A Fever in the Heart: And Other True Cases (34 page)

"I went to the backyard and she was there looking at the garage door. I saw a couple of holes she was looking at. I don't know if they came from the gun or not. I saw some potato peelings on the ground and I saw some smashed on her face. Then I asked her whatever she was doing, and she said she was just shooting the gun.... I looked at the gun, and says, Well, I will buy it from you' because earlier in the night she told me she was in debt.... She needed money pretty bad to pay some of her debts."

"Did you buy it?" Moore asked.

"No, I didn't. I just took it from her and I told her I would pay her later. I thought I would make some money in Yakima, you know, make a few extra dollars."

"Sell it?"

"Yes."

Turfy said that he had slipped the gun under the front seat of his car.

Under the driver's side. "Did your brother know that?"

"Well, he knew I had the gun. Earlier when I was down at my girlfriend's house, I had showed it to him and asked him if he knew anybody that was interested and he said yes, he did." Turfy specified that Anthony had seen the Colt. 22 under the bucket seat of his car a week earlier. Adam Moore had brought it all together. The gun. The car. The two brothers.

And now, Turfy explained how he had suddenly become aware that they were "apparently" driving up to Morris Blankenbaker's house. "Why do you say apparently'?"

"Because my brother asked me to slow down. Eventually, as time went on, I found out it was his house. "He asked me to slow down. He says he wanted to see if Morris was home. I says, ""This time of the morning, you know, nobody is going to be up. You don't go visiting at this time in the morning."" But Turfy said Anthony said he and Morris were "pretty tight" and that he would get up. "He saw that the car was missing, and that Morris isn't home, so apparently he's at work.""

"What happened next?" Adam Moore asked. Turfy gave a long answer about his younger brother's concern with Gabby and Jerileesaying that Anthony wanted to talk to Morris about it. He had just assumed that Anthony knew Morris better than he himself did. They had driven by the Lion's Share and saw Morris come out to his car. And then, at Anthony's insistence, they had returned to North Sixth Street. "We went down the alley and. ..

l saw Morris going through the gate. We were walking a little bit faster, a lighter trot. We were coming around the back of his garage and I had seen Morris just about up to the front of his house and I had called him. I called him, and apparently" Adam Moore cut in quickly.

Turfy Pleasant had unconsciously slipped into the first person. "Okay.

You called Morris the nor you had called him?"

"I called him then."

Turfy's attorney let it go, it was better than drawing attention to the slip. "What did you say?"

"I said, Morris'"

"And what happened next?"

"Apparently I took it he didn't hear me, and my brother hollered at him.

He said, Morris! Morris!". .. Morris turned around and he saw us and he came back. He said, How are you guys doing?" And I said, I'm doing all right. How are you doing?" He said, I'm doing pretty good." And I didn't hear my brother say anything, and then he asked Anthony, How are you doing, Anthony?" He said, I'm doing all right."" The courtroom was very quiet. Everyone listening knew what was going to come next, and no one wanted to hear it. Whoever had been there, whoever had pulled the trigger, the ending was going to be the same. "And then," Turfy went on testifying, "there was just a little light conversation. Morris had kind of relaxed himself on the gate and Anthony said, Well, it's about Jerilee." And then Morris kind of stiffened up and told him, Well, I don't want to hear nothing from you or nobody else about Jerilee, and if I hear anything from you or anybody else about Jerilee, I will see to it they don't say nothing else." And then he kind of stiffened up and took a step toward us."

"Did he have anything in his hand?"

"He had a beer bottle in his hand."

"And then what happened, Angelo?"

"Well, when he took the step, next thing I know it, I heard the shot. I saw some fire, and I saw him turn, I saw his head turn."

"Who was holding the gun?"

"My brother Anthony. ..

"I don't know if I saw the second shot or not, but I saw some fire and I took off running. .. down the alley, headed north toward my car."

"Where was your brother?"

"He was right behind me. Well, probably not right behind me but I heard his footsteps." Turfy's voice was full of emotion as he described how shaken he had been. "I didn't turn on my car lights.... I was scared and I just took off from there and went on down First Street. And I was telling my brother, I said, Look, I don't know what happened back there.

Just don't tell me nothing,' and I took the gun from him and I told him, Just don't tell me nothing, but I'm not going to be able to vouch for you tonight. If you say anything to anybody that I saw you tonight about this time I'm not going to be able to tell them nothing.""

"Did you say anything to him about taking the blame?"

"Yes, I did. I told him if it came down to it, and if my name came up first that I would take it."

"Take what?"

"The blame."

Jeff Sullivan had written steadily on the long yellow legal pad in front of him as Turfy testified. He had seen slight flaws and then widening tears and finally huge gaps in Turfy's latest version of the death of Morris Blankenbaker. If Turfy had been so anxious to protect his younger brother and his best friend, why was he telling it all now, placing the blame squarely on their shoulders? Sullivan was anxious for the time to come for cross examination.

lsefore Jeff Sullivan could cross-examine Turfy Pleasant about this new scenario on the death of Morris Blankenbaker, he had to sit through a new script about the shooting of Gabby Moore on Christmas Eve. Turfy said he had still visited Gabby and heard the same obsessive discussion about how Gabby would win back Jerilee, the conversation becoming increasingly maudlin as his coach drank bourbon mixed with Pepsi or Kool-Aid or straight, if he had nothing else. The more he drank, Turfy testified, the more hostile Gabby became. Interestingly, Turfy himself seemed to have become hostile too hounded as he was by Gabby. "Angelo, how would you characterize Gabby Moore's demeanor when he would discuss with you his situation with Jerilee?"

"I would say it wasn't working out too good.... You couldn't say nothing to him. He would just get upset or holler at you."

"Did he cry?"

"I saw him cry one time one time earlier. And then the night that he was shot."

"Okay, let's talk about Christmas Eve Let's start in the morning."

Turfy moved through his day, going into agonizing detail about all of his visits with Rene, his family, his cousins. He finally arrived at the evening hours when he was at a party at Stoney Morton's house. "Who was there?"

"Stoney, his lady friend, my brother Anthony, Stoney's younger brother.

.. I was there.... We were sitting down and looking at a game on TV and drinking a little bit. There was this knock at the door. .. and it was Kenny Marino."

"Then what happened?"

"He came in. He didn't say Hi' or nothing. He just said, Angelo, Mr. Moore would like to see you up at his house as soon as possible." And I told him, I says, Look, now don't be ordering me like that.

I'm out here trying to visit people and I'm just not going to up and run and go visit somebody else just because they ask somebody to come see where I'm at." And he said, Mr. Moore would like to see you as soon as possible." And I said, Well, I see him when I get around to seeing him.... I'm not going to rush for nobody."" He testified that Kenny had left after "cussing him out." Turfy said that Mr. Moore had called him at Rene's house, saying, "Tonight's the night if you know what I mean."

"I said I didn't know, and he says, Why don't you come up and find out?"

I was getting ready to take my lady friend out, but it was eating away at me, so I talked with my lady and then I left and went on up to Mr. Moore's house."

"What time did you get there, Angelo?"

"Between eight-thirty and nine."

Gabby had been dressed nicely, Turfy testified, and he had kicked off his shoes and told Turfy to pour himself a drink. Turfy testified that Moore had said that he couldn't wait any longer, that this was the night he wanted himself shot. "He asked me if I would do it.... I told him, no, I'm not going to do it. And he says, Yes, you are. You're going to do it."

"

"How did he want himself shot?"

"High in the shoulder, left shoulder. He wanted an attempt to be made on his life. He figured that was the only thing if it was made on his life like it was made on Morris, he figured he could get Jerilee back in a couple of weeks or even before the first of January." Although Turfy had insisted he would not shoot Gabby, he testified that Gabby said, Well, I'll see to it that you get the blame for Morris Blankenbaker's shooting." And I didn't tell him I didn't do it. I didn't want nobody else to know [about Anthony] not even him nobody.... And he says, Well, I will see to it that your neck is on the chopping block for Morris's death." And I say swell, I don't know what I really said. I was kind of quiet. He asked me if I knew where the gun was was it close, and I said it was nowhere around here. And he said I was lying.... l said, I don't know where the gun isit's gone. It's a long ways from here...."

" Gabby had said he would gas up his car, Turfy testified. "I said, It's a long way from here and it's buried."" That, he said, didn't stop Gabby, who said they could take a shovel. When Turfy still refused, he said Gabby had picked up the phone book and showed him the police number. "He dialed the digits down to the last one. He asked me if I was going to do it.... I said, I'm not going to do it,' and he dialed the last digit and so I says, Okay, I will do it."" Turfy said he still thought he could talk Gabby out of it until he dialed that last digit, and then he realized his old coach "wasn't playing." Vern Henderson had heard this before. He wondered what spin Turfy was going to put on it this time. So far, it was almost verbatim with that was on the tapes.

Yes, Gabby was going to "put down" a lot of whiskey while Turfy went for the gun just as it had been in the first confession. "I told him," Turfy was saying, ""You can't take the shot, because I don't think even I could,' and I felt I was a little bit stronger than he just on street strength-wise. But he was a bigger man than I was and I told him, I don't think you could take the shot." I was trying my best to talk him out of it. And he said, No, this is what I want and this is the only way to get Jerilee back."" Gabby had accused Turfy of stalling for time.

Gabby had ordered him, "Go get the gun."

"Did you go get the gun?"

"Yes, but I told him that he was talking crazy, completely crazy."

Now, as Jeff Sullivan and Vern Henderson listened for the slightest straying from the tapes, they heard Turfy veer off. "What happened then?"

"I had parked in front of another car, and I was waiting, talking to myself. I says, Well, I'm not going to do it no matter what, but I will take the gun in and show it to him anyway, just to see if it would calm him dow nand see if I can talk to him a little bit more."" But while he was waiting, Turfy said he honked twice, and he had seen his brother Anthony and a friend drive by. Then they went in Moore's house. "Did you go in the house?"

"Yes."

In this version, Turfy said that he had tried to get his brother and his friend to help him get Gabby out of the house, to go visiting or to a tavern. But it didn't work. Gabby was "as drunk as I've ever seen him.

He was swaying back and forth. He could hardly stand." After the others had left, Gabby took off his shirt, his shoes, and started talking about Jerilee. He broke out his photo albums. He was single-minded about what he wanted done. Emotions washed across Turfy Pleasant's face as he testified.

There was little question that he was remembering a desperate night.

There was a question about whether he was confabulating taking a real event and rewriting it so that it emerged in a manner favorable to him.

He could not have been making this monologue up, he didn't seem that sophisticated. But it was quite possible he was weaving self serving "memories"

into what had really happened at Gabby Moore's apartment on Christmas Eve. The phone rang twice, but Gabby wouldn't say who it was. Turfy said that Kenny Marino had appeared a short time later. But Kenny had stayed in the house while Turfy was walking Gabby around the backyard. Turfy testified that he'd managed to get his coach out in the backyard for air only to have Gabby order him to shoot him there. Turfy said he refused and Gabby stumbled back into the house.

"Where was the gun?" Adam Moore asked.

"In the house on the right side of the daveno on the floor. I was kind of upset because he [Gabby] saw where I put the gun because he was looking right at me when I put it down there. I don't know if he was in a daze or looking past me."

Turfy said he was thinking then of "bookin'" (leaving) and letting his friend Kenny deal with their old coach. But then he had remembered the gun was in the house. "I can't leave without the gun. My keys are in the house, my coat was in the house, so I says, I'm going to go back in there. I'm going to talk to this man one more time and if he doesn't come around, I'm leaving. "And so," Turfy continued, his voice taut, "as I went stepping through the door i just opened the door there was a shot.

Mr. Moore was on the floor and Kenny was just lowering the gun." In hours and hours of testimony, Turfy had explained away all of the blood on his hands. His brother Anthony had killed Morris, his best friend Kenny had killed Gabby. He himself had just happened to be in close proximity to both murders. Pleasant's attorneys called for the noon break, and Judge Lay agreed but cautioned the spectators in the gallery to sit in their seats and say nothing until the jury filed out. When the jury room door was shut tight, Adam Moore and Chris Tait voiced their concern about the way Jeff Sullivan would present testimony on the defendant's recanting of his original confessions. Without the jury present, Turfy took the stand again and said he felt that Vern Henderson and Jeff Sullivan had been dishonest with him by pretending to believe him when he implicated Anthony and Kenny as the guilty ones. Now, he felt he had been tricked. Sullivan reminded Turfy he had always told him that if he was not telling them the truth turfy would be tried for the murders. The defendant's attorneys had been present and aware of every step of the case. Faced with Sullivan's questions, Turfy backed up, admitting that he had been warned what would happen if he was lying to the detectives and the prosecuting attorney. In truth, Jeff Sullivan and Vern Henderson had believed Turfy's recanting, enough so that Anthony Pleasant and Kenny Marino had been arrested. But, as witnesses and forensic evidence failed to validate Turfy's version and did nothing to connect the other two suspects, they had changed their minds. Turfy Pleasant's direct testimony continued for hours. Adam Moore ended it on a poignant, dramatic note. He asked Turfy to tell the jury about Gabby Moore's trophy case. "[He had] wrestling trophies, trophies he had received from different teams that were sentimental to him as a coach, pictures of his different teams, pictures of his different companions throughout the years that he was coaching there at Davis High School.