A Time to Kill (63 page)

“As I recall, yes.”

“And what did the jury do, Doctor?”

“He was found not guilty.”

“By reason of insanity?”

“Yes.”

“And where is Mr. Couch today, Doctor?”

“I think he’s at Whitfield.”

“And how long has he been there?”

“Since the trial, I believe.”

“I see. Do you normally admit patients and keep them for several years if they are of perfectly sound mind?”

Rodeheaver shifted his weight and began a slow burn. He looked at his lawyer, the people’s lawyer, as if to say he was tired of this, do something to stop it.

Jake picked up more papers. “Doctor, do you recall the trial of a man by the name of Buddy Wooddall in Cleburne County, May of 1979?”

“Yes, I certainly do.”

“Murder, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“And you testified as an expert in the field of psychiatry and told the jury that Mr. Wooddall was not insane?”

“I did.”

“Do you recall how many psychiatrists testified on his behalf and told the jury the poor man was legally insane?”

“I believe there were five, Mr. Brigance.”

“That’s correct, Doctor. Five against one. Do you recall what the jury did?”

The anger and frustration was building in the witness stand. The wise old grandfather/professor with all the right answers was becoming rattled. “Yes, I recall. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity.”

“How do you explain that, Dr. Rodeheaver? Five against one, and the jury finds against you?”

“You just can’t trust juries,” he blurted, then caught himself. He fidgeted and grinned awkwardly at the jurors.

Jake stared at him with a wicked smile, then looked at the jury in disbelief. He folded his arms and allowed the last words to sink in. He waited, staring and grinning at the witness.

“You may proceed, Mr. Brigance,” Noose finally said.

Moving slowly and with great animation, Jake gathered his files and notes while staring at Rodeheaver. “I think we’ve heard enough from this witness, Your Honor.”

“Any redirect, Mr. Buckley?”

“No, sir. The State rests.”

Noose addressed the jury. “Ladies and gentlemen, this trial is almost over. There will be no more witnesses. I will now meet with the attorneys to cover some technical areas, then they will be allowed to make their final arguments to you. That will begin at two o’clock and take a couple of hours. You will finally get the case around four, and I will allow you to deliberate until six. If you do not reach a verdict today, you will be taken back to your rooms until tomorrow. It is now almost eleven, and we’ll recess until two. I need to see the attorneys in chambers.”

Carl Lee leaned over and spoke to his lawyer for the first time since Saturday’s adjournment. “You tore him up pretty good, Jake.”

“Wait till you hear the closing argument.”

________

Jake avoided Harry Rex, and drove to Karaway. His childhood home was an old country house in downtown, surrounded by ancient oaks and maples and elms that kept it cool in spite of the summer heat. In the back, past the trees, was a long open field which ran for an eighth of a mile and disappeared over a small hill. A chickenwire backstop stood over the weeds in one corner. Here, Jake had taken his first steps, rode his first bike, thrown his first football and baseball. Under an oak beside the field, he had buried three dogs, a raccoon, a rabbit, and some ducks. A tire from a ’54 Buick swung not far from the small cemetery.

The house had been locked and deserted for two months. A neighborhood kid cut the grass and tended the lawn. Jake checked the house once a week. His parents were somewhere in Canada in a camper—the summer ritual. He wished he were with them.

He unlocked the door and walked upstairs to his room. It would never change. The walls were covered with team pictures, trophies, baseball caps, posters of Pete Rose, Archie Manning, and Hank Aaron. A row of baseball gloves hung above the closet door. A cap and gown picture sat on the dresser. His mother still cleaned it weekly. She once told him she often went to his room and expected to find him doing homework or sorting baseball cards. She would flip through his scrapbooks, and get all teary eyed.

He thought of Hanna’s room, with the stuffed
animals and Mother Goose wallpaper. A thick knot formed in his throat.

He looked out the window, past the trees, and saw himself swinging in the tire near the three white crosses where he buried his dogs. He remembered each funeral, and his father’s promises to get another dog. He thought of Hanna and her dog, and his eyes watered.

The bed was much smaller now. He removed his shoes and lay down. A football helmet hung from the ceiling. Eighth grade, Karaway Mustangs. He scored seven touchdowns in five games. It was all on film downstairs under the bookshelves. The butterflies floated wildly through his stomach.

He carefully placed his notes—his notes, not Lucien’s—on the dresser. He studied himself in the mirror.

________

He addressed the jury. He began by facing his biggest problem, Dr. W.T. Bass. He apologized. A lawyer walks into a courtroom, faces a strange jury, and has nothing to offer but his credibility. And if he does anything to hurt his credibility, he has hurt his cause, his client. He asked them to believe that he would never put a convicted felon on the stand as an expert witness in any trial. He did not know of the conviction, he raised his hand and swore to this. The world is full of psychiatrists, and he could easily have found another if he had known Bass had a problem, but he simply did not know. And he was sorry.

But what about Bass’s testimony. Thirty years ago he had sex with a girl under eighteen in Texas. Does that mean he is lying now in this trial? Does that mean you cannot trust his professional opinion? Please be
fair to Bass the psychiatrist, forget Bass the person. Please be fair to his patient, Carl Lee Hailey. He knew nothing of the doctor’s past.

There was something about Bass they might like to know. Something that was not mentioned by Mr. Buckley when he was ripping the doctor to pieces. The girl he had sex with was seventeen. She later became his wife, bore him a son, and was pregnant when she and the boy were killed in a train—

“Objection!” Buckley shouted. “Objection, Your Honor. That evidence is not in the record!”

“Sustained. Mr. Brigance, you are not to refer to facts not in evidence. The jury will disregard the last statements by Mr. Brigance.”

Jake ignored Noose and Buckley and stared painfully at the jury.

When the shouting died, he continued. What about Rodeheaver? He wondered if the State’s doctor had ever engaged in sex with a girl under eighteen. Seemed silly to think about such things, didn’t it? Bass and Rodeheaver in their younger days—it seemed so unimportant now in this courtroom almost thirty years later.

The State’s doctor is a man with an obvious bias. A highly trained specialist who treats thousands for all sorts of mental illnesses, yet when crimes are involved he cannot recognize insanity. His testimony should be carefully weighed.

They watched him, listened to every word. He was not a courtroom preacher, like his opponent. He was quiet, sincere. He looked tired, almost hurt.

Lucien was sober, and he sat with folded arms and watched the jurors, all except Sisco. It was not his closing, but it was good. It was coming from the heart.

Jake apologized for his inexperience. He had not
been in many trials, not nearly as many as Mr. Buckley. And if he seemed a little green, or if he made mistakes, please don’t hold it against Carl Lee. It wasn’t his fault. He was just a rookie trying his best against a seasoned adversary who tried murder cases every month. He made a mistake with Bass, and he made other mistakes, and he asked the jury to forgive him.

He had a daughter, the only one he would ever have. She was four, almost five, and his world revolved around her. She was special; she was a little girl, and it was up to him to protect her. There was a bond there, something he could not explain. He talked about little girls.

Carl Lee had a daughter. Her name was Tonya. He pointed to her on the front row next to her mother and brothers. She’s a beautiful little girl, ten years old. And she can never have children. She can never have a daughter because—”

“Objection,” Buckley said without shouting.

“Sustained,” Noose said.

Jake ignored the commotion. He talked about rape for a while, and explained how rape is much worse than murder. With murder, the victim is gone, and not forced to deal with what happened to her. The family must deal with it, but not the victim. But rape is much worse. The victim has a lifetime of coping, of trying to understand, of asking questions, and, the worst part, of knowing the rapist is still alive and may someday escape or be released. Every hour of every day, the victim thinks of the rape and asks herself a thousand questions. She relives it, step by step, minute by minute, and it hurts just as bad.

Perhaps the most horrible crime of all is the violent rape of a child. A woman who is raped has a pretty good idea why it happened. Some animal was filled
with hatred, anger, and violence. But a child? A ten-year-old child? Suppose you’re a parent. Imagine yourself trying to explain to your child why she was raped. Imagine yourself trying to explain why she cannot bear children.

“Objection.”

“Sustained. Please disregard that last statement, ladies and gentlemen.”

Jake never missed a beat. Suppose, he said, your ten-year-old daughter is raped, and you’re a Vietnam vet, very familiar with an M-16, and you get your hands on one while your daughter is lying in the hospital fighting for her life. Suppose the rapist is caught, and six days later you manage to maneuver to within five feet of him as he leaves court. And you’ve got the M-16.

What do you do?

Mr. Buckley has told you what he would do. He would mourn for his daughter, turn the other cheek, and hope the judicial system worked. He would hope the rapist would receive justice, be sent to Parchman, and hopefully never paroled. That’s what he would do, and they should admire him for being such a kind, compassionate, and forgiving soul. But what would a reasonable father do?

What would Jake do? If he had the M-16? Blow the bastard’s head off!

It was simple. It was justice.

Jake paused for a drink of water, then shifted gears. The pained and humble look was replaced with an air of indignation. Let’s talk about Cobb and Willard. They started this mess. It was their lives the State was attempting to justify. Who would miss them except their mothers? Child rapists. Drug pushers. Would society miss such productive citizens? Wasn’t Ford
County safer without them? Were not the other children in the county better off now that two rapists and pushers had been removed? All parents should feel safer. Carl Lee deserves a medal, or at least a round of applause. He was a hero. That’s what Looney said. Give the man a trophy. Send him home to his family.

He talked about Looney. He had a daughter. He also had one leg, thanks to Carl Lee Hailey. If anyone had a right to be bitter, to want blood, it was DeWayne Looney. And he said Carl Lee should be sent home to his family.

He urged them to forgive as Looney had forgiven. He asked them to follow Looney’s wishes.

He became much quieter, and said he was almost through. He wanted to leave them with one thought. Picture this if they could. When she was lying there, beaten, bloodied, legs spread and tied to trees, she looked into the woods around her. Semiconscious and hallucinating, she saw someone running toward her. It was her daddy, running desperately to save her. In her dreams she saw him when she needed him the most. She cried out for him, and he disappeared. He was taken away.

She needs him now, as much as she needed him then. Please don’t take him away. She waits on the front row for her daddy.

Let him go home to his family.

The courtroom was silent as Jake sat next to his client. He glanced at the jury, and saw Wanda Womack brush away a tear with her finger. For the first time in two days he felt a flicker of hope.

________

At four, Noose bid farewell to his jury. He told them to elect a foreman, get organized, and get busy. He
told them they could deliberate until six, maybe seven, and if no verdict was reached he would recess until nine Tuesday morning. They stood and filed slowly from the courtroom. Once out of sight, Noose recessed until six and instructed the attorneys to remain close to the courtroom or leave a number with the clerk.

The spectators held their seats and chatted quietly. Carl Lee was allowed to sit on the front row with his family. Buckley and Musgrove waited in chambers with Noose. Harry Rex, Lucien, and Jake left for the office and a liquid supper. No one expected a quick verdict.

The bailiff locked them in the jury room and instructed the two alternates to take a seat in the narrow hallway. Inside, Barry Acker was elected foreman by acclamation. He laid the jury instructions and exhibits on a small table in a corner. They sat anxiously around two folding tables placed end to end.

“I suggest we take an informal vote,” he said. “Just to see where we are. Any objections to that?”

There were none. He had a list of twelve names.

“Vote guilty, not guilty, or undecided. Or you can pass for now.”

“Reba Betts.”

“Undecided.”

“Bernice Toole.”

“Guilty.”

“Carol Corman.”

“Guilty.”

“Donna Lou Peck.”

“Undecided.”

“Sue Williams.”

“Pass.”

“Jo Ann Gates.”

“Guilty.”

“Rita Mae Plunk.”

“Guilty.”

“Frances McGowan.”

“Guilty.”

“Wanda Womack.”

“Undecided.”

“Eula Dell Yates.”

“Undecided, for now. I wanna talk about it.”

“We will. Clyde Sisco.”

“Undecided.”

“That’s eleven. I’m Barry Acker, and I vote not guilty.”

He tallied for a few seconds and said, “That’s five guilties, five undecideds, one pass, and one not guilty. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us.”