Newberry’s cross-examination was perfunctory.
How had the time of death been established? The answer was that the witness had used body temperature and the development of rigor mortis and of post-mortem lividity, had taken into consideration the outer temperature that night, estimated the temperature inside the houseboat, etc.
“What about the stomach contents?” Newberry asked. “Had not the contents of the stomach given a definite idea as to how long after the last meal had been ingested before death occurred?
“The stomach contents would be of no help,” the physician said. “The last meal had been ingested quite a few hours prior to death.”
I passed a note to Newberry. “Find out about conditions in the houseboat,” I said. “Was an electric light on at the time the body was discovered? Was there a gas stove which had been used and which would have changed the temperature in the houseboat and thereby thrown off the calculation of the time of death? And ask if it isn’t a fact that rigor mortis develops sometimes very slowly and at times almost immediately, particularly if death occurs during the height of an argument or quarrel which has raised the blood pressure.”
Newberry read the note thoughtfully, crumpled it, tossed it into the wastebasket, and said to the witness, “No further questions on cross-examination.”
The witness left the stand.
The prosecution introduced a certified copy of the State Firearms Records showing that Milton Carling Calhoun had purchased a certain Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver with a one-and-seven-eighths-inch barrel, number 133347, the cylinder of which held only five shells. The weapon had been purchased from the Sierra Sporting Company m March three years earlier.
A photo static copy of the record was introduced showing the signature of Milton C. Calhoun and address.[1]
Roberts said, “I am going to call Sergeant Frank Sellers, of the Los Angeles Police, to the stand.”
Sellers took the oath with the bored manner of who had testified thousands of times.
The prosecutor asked questions showing Sellers’ professional qualifications and the fact that he was in Calexico on the morning of the twentieth.
“What brought you to Calexico?” Roberts asked.
“Our department was asked by the chief of police Calexico to furnish some technical assistance in connection with a matter—”
“Just a minute,” Newberry interrupted. “Unless the matter is connected with the present case, I object to it as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”
“It is indirectly connected,” Roberts said, “but we withdraw the question.”
Newberry smiled as though he had actually accomplished something besides keeping me from getting some information I would have liked to have had.
“But you were in Calexico on the morning of the twentieth?”
“Yes, sir.”
“At what time in the morning?”
“I arrived by plane about five-thirty in morning.”
“And what did you do?”
“I reported to the police.”
“And then what?”
“Then later on I went to the De Anza Hotel for breakfast.”
“And what happened when you arrived in the De Anza Hotel?”
“I found a private detective, one Donald Lam, whom I had known and with whom I had had dealings on several occasions, and he was then and there accompanied by one Milton Carling Calhoun, then defendant in this case.”
“Did you have any conversation with them?”
“Oh, yes. I asked Lam what he was doing there and was given to understand that he was working on a case and that the defendant in this case was his client.”
“Then what?”
“Then a Calexico police officer came and asked me to join him for a few minutes and told me that a murder just been discovered on the outskirts of town.”
“I accompanied this officer to the scene of the crime, a houseboat mounted on pontoons and being in turn mounted on a trailer behind a Ford pickup.”
“Did you search the premises for a possible murder weapon?” Roberts asked.
“We did,” Sergeant Sellers said.
“Was any weapon found?”
“Not at that time.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that the murder weapon was found at a later time.”
“By whom?”
“I believe,” Sellers said, “the murder weapon was discovered by Donald Lam.”
“Is Donald Lam in court?”
“Yes, he is. He’s seated there in the front row.”
“I ask permission to withdraw this witness temporarily and to call Donald Lam to the stand.”
“For what purpose?” Newberry asked.
“For the purpose of showing the finding of the murder weapon.”
“I don’t think that is proper procedure,” Newberry said.
Judge Polk shook his head impatiently. “We aren’t going to try this case on technicalities, not at this time and in this court. The witness will stand down Donald Lam is sworn. Stand up, Mr. Lam.”
I stood up.
“Hold up your right hand.”
I held up my right hand.
The clerk said, “You solemnly swear that all of evidence you will give in this case now pending before this court will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”
“I do,” I said.
They asked me for my name, address and occupation and I gave that information for the court records and seated myself in the witness chair.
Roberts, who had evidently carefully rehearsed questions and was following a well-thought-out camp said, “You went out to the scene of the murder?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“There was no corpse there when I got there.”
“But you went to the place where the pickup trailer had been located?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you went to what you thought was place?”
“Objected to,” Newberry said. “What the witness thought doesn’t make any difference.”
“All right,” Roberts snapped, “I’ll withdraw the question. I call your attention to this map or diagram of northern portion of the city of Calexico, Mr. Lam. that mean anything to you? Can you orient yourself that map?”
“Generally.”
“I call your attention to certain marks here which represent the place where the witnesses have said the pickup and trailer with the houseboat were parked. Did you go to that locality?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“I don’t know the exact time. It was during the morning of the twentieth.”
“Did you look for a murder weapon?” Roberts asked;
“I looked around. I wanted to see what evidence had been overlooked,” I said.
Sergeant Sellers had the grace to wince. The deputy sheriff, who was sitting in court, frowned.
“And what did you do?”
“I looked around a place where quite a few people were present and then I walked over to the extreme edge of a wide place by the side of the road.”
“Can you show us on the diagram, People’s Exhibit A, where you walked?”
I went over to the diagram and indicated the place marked “Drainage Ditch.”
“I walked along the edge of this drainage ditch,” I said.
1
For the purposes of evidence a certified copy of the firearms register is introduced, but for the purpose of identifying the signature of Calhoun it requires a photo static copy of the original record. A certified copy only shows the contents of the original certificate. To show the signature on the certificate a photostat required. E.S.G.