The Executioner's Song (85 page)

Moody said something, he didn’t have to repeat it. Assumed you understood. Vem saw him as in the category of upper class. Would belong to the country club and have an expensive home in the foothills of Provo. “Mortgage Heights,” Vern called it.

To Moody, Vern Damico seemed a concerned relative, sincerely looking for good advice and the best deal he could shape up. He kept saying that he wanted Gary’s wishes to be carried out. He wanted some kind of dignity retained for his nephew ff possible.

Since this modest perspective would not benefit his standing with Vern Damico’s and Kathryne Baker’s. new lawyers, Schiller took pains to tell them separately that the story coming out would give him the virtue of a low profile for the present. He went on to say that there would be times, handling the press, when he might make mistakes, but, “I have seen the heat come down, and I will do my best to protect your credibility. We will set it up like a team operation, and I will take the shots.” Over and over he said, “There may be things I do that make you unhappy, we may have our disagreements, but I am still friends with all the people I have worked with. Look,” he would say, “pick up the phone and call Shelly Dunn in Denver, Colorado. He was the lawyer on Sunshine. He will tell you how he and I are still friends now, and that, in general, I was right about the press, not right about everything, but often right.” Then Schiller would mention Paul Caruso’s number, and remind them that he was the lawyer on the Susan Atkins case. “We had a lot of trouble with that,” Schiller said, ‘many disagreements, but feel free to call him.” He named a couple of other lawyers as well.

In fact, Schiller did not have a clear or certain idea what all these attorneys might say about him, but, then, it had been his experience that very few people actually made such phone calls.

Moody talked to him about the difficulty of trying to represent Gary’s criminal interests and his literary estate. Bob Moody didn’t think it would work to negotiate contracts for books or films while trying to advise Gary on his legal situation. Suppose, at some point, Gary wished to change his mind and appeal, why then the rights for his life story would be considerably less. A potential conflict of interest existed right there. You just didn’t want a situation where a lawyer might have to ask himself whether his client’s death might be more profitable to him. Vern nodded. A second lawyer would be necessary.

Bob now mentioned a fellow named Ron Stanger. A local man with whom he had worked in the past. Worked with him, worked against him. He felt he could recommend Ron.

In fact, Moody had already called Stanger over the weekend. “How,” Bob Moody had kidded, “would you like to take over from Dennis Boaz?” They had agreed it would be fascinating. Lots of public appeal and great legal questions. In fact, a fellow like Gilmore, capable of putting the State of Utah through hoops, ought to be interesting to meet.

When Vern met his lawyer, Bob Moody, on Monday morning, he thought he was a quiet, confident, intelligent man. Moody was well built, and half bald, and his eyeglasses looked competent. His way of talking was very carefully spoken. Veto noticed that when Bob

Of course, they also wondered whether this would be another crusade where you don’t get paid. Moody had said goodbye to Stanger with the mutual understanding that they would consider a lot of things, and one was capital punishment. Of course, you could assume it would not go that far. Probably, the convict was bluffing. When it got to last push against last shove, he’d appeal.

Just about a week ago, Moody and Stanger had happened to be leaving Court together, and saw Snyder and Esplin out on the court

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house lawn being interviewed by local TV, As they drove past, they catcalled. It was really funny seeing Craig and Mike under TV lights. Shortly thereafter, they ribbed Snyder in the coffee shop. How did it feel to carry out an appeal your client didn’t want? “You really do good work,” they told him with a grin. Snyder grinned back.

Even after the suicide attempt it was hard for Moody and Stanger to take the case with complete seriousness. By then, courthouse talk was “Snyder, your work is going to blazes. Your man is carrying out the sentence himself.” But, then, lawyers had to be like surgeons, joked while they washed their hands. So, on the phone that Saturday night, when Moody told Stanger there was a good possibility he’d be called in, Stanger replied, “All we need is to be on TV and have Craig Snyder drive by.”

Now, discussing it with Vern on Monday morning, Bob Moody said over the phone, “Ron, come over and meet Vern and see what he thinks of you.” It was his way of telling Stanger he had the job.

domestic relations, personal injury work, local stores, stuff where he could deal with people. He liked to get out of the office. It was better to go on an investigative tour than get locked up in Probate and endless bookkeeping, so he usually enjoyed a criminal case if it came his way. Certainly, he had never found anything incompatible about being a criminal lawyer and a high member of the Mormon Church, and this case definitely gave him an agreeable tingle, but he could see that Gilmore was going to stretch many feelings. A lot of people would query the moral rights of what he was doing.

It was sometimes hard for religious-minded people to comprehend why a lawyer was there in the first place for certain defendants. They didn’t understand that the basis of the adversary system was the right of a defendant to have his story told in Court as well as possible. So they could never comprehend that it was not unnatural for two lawyers to be at each other’s throat in the courtroom, then sit down afterward to eat together.

Vern was struck with the difference. Ron was a real peppy fellow. In fact, his physical appearance threw Vern. Stanger looked like a fresh kid out of law school. Vern wondered, “Can a man this young do what Gary wants?” He decided to hire him because of Moody’s recommendation, but couldn’t keep from saying to Stanger, “I guess you’re kind of young.”

“Not really,” said Stanger, pointing to Moody, “this baldheaded guy and I are practically the same age.” Vern didn’t know if he liked him. Stanger’s eyes were gleaming, like his hooves were flashing in the air. “Let’s get it on,” was his look. Maybe that was good for a lawyer. Vern was having to make a lot of decisions about people before he knew how much to trust them. That was not what he would call comfortable.

A few years back, when Moody was Assistant County Attorney, he had been prosecuting a drug charge, and Ron Stanger had been defending. Ron’s methods that day were downright insulting. Moody finally got so mad, the Judge called Stanger and him to the bench, and the Jury got a big kick out of that. Two lawyers fighting to the death. In the closing argument, Ron added the crowning blow of telling the Jury that if Mr. Moody had really been ready to prove his case, he would have taken this ten-dollar bill the prosecution said was paid over for drugs, and shown the fingerprints on it. It was a closing argument, with no opportunity for rebuttal, so Bob couldn’t reply that a ten-dollar bill has no less than ten thousand fingerprints on it. He was plenty upset. Part of the game was to win your case — you loved to win—but Ron’s tactics had gone further than a friendly jab or two.

Exploring your feelings was an expensive procedure if you had to use unpaid office time to do it, but, from the outset, this job gave Moody more to think about than was customary. Most of his practice was

While waiting for the Jury to decide, feeling emotionally uptight, they nonetheless had lunch together. The Jury, passing by the coffee shop, saw them eating and laughing, and actually sent a couple of representatives to the Judge to say the lawyers were not sincere. So Bob could see what was coming up. That episode wouldn’t be a whiff to the fumes which would arise in this case.

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“Nothing personal against you guys,” Gilmore said, “I just don’t like lawyers.” Then he’d burp. The sound of an empty stomach was in the earpiece of the phone.

Vern took a couple of letterheads from Moody’s office and Stanger’s, and brought them to Gary next day. “These lawyers are local people,” he told Gary. “My truthful opimon is I don’t think you can go wrong. They’ll fight for your rights.”

Gary asked, “Do they believe in capital punishment?”

Vern didn’t know exactly-it occurred to him he hadn’t even asked Moody m but he said, “They’ll defend your rights regardless of how they feel.”

Moody and Stanger came over to the prison a little later. Gary wanted to look them over. So, they met. On opposite sides of the glass. Spoke by telephone, and it was a cold meeting. “Do you want us to represent you?” they asked, and Gary answered, “Let me talk to my uncle.”

A long conversation went on between Gilmore and Vern. Moody heard words on Vern’s side, like, “I feel confident,” but Gilmore seemed squirrelly. He certainly wasn’t talking freely. He looked gaunt and his color was poor. Kept talking about his headache. He was obviously suffering the aftereffects of the sleeping pills. Then they learned that he was on a hunger strike as well. He was not going to eat, he said, until they allowed him a telephone call to Nicole. He said that and then was silent. He stared at them.

Now, Gary brought up capital punishment. Moody got ready to say he didn’t believe in it, but was still mulling over such a speech, when Ron said through the other phone that he, personally, was opposed to it.

“Will you carry out my directions, however?” Gary asked. “Yes,” Ron said, “I’ll represent you.”

Now Bob said to Gary that lawyers were accustomed to working against the grain. There weren’t many people you could defend, if you carried your beliefs into everything.

Still, it never got good with Gilmore this day. He kept answering questions with the remark, “I won’t know until I see it in writing.” He was suspicious of mankind in general, and lawyers in particular.

Given the bleakness of these circumstances, Moody decided he might as well make certain of their ground. So he mentioned Dennis Boaz. “Is his relationship with you officially severed?” he asked.

Gary replied, “Dennis was the only man that really want.ed to help for a while, so I owe him something. But it’s over. This afternoon, I’m going to fire him.”

He yawned. Moody had heard how the first few days of a fast were the worst, and if true, that was just as well, for he felt a profound stubbornness in Gilmore that spoke of a hunger strike that could continue for quite a while.

Dennis said, “I spoke to Vern, and he indicated you want to fire me.” “Uh, right,” said Gilmore.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Dennis said.

It blew Gary out of the saddle. Right through the glass, Dennis could see him shifting his feet like he had been set to go in one direction, and now was looking for new footing.

“I didn’t appreciate you talking on TV with Geraldo Rivera,” said Gary. “I also didn’t appreciate you calling the Warden ignorant. You’ve made things more difficult for me.” He yawned fiercely.

“Gary,” Dennis said, “I feel like there’s a complete cutoff of communications between you and me.”

Gilmore said, “It doesn’t matter.” Then he nodded, as ff to himself, “Dennis,” he said, “you’re entitled to something. How much do you want?”

Dennis said, “All I want is to write about it.” He was thinking that he might have to call his character Harry Kilmore, not Gary Gilmore. He could balance out his book by having one theme on the murders and the other on his own work with the bus drivers: two legal cases, one a litigation to increase people’s safety, the other a search for death. Might make a good novel.

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He could feel how impressed Gilmore was that he didn’t care about the money.

“We have a little difference of opinion,” said Gilmore. “But, I’ll tell you, Dennis, I’m going to invite you to my execution.”

Dennis was pissed. Suddenly, he was damned mad at the way he had been let out of all this. “I don’t want to see your execution,” he said. That would bother Gary. He would want friends ihere. But Gilmore only nodded again, and they said goodbye, each of them kind of muttering, “All right, see you, take care.” Dennis couldn’t help it. At the last, he said, “Look, if you want me there, I’ll come.”

After he left the prison, however, he got mad all over again. Called up Barry Farrell, and said, “I want to take back what I told you about Schiller being a snake. He’s a grade above. Call him an eel. My middle name is Lee, which is eel spelled backwards, so I understand eels. Schiller has ascended from snake to eel.” Farrell was laughing. “You guys will probably work out some kind of deal,” he said. “I’m . not even thinking,” said Dennis, “about that anymore. But I’ll tell you what really gets me.”

“What, Dennis?”

“How your life can turn into something new so fast.”

Farrell called Schiller for his version. “I had nothing to do with it,” said Larry Schiller. “This news comes as a shock to me.”

“It looks like you’re going to get it,” said Barry.

“Nothing is settled,” said Schiller in a gloomy voice. “There are a lot of obstacles ahead.”

“But you still have enthusiasm for the story?”

“Between us,” said Schiller, “I have a big problem. Where are the sympathetic characters?”

“You have a love story,” said Barry.

“I’m not so sure,” Schiller told him, “I haven’t met Nicole. I don’t have your question Too percent answered.”

Farrell went out into the cold November sun. In the valley across the desert, the smoke from Geneva Steel in Orem was pouring forth a storm of poison so fierce that Farrell’s eyes, even if long adapted to Los Angeles smog, were still smarting. He felt like one of the carrion