I Want to Live! Page #5

did you give her some kind of password?

- Yes, I did.

- Can't you do something?

- I'll do something.

- What was the password?

Your Honour,

may we approach the bench?

You may, Mr. Tibrow.

May it please the court,

I have repeatedly warned my client

against deceiving me in any way.

But I have been deceived.

I've been lied to. I've been misled.

For the record,

I ask permissin to withdraw.

I'm sympathetic with counsel, however

since no person could be better qualified

than the attorney

who has proceeded in the case so far,

the court does not feel

that it should relieve you.

Just so the court

understands my position.

It does indeed. Proceed.

Read the last question, Mr Reporter.

Question:
what was the password?

I came like water and like wind I go.

lt'll be my story against

Bruce King's. You were with them?

All right, I was with them.

Then from here on in, you just relax.

You're a cinch to beat the cyanide.

Those are the words echoing through the

courtroom at the trial of Barbara Graham.

A written transcript is used

in court for the prosecution,

but you are hearing the actual voices

as originally recorded on the wire

inside a tiny Minifon like this,

Which Miranda concealed on his body

during his rigged prison meeting

with the alleged murderess.

It's all taken down

on the miniature recording device:

her desperate attempt

to establish a false alibi,

her faltering admissin

she was at the scene of the crime.

The flaming redhead finally crumbles

into a shattered, frightened woman.

She is led crying from the courtroom

after the brutal sessin.

Curious onlookers, photographers

and reporters crowd around her.

- Have you anything to say for TV?

- I'm innocent.

What about the testimony of Bruce King

and Police Officer Miranda?

I'm completely innocent.

I was home with my family that night.

They'll all die violently. The spies,

the liars, all the ones who want me dead.

- I'm innocent.

- Do you swear it?

I swear it. I swear it on my baby's life.

May God strike him dead if I'm guilty.

And what happens to Rita,

the blonde prison siren,

the inside girl

who so invaluably aided the police,

while herself serving time

for manslaughter?.

Her sentence is suspended

and she is released on probation,

as the woman she helped entrap takes

the stand tomorrow to fight for her life.

Now, despite what you told Mr. Miranda,

you claim the truth is that

you were at home with your husband?

So help me God.

And yet you made no effort

to contact your husband,

while you went to great lengths to make

use of the services of Mr. Miranda?

- The same goes for you.

- Just answer the question.

I wrote Henry one letter while I was in

the county jail and I never got an answer.

Did you say anything about being

with him on the night of March 9?

- You're hesitating, Mrs. Graham.

- I'm trying to think.

You do that.

May the record show that I have here

a letter addressed to Henry L. Graham,

postmarked May 20, 1953,

and stamped on it

"Mail Censored, Los ngeles County Jail".

I will ask that this be marked

next in order for identification.

So ordered. People's exhibit 73.

I ask you to read this letter

and tell us whether or not you wrote it.

That's her husband. Henry L. Graham.

Thank God,

I will clear the courtroom if there's

another such outburst from anyone.

Proceed, Mr. Prosecutor.

Did you write that letter

to your husband, Mrs. Graham?

Yes, I did.

Did you say anything about where you

and he might have been on March 9,

or whether you were together

or anything about estabiishing your alibi?

No.

I offer into evidence

this letter marked exhibit 73.

Accepted into evidence

letter marked exhibit 73.

But I remember now why I didn't.

I wanted Henry to come and see me.

You also asked Mr. Miranda

to come and see you

and testify falsely that he was with you.

I didn't exactiy want him.

I just felt that I had no other choice.

You told him that you were really

with Perkins and Santo that night.

I kept telling him

that I wasn't at the scene of the crime.

He acted like he should insist I was.

And I thought "This is my last chance."

"I can't prove where I was,

and if he walks out on me,

then I won't have anybody."

I didn't know what to do,

which way to turn.

Just respond to the question.

All I could think

was I couldn't prove my alibi

and I was gonna go to the gas chamber,

and I was desperate.

- Mrs. Graham...

- Have you ever been desperate?

- Do you know what it's like?

- Mrs. Graham,

- Your Honour, I move that be stricken.

- So ordered.

- Mrs. Graham, you have to be...

- I know. I'm sorry. I know.

Proceed.

Mrs. Graham, perhaps one of the reasons

you were so desperate during this time

was that you knew

you were already on probation.

- I guess I still am.

- From where?

San Francisco.

Of what crime were you convicted?

You're hesitating again, Mrs. Graham.

Of what desperate crime

were you convicted?

Perjury.

Barbara Graham.

He's here.

- How's the Dior?

- Elegant.

Hey, tell him to come up

and see me sometime.

You have permissin

to see him in the attorney's room.

That's swell.

- I've seen him, Barbara. He's a doll.

- Thank you, ma'am.

- Ask him if he's got a friend.

- I'll do that.

Don't cry, honey.

Here she is.

Give your mama a kiss

like I showed you.

Sweetheart, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.

- Peg, what happened?

- It's the cameras.

Why don't you be decent

and give us a break?

Oh, Mommy missed you, sweetheart.

Mommy missed you.

Tell us, Barbara,

how does it feel seeing your baby,

knowing that you face the gas chamber?

How the hell do you think it feels?

Damn them, Damn them, Damn them,

- Get your mitts off,

- Come on.

Damn you, Damn you,

Damn you, Damn you,

While there are certain practices I don't

think police officers should indulge in,

in this instance

I see no grounds for criticism.

Motion for a new trial is denied.

I appeared for the motion for new trial

only since Mr. Tibrow is taken ill.

All right, Mr Matthews. You'll be relieved

of further responsibility in this case.

Thank you, Your Honour.

The defendant is remanded to the custody

of the sheriff of Los ngeles County,

to be delivered by him to the California

institution for women at Corona.

It is the judgment and sentence

of this court that Barbara Graham

suffer the extreme penalty,

to wit, the death penalty,

and that said penalty be inflicted

within the walls of the state penitentiary

at San Quentin, California, in a manner

and means prescribed by iaw,

to wit, the administration of lethal gas

until said defendant is dead.

Bring her over here for TV, boys.

Please step aside.

I hear your husband

wants to change his story.

- Give her a break.

- You didn't. You just dropped her.

- Any comments on that?

- From what I read, she ain't my type.

Big boy like you. Maybe you shouldn't

believe everything you read.

- Have you anything to say?

- How about it? A short statement?

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