The Deadly River (24 page)

“Yes.”

“Were these items in your custody from that time to this, Sheriff?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have anything further to add, Sheriff?

“Not really. The other witnesses did a good job of describing what happened there.”

“Sheriff, did you find any evidence that contradicts any of the testimony given by witnesses on this incident?”

“No.”

“All right, Sheriff. We will move on now to the alleged murder of Mr. Kurt Kochran. We haven’t heard a lot about this actual murder. We have heard repeatedly that Mr. Wards threatened to kill Mr. Kochran and apparently was stalking both Mr. Moore and Mr. Kochran. What can you tell us beyond those known facts, Sheriff?”

“Well, Mr. Kochran was killed while he was working on his raft, taking samples of Clark Fork river water for analysis by the university in Missoula. Another man, Mr. Benjamin Stanton, was in the raft with him at the time. Mr. Stanton was also shot and is still in the hospital. I interviewed Mr. Stanton when he became conscious and he told me that they were shot near the mouth of Thunder Creek, just east of Big River. The shooter was apparently hiding up on the railroad tracks that go by there. Mr. Stanton never saw the shooter. There were several shots that missed before the shooter got lucky. Mr. Kochran was shot first, then Stanton. They were shot with a high-powered rifle and the bullets passed completely through them and were lost in the river. The state’s crime lab says that the size of the holes in the men and another hole they found in the raft indicate that the shooter was firing a 30-06 or something roughly that size.”

The sheriff paused to gather his thoughts, then continued. “We went all over the raft looking for evidence and then we sent it to the state
crime lab in Helena. But, other than the rough bullet size, we found no new evidence there. We scoured the river banks and the railroad bed for clues. But it had rained the day after the murders, so we were at a loss for clues until Mr. Ortega started talking to us.”

Sheriff Rose paused again and the County Attorney nudged him on. “What did Mr. Ortega tell you, Sheriff?”

“Well, pretty much what he told all of us when he testified here. Wards had been stalking Kochran and had known exactly where he was on the river the day before the shooting. Then Wards mysteriously didn’t show up at work on time the morning of the murder. When Ortega asked where he was, he claimed that he was fixing a flat tire. He told me the same thing when I asked him.”

The sheriff paused, then continued. “But, remember this, that was the same day that Wards attacked Moore and Raines on the mountain. I took Wards’ truck into my custody on the mountain and I’ve had it in secure custody since then. I had my men take all the tires off the truck, including the spare. They removed the inner tubes. There were no holes, new or old, in those tubes. I can state with certainty that no one had fixed a flat tire on that truck that day.”

This was a new bit of information and it hit the gallery like a bombshell. It seemed like everyone was talking at once. For the first time in the trial, Judge McClain grabbed his gavel and hammered on the desk. “Quiet in the courtroom. Quiet! Dammit, shut up or I’ll throw you all out of here! Silence!”

Order restored, the County Attorney moved on. “Sheriff, was there any other evidence gathered pertaining to this case?”

“We obtained a search warrant for Mr. Wards’ house, storage shed and other of his properties after Mr. Ortega told us his story. When we searched Mr. Wards’ house, we found a 30-06 that had been fired recently. It’s over there on the evidence table.” He pointed.

“Okay, Sheriff, what did that tell you?”

“In and of itself, not much. But when we put the recently fired 30-06 together with the fact that Wards had no alibi for the time of the murder, the fact that he lied about his whereabouts, the fact that he’d been seen watching Kochran on the raft the day before the murder, and
the fact that he’d attempted other murders the same day that Kochran died, the facts sure start to add up for me. Wards had publicly admitted to having a hatred for Moore and Kochran and he had threatened their lives. I can only conclude that he accomplished at least half of his threat that day.”

The Defense Counsel was on his feet, sputtering an objection. The judge simply motioned for him to set down. “Objection overruled.”

County Attorney Warthen addressed the judge. “That’s all I have for this witness, Your Honor.”

“Very well. Let’s break for lunch. Court is adjourned. We’ll reconvene at 1 p.m. sharp.”

At precisely 1 p.m., Sheriff Rose once again took the witness stand. Judge McClain called for order and told the Defense Counsel to proceed with questioning.

Defense Counsel Leventhall opened. “Sheriff, you have charged my client with the murders of three people and you mentioned that you think three more are missing. Exactly how many of these six people can you definitely say are dead?”

“The only body we’ve recovered was Kurt Kochran’s. We are confident that at least two others, Owens and Johnson, are dead also. We cannot be sure of the other three.”

“Really, Sheriff? How can you be any more sure of Owens and Johnson than you are of the other three? In fact, how do you know that the guy that told you about Owens and Johnson didn’t kill them and just pin the blame on my client? How can you even be sure that they are dead? Isn’t it true that the only proof you have on these ‘murders’ is the word of a felon who isn’t even in this country legally?”

“Sir, I do have the body of Mr. Kochran and I am confident that Mr. Ortega was telling the truth when he described the murders of Owens and Johnson. But I already told the County Attorney that I had no proof in any of the other three potential murders.”

“But do you have any proof, other than the tale told by Mr. Ortega, as to who committed the murders of Owens and Johnson? In fact, can you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these murders even took place?”

“No. I have no other proof. No, I cannot. But personally, I am very confident that they happened as Ortega described.”

“Well Sheriff, it is too bad that the laws of the United States of America don’t allow you to convict a human being based on the local sheriff’s so-called confidence. Unfortunately, you have no proof, so my client must be found “Not Guilty” on these two murder charges. Now, let’s discuss the charge of murder that you have lodged against my client in relation to the killing of Mr. Kochran. Do you have any firm proof that my client did commit this murder?”

“The evidence is circumstantial. But there is a lot of that evidence. In fact, there is far more evidence that he committed this murder than any of the others. The case against him is circumstantial, but damming.”

“In fact, Sheriff, you don’t have a shred of hard evidence against my client on any of these murders, including Kochran’s, do you?”

The sheriff was calm as he answered, slowly ticking off his points on the fingers of his hands as he turned slightly to face the jury. “We do have the recently fired 30-06 together with the fact that Wards had no alibi for the time of the murder. We also have the fact that he lied about his whereabouts at the time of the murder. We have the undamaged truck inner tubes that he claimed he’d just repaired. We have the fact that he’d been seen watching Kochran on the raft the day before the murder. We have the fact that he attempted other murders the same day that Kochran died. We have the fact that Wards had publicly admitted to having a hatred for Moore and Kochran and he had threatened their lives. I believe that we have more than enough facts to establish that Mr. Wards did, in fact, murder Kurt Kochran.”

Defense Counsel Leventhall wasn’t happy with Sheriff Rose’s answer, but he decided to move on. “Okay, Sheriff, before I go on to the other charges, I’d like to point out to the jury that none of the evidence you just cited is hard evidence. It is all circumstantial. Now let’s move to the charge of attempted murder that you’ve leveled against Mr. Wards for the fistfight he had with Mr. Moore.”

“Fistfight?” The Sheriff was incredulous.

“Yes. Fistfight. My client admits that he stopped Moore and Raines on the mountainside. He planned, in his own words, ‘to beat the shit
out of Moore’. He was disinterested in Mr. Raines, had no real animosity toward him and had no intention of doing him harm. Somehow, this whole encounter, which should properly have been charged as simple assault, was blown out of proportion by Mr. Ortega. I would remind the jury that Mr. Ortega is a convicted felon who was trying to get a sweetheart sentence for his crimes when he agreed to testify on this matter.”

The County Attorney was on his feet. “Objection. Is there a question for the witness in here, or is the Defense Counsel just making a speech?”

The judge nodded. “Sustained. Mr. Leventhall, please get on with the questioning.

“All right Judge. Sheriff, why did you decide to charge my client with attempted murder in regard to this incident?”

“Well first off, the testimony of Mr. Ortega had nothing to do with the decision. We had the testimony of Mr. Moore and Mr. Raines as well. You, yourself, just said that Mr. Raines was a disinterested party, so his testimony carries a lot of weight. Plus we had the guns and the baseball bat that Mr. Wards brought to the scene. We have the bullet hole in Moore’s windshield. We have photos of the injuries to Mr. Moore’s torso that the doctor said were consistent with him being struck by a baseball bat. We have photos of the crime scene and an analysis of those photos by the state crime lab that reinforced our on-site investigation. Sorry, Mr. Leventhall. This was no simple fist fight. This was clearly the attempted murder of two human beings.”

“Well, Sheriff, I’d say that was just your opinion. I see nothing here except a ‘he said - he said’ situation. It’s just your witnesses’ word against that of my client. This evidence it too shaky to be considered reliable for any kind of conviction.”

County Attorney Warthen was on his feet again. “Objection. Defense Counsel is making a speech again and this time he’s substituting his opinion for evidence.”

“Objection sustained. The jury will disregard that last statements by the Defense Counsel. Mr. Leventhall, another gambit like that and I’ll hold you in contempt.”

“I apologize, Your Honor.” Mr. Leventhall walked to the defense table and consulted his notes before turning back to the judge. “I have nothing further for this witness, Your Honor.”

Judge McClain rose, declaring, “Court is adjourned for the weekend. We will start with the Defense Summation at 9 a.m. Monday. That will be followed by the prosecution’s summation.”

Mike Morse and Tony Mancini had been waiting for Charlie Benton at his office Company. When Benton came in from the lumber yard, Big Mike greeted him with, “Hi Boss, remember us? We heard you needed some help back here.”

Charlie Benton actually looked relieved to see them. “Hi Fellas. Are you done with the river job?”

Tony took the lead now. “Not completely. We did get to the end of the Clark Fork over in Idaho. We still have to do the part from Thunder Creek to here. But Lee Raines is tied up with the trial and we heard that you needed some workers, so we decided to take a break and help out back here for a few days.”

Mike continued the thought. “Yeah. We heard the baseball guys had left to go back to college, so we figured you might be hurting for workers. Especially with the trial taking up so many people’s time.”

“Well, you’re absolutely right, fellas. I did some pulling on the green chain myself today, and I’ just too darned old for that. But when do you plan to go back to finish up on the river?”

Again, Tony spoke first. “We figured we could work in the mill until the trial is over and Lee is available again. Then we’d finish up the river job. But we don’t need all three of us now. With Wards behind bars, nobody’s gonna shoot at us, so we can do the job without a guard. We drew straws and Mike lost. When it’s time, he’ll go back with Lee and finish up. I’ll stay in the mill. Then when they finish, in about a week or so, Mike and Lee will come back and work until the winter shutdown.”

Benton chuckled. “Mike lost, eh? That’s a diplomatic way to put it.” All three of them grinned. They all knew this was a lie. No one wanted to work on the sawmill’s green chain if there was any other choice.

Again, Mike took up the conversation. “But Boss, we want to let you know that, after the winter shutdown, we won’t be back for a while. We’ve decided to join the Navy and see the world.”

Charlie Benton couldn’t contain his smile. These kids had thought it all out and made a plan that was realistic and feasible. They wanted to help him get through the season, but they were thinking of their futures also. “Mike, Tony, I really appreciate the fact that you thought about our needs here when you made your plans. Thank you. I like the Navy idea. It’ll give you a chance to see life as it is elsewhere. I’m proud of you guys. I think you’ll both do well in life.”

This time they spoke in unison. “Thanks, Boss.”

“All right then. I’ll see you on the job Monday morning. Please give me a day or two’s notice before you go back to the river, Mike.”

“Will do, Boss.”