A Place in the Sun Page #6

That may not be possible.

The defence would have to agree.

The defence will agree to it.

I'll see to that.

I'll engage the boy's lawyers.

If it appears he's innocent,

I'll spend $100,000 to defend him.

And if he's guilty?

I won't spend a cent to save him

from the electric chair.

Thank you, Mother. Thank you, Lulu.

The boy's tired.

I think that's enough for today.

I guess you're right.

Mr Bellows, has there been

any word from...?

From Miss Vickers?

No, George.

When Mr Eastman engaged us

to defend you,

we made an agreement not to drag

Miss Vickers into the case.

- Of course.

- It's in your interest, too.

Her appearance on the stand

would be irrelevant.

I feel it might be damaging

for you, too. We'll be back.

"After I got her on the lake,

I couldn't go through with it."

"Then the boat turned over."

You know, Art, he sold me.

I believe his story.

No more newspapers, Lulu.

Remember, I told you.

The people of this state charge

that murder in the first degree

has been committed by the prisoner

at the bar, George Eastman.

They charge that George Eastman

wilfully, and with malice

and cruelty and deception,

murdered,

then sought to conceal from justice

the body of Alice Tripp.

It will be for you,

ladies and gentlemen,

to decide what shall be done

with this man,

who has flouted every moral law,

broken every commandment...

...who has crowned his infamy

with murder.

- What were Alice's feelings for him?

- Everybody knew she was in love.

What was this rule exactly?

It was to keep the foreman and staff

from fooling around with the girls.

One night last August,

I called Alice to the telephone.

It was him calling.

Doctor, you never saw

this young man?

No, but after she left my office,

she sat talking

with a man in a Coup.

- Objection!

- Sustained.

Along about nine o'clock,

he stumbled into my camp.

He was wet and looked scared.

This man was at the bus station

with this girl.

They were quarrelling.

She said she wouldn't leave

unless he promised.

Had violence been done to Miss

Tripp prior to her death by drowning?

She'd been struck by an instrument

with sufficient force to stun her.

I told him there wasn't

nobody else on the lake.

Then he signed Gilbert Edwards.

Having signed a false name,

he then proceeded to make sure

what took place would be

observed by no one?

No one except the person

who'd be unable to testify,

the girl he drowned?

- The prosecution must not...

- I withdraw the question.

The people rest.

This boy is on trial

for the act of murder,

not for the thought of murder.

Between the idea and deed

there's a difference.

If you find this boy guilty in desire

but not guilty in deed...

...then he must walk out of this

courtroom as free as you or I.

However, since the prosecutor lacked

evidence, he's given you prejudice.

Lacking facts,

he's given you fantasy.

Of all the witnesses before you,

not one actually saw what happened.

I will now call to the stand

an eyewitness, the only eyewitness.

The only one who knows the truth,

the whole truth.

George Eastman,

please take the stand.

When we got to the lake, I suggested

we go rowing before it got dark.

Tell me, why did you give

a false name to the boat keeper?

We were going to stay at the lodge,

and we weren't married,

so I thought it better

not to give our real names.

Why did you engage the boat

to row the girl out onto the lake?

In the back of my mind

was the thought of drowning her.

But I didn't want to think

such things!

I couldn't help myself, I couldn't!

What happened after you rowed out?

I knew that I couldn't

go through with it.

- Then you had a change of heart.

- I object. He's leading the witness.

Objection sustained. Counsel will

refrain from leading the witness.

Yes, your honour.

What happened then?

That was when we decided

we ought to get back to the lodge.

She started talking

about getting married

and what our life together

would be like.

What was your reaction

to her talking that way?

She just looked at me.

She knew it was hopeless.

She accused me of wishing her dead.

Did you wish she were dead?

No, I didn't!

I wasn't thinking of that any more!

What were you thinking of

at that moment?

I was thinking of somebody else.

Another girl.

You were thinking that this other

girl and her world were lost forever.

What did you say

to Alice's accusation?

I told her it wasn't true,

I didn't want her to die.

Wasn't she alarmed or frightened?

- She even said, "Poor George!"

- Go on.

Then she started toward me

from the back of the boat.

I told her to stay where she was,

but she didn't.

She kept coming toward me,

then she started to fall.

I started to get up.

Then everything turned over.

In a second, we were in the water.

I was stunned.

Something must have

hit me as I fell in.

It all happened so fast,

I didn't know what I was doing.

George, was Alice conscious

when she fell into the water?

Yes, I heard her scream

but couldn't see her,

'cause she was on the other side.

So I swam around to the other side.

She was... When I got there,

she'd gone down.

I never saw her again.

Do you solemnly swear

that you did not strike her?

I swear it!

- That you did not push her in?

- I did not!

That it was an accident

undesired by you?

I do. I do. I do.

That's all, your honour.

That night when you left the party

at the house at Bride's Lake

to meet Alice Tripp

in the bus station...

...do you remember leaving

anything behind you?

No, I don't. I don't remember

leaving anything.

I'm referring to your heart!

Did you leave that behind you?

Did you, Eastman? Out there

on that terrace in the moonlight?

You left behind the girl you loved,

and with her your hopes,

your ambitions, your dreams.

Didn't you, Eastman?

You left behind everything you

wanted, including the girl you loved.

But you planned to return to it,

didn't you?

Answer me!

Yes.

When you told them all that night

you were going to visit your mother,

you were lying, weren't you?

When you gave the boat keeper

a false name, you were lying again?

Yes.

When you drove up to Loon Lake,

what reason did you give Alice Tripp

for parking so far away

from the lodge?

- We were out of gas.

- Weren't you lying again?

- Yes.

- Lies!

Every move you made

was built on lies.

Yet now you're facing death, you

can't tell anything but the truth!

All the same, it's true!

I didn't kill her.

So you persist in lying

about that, too. We'll see.

Step down into the boat

and show the jury what happened

when the boat overturned.

Take the same position you had

at the time of the drowning.

When the girl rose in the boat

to come towards you,

did she stumble about there?

- Speak up.

- Yes.

And then?

She fell sideways into the water.

- Then what?

- The boat turned over on top of us.

- What happened then?

- I couldn't see very clearly.

There was a thud,

as if the edge of the boat hit her.

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