Suspect Page #3

listening to my own voice since five.

I know the feeling.

There's a vote coming up

on a bill that I co-sponsored.

I have a knot in my stomach like a fist.

Closer the vote, tighter the fist.

Grabs me a little lower.

How close is the vote?

Well, if everything falls right,

we're still a handful short.

I never noticed that. Your eyes

are sometimes blue, sometimes green.

You're still a handful short.

- I told you, my vote's not for sale.

- I can't help myself, Grace.

But it's a lovely thought.

Nobody has mentioned my eyes

in a long time.

- There's another stop.

- How much do I owe you?

- Seven fifty.

- Here. Keep the change.

Michael, you are sewed.

His face was completely rearranged

and he spent the night in surgery.

When the police arrived,

the assailant had fled.

I need a continuance until this

Michael John Guthridge is caught.

I see no need for a continuance.

The subject was sewed a subpoena.

He's required to appear.

You've got to be joking.

There's not a chance in hell

that this man will appear.

I'm sorry, Your Honor.

I can sympathize with you.

I was a trial attorney myself.

At the mercy of witnesses.

But if we waited for every witness,

the system would grind to a halt.

It could take months to locate him.

And there's no guarantee he'll testify

or have anything to testify about.

In fairness to my client I can't present

a complete defense without this witness.

I'm sorry. Your request

for a continuance is denied.

Miss Riley?

Do not contaminate the process with

comments about this witness in court.

How can I possibly

contaminate this process?

Opening statements, Mr. Stella?

Elizabeth Rose Quinn.

She was twenty-four.

A clerk typist

at the Justice Department.

She made 17,000 dollars a year.

She was single.

She liked to play tennis.

She was a member of

the First Baptist Church in Arlington.

She wasn't very important.

Especially in a city that's full

of so many important people.

She was just a decent,

hard-working citizen.

And on the night of December 18th,

a week before Christmas, -

- Carl Wayne Anderson,

in cold blood,-

cut her throat.

I have prosecuted 43 murder cases.

It's always a horror, always senseless.

But of all those murder cases -

- this is the most horrible,

the most senseless, the most indefensible.

For nine dollars.

Nine dollars.

Nine dollars. That's all she had.

Is this what we've become?

Is the value of human life so cheap?

Elizabeth worked late that night.

It was cold. She was tired

and anxious to get home.

She took the bus to the parking lot

where her car was.

That's as far as she got.

We will show that Anderson had been

in that parking lot, breaking into cars.

He had been sleeping

in Elizabeth's car.

And a parking-lot attendant

had chased him away.

But he had come back.

And when he saw Elizabeth

alone and defenseless, -

- he beat her, dragged her down

to the river and killed her.

This isn't the eleven o'clock news.

We can't just shake our heads,

go to bed and forget about it.

We have a responsibility

to Elizabeth Rose Quinn.

She is, after all, too important.

Miss Riley?

Carl Wayne Anderson is not a decent,

hard-working citizen.

He is not a shining example

of the American dream.

Carl Anderson is

the American nightmare.

He's one of the nameless,

faceless derelicts -

- that wander through the streets

of our country by the thousands.

We step over them in doorways.

We cross the street -

- in order to avoid having to

come in contact with one of them.

We look at them with a mixture

of pity, contempt and fear.

And we choose not to see that

under their ragged, filthy clothes -

- is a frightened, lost human being,

just like you and me.

Carl Anderson was a soldier in Vietnam.

Not a hero, just a dog soldier -

- who believed in

and fought for his country.

And when he tried to regain his -

- identity and self-respect

in a veterans hospital,-

- he contracted spinal meningitis,

became deaf, -

- and suffered

a traumatic speech loss.

Carl Anderson lived in a world

where nine dollars -

- could mean the difference between

eating and starving to death.

They weren't supposed to vote

until next week.

They were ready to adjourn.

The leadership called for the vote.

- What's the count?

- The right yes puts us over the top.

No comment.

You lucked out. Her chairman must

have persuaded Comisky to vote yes.

- That must have been it, Congressman.

- Give me a call.

Nice job, Eddie.

- Could you describe what you found?

- She had been attacked from behind.

Her throat cut laterally across

the larynx and the carotid artery -

from left to right.

- What kind of instrument caused this?

- A very thin, straight blade.

A razor. A knife.

I'm showing you what's been marked as

government exhibit one.

Have you seen this knife before?

Yes. I was asked to do

a forensic examination of it.

And what were your conclusions?

The width and sharpness of the blade

were consistent with the wound.

- I move exhibit one in evidence.

- Without objection.

Your witness.

Before Miss Riley cross-examines,

we'll take a fifteen minute recess.

You're excused, Doctor.

Excuse me, Your Honor. May I have

another look at that photograph?

Objection. This has become

ghoulish beyond purpose.

The juror is entitled to a thorough

examination of the evidence. Overruled.

Thank you.

The jury is not to discuss

this case with anyone.

Okay, let's go.

Miss Riley? There was a call for you.

He didn't leave a name, only a number.

Okay. Thanks.

- Hello?

- This is Kathleen Riley.

Do you know if your client

is right- or left-handed?

Excuse me?

Do you know if Carl is

right- or left-handed?

Who is this?

- I noticed something. Did you?

- I said, who is this?

Dr Koleena, you examined

Carl Anderson's knife, didn't you?

- Yes, I did.

- What did you find?

Some rust, a partial hair follicle

and microscopic traces of human tissue.

And did you compare the tissue taken off

of his knife with Elizabeth Quinn's?

- Yes.

- And what were your findings?

They were inconclusive.

- Could you please speak up?

- They weren't conclusive.

They weren't conclusive.

So what you're saying is that -

- you have no direct evidence

that Carl Anderson's knife -

- was used to murder

Elizabeth Rose Quinn.

No bone fragments, no tissue samples,

no traces of her blood.

The knife had recently

been wiped clean.

Didn't you just say you found rust and

a hair follicle and some tissue on it?

- So was it wiped clean or wasn't it?

- It's more complicated than that.

No, it's not more complicated.

It was either cleaned or it wasn't.

Objection. Miss Riley is making this

sound like a cooking class.

Excuse me?

Objection sustained. Dispense with

your characterizations, Mr. Stella.

My apologies to the court

and to counsel.

Thank you, but I don't want

the jury left with the impression -

- that Mr. Anderson cleaned his knife

to hide incriminating evidence.

Objection sustained.

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