Word of Honor (88 page)

He didn't see anyone else he knew except Colonel Levin, who, he'd been told, had taken leave time to attend each session.

Tyson began to turn his attention back to the court, but some movement caught his eye, and he saw, walking down the middle aisle, Steven Brandt.

Brandt took an empty place in the pew almost directly behind Marcy. Tyson nudged Corva. "Look. "

Corva looked, and his eyes widened.

"What," asked Tyson, "is he doing here?"

Corva replied, "A witness may be present after the verdict. I guess he's here to see you sentenced."

Tyson stared at Brandt until finally Brandt looked up. Brandt leaned back and folded his arms. He smiled at Tyson.

Tyson, still staring at Brandt, said to Corva, "I'm going to kill the son of a bitch."

"Cool down, people are watching you."

Tyson saw that was true. People were looking from Brandt to Tyson and back again. Tyson sat back in his chair. He lit a cigarette. "Bastard."

After a few minutes he became aware again of his surroundings. He sensed a somewhat less tense atmosphere in the court, though he didn't know why there should be. He didn't consider his sentencing an anticlimax; it was the most important thing in the world for him at the moment. And today or tomorrow, he knew, depending on testimony, he'd take the stand himself. He looked at Marcy again, but she

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was still not looking at him. She was staring straight ahead. His note to her had been simple: "I love you. But if I am sent to prison, I don't want or expect you to wait."

He thought that was all right, but apparently, according to Linda Corva, it was not. Women, he thought. When he was younger, he'd never liked female intermediaries involved in his affaires d'amour. But they could be useful as a source of information, if not comprehension. He'd have to write another note.

The prosecution walked in, and Tyson thought they looked like three pigs heading back to the slop buckets for seconds.

The board entered very solemnly, together and in order of rank as usual.

Tyson suspected that Colonel Moore ran his whole life by the manual for drill and ceremonies. Tyson said to Corva, "In a three-seat crapper, would he take the middle seat or the far right?"

Corva looked up from his papers and followed Tyson's gaze. "Oh ... the place of honor is usually the far right. But at a dais or court-martial, he takes the middle. I'd say it was the same for a three-seat crapper.

I'll check, though. "

The sergeant at arms strode to the center of the floor and the spectators began to rise before he announced, "All rise!"

Colonel Sproule entered, and Tyson noticed for the first time that Sproule's pants were too long.

Sproule stepped up behind the pulpit, turned on the light, adjusted the microphone, and surveyed the court with his myopic eyes, as though, Tyson thought, he wanted to be sure he was in the right place. Sproule said,

"The court will come to order. "

Pierce stood and said, "All parties to the trial who were present when the court closed are now present. "

Colonel Sproule glanced at something on the pulpit and said, "The purpose of this session is to hear testimony and to present to the board other evidence and documented facts which may be considered by them as extenuating or mitigating facts or circumstances which may be considered by the board in determining an appropriate sentence. The court will now hear the personal data concerning the accused shown on the charge sheet and any other information from his personal records relevant to sentencing. The court will also receive evidence of previous convictions, if any."

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It was Captain Longo who stood and said, "The first page of the charge sheet shows the following data concerning the accused." Longo began reading the personal data sheet.

Tyson leaned toward Corva. "We're playing the B team today. "

Corva said, "They are all the B team every day."

Longo continued to read the standard data from the charge sheet, but when he came to "term of current service," he paused and said in a snide tone,

"Indefinite."

Corva was on his feet. "Objection, your honor."

Sproule didn't bother to ask what the objection was. He said to Captain Longo sharply, "Captain, this is not an audition. Just read. "

Longo seemed crushed and bowed his head. "Yes, sir.

Tyson noticed that Pierce and Weinroth exchanged looks as if to say, "I knew we shouldn't have let that schmuck open his mouth."

Longo completed the reading in a monotone, then sank low into his chair, as Major Weinroth stood. She began reading data from Tyson's old personnel file, though little of it seemed relevant any longer. Tyson realized he'd never heard her speak more than a word or two before, and he was surprised to find she had a deep, husky voice, which he found sexy. Then he discovered that he was thinking about sex, then his mind drew him to Kansas and a place where there was no sex of the type he favored. He had a sudden urge to bolt, to dash into the pews, into the arms of his supporters, who would carry him to safety. He whispered to Corva, "I'm making a break for it."

"Pay your bill first. Calm down."

"I'm getting restless."

"I see that. You want a recess?"

"No. I'll be all right."

Corva poured them both some water. Tyson lit a cigarette and blew the smoke toward Weinroth, who glanced up at him as she read. She finished reading the data and said to Corva, "Does the accused have any objection to the data as read?"

Corva replied, "Not the way you read it."

A few people laughed, and Corva said, "Give me a moment." He leaned toward Tyson. "All right?"

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Tyson shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention."

Corva whispered, "The medals and citations and letters of commendation from your first term of service sound good to the board. And Levin's letter was a bit of a surprise. The board knows you did your job the first time around, and they know you've been a good soldier under Levin's command, too." He added half jokingly, "That's an automatic ten years off the sentence."

"That brings us down to sixty years. What if I can recite the Infantryman's Prayer by heart?"

Colonel Sproule cleared his throat pointedly.

Corva remained in his seat and said, "The accused has no objection to the data as read."

Tyson said to Corva, "Why am I still the accused?"

"I don't know. Never thought about that."

Colonel Sproule announced, "These documents will be marked as exhibits and made a part of the court record. Copies of all documents and records that are relevant to the imposition of an appropriate sentence will be presented to the members of the board preceding deliberations on sentence. "

As the exhibits were marked, Tyson studied the board closely. Two people there had voted for acquittal, but for the life of him, he couldn't guess which two.

Corva saw where he was looking and said, "Major Sindel. That was who my wife said."

"Possible. Who else?"

"Beats me. The rest of them look like they spent the weekend building a scaffold."

Tyson said, "Maybe McGregor ... no, Morelli . . . he liked your style .

. . you remind him of his Uncle Vito's mouthpiece. "

"Are you all right today?"

"I didn't sleep well."

"I'm not surprised. " Corva looked at his client with some concern.

Colonel Sproule addressed Colonel Pierce. "Does the prosecution have evidence in aggravation?"

Pierce replied, "It does not."

Sproule turned to Corva. "Does the defense have evidence in extenuation and mitigation?"

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"It does, your honor."

"Does the defense have evidence to be submitted and marked as exhibits?"

"It does not, your honor."

"Does the defense, then, intend to call witnesses in extenuation or mitigation?"

"It does, your honor."

"Then call your first witness, Mr. Corva."

Corva turned to the sergeant at arms and said, "The defense calls as a witness Mr. Daniel Kelly."

The door opened, and Daniel Kelly strode into the court. Tyson saw at once that the slight twenty-one-year-old he remembered was now a powerfully built forty-year-old man who walked with the movements of an athlete.

Kelly's fair skin was bronze, and his long straw-colored hair fell across his forehead. Tyson noticed that his eyes darted everywhere at once, taking in the whole scene, noticing possible ambush sites, registering places of cover and concealment, heeding signs of booby traps, and discerning good fields of fire. Kelly wore black flannel slacks, a white turtleneck sweater, and a beige-colored suede sport jacket. Kelly stopped at the witness chair, looked at Tyson, and gave a thumbs-up. Tyson returned the greeting.

Corva said to Sproule, "Your honor, we intend that this be sworn testimony."

Sproule nodded to Pierce, who approached the witness chair with the impatient movements of a man who thinks he should be somewhere else by now.

"Raise your right hand. "

Kelly, still standing, raised his hand.

Pierce recited quickly, the words running together, "Do you swear that the evidence you shall give on the case now in hearing shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

"I do." Kelly sat without Pierce inviting him to do so.

Pierce said, "Please state your name, residence, and occupation. "

"Daniel Kelly, Edgerton, Ohio, importing and exporting."

Pierce, who had been given some general information by Corva regarding expected testimony, had apparently learned a few other things about Daniel Kelly and didn't intend to

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let his first statement go unquestioned. "You are a current resident of Edgerton, Ohio?"

"Yes. I ~

Pierce seemed skeptical. "Could you be more specific concerning your occupation?"

"Yes. I import and export things."

Someone laughed.

"From Edgerton, Ohio?" asked Pierce dubiously.

" Yes. "

Corva said, "Your honor-"

Sproule put out his hand toward Corva and said to Pierce, "Perhaps you'd like to hold the cross-examination until after the defense has examined its witness, Colonel Pierce."

Again, a few people snickered.

Colonel Sproule said, "Mr. Corva, you may begin."

Pierce returned to the prosecution table, as Corva stood under the pulpit facing Kelly. Corva began, "Mr. Kelly, could you state your former grade, organization, and duties while serving in the Republic of Vietnam."

Kelly replied in a well-modulated voice, "I was a Specialist Four, serving with the first platoon of Alpha Company, Fifth Battalion of the Seventh Cavalry, First Air Cavalry Division. I was the platoon leader's radiotelephone operator, known as an RTO."

Tyson noticed, too, that Kelly's diction and choice of words had improved since Vietnam.

Corva said, "You were Lieutenant Tyson's personal radio operator, were you not?"

"For most of the time I was there, yes."

"And as an RTO, you had close and frequent contact with your platoon leader."

"Every day. We slept in the same foxhole. I had to provide him with radio contact at a second's notice, so we stayed fairly close."

Corva asked a series of questions to establish Kelly's past and present relationship to Tyson, then asked, "Are you generally aware of the circumstances of this trial?"

"Yes, I am."

"You are aware that Lieutenant Tyson has been convicted of murder."

"Yes, I am."

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"And you have offered to appear in his behalf to offer testimony that may establish extenuating circumstances for the crime of which he stands convicted."

"Yes, I have."

"Mr. Kelly, could you tell the court what happened on the morning of 15

February 1968? The incident of the burial mound. Begin, please, at first light. "

Kelly replied, "At first light, nineteen of us moved out of our night defensive positions." Kelly continued his narrative in the short concise sentences favored by the military, using military terminology of the period and using it accurately. Tyson had the impression that Kelly was relating last week's events, and he thought others shared that impression.

Tyson watched the board. He could see that Moore, McGregor, and Bauer were favorably impressed with Daniel Kelly. But he didn't know if that was going to do Benjamin Tyson any good. He glanced at Brandt, who seemed to be getting a little uneasy.

Kelly concluded, "We resumed the patrol, in a southeast direction, toward Hue. "

Corva asked, "So, the only men who were with you on that burial mound were Lieutenant Tyson, Richard Farley, and Harold Simcox.-

"Yes."

Colonel Pierce stood. "Your honor, if it please the court. I have been exceedingly patient, listening intently for anything that sounds like it might be extenuation or mitigation for the offense of which Lieutenant Tyson has been convicted. "

Sproule looked down at Corva. "Mr. Corva?"

Corva replied, "Your honor, the nature of testimony offered in extenuation or mitigation is often such that it does no more than to establish the accused's state of mind or his intentions or the general conditions that prevailed at the time. I intend, your honor, for Mr. Kelly to be up here for some time. Now, the prosecution can object to this and that, but I assure the court that I will get this story told one way or the other, even if it means Mr. Kelly sitting here for the next week while I reply to objections. Your hondr, do not take offense. Lieutenant Tyson stands here convicted of

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murder. And I am standing here to do everything in my power to see that the board has every pertinent detail that surrounds this incident, so that they may arrive at an appropriate sentence. I want the members of the board to discover as much as I know and Mr. Kelly knows about Lieutenant Tyson and about Misdricorde Hospital before they vote on a sentence. Though it may not all appear to be pertinent as it unfolds, I assure the court that this evidence is pertinent and that the court will recognize it as such by the time the witness steps down. That is my intention, your honor. "