Boomerang! Page #10

evidence in this case that we have already examined.

Your Honor, this is the bullet

taken from the head of the deceased.

The police ballistics expert

has already stated...

that it came from the gun

found on the person of John Waldron.

My office has been extremely

interested in this bullet...

and with the permission

of the police department...

we have conducted experiments

with the bullet and with the accused's gun.

Now, it's not my intention

to go into the technicalities of ballistics...

or call in experts to testify.

However, five independent

ballistics experts...

have been retained by my office

to make tests in this case...

and, uh,

with the court's permission...

- I would like to briefly summarize their findings.

- Proceed.

Your Honor,

in photograph "A"...

is the bullet which

I hold in my hand.

This picture, labeled "B," is that of a

bullet fired from the gun of John Waldron.

I won't pretend that I can discuss

lands and grooves...

with the authority

of an expert...

but to the untutored eye,

even to the eye of an expert...

these two bullets

would seem identical.

There is one

minor difference, however.

When this bullet was removed

from the head of the deceased...

a small particle

was left in the brain.

Our police force didn't feel

that it was important...

to remove that particle

for their ballistics test.

But, Your Honor, that particle

was highly important...

to the ballistics experts

retained by my office.

They all agreed that the two bullets

were remarkably similar...

but I have here

their sworn statements...

that the two bullets could not have been

fired from the same gun.

Order!

Order in the court!

However, I'm forced to admit

that this too...

falls in the category

of the inconclusive.

If Mr. Johnston,

the police expert...

still insists that these two bullets

were fired from the same gun...

the odds are five-to-one

against him that they were not.

However,

the odds are still present.

Your Honor, this is the gun that was taken

from the person of John Waldron...

on the night of his capture.

Would Your Honor

kindly examine it, please?

The gun is

a.32-caliber weapon...

and these are the bullets

that go with it.

There are six bullets.

Would Your Honor kindly examine them also?

And now,

insert them in the gun.

And now,

may I have it, please?

Mr. Harvey,

that's a loaded gun!

I'll be extremely careful, Your Honor.

Mr. Whitney, please.

In the reenactment

of the murder...

we found, through the examination

of the trajectory of the bullet...

that the murderer

had to hold the gun...

in exactly this position

when the shot was fired.

Through examination

of the powder burns...

we found that Father Lambert

must have been within six inches of the gun...

or about here.

Henry!

Mr. Whitney,

will you fire the gun?

I must apologize, Your Honor,

for the use of theatrics in this presentation...

but there's a defect

in the firing pin of this gun.

It's loose and faulty,

making it impossible...

for the gun to be fired

in this position.

We tried it 16 times.

That was the 17th.

He shot himself!

Let him alone.

Stand up there. Get back there, please.

It's always the same.

You look around long enough...

you'll find some guy

with his fingers in the till.

- I went to Hartford last night.

- Why?

I met Harris after he left your house.

He said you were switching.

I didn't think you were

that kind of a guy.

MacDonald, I just made one mistake.

I should've known by now that there's

one thing you can't beat in politics...

and that's a completely honest man.

Well, I wonder how Florida

will be for the winter?

I'm afraid people get just as tired

of reform as they do of anything else.

- You'll be back.

- I know.

You'll be back.

You don't look

very happy, Henry.

I-I was just thinking

of Paul.

Yes- Paul. Well, Paul more or less

passed judgment on himself.

I suppose so.

Mr. Harvey, that was

a good presentation.

Very good.

I called you a politician yesterday,

and... I was wrong.

Forget it, Robbie.

I know how you felt.

Um-

I'll bet that stubborn, old goat

still doesn't believe he's innocent.

It may take him a little time.

After all, it took him a long time...

to decide he was guilty.

- That's why I like him.

- Oh, I like him too, but he's still a stubborn, old goat.

Oh, Waldron?

Well, uh,

what are you gonna do now?

I don't know.

I'll get something goin'.

It's about time,

don't you think?

Mr. Harvey,

I don't know how to thank you.

Don't try.

Well-

No kiddin', Dave,

how did you peg that corporation?

I never reveal my methods.

What's that?

Say, don't you ever read

anything but your own stuff?

The guy was killed

in a crack up.

Screwiest thing you ever saw.

One of our boys

got on his tail for speedin;

Chased him for a mile or so,

and, all of the sudden...

the guy swerved,

and that was that.

This case was never solved.

And within 24 hours,

John Waldron was once again a free man.

The case is still open on the police books

of a Connecticut city...

and it may interest you to know

that there are those...

who still believe

the accused man was guilty.

It may interest you too to know

that the man we have depicted for you...

as State's Attorney Harvey...

was actually a Connecticut lawyer

named Homer Cummings.

He did not become governor

of the state.

He rose instead to one

of the highest legal positions in the land-

Attorney General of the United States.

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