The Thin Blue Line Page #3

we started watching

the first part of the second show.

We want a victory, and we're gonna get it.

I didn't really care for the second feature...

which is an R-rated, cheerleader-type thing.

I don't know what it was.

May I have some wine?

It's good, Ross.

I didn't know you could cook.

It is good, isn't it?

You got to try my celery rmoulade.

No.

I told him I wanted to leave.

"I don't really care

to sit here and watch this. Let's go. "

He's acting strange, he wanted

to watch the end. Anyway, we left.

We drove back towards Dallas

and we drove to the motel.

There's a little store.

I bought a pack of cigarettes...

and a newspaper.

And when I left,

this kid was still sitting there.

I leaned against the car and we

talked to him for a few minutes...

and I told him

that since he was looking for a job...

and there hadn't been anybody at work...

that if he wanted to stop back

Monday morning...

that sure, he could ride out

and follow me to work...

and he could talk to the boss.

And he would probably get a job.

I told him that I would catch him

Monday morning if he showed up.

I told him what time I went to work.

Why, I left.

I walked around the store

and went to the house.

When I walked in, the television was

on and my brother was sleeping.

He had been home this whole time

that I had been gone.

So I made me a sandwich...

and sat there and watched the end of

The Carol Burnett Show.

When it went off, the news came on

and I watched 15 minutes of it.

And that was it.

I turned the TV off and went to sleep.

Finally, they bring in a stenographer.

She sits down and I run the story.

I tell them what happened this Saturday.

She leaves. She types.

She comes back in about 25 to 30 minutes...

with a copy of this statement.

I read through it...

and when it was basically what I liked...

yes, I signed it.

He admits driving the car

and taking a right on Inwood Road...

off of Interstate 35...

or Highway 183.

He admits driving it.

After he made his right turn

on Inwood Road...

this is where our statement ends.

He says he does not

remember anything after that.

He didn't remember anything

about a shooting.

He didn't remember anything about

a police officer stopping him.

That part of his mind

just conveniently went blank.

He remembered driving the car...

and he remembered approaching

the scene of the shooting...

and then, from that point, he blacks out...

and can't remember

until he gets to the motel room...

which is some 10 minutes later.

Everything else he remembers vividly.

And that's just a convenient memory

lapse, is all that is.

The Morning News in Dallas County...

stated that I had signed a confession...

that I had confessed

to the killing of Robert Wood...

and they had their killer

and they were ready to go with it.

The statement that I signed

for Dallas County...

was never...

and never would have been anything

as "a confession. "

But yet, they labeled it as such.

Of course, I couldn't dispute this

because I didn't even know about it.

I heard no news.

I knew nothing for two weeks.

They kept me completely away

from everybody.

Several times we talked to her,

trying to get her to recall.

"Do you recall the license number?

Do you recall anything to help us?"

And she gave us

a pretty good description of the car.

As it turned out, her description

of the car was real close.

It comes out that we weren't

looking for a blue Vega.

We were looking for a Comet.

No telling the man-hours

we literally wasted...

looking for a blue Vega.

There is a difference

between a Vega and a Mercury Comet.

So in reality, in regard to cars...

every piece of information

that was called in...

they were calling in regard to a Comet,

I mean, a Vega.

The people that called in were truthful,

trying to help.

They really were trying to help.

We just all had the wrong information.

There wasn't a mark on this car

David Harris had stolen.

Wasn't a mark.

Do you think a car sitting still...

starting from a stop, heading up a hill...

with a woman standing right behind it...

that is a very good shot with a pistol...

She should have hit

the damn thing one time. She didn't.

I wish to God she had blown whoever

was driving the car's head off...

because I wouldn't have been here.

I went back several times...

and with Mr. Cunningham,

he and I both searched...

and could find no indications that

that car had been hit by gunfire.

Later on, he finally found one place...

that he felt as though

that a bullet had been creased on it.

But before he could tell me about it,

his daughter totaled the car out.

Totally demolished it.

I was doing burglaries and some robberies...

and a few possession cases

and stuff like that.

I think he just came up to me and said:

"Are you Edith James?

I'd like to talk about my case. "

That's the way I remember it, anyhow.

And I said, "Sure. "

And I said, "What sort of a case is it?"

He said, "It's a capital murder. " And I said...

Inside, I kind of thought:

"I've never done one,

but I can surely talk to him about it. "

I hate to be considered...

some kind of dummy that believes

in the innocence of her clients.

A lot of people think, "A woman lawyer...

"she's bound to stupidly believe

anything she's told. "

I admit, I'm sort of a gullible person.

But on the other hand,

I've seen an awful lot of people...

who admitted guilt or were found guilty...

and all but Randall turned out

to be guilty, in my opinion.

Douglas Mulder had a perfect win record.

I believe he resigned from the

D.A. 's office without any defeats.

That's why he's legendary.

Everything, as I recall,

that Mulder ever said...

was about what a great guy Mulder was...

and how marvelous it was that

he was getting all these convictions.

I wanted somebody else in on it,

so I got Dennis interested in it...

because Dennis has a lot more

trial experience...

and Dennis wins

practically all of his jury cases.

And Dennis was very enthusiastic

about the Randall Adams case...

because he kept saying,

"This is one we can win.

"They don't have substantial evidence.

All they've got is David Harris. "

I prepared a motion for a continuance

to get more time to try the case...

and in doing that had to lay out

my schedule for several weeks...

as to exactly what time

I'd be in Vidor, Texas.

Vidor is the headquarters of the

Ku Klux Klan for the state of Texas.

It's a city where black people

will not spend the night.

Black people won't even stop there

to get their car filled with gasoline.

And furthermore, the people of Vidor

were under the impression...

that the policeman that was murdered

was a black man.

I had to stop at a motel on the way.

My wife and I stayed in one room,

the lady lawyer in another room.

We arranged to get up very early,

go to Vidor and start our investigation.

At about 6:
00 in the morning...

Edith James, the lady lawyer, got up...

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