Executioner's Song, The - Norman Mailer [189]
They never told me that they were gonna do that-offer no defense at all.
I couldn't believe it!
I figured on some sort of defense-no matter how meager.
I thought they would at least try to get a second degree conviction.
Its a dead certain cinch right now that I'll be convicted on first degree-and Esplin and Snyder knew this when they rested today.
They never told me they were gonna pull that shit.
They acted guilty and defensive as a motherfucker when I confronted em about it after the trial.
They didn't even try.
All they want to do is leave theirself a case for appeal and they haven't even done that.
That's the way it is with court appointed lawyers.
As soon as Court had adjourned, there had been a conference, and Gary let them know he was not happy.
"I thought you'd call a psychiatrist or something."
They explained again. They would call one at the Mitigation Hearing tomorrow. There had been no point to do it in the trial itself.
No doctor would say he was legally insane, so they'd only be making it easier for the Jury to convict. This way, a few of the jurors might have their own questions of his sanity.
"Couldn't we have called somebody?" he asked, "just for appearance's sake?"
They laid out their strategy. His situation might not be as bad as it looked, they said. Number one-the prosecution hadn't tested Gary's blood against the blood found on the trail. If it had come out O, which was Gary's type, that would have been another nail in. Two, said Craig Snyder, they didn't have fingerprints off the gun. Therefore, the gun had not been attached to his hand beyond a shadow of a doubt. Three: the prosecution had neglected to put in the money from the robbery as an exhibit. They had the money, but hadn't introduced it. Fourth, Wootton hadn't dared to use Gary's confession to Gerald Nielsen. The Jury, said Craig, his eyes getting serious behind his glasses, still had to cross the bridge to find him guilty.
Not easy to sentence a man to death, was their unvoiced remark.
Who could speak of what it would do to your dreams? A Jury really had to get itself up to go across the bridge, So, if the case could be conducted with decorum, and the proceedings kept calm, the atmosphere might give a Jury pause. It would be hard to sentence a man to death if no strong feelings were flowing,
At this point, Gary said he wanted to make a statement to the Judge. He wanted to testify.
It was against their advice. This way, said Craig Snyder, he was 99 percent convicted. If he testified, it was 100 percent,
Gary looked gloomy for a moment. "I did it," he said, "that's it."
He insisted again on taking the stand.
They tried to think of what it would be like to reopen the case.
Messy. Once more they thought of calling Nicole, but had lived so long with the idea of not calling her that the thought of having her on the stand was unsettling. It could boomerang. If it ever came out that Gary had guns in the car and was driving with children. No, Nicole was also a bad gamble.
Any decision was left up in the air. Each of the three men slept by his own best means.
Chapter 28
A DEFENSE
Nicole hadn't been in Court that morning for good cause. She was still feeling sick over the way Gary had acted the day before.
She thought the first day of the trial would be the whole trial, but instead, the first day was spent picking a Jury. There weren't any witnesses called. It was just one long dull stretch and she didn't even get to speak to Gary until the second recess when they let her sit on the other side of the railing from him. All of a sudden, he brought up the letter she had written a week before, the one where she told him she would rather be dead than cause him pain by being with other men.
Now, out of nowhere, he was nasty about it. "You talk about dying, but it's just words, baby," he said, and gave her a look as if to say she was safe on her side of the fence.
Then she told him that if he wanted to, he could kill her right there in the courtroom where she stood. In fact,