Hokuspokus oder: Wie lasse ich meinen Mann verschwinden...? Page #5

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is very incriminating?

Next item then.

That would be

the allegedly happy marriage.

I will prove

that the defendant had a lover.

The witness Eulalia Kiebutz, please.

Witness Kiebutz, please.

The jury should know

that the observations

of this witness are what first caused

the authorities to get involved.

Your name is Eulalia Kiebutz,

52 years old, you are unmarried and

in no way related to the defendant?

- That's right, Mr. President.

You must testify under oath.

Raise your right hand.

You swear to tell the truth

to the best of your ability?

I swear.

Are you and the defendant neighbors?

Not exactly. My house is on a hill

overlooking the Kjerulf villa.

So you had a good view of

the Kjerulf villa and garden? - Yes.

How long after the painter's death

did you make your first observations?

- Around three weeks after his death.

Tell us what you observed.

Two or three times a week,

the studio light was on.

Once the shutters were left open,

and there were shadows

cast onto the white curtains.

- What kind of shadows?

Shadows of a man and a woman.

What did the shadows do?

Did they kiss each other?

- That too.

Could you tell who the shadows were?

- The woman, but not the man.

Who was the woman?

The defendant.

So much for the defendant's fidelity!

What did you observe at the grave?

A few weeks after Mr. Kjerulf's death,

I wanted to put some flowers

on my sister's grave.

When I passed Mr. Kjerulf's grave,

I saw a woman crying in mourning,

moving her lips as if

in conversation with the deceased.

And it wasn't the defendant?

That's just it. On two more visits,

I saw the woman sitting there talking.

So you're suggesting that the painter

had a mistress prior to his death?

Certainly not afterwards!

- Defense Counsel!

Then not only was the defendant having

an affair, but so was the deceased!

That's what the Kjerulf's

happy marriage looked like.

Cross examination, Counsel?

- Yes.

I assume, Miss Kiebitz...

- Butz! - Butz.

...that you were shocked by all this?

- I'd say so!

You covered your eyes and turned away?

- Not right away.

How long did you watch?

Until I'd had enough.

- And when was that?

I didn't check the time.

You just watched the shadows.

And tell us what they did.

What did the shadows do?

- They embraced. - Go on.

They kissed.

- Go on.

Kissed for a long time.

- Go on.

He kissed forehead, eyes and mouth.

- Go on.

Then the shadows disappeared.

And then?

- Then...

Then you waited a while?

- Yes.

But nothing happened?

- I'd had enough.

Apparently not,

if you waited some more.

What's the distance to your house?

- Around 100 meters.

Congratulations. You must have

great eyes for your age.

I used my opera glasses.

Just what I wanted to hear.

Thank you, no further questions.

Have a seat, please. Thank you.

Thank you.

And rest assured, that's the last time

I give the authorities a tip-off.

That's how the main witness looks.

- Defense Counsel!

I didn't say how she looks,

I just stated, "that's how she looks".

It's not how they look

but what they say that counts.

She said she saw two shadows through

her opera glasses, one of which

she thinks was the defendant's shadow.

I doubt that's of much use to you.

I'll determine that.

Defendant, please rise

and step forward.

Answer my question:

Who was the man who visited you?

I can't tell you, as you'd suspect him

of murdering my husband.

I implore you!

If you assume it was my lover,

do you think I'd remove my head

from the noose and put his in?

What would a woman in love do?

Your life is in the balance.

- His is.

Defendant, I ask you: Who was the man

who visited you at night?

It wasn't you, Mr. Prosecutor.

But if it had been you,

I wouldn't betray you either.

The hearing of evidence is concluded.

Before the Prosecutor

makes his final plea,

we'll take a short break.

How do you feel, Mr. Bille?

Excellent. But it's rather stifling.

Very.

If anything is more incriminating

than the facts just presented,

it's the defendant's

behavior during this trial.

Why does she lie,

I ask, if she's innocent?

It's the question that led her first

defense counsel to drop the case.

His conscience wouldn't bear it.

And it's the question

that her second counsel,

even if he has no conscience, as he

boasts, will not be able to answer.

And that is what condemns her!

I call upon you to find her guilty

of the malicious murder of her husband!

The Defense Counsel has the floor.

High Court,

ladies and gentleman of the jury...

It's the right of the defense

to see the good in a person.

It's the prosecutor's grave duty

to seek the evil in a person.

But as long as there are crimes,

there must be prosecutors.

Only where

no crimes have been committed

are prosecutors not only superfluous,

but also dangerous.

Such is the case here.

Going boating together

and coming home alone,

disposing of a ruined dress,

even having a lover

after her husband's death...

Some women do not wait so long.

These are not crimes!

Speculation? Everyone has his own.

I for one disagree with the prosecutor

that humming a song proves

that a woman killed her husband.

Instead, I'd take it as a sign

of a carefree spirit.

For me, a woman who'd rather

go to the gallows

than betray her lover

is a woman before whose virtue

I bow down.

Such a woman, ladies and gentlemen

of the jury, cannot,

in my eyes, be a murderer.

You see, the same facts

lead me to different conclusions,

but I don't ask you to believe me,

for I can't prove them.

But then don't believe the prosecutor

either, for has just as little proof.

Price Leopold I.

once said before battle,

"Dear God, you don't have to help me,

but don't help that scoundrel either!"

But speculation won't help us here.

Nothing can relieve the prosecutor

from his duty to prove

the deed, the crime itself.

And that is what he cannot do.

Because no one

saw it being committed. No one.

So what does a good prosecutor do?

He grabs the bull by the horns

and says,

"Nobody saw it

because nobody could see it,

as it happened so far out on the lake

that nobody was meant to see it."

Is that your theory, Mr. Prosecutor?

- Exactly.

Exactly! You heard it. That theory

has only one major advantage, namely

that you cannot possibly convict

the defendant based on such a theory!

For we all know that our lake

doesn't give up its victims

unless they drown

less than 30 meters from the shore

where the currents are too weak

to keep a body down.

But our lake did give up the body!

So Mr. Kjerulf must've drowned

very close to the shore.

And that takes care of

the prosecutor's theory.

Before I sit down, I'd like to answer

the prosecutor's question.

Why did the defendant lie

if she's innocent?

I'll tell you, Mr. Prosecutor.

Out of fear.

I see the young intern smiling...

Well, young friend,

assume that you take a walk one night,

and you find a man in a pool of blood.

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