Bloodville (37 page)

Doc stood in the hallway outside the courtroom talking to Mo Candelaria when Deputy Chief Scarberry finished his testimony and stormed out the door. ―What the hell you doin‘ here, Spurlock? Nobody gave you permission to leave your district.‖

Scarberry‘s face was so close to Spurlock‘s that Doc could feel the deputy chief‘s spit as he shouted, ―I don‘t pay you to be curious. You get your fuckin‘ ass back to Gallup, and I mean right now!‖ ―Kiss my ass, Scarberry!‖ Doc spat back.
―What did you say?!‖
―Kiss my goat-smellin‘ ass. You get it that time?‖
Scarberry was taken aback, literally. He moved back a half step, as

if seeking his balance. He didn‘t realize that Doc moved, too, and the agent planted both feet firmly as he balled his fist and shifted his weight. Doc swung a strong round-house right that took Scarberry square on the mouth and snapped his head back sharply. The deputy chief of the New Mexico State Police Department landed on his back in the middle of the floor, looking up at Spurlock. Blood flowed freely from a split lower lip.

―Don‘t get up,‖ Doc said. ―I was just leavin‘. Oh, you probably want this.‖ He removed his badge from his coat pocket and dropped it onto Scarberry‘s chest. ―Stick it up yer ass. And if I ever see you in Chaves County, I‘ll arrest you just sure as pigs shit.‖

Doc walked slowly away as Scarberry struggled to sit up. ―You‘re fired, too Candelaria,‖ he roared. ―Gimme your goddamn badge.‖
―I don‘t think so, chief.‖ The lieutenant walked back into the courtroom.

Scarberry found himself alone, surrounded by strangers who eyed him with curiosity, and, he was certain, with contempt. Before he could struggle to his feet, an Albuquerque
Journal
photographer stepped out the court room door. The newsman snapped three quick shots of the deputy chief and fled down the stairs and away from Scarberry‘s wrath. The photo that appeared on the State Page of the morning paper showed Scarberry seated on the floor, his lips puffy and blood on his chin. The cutline read:

Wilcoxson didn‘t offer any rebuttal witnesses. Judge Ziram began jury instructions following lunch. He lectured the panel on the meaning of reasonable doubt and he defined the crime of murder. He discussed circumstantial evidence and immunity from prosecution.

―You are the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses and of the weight to be given their testimony. If you believe that any witness has knowingly testified falsely as to any material point or fact in the case, you are at liberty to disregard the whole or any portion of the testimony of such a witness. You are also the sole judges of all questions of fact in this case.‖

He instructed the jury on a defendant‘s right to remain silent and to not testify in his own behalf. ―The fact that the defendant did not take the stand is not to be considered, and no presumption whatever is to be raised against him on this account.‖

He told the jury they were free to give whatever weight they chose to the fact that one of the witnesses had undergone psychiatric examination and hypnosis between the commission of the crime and the trial.

―Finally,‖ the judge said, ―you are instructed, ladies and gentlemen, that closing arguments of counsel are not to be taken as fact, but are merely summaries of the facts you have heard in the course of the trial. At the conclusion of closing arguments, I will hand you three forms of verdict. The first would indicate that your verdict is guilty of murder in the first degree. The second is guilty of first degree murder, but with a recommendation of life imprisonment in lieu of the death penalty. The third is not guilty. Upon retiring, you will select one of your number as foreman and when you have unanimously agreed upon a verdict, the foreman will sign the form of verdict and same will be read to an open court.

The Assistant District Attorney straightened his tie as he stood. He buttoned his coat and arranged a yellow pad on his table so that he could refer to it as he went along. He stood before the jury box and cleared his throat.

―Ladies and Gentlemen. We draw near the conclusion of a difficult trial, but one important to every citizen of Valencia County and New Mexico. Two stellar members of our community, Mr. Bud Rice and Miss Blanche Brown, were cruelly and mercilessly murdered, shot down with as little regard as Pontius Pilate showed when he washed his hands of Jesus Christ. Mr. Rice was a respected merchant and Justice of the Peace. Miss Brown devoted her life to educating our less fortunate friends, the Pueblo Indians. Both dead. Slaughtered.‖

Wilcoxson paced back and forth the length of the jury box. ―Nothing good can come of this tragedy, but at least we can all sleep at night knowing that we have the murderer of these people in our grasp. He sits in this room at this moment.‖

The DA moved easily across the room and stood before Billy Ray White. He stared into the defendant's eyes. Billy Ray met his gaze, unblinking. For a few seconds it seemed as if they were playing the old high school game of stare-down. Billy won when Wilcoxson turned back to the jury.

―The state has proven beyond any doubt that this man, Billy Ray White, or Billy Stirling, or Eric Kendrick, or whatever name he happens to use on any given day, committed these murders. We have shown you a chain of events beginning on November 16th, 1967, which provided the defendant with the car and the gun he used to commit these crimes. We have heard testimony in which the defendant admitted he ―wiped out‖ two people—Bud Rice and Blanche Brown—and he chose the right words. He wiped their lives from the face of the earth as though he had some diabolical right to do so. Then with great contempt for the lives he took, he complimented the gun he used to commit murder and complained of the paltry amount of money he was able to steal.

―My friends, there are no living witnesses to this miserable crime. There was one, but Nettie Buckley died two months ago and perhaps we should consider her the third murder victim in this case. The lord alone knows what the shock of Bud Rice's and Blanche Brown's untimely deaths did to her fragile soul.‖ Wilcoxson stopped and faced the jury box. ―But there is a witness who saw the perpetrator within minutes, no, seconds, of the time he did his killing. She suffered fear and anxiety as he repeatedly battered her with the barrel of his gun and forced her to surrender money and then he bound her with tape and gagged her and threatened to kill her, too. I submit to you that Flossie Rice will never forget the face of the man that put her through 20 minutes of pure hell and misery. That face will be with her for the rest of her life, and she has identified Billy Ray White as the man who committed these acts, unspeakable in a civilized world.‖

Wilcoxson walked back to his table and examined the yellow pad and then turned back to the jury. ―Ladies and gentlemen, there has never been a perfect case presented for trial, and there never will be one because cases are presented by people, and we are not perfect. There are always problems, and there are problems with this case, too. But they are minor and insignificant and I have personally never seen a case as compelling as this one is. Nothing detracts from the overwhelming preponderance of evidence that proves without any doubt whatsoever that Billy Ray White, while in the commission of an armed robbery, did shoot to death both Bud Rice and Blanche Brown. All I ask of you, ladies and gentlemen, is that you be as kind and considerate and understanding of Billy Ray White as he was of Bud Rice and Blanche Brown on the evening of November 18th, 1967. I am confident you will reach the right decision. Thank you.‖

―Are you ready, Mr. Pratt?‖
―Yes sir, I am.‖
―Fine.‖
Pratt put on his best smile as he faced the jury. ―I want to thank

you folks for your patience and attention and your good humor, too. I know it‘s not been easy to sit here, freezing one day and sweltering the next. But we're about finished up, and the final say will be yours. I hope I‘ve provided you with the information you need to make a decision that is consistent with the evidence presented over the past three and one half days.

―I think you‘ve probably learned this week that real trials are not like they‘re presented on the television where the entire matter is resolved in the period of an hour. You also need to know that in demonstrating the innocence of the defendant, the defense attorney has no duty to show who did commit the crime. I have attempted to point out what I feel to be overriding defects and inconsistencies in the state's case. The way the state went about prosecuting this case reminds me of the fellow who went about killing flies with a ball-peen hammer. He had the right idea but the wrong tool. The state has the right idea but the wrong man on trial.‖

Pratt hooked his right thumb under a suspender at belt level as he talked. ―Let's take a look at the state's case. It rests entirely on the testimony of three witnesses. One of them is a victim, and no matter how well intentioned, her previous wrong identification put another man, another innocent man, in jail for nearly three weeks. The other two witnesses are scoundrels. Criminals. Both of them admit being implicated in this crime and both of them combined to point the finger of guilt at an innocent man. Both have been promised immunity from prosecution in this case, and one of them gets immunity for any other crime he might have been charged with in the past. Based on the strength of the state's witnesses alone, a reasonable person could not avoid doubt. But let's review some additional facts.‖

One by one, Pratt made eye contact with each and every member of the jury and then did it over, and over, again. ―Let's begin with physical evidence, or rather the lack of it. Not one scrap of evidence exists that connects Billy Ray White to these crimes. No fingerprints. No shoe imprints. No hair samples. In short, there is absolutely no way the state can prove that Mr. White was ever inside the Budville Trading Post, on the night of the murders or any other time, and I suggest to you that he was never there.‖

Pratt moved to the end of the jury box and rested his hand on the rail. Each juror had a clear view of Billy Ray and the defendant also made regular eye contact with each of them. ―With any murder, the weapon used is of vital importance. In this case, we‘ve been shown a gun which the state says was used to commit these crimes. But what connects this weapon to Mr. White?‖ The lawyer picked up the gun. ―Well, one criminal, Joe Cato, is alleged to have provided it to the defendant and a second criminal, Dave Sipe, is alleged to have helped dispose of it. No fingerprints remained on the weapon when it was found so there is nothing to prove that the defendant ever held it in his hand. No evidence offered proves that this gun was actually used to take the lives of the victims in this case and this gun is certainly not the weapon Flossie Rice described in her original, and subsequent statements.‖ Pratt placed the gun on the defense table and covered it with a yellow pad.

He turned back to the jury. ―A major part of our defense is based on alibi and I'd like to examine that for just a minute. Lyle Bromer is not a convicted criminal. He‘s a man from an established family, and a decorated war veteran with an unimpeached background. He was specific and consistent in his testimony concerning Billy Ray White's whereabouts on November 18th, 1967, and that testimony was supported by a third party who was also present. Lyle Bromer has nothing to gain or lose by his testimony as do Dave Sipe and Joe Peters by theirs. The state, folks, alluded to the head injury Mr. Bromer suffered while in the service of his country, in Viet Nam, but it wasn't Lyle Bromer who was dealt with by hypnosis and psychoanalysis. And his comment that he was here to ―spring‖ Billy Ray doesn't carry the dire connotation the state would have you believe. He is simply here, as he said, to see to it an innocent man goes free.‖

Parker took a drink of water. ―Now then, there are a couple of quick points I‘d like to make. For one, Mrs. Rice said in each of her several statements that the robber wore tight pants, and she also said that he bound her with duct tape that he carried in his hip pocket. Looking at the tight pants young people wear these days, I doubt you could get a pack of chewing gum into a hip pocket, let alone a large roll of duct tape. And then there is the matter of the glass jar. Dave Sipe testified there was a large glass container, bloody and full of change, at Mr. White's apartment on Sunday morning the 19th of November, and yet no such container was taken in the robbery of the Budville Trading Post. He also testified that there were bloody clothes in the bath tub. They turned the water pink, he said. But Flossie Rice said the killer didn't have any blood on him. We‘re left with this question: where did the blood come from? Or was there, in fact, any blood to begin with? Equally important is that Mrs. Rice has stated from the beginning, from her original statement, that the killer had a tattoo of some sort on his stomach and yet she identified both Larry Bunting and Billy Ray White neither of whom has any such tattoo.‖

Pratt drank a half glass of water. ―During his remarks, Mr. Wilcoxson told you he‘d traced a series of events that began on the 16th of November in 1967; a chain which pointed directly at Mr. White. I suggest to you that this conspiracy may have originated on the 16th, but Billy Ray White was not a part of it. He left Albuquerque several days before that. Mr. White simply became a convenient scapegoat. And remember too, ladies and gentlemen, no testimony was offered here regarding the whereabouts of Dave Sipe, Joe Peters or Joe Cato on the evening of the 18th, even though Sipe and Peters admitted to complicity in the crime, and Cato is clearly implicated.

―Let me conclude with a thumbnail sketch of what happened in this case. Based on everything we've been told here, the nub of the thing is that the police investigation was about as poor as anyone could imagine. First off, the wrong man, Larry Bunting, was arrested and held for more than sixteen days while the forces of law and order focused all their attention on him until it became obvious he was innocent of the crime charged. No consideration had been given to the possibility someone else did the crime.