Bloodville (29 page)

State Police Chief Sam Black was out of state and Deputy Chief Charles Scarberry responded to the scene in the State Police helicopter. He took charge of the investigation.

―This was an accident, pure and simple, and a sad one, too,‖ the deputy chief told the press. ―Mat Torrez was one of the finest officers I ever had the privilege of working with and he was one of my closest friends. The New Mexico State Police and I will miss him greatly.‖

Captain Mateo Torrez‘s funeral at Queen of Heaven church in Albuquerque was the largest in the history of the State Police. A cadre of criminal agents served as pallbearers.

The Grants Beacon for January 3, 1969, carried the following obituary:
BUCKLEY—Nettie Buckley, 54, valued friend, died on New Year's Eve at Grants Memorial Hospital after a long struggle with diabetes. Nettie lived in the Budville area for the past ten years after having lived in Grants for several years before that. She was preceded in death by her husband, Harry Buckley, who died in 1959. She leaves no survivors. The body has been cremated and the ashes scattered. No services will be held.

CHAPTER XIII

John Cook and Parker Pratt ate breakfast together at Monroe‘s Mexican Steak House during the second week in January.
―I‘m hungry this morning,‖ Parker said to the waitress. ―I‘ll have steak and eggs, hash browns, toast and orange juice.‖
"I'm a little esurient myself,‖ Cook said. ―I‘ll have two of everything my friend just ordered, plus a cup of black coffee.‖
―Esurient, John?‖
―Esurient. I know some big words but I‘m not often in the company of anyone who‘d understand them, especially someone who‘s buying my breakfast. I‘ve got a couple of things on the White deal.‖
―Good.‖
―I picked up a few more files. State Police reports, mostly. Nothing new in any of them that I could find, but you might want to look them over.‖
―Is that all of them?‖
―Oh hell no. I doubt we‘ll ever have them all. Wilcoxson acts like he owns ‗em; like they‘re his own personal property. His trick is that he‘ll only give us exactly what we ask for. The cops are a mixed bag. Guy named Valverde, stationed here in Albuquerque is helpful. So far he‘s told me everything I‘ve asked. The main investigator was this Doc Spurlock. He‘s stationed out in Gallup and kind of hard to get ahold of. Seems like he‘s mostly off the case. He‘s the one that damn near got fired for drinking on the job last spring.‖
―I remember,‖ Pratt said. ―An APD officer was involved, too.‖
―Yeah. Herman Budwister. He‘s since quit APD and moved to Georgia. Sometime last fall, I understand. The State Police lieutenant is a horse‘s ass named Finch. He just smirks whenever I ask him a question. I can tell you one thing; Valverde and Spurlock got no love at all for Wilcoxson.‖

―Don is a difficult man to like.‖

Breakfast served, Cook dug in. ―Yeah,‖ he said between bites. ―He likes himself pretty well. I looked into the drug deal Bud testified on the week before he died. Valverde told me it was a minor deal, that Bud only testified as to chain of possession of some evidence. That‘s true as far as it goes, but it turns out the evidence, a lot of heroin, has turned up missing. State cops don‘t have it and neither do the feds.‖

―Very interesting.‖
―Now, there‘s nothing to indicate that Rice ended up with the dope, but a friend of mine who knows about such things tells me there was some heavy-duty muscle in town in the fall of 1967; real bad guys from Dallas. He says they were looking for the dope and there was some sizable amount of cash money missing, too. He doesn‘t know whether the bad guys found either one, but his recollection is that they left town before Thanksgiving. May be a coincidence. I don‘t know.‖
―Any way we can check that out?‖
―Not that I know of, unless you can get Wilcoxson to free up some police intelligence reports, assuming they even knew about these guys being here in the first place.‖
―I think I‘ll pass the information along to Wilcoxson just the same. He won‘t do anything that might help White, but at least he won‘t be able to accuse us of withholding information. What else?‖
―You ever hear of a guy named Pete Garza?‖
―Not that I recall.‖
―No reason you should, I guess. He‘s a heroin dealer and a junkie himself. I‘ve run across him a few times in my somewhat erratic existence. I talked to him the other day. He‘s well acquainted with the state‘s witnesses: Joe Peters, Dave Sipe and Joe Cato. In fact, Cato‘s his cousin.‖
―What does he have to say about his friends and relatives?‖
―He told me that as he recalls it, Billy Ray was in Albuquerque in the late summer and early fall, hanging around with Cato mostly, but Sipe too. Pete says he met Billy a couple times at the Liberty Bar and other places. Most important, though, is that he says Sipe took Billy Ray to Oklahoma City well before Thanksgiving in 1967.‖
―How sure of that is he?‖
―Pretty sure. He remembers Sipe bragging about some whore he claims he shacked-up with in Oklahoma City, and he says that was the week before the killings at Budville.‖
―What kind of a criminal record does Mr. Garza have?‖
―I didn‘t look it up, but I‘m sure it‘s extensive. Like I said, I‘ve known him off and on for quite a while, and he‘s always been a junkie. People like him don‘t go unnoticed by the constabulary.‖
―So we‘d have one more criminal testifying against other criminals, assuming he‘d be willing to testify.‖
―He‘d testify, if we asked him. He hates Joe Peters with a purple passion. Calls him
rata
. Squealer.‖
―We‘ll put him on the witness list, just in case we need him.‖ Parker Pratt sipped his orange juice. ―Two steaks, four eggs. Did you get enough to eat, John? It‘d grieve me to think of you going hungry.‖
―Had enough to last me until noon. Anything in particular you want me to do?‖
―You seem to be doing pretty well on your own. There are a couple of things I‘d like you to look into, though. See if you can find out what kind of life insurance Bud carried on himself, and related to that, just how well Bud and Flossie got along. My understanding is that Bud wasn‘t too popular in and around Budville. You shouldn‘t have any trouble getting the neighbors to talk to you.‖
―You got it, Parker. Thanks for the breakfast. By the way, have you figured out whether I get paid or not?‖
―Motions hearing is next month. We‘ll know then.‖

CHAPTER XIV

A lean and trim middle aged man, Judge Frank Ziram sported a full head of well-groomed iron-gray hair, a healthy ruddy complexion and a pleasant, but commanding, face. After serving twenty years in the U. S. Army's Judge Advocate's Corps, he retired as a bird colonel in 1959 and won election to the Gallup District Court bench in 1960.

Chief Justice M. E. Noble called Judge Ziram on Friday, January 3rd, and said the attorneys agreed on him to preside in the White case. On Tuesday the 7th, Ziram sent a Notice of Hearing to Wilcoxson and Pratt in which he set March 3rd, 1969 as the trial date. He also set Thursday, February 13th as the date when he‘d hear all motions. Chief Justice Noble's official designation of Ziram as trial judge wasn‘t dated until January 9th.

The motions hearing began promptly at 2:00 p.m. on February 13th at the Valencia County Courthouse in Los Lunas. The courtroom appeared as something from a 1940s western movie. The furnishings, obviously old, glistened from furniture polish and elbow grease. A low railing and a gate with a new spring separated the spectator area from the rest of the courtroom. The gate slammed loudly as it closed behind bailiff and witness alike. Floorboards creaked and squeaked as lawyers paced and pontificated.

―All right, let's proceed,‖ Judge Ziram said and tapped his gavel once lightly on his desktop. ―I note that neither of you have practiced in my court before, although I'm sure you‘ve both talked to lawyers who have. Otherwise you wouldn't have agreed on me to preside. Let me tell you how I run things. You have no doubt heard that in some quarters I am considered a hanging judge. True enough. I have no reluctance to punish those convicted in my court to the full measure allowed by law, up to and including the death sentence should that ever become appropriate.

―At the same time, I am very demanding when it comes to the quality of evidence admitted at trial. I want evidence to be hard, germane and relevant to the case at hand. Nothing flashy. I don‘t like theatrics. Nothing soft. And while we‘re on the subject of what I don‘t like, I don‘t like lawyer tricks. I don‘t like lawyers who slip in asides to the jury then withdraw them before I can sustain an objection. I don‘t like speeches to the jury in the guise of questions during direct or cross-examination.

―And remember that we're not blazing new trails in jurisprudence. We're here, ultimately with the help of a jury, to determine the guilt, or innocence, of one...." The judge paused and shuffled through some papers on the bench, ―Billy Ray White, alias and so forth, according to the law.

―You should also know that on questions of admissibility of evidence, I generally prefer to let the jury see it and decide for themselves. Follow the rules, gentlemen, particularly the rules of evidence, and you won't have any trouble with me. Let's get started. Did someone remember to bring the file down here from Albuquerque? I didn't bring one from Gallup. I had other matters this morning.‖

―I didn't either,‖ Wilcoxson said. ―I thought I had it, but in looking through my briefcase, I apparently do not.‖

 

―I guess I‘ll have to move for dismissal, your honor,‖ Pratt said.

Judge Ziram showed slight amusement. ―I don't think a failure in my memory, and that of Mr. Wilcoxson, is a sufficient ground, Mr. Pratt. Have you got copies of what's to be done here today?‖

―Yes sir,‖ Pratt said.

―Good,‖ Judge Ziram said. ―How about shooting copies up here of everything filed.‖
Pratt handed one sheaf of papers to the judge and another to the bailiff. ―If you could get us two copies of all this I‘d appreciate it.‖
―Now, Mr. Wilcoxson,‖ Ziram said, ―from what I see here, you want to suppress any examinations Mr. Pratt has had done, or might have done on his client. It that the crux of it?‖

―I don't care about having him examined,‖ Wilcoxson said, ―if I know that there's not going to be any testimony by the psychiatrist. I don't want to be at trial and have their psychiatrist come in and testify to something and not be prepared to rebut it.‖

―Mr. Pratt,‖ the judge said, leaning back in his leather-covered chair. ―What say you?‖
―I'll go ahead and state for the record, your honor, that I do not intend to raise the question of Billy Ray White's competency on the date of the alleged crime, nor his ability to participate in his own defense, but I might call the psychiatrist to testify on other matters.‖ ―Then I want to have him examined so I can rebut," Wilcoxson interjected.
―Your honor,‖ Pratt continued, ―I had a psychiatrist do a narcosis test which is like truth serum. Certain things were said which I feel might get to the crux of this matter without relating to my client's mental capacity. There is the possibility I would put on testimony of that nature.‖
―My position, your honor,‖ Wilcoxson said, ―is that narcosis is like a lie detector and it might be inadmissible.‖
―That's Mr. Pratt's problem, and I'm not going to rule on it now. When a psychiatrist gets up and offers such testimony, you can make your objection and then I'll rule.‖

―Am I allowed to have the defendant examined?‖

Judge Ziram leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. ―Since there‘s no defense of exculpatory insanity, there's no basis for evaluation on the part of the prosecution.‖

―While we're on the subject,‖ Pratt said, ―I like to move that I be furnished with the funds to make a lie detector test independent of the DA's office.‖

―On your own client? Even after the narcosis test?‖
―Yes sir.‖

―That's an interesting quirk. What do they cost these days? Anybody know off-hand?‖
―Twenty-five dollars,‖ Wilcoxson said.

―Go ahead and do it,‖ the judge ordered.
―Thank you, your honor.‖
―You're not ruling on the admissibility of this, are you?‖ Wilcoxson demanded.

―No, counselor,‖ Ziram said evenly. ―It's just an aid in the evaluation of his own client.‖
―So there's no misunderstanding,‖ Wilcoxson said, ―Mr. Pratt has assured me and the court that their psychiatrist will not testify....‖

―The only thing he assured you of,‖ the judge said, ―is that he won't raise a defense of insanity or contend lack of present competency.‖

―But what about the defendant's state of mind at some particular time?‖ Wilcoxson seemed agitated.
―We‘ll wait and see,‖ the Judge said.
―But if a psychiatrist says the defendant is a person who couldn't

kill another person, or couldn't commit armed robbery because of his psychological makeup, then I‘ll be without anything to rebut with.‖

―The rules of evidence will take care of that, Mr. Wilcoxson. You're conjuring up ghosts for yourself. That takes care of your motion to suppress. It's denied. What‘s next?‖

―Ok,‖ Wilcoxson said as he turned abruptly from the bench and walked back to the prosecutor‘s table. ―The state makes a motion requiring the defendant to furnish the state with copies of reports by their psychiatrist and their private investigator?‖

―Do they have.... Mr. Pratt, do you have a private investigator?‖

―It's my understanding,‖ Wilcoxson interjected, ―that he plans to ask you to approve one to investigate ... I don't know what.‖
―Mr. Pratt can speak for himself, counselor. Mr. Pratt?‖
―Your honor, it's a fact that I have engaged the services of an assistant to do some leg work for me in this case. I suppose you could call him a private investigator. I ask the court to approve five dollars an hour for his services. It's not much when you consider the hundreds of man-hours spent by the State Police and other law enforcement people all working to prove my client guilty.‖
―Mr. Wilcoxson?‖
―I don't see the need. Mr. Pratt has access to all police reports and I don't think some amateur Mike Hammer will do any better work than professional law officers. Mr. Pratt is well aware that my office is even handed in these matters and he knows that a previous suspect in this very case was exonerated through my efforts. Besides, we've given him every report he's asked for.‖

―Mr. Wilcoxson‘s efforts left an innocent man sitting in jail for nearly three weeks, your honor. But beyond that experience, I am not at all sure I have a complete set of police reports relating to this case. I have no way of knowing.... ‖