She Wanted It All - Kathryn Casey [166]
“Aren’t you testifying here today because the prosecutors gave you a sweetheart deal?” DeGuerin charged. “Isn’t that the truth?”
“No,” Tracey said, but the implication hung in the air.
At the end, before Tracey left the stand, Wetzel asked, “Why are you testifying?
“I owe it to Steve Beard,” she said. “We were both fooled by the same woman.”
As Tracey left the courtroom, Wetzel felt confident she’d done well. Despite DeGuerin’s attacks, Tracey had never lost her temper or appeared “a crazy woman,” as he attempted to paint her.
It wouldn’t be the end of the bad news for the defense, as Wetzel introduced summaries of financial and phone records. By the time the expert witnesses left the stand, the state’s case had two more linchpins: Celeste had cashed in after Steve’s death, spending wildly and using every tactic she could to pull money from his estate, and she hadn’t cut off the relationship with Tracey. Rather, they talked often and for long periods on the secret cell phone, well after the shooting. More often than not, Celeste had initiated the calls. If she felt she was being stalked by Tracey, as DeGuerin implied, why would she do that?
After the emotional roller coaster of Tracey’s testimony, Donna Goodson’s afternoon on the stand seemed a needed break. The day of Steve’s death came into even sharper focus as Goodson quoted Celeste as saying she “took him to the hospital because she didn’t want him to die in the house.” After the funeral, Celeste recovered quickly, Donna said, describing their wild forays to Houston, Lake Charles, and New Orleans. Back in Austin, Celeste bedded one man after another, talking about marriage with all of them. One day Donna found two of Steve’s robes in a closet.
“I thought I got rid of all his shit,” Celeste said, throwing them in the garbage.
While Kristina was on the stand, the jurors had heard the tape in which Celeste admitted hiring a hit man. At times it was comical, as Goodson described how she’d reeled in more and more money from Celeste.
“Did you try to find anyone to kill Tracey Tarlton?” Cobb asked.
“No. I never did.”
“Did you steal any items from Celeste Beard?” Cobb asked.
“No,” Goodson replied.
“You had pawn tickets for the jewelry you pawned, didn’t you?” DeGuerin countered. On the overhead projector he put up slides of the jewelry Celeste had reported stolen, the same items Goodson pawned. She insisted they were gifts.
“For two years you had information that Celeste had asked you to find someone to kill Tracey, and you didn’t tell anyone?” DeGuerin said.
“That’s right,” Goodson answered.
“Fourteen days in jail, and you weren’t worried at all,” DeGuerin said, referring to the time she’d spent there after the police had raided her house.
It would prove to have been one question too many, as Goodson answered, “I was safe in jail. I feared for my life. I thought Celeste had found someone to do away with me because I knew too much.”
The last witness before the state rested was Becky Beard. On the stand, she cried, describing her father as a good man. Her tears reminded everyone in the courtroom that someone very real had been brutally murdered. Steve had suffered for months and then died a horrible death. After weeks of sensational testimony, the prosecutors wanted to bring the jurors back to basics.
A full month after the trial began, Allison Wetzel rose in the courtroom and said, “The state of Texas rests.”
As she gathered her files, she thought about the forty-six witnesses she’d put on the stand. All had done well, she thought; yet she worried. More than any other issue, the cause of death gnawed at her. During the course of the case, she’d put Steve’s surgeon, Dr. Coscia, on the stand, who’d testified that the damage from the gunshot had been extensive and that he’d never been able to fully repair Steve’s colon. The physician said such a wound bred infection. Yet Dr. Coscia maintained infection hadn’t killed his patient. He agreed with Dr. Roberto