«And then what happened?»
«I opened the suitcase.»
«And what did you find?»
«I found fifty packages of-«
«Now, just a moment,» Mason interrupted. «I submit, if the Court please, this particular question has now been asked and fully answered. The witness said he found fifty packages. As to the contents of these packages, that is another matter and calls for another question.»
«Very well,» Caswell said. «If counsel wants to do it the hard way, we'll do it the hard way. Now, did you take those packages into your possession?»
«I did.»
«And did you take steps to ascertain what those packages were, what the substance consisted of?»
«I did.»
«And what was the substance?»
«Now, just a moment,» Mason said. «At this point, we interpose an objection on the ground that it is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial; that no proper foundation has been laid; that the property was taken as the result of an illegal search and seizure, and is incompetent as evidence in this case.
«In this connection, if the Court please, I desire to ask a few questions.»
«Very well, in connection with this objection which has been made, you may take the witness on voir dire.»
«Did you have a search warrant?» Mason asked the witness.
«No, sir, there wasn't time to get a search warrant.»
«You just went out there?»
«I just went out there, but I call your attention to the fact that I asked the defendant if she had any objection to my looking in the suitcase and she said it was all right, to go right ahead.»
«Now, just a minute,» Mason said. «You're relating the substance of the conversation. You're giving your conclusion as to what the conversation consisted of. Can you remember your exact words?»
«Well, those were virtually my exact words.»
«Did you tell her you wanted to search her suitcase?»
«Yes.»
«Now, just a minute,» Mason said. «You're under oath. Did you tell her you wanted to search her suitcase, or did you ask her if she could identify the contents of the suitcase?»
«I believe I asked her if it was her suitcase and she said it was, and I asked her if she could describe the contents and she described them.»
«And then you asked her if she had any objection to opening the suitcase in order to show you the contents she had described. Isn't that right?»
«Yes, sir.»
«But you didn't tell her you wanted to search the suitcase?»
«No.»
«She gave you no permission to search the suitcase?»
«She said it would be all right to open it.»
«She gave you no permission to search the suitcase?»
«I told her I wanted to open it and she said it would be all right.»
«She gave you no permission to search the suitcase?»
«Well, I guess the word 'search' wasn't mentioned.»
«Exactly,» Mason said. «Now, you went down to wait for this defendant at the airline terminal in response to a tip, did you not?»
«Well… yes.»
«Who gave you that tip?»
«I'm not in a position to disclose the sources of our information.»
«I think under the present rulings of the courts,» Mason said, «this witness must show that he had reasonable grounds for wanting to search that suitcase, and an anonymous tip, or one from a person he didn't know, wouldn't constitute reasonable grounds of search; therefore, the defendant is entitled to know the reasons for which he wanted to search the suitcase.»
Judge Albert frowned, turned to the witness. «Do you refuse to disclose the name of the person giving you the tip?»
«The tip didn't come to me,» Andrews said. «It came to one of my superiors. I was told that there had been a hot tip and to go down to the airport, to wait for this party and see if I could get permission to look in the suitcase. If I couldn't, I was to keep her under surveillance until a warrant could be obtained.»
Judge Albert said, «This is an interesting situation. Apparently, the defendant did not give anyone permission to 'search' the suitcase but did give her consent to opening the suitcase for the sole purpose of demonstrating the presence of certain articles. It's a peculiar situation.»
«I'll get at it in still another way, if the Court please,» Mason said. «I want to make the defendant's position plain. We would like to get this matter cleaned up in this preliminary hearing and not on some technicality.»
Mason turned to the witness. «You took fifty packages out of that suitcase?»
«Yes, sir.»
«You have them here in court?»
«Yes, sir.»
«Did you weigh them?»
«Weigh them? No, sir. We counted the packages and made our inventory that way rather than by weight.»
«Now, there was a second bag, an overnight bag?»
«Yes, sir.»
«Did you ask the defendant to identify that?»
«She said it was hers. She had a claim check for it.»
«And did you ask her about the contents?»
«No.»
«Did you ask her if it would be all right to open it?»
«No.»
«But you did open it and search it?»
«Yes. However, we found nothing significant in that overnight bag.»
«You didn't ask her permission to open that bag?»
«I don't believe I did.»
«You just went ahead and opened it anyway?»
«That was after I'd found this big shipment of-«
Mason held up his hand. «Never mind what it was, at this time,» he said. «We'll refer to it simply as 'fifty packages.' What did you do with the overnight bag?»
«We have it here.»
«Now then,» Mason said, «since you don't know how much the fifty packages weighed, do you know how much the suitcase weighed without the fifty packages?»
«I do not.»
«Did you know the defendant had paid excess baggage on the suitcases?»
«Yes.»
«Yet you never weighed them?»
«No.»
«I suggest, if the Court please, we weigh them now,» Mason said.
«What is the purpose of this offer?» Judge Albert inquired.
«If,» Mason said, «the scales show that these two bags, at the present time, and without the packages, weigh forty-six pounds, then it is conclusive evidence that someone planted whatever was in that suitcase after it had left the possession of the defendant.»
«I think the point is well taken,» Judge Albert said. «I'm going to take a recess for ten minutes. The bailiff will have some scales brought into court and we will weigh those two suitcases.»
«That doesn't necessarily mean anything,» Caswell protested. «We only have the defendant's word that they weighed forty-six pounds. She has been out on bail. We don't know what has been taken from those suitcases.»
«Haven't they been in the custody of the police?» Judge Albert asked.
«Yes, but there would have been no objection to her going to the suitcase to take clothes.»
«_Did_ she go to the suitcase and take anything?»
«I don't know, Your Honor.»
«If you don't know whether she took something out, you don't know whether someone else put something in,» Judge Albert snapped. «The Court will take a recess of ten minutes and we'll have scales brought in.»
Mason sauntered out to a telephone booth, called the pressroom at headquarters and said, «An interesting demonstration is taking place in court in ten minutes. Judge Cortland Albert is going to weigh the evidence.»
«Doesn't he always weigh the evidence?» one of the reporters asked facetiously.
«Not this way,» Mason said. «He's going to weigh it with a pair of scales.»
«What?»
«That's right. With a pair of scales in ten minutes. You'd better be up here. You might get some
thing good.»
«What department?» the reporter asked.
Mason told him.
«We'll be up,» the man said. «Hold it off a little if you can.»
«I can't,» Mason told him. «As soon as the judge gets the scales in, he's going to reconvene court. He thinks he can do it within ten minutes and I think he can, too. The bailiff is getting the scales.»
Mason hung up.
CHAPTER SIX
Mason, standing beside Virginia Baxter, said, «I'm gambling everything on the fact that you're telling the truth. If you're lying, you're going to get hurt.»
«I'm not lying, Mr. Mason.»
Mason said, «Ordinarily, at the time of arrest, there would be a dramatic picture on the front page showing an ex-legal secretary smuggling dope. Dismissal of the charges at a preliminary hearing would rate about five or six lines buried somewhere in the inner pages of the paper.
«What I'm trying to do is to make this thing so dramatic that it will be a big story in itself. If you're telling the truth, we'll vindicate your name in such a way that everyone who read the original article and remembered it will read this one and remember that you were acquitted of the charge.
«But if you're lying, this test is going to crucify you.»
«Mr. Mason, I'm telling you the absolute truth. Why in the world would I want to peddle dope, or get mixed up in it in any way?»
Mason grinned and said, «I don't ask myself all those questions usually; I just say, 'This girl is my client and, as such, she has to be right. At least, I'm going to act on that assumption.'»
The bailiff and two deputies appeared trundling a platform scale, taken from the jail building and used to weigh prisoners at the time they were booked.
The bailiff vanished into Judge Albert's chambers to report.
The swinging doors of the courtroom were pushed open as half a dozen reporters accompanied by photographers entered the courtroom.
One of the reporters approached Mason. «Would you and your client pose by the scales?» he asked.
«I won't,» Mason said. «My client will, but I think you will have to wait until court is adjourned-and by that time, there's just a chance Judge Albert might pose with you.»
«Why won't you pose?» the reporter asked.
«It's not supposed to be ethical,» Mason said.
The reporter's face flushed with anger. «That's the bar association for you,» he said. «Appointing committees, trying to get better public relations, and then trying to hide behind a false front of legal ethics.
«When will you lawyers learn that public relations simply means taking the public into partnership and letting newspaper readers look over your shoulders and see what you're doing?
«Any time the lawyers are too stuffy or too afraid to let the public know what they're doing, they're going to have poor public relations.»
Mason grinned and said, «Calm down, buddy. I'm not stopping you from looking over my shoulder, I'm simply stopping you from looking at my face with a camera and flashlight. That's supposed to be unethical advertising-not that I give a damn, but I'm leaning over backwards. However, as far as the story is concerned, why the hell do you suppose I went to all the trouble of setting this up?»
The angry reporter looked at him, then his face softened in a grin. «I guess you're right at that,» he said. «Is the judge actually going to weigh the evidence?»
«Going to weigh the physical evidence,» Mason said.
«Cripes, what a story!» the reporter commented, just as the door from chambers opened and the bailiff said, «Everybody stand up.»
The audience arose, and Judge Albert entered the courtroom, noticing, with a touch of amusement and some surprise, the manner in which the courtroom, which had been almost empty, had now filled up nearly to capacity with spectators from the various county offices, newspaper reporters and photographers.
«People versus Virginia Baxter,» he said. «Are we ready to proceed?»
«Ready, Your Honor,» Caswell said.
«Ready for the defendant,» Mason announced.
Detective Jack Andrews was on the stand and the evidence was about to be weighed. «You have scales, Mr. Bailiff?»
«Yes, Your Honor.»
«Check them, please, and see if they are accurate. Put them on zero and watch the beam.»
The bailiff checked the scales.
«All right,» Judge Albert directed, «now, let's have the suitcase and the overnight bag put on the scales.»
The clerk took the two bags which had been marked for identification, placed them on the scales and carefully adjusted the beam until it balanced, then stood back.
«Exactly forty-six and one-quarter pounds, Your Honor,» the bailiff announced.
There was a moment of tense, dramatic silence and then someone applauded.
Judge Albert frowned and said, «We'll have no demonstrations, please. Now, does the defendant have the airplane ticket and the receipt for the excess baggage?»
«We have, Your Honor,» Mason said, handing the ticket and the receipt to Judge Albert.
Judge Albert frowned at the assistant prosecutor. «How much does the material weigh that was taken out of the bags?»
«I don't know, Your Honor. As the witness Andrews testified, it was counted by packages and not weighed.»
«All right, let's weigh it,» Judge Albert said. «You Shave it here in court?»
«Yes, Your Honor.»
The bailiff started to remove the baggage from the scales.
Mason said, «If the Court please, I would prefer to have these articles simply placed on top of the bags while they are on the scales and we will then see how much it increases the weight.»
«Very well,» Judge Albert ruled. «It's just as easy one way as the other, perhaps a little more dramatic and, therefore, a little more convincing to have it done as counsel suggests.»
Officer Andrews produced a bag with the cellophanewrapped packages and, taking the packages from the bag, placed them on top of the suitcases.
The arm of the scale quivered, then went upwards.
The bailiff adjusted the sliding weight.
«One pound and three-quarters, Your Honor,» he announced.
Judge Albert glanced at the prosecutor, then at Andrews. «Does the prosecution have any explanation for this?» he asked.
«No, Your Honor,» Jerry Caswell said. «We feel that the material was found in the defendant's suitcase and therefore that she's responsible for it. After all, there was nothing to prevent her adding this material after the baggage had been weighed. She could have done it as easily as anyone else could have done it.»
«Not so easy,» Judge Albert said. «When the suitcases are checked on an airline, they're weighed on the scale at the time the passenger checks in, and the ticket clerk then takes them from the scale and sends them out to the airline.
«As far as this Court is concerned, the evidence is convincing and the case is dismissed.»
Judge Albert stood up, looked down at the courtroom where people were still coming in through the doors and said, with a slight smile, «Court is adjourned.»
One of the reporters rushed forward. «Your Honor, would you consider posing in front of the scale? We want to get a story and a picture, and we'd like to have some human interest.»
Judge Albert hesitated.
«No objection whatever on the part of the defendant,» Mason announced in a loud voice.
Judge Albert looked at Jerry Caswell.
Caswell avoided his glance.
Judge Albert smiled. «Well, if you want to have human interest, you'd better have the defendant standing beside me and pointing out that it's her baggage that's being weighed.»
The reporters and photographers gathered around the scales.
«And let it appear that these pictures were taken after court had adjourned,» Judge Albert said. «I've always been broadminded about publicity photographs in my court, although I know there are judges who object. However, I am not
entirely unaware of the fact that when this defendant was arrested, the story was given a great deal of publicity and it seems to me only fair to see that her exoneration should also be accompanied by a reasonable amount of publicity.»
Judge Albert took his position in front of the scales and beckoned to Virginia to come and stand at his side.
Mason escorted the nervous defendant up to a position beside the judge.
«Come on and get in this picture, Mason,» Judge Albert invited.
«I think I'd better not,» Mason said. «That will make the picture look posed and artificial and it may not be in the best taste from the standpoint of legal ethics; but the picture of you 'weighing the evidence' will attract a lot of attention.»
Judge Albert nodded, said to Virginia, «Now, Miss Baxter, if you'll just look at the beam on the scales here, I'll bend over and be adjusting it-No, no, don't look at the camera, look at the scales. Turn a little if you want to so you can get your best angle for the camera.»
Judge Albert put a hand on her shoulder, bent over and moved the balancing weight back and forth on the beam, and gleeful photographers exploded flash bulbs in rapid succession.
Judge Albert straightened, looked at Mason, then beckoned to the district attorney and led the two attorneys out of earshot of the reporters.
«There's something very fishy about this case,» Judge Albert said. «I would suggest, Mr. Caswell, that you check very carefully on the person who gave you this information, or rather misinformation which resulted in a search of that suitcase.»
The prosecutor said hotly, «That person has always been on the up-and-up with us; his information has been reliable.»
«Well, it wasn't reliable in this case,» Judge Albert said.
«I'm not so certain about that,» Caswell retorted. «After all, it's not entirely impossible that the bags could have been tampered with.»
«I think they were,» Judge Albert said bitingly, «but I think the tampering occurred after the bag was checked by Miss Baxter and before it was taken off the revolving rack.
«After all, this Court wasn't born yesterday and after you see defendants coming and going, day in and day out, you have an opportunity to learn something about human nature. This young woman isn't a dope pusher.»
The Case of the Horrified Heirs pm-75 Page 3
