Anatomy of a Murder Page #10

Can you recall what Lt. Manion

told you about the rape?

Yes, sir.

He said he'd been asleep

since right after dinner.

He was waked up by some noise,

screams, he thought.

He got up,

opened the trailer door and went outside.

His wife came running out of the dark

and fell into his arms.

You saw his wife in the trailer.

How'd she look?

She was a little hysterical.

She'd been pretty badly beaten up.

She had big, black bruises

over her face and arms.

Did Mrs. Manion tell you

about this rape and beating?

She did.

Did she take you to where it happened?

Yes, the next morning.

Did you find anything?

Any evidence pertaining to the story

that Mrs. Manion had told you?

On the lane in the woods,

we found tyre tracks and dog tracks...

...and a leather case

with some horn-rimmed glasses inside.

We also looked for a certain undergarment

of Mrs. Manion's, but we didn't find it.

Will the attorneys for both sides

approach the bench, please?

Mr. Biegler, you finally got

your rape into the case...

...and I think all the details

should now be made clear to the jury.

Do you agree, Mr. Lodwick?

Absolutely.

What exactly was the undergarment

just referred to?

Panties, Your Honour.

Do you expect this subject

to come up again?

Yes, sir.

There's a certain light connotation

attached to the word "panties."

Can we find another name for them?

I've never heard my wife

call them anything else.

I'm a bachelor, Your Honour.

That's a great help. Mr. Dancer?

When I was overseas during the war,

Your Honour, I learned a French word.

I'm afraid it might be slightly suggestive.

Most French words are.

All right, gentlemen, back to your places.

For the benefit of the jury,

but more especially for the spectators...

...the undergarment referred to

in the testimony was, to be exact...

...Mrs. Manion's panties.

I wanted you to get

your snickering over and done with.

This pair of panties will be mentioned

again in the course of this trial.

When it happens, there will not be

one laugh, one snicker, one giggle...

...or even one smirk in my courtroom.

There isn't anything comic

about a pair of panties...

...which figure in the violent death

of one man...

...and the possible incarceration of another.

Proceed, Mr. Biegler.

Did you give Mrs. Manion

a lie-detector test?

Objection. A polygraph test

is inadmissible evidence in our courts.

I only asked if he gave the test.

I didn't ask the results.

He may answer that.

I gave her a lie-detector test

at her request.

Now, after all this investigation,

did you believe Mrs. Manion?

I did.

- Even after the lie-detector test?

- I object to that question.

It constitutes flagrant subterfuge

on the part of the defence counsel.

Objection sustained.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

a polygraph or lie-detector test...

...is not admissible in evidence,

because no one has ever been sure...

...that some people couldn't lie

to a lie detector and get away with it.

Go ahead.

In any case, Sgt. Durgo, you, yourself,

in your own heart and mind...

...are quite convinced

of Mrs. Manion's honesty.

- Yes, sir.

- That's all.

Just a moment.

Did you look for the panties

elsewhere than the lane in the woods?

We looked in Barney Quill's car

and his room in the hotel.

We didn't find the panties.

Do you know why Mrs. Manion

requested a lie-detector test?

- I know what she said.

- What was that?

She wanted everybody to believe her story

as she knew it would help her husband.

Was that the only reason she gave?

Said she'd already sworn to her husband

and she wanted everybody to believe it.

One moment please, Your Honour.

Ask him in what manner she swore.

Did Mrs. Manion say

how she had sworn to her husband?

Yes, sir.

She said she had sworn on a rosary.

Sergeant, this lane in the woods:

What's it used for? Where does it go?

It used to be a logging road.

Doesn't go any place, just stops.

Who uses it now?

I think it's a road kids drive down to park.

- It's a lovers' lane?

- I think so, yes.

- The witness is yours.

- No more questions.

The witness may step down.

In view of the evidence concerning rape,

which Your Honour has ruled admissible...

...we ask for a 30-minute recess

in order that we may...

...bring in a witness

we had not anticipated using.

All right, we'll take a 30-minute recess.

Recess.

Why didn't you tell me about that rosary?

We forgot it.

We didn't forget it. Manny said,

maybe we shouldn't tell that again.

It might've looked like something else.

Like I didn't believe her.

How much more didn't you tell me?

Everything else.

We told you everything else.

Is that right, Laura?

Yes, everything else.

All right, now get this, both of you:

When you get up on that stand,

I want you to tell the truth.

I don't want you to tell anything

but the truth.

Don't try and lie or conceal anything,

or you'll get skinned alive.

This fellow Dancer's gonna move in.

Doctor Dompierre, did you have occasion

to come to the county jail...

...the night of August 15 of this year?

I did.

- Who called you to the jail?

- The police authorities.

What did they want you to do?

They wanted me to make a test

for the presence of sperm...

...on the person

of a Mrs. Frederick Manion.

I made the test.

In making this test,

what was your conclusion?

Negative. There was none.

Your witness, Mr. Biegler.

In making these tests,

did you notice any bruises or marks...

...on Mrs. Manion at that time?

I did.

Were you asked about

the reason for these bruises?

I was not.

Where did you do the lab work

on your test for sperm?

St. Margaret's Hospital in this city.

- Who worked up the slides for you?

- A technician at the hospital.

Wouldn't it have been better to have

these slides worked up by a pathologist...

...or an expert in this field?

Yes, but the police were in a hurry.

I knew this fellow came on at 7:00 a.m.

Wouldn't it have been better

to wait for the expert...

...if the possible question of rape

hung on the result?

It would've been.

In the newspaper,

on the evening of August 16...

...it was stated you found

no evidence of rape. Is that true?

It is not true. I made no such statement.

Did you form an opinion as to

whether Mrs. Manion had been raped?

- No.

- Why didn't you form an opinion?

It's impossible to tell if a mature,

married woman has been raped.

That's all.

Did you have an opinion about whether

she'd had any recent relations with a man?

Insofar as no sperm was present...

...it didn't appear that she had had

recent relations with a man.

Just one more question:

The fact that no evidence was present

in her body...

...does not mean that she was not raped,

does it?

No.

Do you know what constitutes rape

under the law?

Yes, sir. Violation is sufficient for rape.

- There need not be a completion.

- No further questions.

The witness may step down.

The People recall Alphonse Paquette

to the stand.

Your Honour, since counsel for the defence

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