Buried Memories (30 page)

At noon, the judge called for a lunch break, telling everyone to be back at one-thirty.

Billy Bandy interrupted. “Your Honor, before we break, may I just ask Mrs. Beets just one question?”

The judge nodded, and Bandy approached the sniffling woman. “Mrs. Beets,” he said, “is this testimony upsetting you?”

Indignantly, Betty said, “Wouldn’t it you?”

“Then why are there no tears?” he asked. The round of courtroom laughter blanketed her answer.

After lunch, Allen Boswell, Michael O’Brien, and Karen Warner accompanied Billy Bandy back to his office to formulate more ways to shoot holes in Betty’s testimony. Since Betty had changed many of the facts, Bandy made notes of his new approach. The bailiff tapped on their door to tell them court was ready to reconvene.

Bandy said, “Let’s get going, it’s show time.”

As Billy Bandy approached Betty on the witness stand, she continued sniffling into her ever-present Kleenex.

Bandy said, “You stated that you could not leave the house at night and that you sat in the living room because your former husband, Jimmy Don Beets, was buried in this planter.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Were you aware that a former husband, Doyle Wayne Barker, was also buried on your premises?”

“No, I was not.” A hint of hostility crept into her voice.

“You testified earlier under oath at your habeas corpus hearing that you were unaware that Jimmy Don Beets was buried in that planter. Do you recall that?”

“Yes.”

“My question, Mrs. Beets, is”—he paused for emphasis and at the same time paced toward the jury making sure everyone there was listening—“were you lying then or are you lying now?”

“I was lying then,” Betty said evenly.

E. Ray had brought up Betty’s shooting Billy Lane to deflate the importance of it, but instead, according to Judge Holland’s initial admonition, he had opened the gate for the prosecution to question her about it.

“Mrs. Beets, you testified about only one prior arrest, a misdemeanor conviction concerning a former husband, Bill Lane. Is that the offense when you shot him twice in the back?”

“He was shot in the side and stomach,” Betty insisted.

Bandy ignored her response and demonstrated how well the prosecution had done its homework. “Isn’t it true that you were convicted in Dallas County of public lewdness arising out of an indecent act at Charlie’s Angels Bar in Dallas? You were assessed thirty days in jail. On August 23, 1979, a situation arose where you allowed your breast to be fondled in a public place?”

“That wasn’t true.”

“You were convicted of it, were you not?”

“I went to court over it.”

“Did you plead guilty?”

“I don’t remember the plea.”

“Do you remember Archie Phillips?”

Betty glanced at Bandy and her eyes squinted hatred. She caught herself and said, “Yes, I admit I was tried after being arrested.”

“You were jailed for thirty days, then placed on probation and fined?”

“Yes, for a year.”

Bandy had captured Betty in an outright lie, but she showed no emotion or remorse.

He quizzed her about trying twice to collect insurance on Jimmy Don’s burned house. She admitted to trying once to collect, but she said she never knew why the insurance company wouldn’t pay. Bandy filled her in, explaining that she hadn’t been paid because the insurance company suspected arson.

After hearing one lie after another, he phrased his next question, “Regardless of what you say or may not have known, you’ve heard people testify about the $86,000 in life insurance, another $24,000 in life insurance, $15,000 in back pay, and $792.40 in monthly retirement benefits. And further, another policy for $43,400.32 naming you as the beneficiary. Did you hear that testimony?”

“Yes. That’s the first I heard the amounts.”

“Going back to Saturday, August 6, 1983, do you recall telling Deputy Johnny Marr that Jimmy Don Beets was missing?”

She looked Bandy straight in the eye and said, “I’ve never talked to Johnny Marr about Jimmy Don at all.”

Bandy scowled, then looked down at his notes to make sure he had the right date and name. After he assured himself he was correct, he wondered why she would lie about something so easily documented.

In a voice louder than he customarily used in court he asked, “Are you saying that his testimony was in error when he stated that he came out to your house at eight-thirty Saturday morning?”

“I’m saying that his testimony was not true. That Saturday morning, I went out and bought peat moss; then the boys and I went to Dallas.”

Bandy showed her the blue sleeping bag Jimmy Don had been found in, but she said she didn’t recognize it. He asked why she didn’t come forward at the habeas corpus hearing and tell that Robby killed Jimmy Don during a fight.

“I don’t know,” Betty answered lamely.

“When your son Robby broke into that house, did he have a lawyer?”

“Yes, E. Ray Andrews.”

“The same E. Ray Andrews who accused him of murder in this courtroom?”

“That what?” Betty said, appearing not to have heard the DA, but that was unlikely, for at this point Bandy shouted at her in disbelief.

“Mrs. Beets, do you recall Chaplain Burris from the fire department coming out and talking to you?”

“Yes.”

“And you discussed insurance then?”

“I don’t remember discussing insurance with him.”

“You heard his testimony, did you not?”

“Yes, but I didn’t discuss any insurance with him.”

Bandy stood for a moment staring at the woman. She had shown not a shred of emotion while telling the court that all the prosecutions’ witnesses had lied. Her children, the fire chief, the sheriff’s deputies, the entire DA staff, and now the chaplain—they were all liars.

Bandy, drained and exhausted from pulling answers from Betty, turned her over to E. Ray for redirect.

At this point, E. Ray may have questioned the wisdom of having Betty testify, but Judge Holland saved him for the moment by announcing that court would recess for the day.

Fifteen minutes after court adjourned, Bobby Branson rushed to E. Ray Andrew’s office to discuss the case. Bobby had watched E. Ray question his mother and it made him wish she had a different attorney. He remembered E. Ray arriving for court that morning with bloodshot eyes and shaking as though he had jangled nerves from a hangover.

Now Bobby sat across the desk from the attorney and smelled whiskey on his breath. As he saw it, the man defending his mother from capital murder could only think about his next drink. Andrews apparently had gulped down several slugs of Wild Turkey as soon as he returned to his office.

TWENTY-SEVEN

After Betty had been pounded with Bandy’s questions for most of yesterday afternoon, Andrews strolled up to her the next morning, hands in his pockets, trying to do some damage control.

“Mrs. Beets, did you and Robby talk about what to do if later on someone were to find Jimmy Don’s body?”

“I told him that if Jimmy Don was found, for him to say that he knew nothing about it and I would take the blame.”

“How come you’re now testifying to the truth?”

“Because you told me you wouldn’t represent me unless I leveled with you.”

“You didn’t tell me this to start with, did you?”

“No.”

“Didn’t I tell you that I was going to have the truth or you could find someone else?”

“Yes,” Betty said, sounding like she had rehearsed a script.

On recross, Bandy asked Betty, “You told Robby, who was a teenager at the time, to say nothing about this and you’d take total blame. Why then do you suppose he would admit his complicity in carrying the body out of the house and putting it in the wishing well?”

“I think he was under pressure.”

“By whom?”

“Rick Rose.”

“What kind of pressure?”

“The same kind of pressure he put all my children under when he questioned them. He told them that if they didn’t tell what he wanted to hear or what they knew, they were going to be charged with murder.”

“Are you referring to Phyllis’s testimony that if she didn’t sign the statement that she might be charged with murder?”

“Yes,” Betty answered. “And that she didn’t need an attorney and not to worry about it.”

Bandy moved on to Betty’s motive for the murder.

“Mrs. Beets, why did you think you were entitled to Jimmy Don Beets’s retirement benefits after you disposed of the body?”

“I never felt like I was entitled to anything.”

“Well, you made application back in February of ’85, some sixteen or seventeen months after you reported him missing.”

“At my attorney’s request.”

“He talked you into it?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding.

“What were you going to do with the money?”

“I didn’t expect it to be approved.”

“Then why bother?”

“Because I didn’t have Jimmy Don.”

Betty’s circuitous answers did nothing to move the testimony forward, but Bandy suspected that may have been her intent. His questions were met with only partial answers, or essentially non-answers.

Bandy called Fire Chief Hugh DeWoody, who had accompanied Marr to Betty’s house, to verify Marr’s testimony.

“Did you see Deputy Johnny Marr at the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office on the morning of August 6, 1983?”

“Yes, Johnny told me about the possibility of a drowning and he was going to check it out. I accompanied him to Jimmy Don Beets’s house to see if there actually was a drowning. We talked with Mrs. Beets.”

“Did Mrs. Beets appear upset?”

“No, sir, she did not.”

E. Ray Andrews couldn’t let Betty’s testimony rest on that note, so he recalled her.

“We have admitted your part of the murder, have we not?”

“You mean who contacted me first?”

Now it was Andrews’s turn to be frustrated over not getting a straight answer. “No, now listen to me. I said that we admitted that you helped bury Mr. Beets.”

“Yes.”

“Put him under a planter, is that correct?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And you heard Johnny Marr say that he was the first person who contacted you when they found Jimmy Don Beets’s boat floating in the lake.”

“It was the Coast Guard. I’m positive. But I know Johnny Marr.”

E. Ray leaned over until he stood only inches from Betty’s face, and spoke slowly through clenched teeth. “You’re not understanding my question. Did you see the State put on any witness from the Coast Guard?”

“I don’t remember all of their names. That lady from Redwood Marina called later, but this guy from the Coast Guard called first.”

Bandy tried to sort some order out of Betty’s answers. “You’ve heard Johnny Marr’s and Captain DeWoody’s testimony that they talked with you.”

“I heard them say that, but they didn’t talk to me Saturday morning.”

“So you’re saying that both men lied?”

“I’m saying that their testimony wasn’t true.”

Bandy shook his head and turned to another point. He asked, “What kind of work were you doing when Bobby got into the fight with Ray Bone?”

“I’m a barmaid and waitress. Ray came by to see me that night, but that was before he had the run-in with my son.”

Andrews returned to redirect. “Okay, so we can be sure what Mr. Bandy is trying to establish here,” he said to Betty. “You have a history of working in beer joints, is that correct? Tell this jury over here that you’ve worked in clubs before for a living.”

Betty faced the jury. “Yes, I have,” she said.

“And these clubs sell beer and mixed drinks. Are you ashamed of working in these clubs to support your family?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Have you conducted yourself in a ladylike fashion?”

“Yes, I have.”

Bandy tried to hide a smile before asking his first question on re-cross. “Were you conducting yourself in a ladylike fashion in Charlie’s Angels Club at the time you got arrested for public lewdness?”

“I wasn’t working. I never worked there. I was only auditioning that night.”

“What kind of dance?” Bandy asked.

“It’s a topless place,” Betty replied.

Bandy decided that the lewdness testimony showed the true character of Betty Lou Beets and reasoned it a good place to end the trial. He said, “I have nothing else, Your Honor.”

Judge Holland read the charge to the jury. Then told them they could find Betty Beets guilty of capital murder, murder, or not guilty.

DA Bandy stood to make his closing address. He went directly in front of the jury and paused a moment until every eye rested on him.

The jurors straightened in their chairs, waiting expectantly.

Bandy said, “The evidence that the prosecution presented was strictly on the guilt of Betty Lou Beets in the death of her husband. She did in fact shoot him for remuneration: his insurance policies, his estate, and his retirement benefits.” Bandy retraced, step by step, all evidence placed into the court record, and emphasized the inconsistencies in Betty’s testimony.

Betty whispered something to E. Ray, who jotted notes on a yellow tablet in front of him.

“Robby testified that his mother instructed him to leave the house on the night of August fifth. Now this is a domineering woman. She has a forceful personality.” Bandy held up a picture of the wishing well. “This was taken on June eighth of this year. You can see it’s well tended. Mr. Barker didn’t fare too well; he had a storage shed placed over his grave.

“Now, Robby gets nominated as a killer. The worst thing Robby ever did was get into a neighbor’s house, pled guilty and was placed on probation for taking some swords. And I think it’s interesting that the lawyer, E. Ray Andrews, who represented him over there, used that same information to accuse him of this
murder!”
Bandy’s voice rose to a crescendo as he thumped his fist on the wooden rail in front of the jury.

E. Ray sat quietly, staring off at something in the courtroom, appearing not to be interested.