Devil's Knot_ The True Story of the West Memphis Three - Mara Leveritt [128]
Damien’s lawyer next questioned Gitchell about his department’s written procedures for the handling of evidence. Gitchell said none existed. Davidson asked if the blood evidence that was taken from the Bojangles restaurant had been forwarded to the crime lab. Gitchell answered, “No sir. It was, as the term is, lost.”
Davidson asked about the recording device that Vicki Hutcheson said police had hooked up under her bed. Gitchell said that Lieutenant Sudbury had handled that attempted surveillance, but that no record of the installation had been kept, and no transcription had been made of the recording because it was inaudible. At this point, Judge Burnett interrupted. “Mr. Davidson,” he asked, “are you getting somewhere with something that is relevant?”
Davidson found the comment so objectionable—as a sign of the judge’s contempt for the defense—that he immediately called for a mistrial. Turning to Burnett, Davidson said, “We have objected in this case about him losing evidence, about photographic lineups not done properly, and absent records about surveillance. We have never seen the documentation on surveillance. And I think it is certainly relevant to this case.”
But the judge would hear none of it. “None of that is relevant now,” he said.
“You Did Fine”
On Friday, at the end of the trial’s second week, Damien’s primary lawyer, Val Price, questioned John Mark Byers about the knife he’d given to the HBO film crew. “Where did y’all keep the knife in your house?” Price asked.
Byers offered the answer that Ridge had earlier suggested. “When I first received the knife,” Byers answered slowly, “which was for Christmas, for a few weeks it was in the living room on a little end table by my recliner, and after that it was put in my bedroom on a dresser.”
Price grilled Byers about his repeated statements to Gitchell and Ridge that he’d never used the knife. But Byers claimed to only vaguely recall what he’d told the detectives six weeks earlier. He appeared dull on the witness stand, as though he was finding it hard to understand Price’s questions. Finally, in exasperation, Price asked Byers if he had ever used the knife on venison. “I did,” Byers answered, “and, matter of fact, as I was trying to use the knife in cutting some venison to make beef jerky with it, I cut my thumb with it.”
“Oh, you cut your thumb,” Price said. “Is it true that you never told Inspector Gitchell on January 26 that you ever cut your thumb with that particular knife?”
It was an imprecise question, to which Byers responded dully, “Yes sir, it seems like during the course of the day I did tell him that.”
Asking Byers again and again, “Did you tell Inspector Gitchell…,” Price made sure that the jury heard how many times Byers had told Gitchell and Ridge that he had “no idea” how human blood could have gotten onto his knife. Then the lawyer moved back in time to question Byers about some statements he’d made to police on May 19, two weeks after the murders. By asking about that interview, Price got Byers to acknowledge that his last encounter with Christopher had been when he’d “whipped” the boy with his belt. Byers also acknowledged that while other searchers were in the woods, he’d gone home to change clothes, and that even though it was dark when he’d returned to the woods, he’d gone without a flashlight. But there was no elaboration, and when Price had concluded his questioning, the prosecutors declined to question Byers and let him be excused. As Byers passed the prosecutors’ table, Fogleman patted him on the back. “Don’t worry about it,” Fogleman told him. “You did