The Thin Blue Line Page #6

and said that she knew this woman...

who had testified and identified

Randall Adams from a passing vehicle.

This woman had never told the truth

in her life.

She also told me that she had tried

to call the D.A. During the trial...

and give this evidence

that this woman was not believable.

If their case hinged on this testimony,

this was not believable testimony.

They were scum. They were just...

actually scum.

He was a black man

and she was a white woman.

He came to work the day after.

He told me about the policeman

that had gotten shot the night before.

And I hadn't heard anything about it.

And I thought

it was another one of these stories.

And he brings in these newspapers...

and he says he didn't see a thing.

He couldn't see nothing, it was dark.

Wheels started rolling

in his head about money.

That's when he got the idea.

Let me put it in his words.

For enough money, he would testify...

to what they wanted him to say.

He would say anything

they wanted him to say.

Or he would see anything

that they wanted him to see.

Those were his words.

I was shocked that he did go ahead...

and get up and tell

that he saw the actual shooting...

and recognized the boy. Identified him.

That's when I called Dennis White.

I told him, "That man's lying. "

Nobody has that good of an eyesight.

From where the policeman was shot

and from where they were at...

I doubt if you could have

even seen them with binoculars.

I'm a salesman.

And you develop something like total recall.

I don't forget places, things...

or streets.

Because it's a habit,

something I just picked up.

I just stare intensely at people

and try to figure them out.

Being nosy, I just stare.

I was leaving the Plush Pub one night...

driving a 1977 Cadillac...

heading west on Hampton.

I noticed an officer had

two individuals pulled over...

to the curb in a blue...

some type of vehicle.

It was a blue...

It was a blue Ford. It was a blue something.

The driver, I think, had long blond hair

and a moustache.

And the other one

didn't have no hairs on his face.

A person that is white

going through that area at night...

he's a sore thumb,

he stick out for the first reason.

And if they don't look right,

they're gonna stop you.

The officer, he walked up to the vehicle.

His car was behind...

I don't know if it was behind or in front...

but I know he had him pulled over,

and he was up to the car.

I think he was up to the car. Let me think.

Yeah, he was up to the car.

As we was coming by

he had to have been up to the car.

I didn't see no bullet. I didn't see no gunfire.

Because I went on.

We have three people

that testified and identified him...

positively as being the driver

at the time that Wood was walking...

right beside the car.

So we know that he was the driver

from the witnesses...

and we also know...

that it was the driver

that shot Officer Wood...

coming from his partner.

We couldn't have made a case...

with the voluntary statement

that we got from Adams.

We had to rely on witnesses.

And this is what we did.

I always tried very hard,

every judge I know of does...

to not show emotion on the bench.

The reason, if you do show emotion...

the jury might take it that

you're favoring one side or another.

So you try to remain passive,

emotionless, objective.

I do have to admit that in the Adams case...

and I've never really said this...

Doug Mulder's final argument

was one I'd never heard before.

About the "thin blue line" of police...

that separated the public from anarchy.

I have to concede that there

my eyes kind of welled up...

when I heard that.

It did get to me emotionally,

but I don't think I showed it.

In death penalty cases...

we have a question, or we did at the time...

of whether or not that person

is of a dangerous mentality...

and might be expected

to commit other crimes.

To answer that question...

the Dallas District Attorney sends

psychiatrists to the defendant's cell...

to discover whether he is without remorse...

and therefore is a dangerous

and psychopathic personality.

Of course, in the instance of a person...

who did not commit the crime,

they're not going to show remorse.

There were two psychiatrists

that appeared again and again.

Holbrook and Grigson, the "Killer Shrinks. "

There was certain criticism

directed against these two people...

because, in effect, whenever they

showed up, the purpose of their visit...

was to kill the defendant.

It was April 15th, tax day.

I think I was filling out my taxes at the time.

Afraid I might be late.

A guard walks up to the door...

tells me, "There's someone out here

who wants to talk to you. "

I ask him who it was.

He said he didn't know...

but the court ordered me to talk

to him. I said, "All right. "

And here come this real tall,

ostrich-looking dude.

He introduced himself as Dr. Grigson.

He pulled a pad out of his coat pocket...

that had a line drawn across it.

On this pad, on the upper half...

he had six images.

I will say a box, a square,

a circle with a diamond in it.

I don't... It's been awhile.

He slides this piece of paper across

to me and he hands me a pencil.

He says, "I'm going to get a cup of coffee.

"Please copy what's on this piece of paper. "

I'm looking at this man.

I said, "What? You want it copied

just the same way you did?

"Or you want me to change them

around? What do you want me to do?"

He said, "Just do

whatever you think you want to do. "

And he left.

So on the bottom half

of this piece of paper...

I made my boxes and X's...

and zeros with diamonds in it.

Exactly like his.

He asked me...

"What's the meaning of

'A rolling stone gathers no moss?"'

I'm looking at this man.

I said, "Are you kidding? Is this

a joke? What are you doing?"

He said, "No, I really want to know

your answer to that question. "

I said, well,

"A rolling stone gathers no moss. "

I said, "To me...

"it would represent that a person

that doesn't stand still long enough...

"it's kind of hard for people to cling to him.

"If he keeps moving around,

it's hard to get close to him. "

He shook his head.

He said, "What about 'A bird in

the hand is worth two in the bush"'?

I said, "If you have a hold of

something, why give it up...

"for a chance of getting something

that might be a little better?

"It doesn't make sense. You've got

something good, why let go of it?

"If you can get the other one,

get it if you can...

"but don't let go of what you got

to try to get something else. "

He asked about my family.

He asked about my background.

And he left.

Total time we had talked,

maybe 15, 20 minutes.

Dr. Grigson was up there testifying

he would commit violent crimes...

in the future if he was released.

Grigson is known as "Dr. Death"

because he always testifies that way.

In about 99% of the trials...

that he's been a witness for the

prosecution, he always testifies...

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