Part 16 (1/2)
”When I say instantly I mean instantaneously.”
”Did either of these wounds inflict an instantaneously fatal wound?”
”Both of the bullets instantaneously inflicted a mortal wound.”
”How long after the first wound before the victim died?”
”That I don't know. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes at most.”
”You think perhaps it was as much as five minutes?”
”Perhaps.”
”Ten minutes?”
”Perhaps.”
”Fifteen minutes?”
”I consider it very unlikely. Actually I think death occurred within a matter of two or three minutes.”
”And which bullet wound caused death?”
”Oh, Your Honor,” Fraser said, getting to his feet, ”I object to this type of cross-examination. The questions have already been asked and answered.”
”They've been asked,” Mason said, ”but they haven't been answered.”
”Furthermore, it's incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial. It doesn't make any difference,” Fraser went on.
Judge Keyser said, ”I'd like to hear from counsel if he feels the questions are pertinent or relevant to any particular point.”
”I think it is very important to find out how the victim died, when the victim died and what caused the death of the victim. I think that's important in any murder case,” Mason said.
”But where an a.s.sailant fired two bullets, does it make any difference which bullet was fired first or which wound was the one which produced death?” Judge Keyser asked.
”How do we know that the a.s.sailant fired two bullets?” Mason asked.
Judge Keyser looked at Mason with an expression of swift surprise. ”Are you contending there were two a.s.sailants?” he asked.
”Frankly, I don't know,” Mason said. ”I am contending at the moment, as the legal representative of this defendant, that I have the right to find out all the facts in the case.”
”The objection is overruled,” Judge Keyser said.
Dr. Calvert said angrily, ”Let me make this statement to the Court and counsel. There were two bullets. One of the bullets actually penetrated a portion of the heart. I consider that bullet produced almost instantaneous death. The other bullet was a little to the left. It missed the heart but would have been fatal within a few minutes . . . that is, that's my opinion.”
”All right,” Mason said. ”Let's call the bullet that missed the heart bullet number one and the bullet which penetrated a portion of the heart bullet number two. Which was fired first?”
”I don't know.”
”I submit that it's incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial,” Fraser said. ”This is simply a case of an attorney trying to grasp desperately at the straw of some technicality.”
Judge Keyser shook his head. ”I think there is an interesting point here. I don't know what the other evidence will show, but if counsel is pursuing this lead with some definite objective in mind, it is manifestly unfair to deprive the defendant of the right of a searching cross-examination. Therefore, I will overrule the objection.”
”Which bullet caused death, Doctor?”
”I don't know. It depends upon the sequence in which the bullets were fired.”
”If,” Mason said, ”the bullet we have referred to as bullet number two was fired first and bullet number one was fired after an interval of as much as three minutes, you would a.s.sume that bullet number one was fired into a dead body. Is that correct?”
”If you want to a.s.sume anything like that, I would say yes.”
”If bullet number one was fired first, it would have been how long before death intervened?”
”My best opinion would be three to five minutes.”
”But it could have been as much as ten minutes?”
”Yes.”
”Now, suppose that after bullet number one was fired and, a.s.suming that it was fired first, bullet number two was fired almost immediately, then death actually occurred from bullet number two.”
”I would so a.s.sume if we accept those premises.”
”Both bullet number one and bullet number two were recovered?”
”That's right. Both of them were taken from the body.”
”And what did you do with them?”
”I personally gave them to Alexander Redfield, the ballistics expert.”
”And what did you tell him when you gave him the bullets?”
”That they were the bullets taken from the body of Nadine Ellis.”
”You had identified the body by that time?”
”It had been identified so that I could make that statement to Mr. Redfield.”
”You gave him both bullets?”
”Yes.”
”Did you mark them in any way?”
”I made a small secret mark on the bullets, yes.”
”So that you can identify them?”
”Yes.”