable to restart the car on her own. She hadn’t noticed the subtle shift in wording that Andi had introduced into the questioning.

“And is it not also possible that, being tired, you may have been mistaken about at least some of the details of the event — not the major details perhaps, but at least the minor ones.”

“Yes,” said Bethel nervously. The prosecutor had looked away from her just after the question was asked and this was a pre-planned warning sign.

“For example,” Andi continued, “if you say you were raped, then there is certainly no reason to doubt you. If you say you didn’t give your consent to sex then you ought to know what you wanted and no one should question that. But is it not possible that you might be mistaken in what is, at the end of the day, just one of the details? Like the identification of the rapist?”

“The man who raped me is your client Elias Claymore,” she said with grit in her voice.

“But did you not initially tell the police that the man who raped you was in his early twenties?”

“I did at first.”

The voice was weak. But more significantly, Alex noticed that she was no longer relying on one-word answers, even when she could get away with them.

“Would you say that this accused is in his twenties?”

She looked round at Claymore

“No. But when I came back after lunch, I told them he was older?”

“Ah yes, when you came back. And that was when you also told them that you’d seen the rapist on a TV talk show.”

“Yes.”

“And how old does the accused look to you now?”

“About fifty.”

“Fifty eight actually. So how could you confuse him for a man in his twenties?”

“I don’t know,” she replied weakly, wiping a tear out of one of her eyes.

“And what made you realize that he was older?”

“Like I said, I saw him on a TV in a store window. He was presenting the talk-show. But I didn’t know who it was. Only I realized that it was him when I saw his face in close-up.”

“But you saw the rapist in close up didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And you thought he was in his twenties.”

“I was frightened.”

“Frightened would hardly make fifty eight seem like twenties would it?”

“I was confused.”

“Are you sure you’re not confused now?”

“No.”

“You’re not sure if you’re confused?”

“No I mean I’m not confused now.”

“Is it not possible that at the second photo line-up you identified a man who may perhaps have, in his youth, looked like the man who raped you, but who in fact was a completely different man?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Is it possible that you saw an older man on TV who looked a bit like an older version of the man who raped you and so you decided that this man was the rapist?”

“No. Look I know what I’m saying! The man who raped me is that man sitting over there!”

Andi paused, put on the look of one who was hurt but still defiant, and spoke in a slow but impassioned voice.

“Is this the first time that you’ve accused a man of rape?”

Bethel looked over to the prosecutor who nodded discreetly. Andi could have made an issue of such non- verbal communication, but she chose to ignore it, putting pressure on Bethel to answer.