Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen

"The purpose of this questioning is to establish whether a crime has been substantiated to warrant a charge, referred to the Bar Association's Disciplinary Division, or both," said District Attorney Hamilton Berger. Mason Sir, you are acquainted with Officer Halcomb. These two are the painters Truman Dixon and Zhu Koney, and the other is Farley Fulton, a private investigator who often cooperates with the Derek Detective Agency. We have a The clerk is here, taking notes for us." "Am I entitled to ask a question?" Mason asked. "This is not a court hearing, we are just trying to determine whether legal action is necessary."

"You dare not subject these witnesses to questioning except from your point of view, do you?" "I'm not afraid of anything, as long as it's related to this case." "Very well, then I wish to have the right to ask." "I don't see any reason why you should cross-examine these witnesses." "Then I'll get up and leave right away," Mason said. "Suppose you intend to lead an arbitrary and unfair interrogation, and try to use your methods to influence the testimony of witnesses, then I don't want to get involved."

"You know I have no intention of influencing the witness," Berg said angrily. "Some of your arbitrary actions have violated the law." "Arbitrary but legal," Mason said. "When I represent my clients, I do my duty to the best of my ability." "It's not helpful to bicker over this," Berger said. "We're going to start the questioning, you can ask the question if you want, if the question is inappropriately over the line, I'm going to ask the witness not to answer." "At that point, I'm going to get up and leave," Mason said.

"At that time, you will be arraigned by the jury," Berger warned. "At that point I would tell the whole story and I would point out that you were trying to lead an arbitrary and unfair interrogation. I would be happy to be there and answer questions, but I want things to be done fairly and at this point I insist I have The right to ask questions." "Let's start with Farley Forton," Berger said. "What is your occupation, Mr. Fulton?" "I'm a private eye." "Earlier this month, were you employed by a licensed individual?"

"yes." "Who is this person?" "Paul Drake." "Is that the boss of the Derek Detective Agency?" "yes." "What did Mr. Derek instruct you to do?" "He gave me a photograph and asked me to draw a portrait of Mr. Dixon who I knew before, so that the crayon drawing would look like the photograph." "What else were you instructed to do?" "He also directed me to seek out the witnesses to the supermarket robbery in the North Pacific, namely the injured doorman and Mr. Coyne who was there, and to tell them that I was conducting an investigation into the robbery, which involved the attempted killing of the doorman. He wanted I consulted eyewitnesses and described the appearance of the suspect in the robbery. This happened on the morning of the fourth of this month. He instructed me to take the portrait painted by Dixon to the witnesses and ask them what it looked like. Is it like the suspect they witnessed?"

"What is the name of the person in the photo you got?" "Christ Keaton." "Do you know what happened to Christ Keaton?" "Yes, I know, he was killed this morning." "Do you know anything about Gidon's background?" "I know he's been convicted, and I know that the photos we're using to fake the composite portrait are from police file photos." "Well, what did you do?" "I do what I'm told." "Will you be there when Mr. Dixon painted the portrait?" "I'm there." "Is this the portrait?"

"yes." "Did you show this portrait to witnesses?" "yes." "According to instructions, are they asking you to do everything you can to get witnesses to say that the portraits closely resemble the robbers they saw on the day Stephen Hooke was killed?" "yes." "Did you know that the criminal provisions stipulate that anyone who intends to mislead others to make false statements will be sentenced to a felony?" "yes." "At the same time, do you know that anyone who knowingly presents a forged document to a witness with the intention of influencing the witness' testimony is also guilty of a crime?"

"yes." "But the instructions you received were for the two witnesses to testify that Gidon was the suspect witnessed by the gatekeeper and the guy who escaped when Kony passed by the supermarket entrance?" "Yes, sir, if they testify so." "I think my problems are over," Berger said. "Wait a minute," Mason said. "I would like to ask some questions of this witness." "Only ask the right questions," Berger said. Mason turned to Fulton. "Fulton," he asked. "Were you instructed to bribe witnesses?"

"of course not." "To frighten them?" "No." "To make any false statements?" "No." "Are you simply showing the portrait to witnesses and asking them if the person is a suspect?" "Well, it was more than that. I was ordered to do everything in my power to convince eyewitnesses that the portrait was the suspect they saw." "But you didn't bribe them?" "No." "Was it a misrepresentation to them?" "No." "Are you going to scare them?" "No." "I'm done asking," Mason said.

Berger said, "Well, Mr. Coyne, I'm going to ask you what happened. Have you talked to Mr. Fulton, the detective who was answering the question?" "Yes, and I also spoke to Paul Derek and Mr. Mason who were there at the same time." "Were you asked to describe the suspect who escaped from the supermarket?" "yes." "Did you describe it?" "yes." "Did you testify against that portrait?" "God, no!" "Tell me what happened?" "Forton told me: 'This is the suspect, isn't it? This portrait echoes your description.'"

"Has he been suggesting that the man is a suspect?" "yes." "Then what did you do?" "I said it wasn't a suspect." "Are you going to visit Derek next?" "yes." "What happened?" "He took me to see Mason. Compared to the others, Mason was pretty good. However, he also tried to guide me to say that the person in the portrait was the suspect he had witnessed outside the supermarket." "Did you do that?" "No, for a while I was confused by them, and I said that maybe the eyes were similar, but the mouth didn't look right at all. To be honest, they confused me so much that the face I remembered was almost Gone, replaced by the face of the portrait." "Do you feel that your ability to be a trusted witness has been violated?" "yes." "My interview is over," Berg said. "Wait a minute," Mason said. "I have some questions." "I don't think I'm going to allow you to cross-examine this witness, Mr. Mason," Berger said. Kony said: "Don't get me wrong, I don't want to accuse others of any crimes. I just don't understand the extent to which my memory has been violated under the hint.", "Look, that speaks for itself," Berg said. "This witness has been distorted as far as this prosecution is concerned. After we find out who the real killer is and have the killer meet the witnesses, Witnesses will admit on cross-examination that their prior statements, contrary to their testimony, were the result of improper misleading by Paley Mason and those employed by him." Mason said: "In the prosecution cases you have historically handled, witnesses often give contradictory statements to the police at the beginning, and with the support of evidence, the witness's final testimony is likely to be inconsistent with the original testimony, isn't it? This is Why do the police refer to frequent suspects as 'probing evidence'?" "That's irrelevant," Berger said. "The point of the prosecution in this case is that the testimony of witnesses has been unduly interfered with." "The testimony was not interfered with," Mason said. "What you're trying to say is that the minds of the witnesses were disturbed." "It's basically the same thing," Berger said. "Let's leave that for the courts to see if they are the same thing," Mason said. "I don't mind prolonging this interview or putting it on the record," Berger said. Mason said: "The police usually first present a group of portraits and recent photos of the suspect to the witnesses. After the witness has seen the photos of the most suspected suspect in detail, the police will ask the witness to identify him from a row of people including the suspected suspect. A suspect." "That might be the case," Berger said. "But we're not here to discuss police methods." "I am," Mason said. "I'm not," Berg said. "That concludes today's questioning. I will file a complaint against the private detective agency with the authorities and you with the Bar Association Disciplinary Division." Mason said: "Mr. Prosecutor, you continue to resort to criminal law regulations. If you think I am breaking the law, issue a warrant for my arrest and let me appear in court. At that time, I will cross-examine those witnesses, but you Witnesses cannot be questioned with these leading questions. Let us see how you fare in this case." "That's what I'm going to do," Berg said. "Then do it." Mason said invitingly. Mason got up and walked out of the room.