“Move to strike out everything after the words ‘As matter of fact.’ ” Newberry said.
Judge Polk said, “It may go out. Sergeant, you know that you are not to offer any opinion.”
“I’m sorry,” Sellers said. “That just slipped out. I was thinking of my reactions at the time and what I did and, how it happened that we didn’t call any of the Sheriff’s Office to go out with us.”
“That’s quite all right. That can come out in cross-examination, if at all,” Judge Polk said. “Just go ahead with what you personally found, Sergeant.”
Sellers, who was not enjoying himself in the least shifted his position uncomfortably and said, “Together with this Calexico officer I went out to the scene of the crime. This young boy, Lorenzo Gonzales, was there waiting for us. He said something to us which, of course, I can’t repeat because it was not in the presence of the defendant, but, as a result of what he said, this officer and I walked across the ditch to a point where Donald Lam was standing over — that is, almost over, that gun, which as it turns out, is the gun marked People’s Exhibit B and introduced in evidence in this case.”
“And what did you do?”
“I inserted a fountain pen in the barrel of the gun so as to keep any fingerprints which might be on the weapon from being smudged. I elevated the fountain pen, thereby picking up the gun, and using this means of holding the gun in a perpendicular position, I carried it back across the ditch.
“We then took the gun to police headquarters where fingerprint men dusted it to try to develop latent prints.
“There were no prints on the gun. I may state that we hardly expected to develop latent prints on metal of this sort.”
“There were no prints at all?”
“Objected to as hearsay,” Newberry said.
Sellers grinned at him and said, “I was present when the dusting was done, Counsel.”
“And there were no fingerprints?” Roberts asked.
“There were some smudges, but nothing that was identifiable on the gun.”
“What was subsequently done with this weapon?” Roberts asked.
“I took it to the Office of the Sheriff in this county where a ballistics expert and I fired test bullets from it and put them in a comparison microscope with the fatal bullet in this case.”
“And what did you find?”
“We found a perfect match.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that this weapon, which has been introduced in evidence as People’s Exhibit B, was the murder weapon, the weapon which fired the fatal bullet.”
“I believe that I have no more questions at the present time of this witness,” Roberts said. “You may cross-examine, Counsel.”
Newberry thought for a moment, then said, “I have no cross-examination at this time.”
“Call Lorenzo Gonzales to the stand,” Roberts said.
Lorenzo, looking suddenly badly frightened, came forward.
“How old are you, young man?” Judge Polk asked.
“Ten — going on to eleven.”
“Do you understand the nature of an oath?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means that you have to tell the truth.”
“And what happens if you don’t tell the truth?”
“You are punished.”
“And you are afraid of punishment?”
“Everybody is afraid of punishment.”
“Administer the oath,” Judge Polk said to the clerk. The clerk administered the oath.
Roberts said, “You are acquainted with Donald Lam the witness who testified here a short time ago?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what was he doing when you first saw him?”
“He was walking around the place where all the people were standing.”
“And then what did you see him do?”
“I saw him take off his shoes and socks and cross over the muddy bottom of the drainage ditch.”
“How were you dressed at the time?”
“I had on my pants and a shirt.”
“The pants were long pants?”
“No, sir, they were the kind of an overall pants that had been cut off a little below the knee.”
“And what about your shoes and socks?”
“I don’t have none. I never wear shoes — except a church and — like when I come in here. Shoes hurt my feet.”
“So you were barefooted at the time?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So it meant nothing to you to run across the drainage ditch?”
“No, sir.”
“Now, what caused you to cross the drainage ditch?”
Lorenzo, who evidently had been carefully coached, said, “I saw that this detective man had found something.”
“Now, just a minute, just a minute,” Newberry interrupted. “That question calls for a conclusion of the witness and the answer is a conclusion of the witness.”
Judge Polk was interested. He leaned forward. “The Court will ask a few questions,” he said.
“Young man, was there something in the demeanor of this private detective, Donald Lam, which caused you to believe he had seen something?”
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
“Well, he was walking along, walking along, walking along, and I was watching him, and all of a sudden he stopped still and then turned and started walking out into the alfalfa field; and then he stood with his back to me so I couldn’t see what he was doing and then all of a sudden he turned and started back toward the bank of the ditch.”
“And what did you do?”
“As soon as I saw that he had found something, I ran across the muddy bottom of the ditch, up the bank on the other side, and over in the alfalfa field to where he was standing.”
“Did you run very fast?”
“Very fast indeed, sir. I have my feet very tough. I can run over rocks and the roughness, in the ground just as though I had shoes on — better than if I have shoes on.”
“So then what happened?” the judge asked.
“When this man saw that I knew he had found something was when he told me to go to my parents and have them call the police.”
“Now that, if the Court please,” Newberry said, “is purely a conclusion of the witness, incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial, calling for—”
“Just a minute,” Judge Polk said. “The objection be temporarily sustained, but I want to ask this young man a few more questions.
“Just what did Mr. Lam do which was out of ordinary?”
“Well, he started walking toward the bank of the ditch. Then he had taken a couple of steps and saw me coming running just as fast as I could to join him.”
“So what did you do?”
“I asked, ‘What did you find, mister,’ and he didn’t answer me right away. He sort of thought things over for a little while and then he said, ‘Never mind, but go home at once — do you live near here?’
“I told him I did.
“He said, ‘Go home and tell your father to call police and have them come out at once.’
“So then I said, ‘What did you find?’ and he didn’t say anything, so then I did a little looking and I saw this gun.”
“Was it in plain sight from where you were standing?”
“Not in plain sight, but I would have seen it even if he hadn’t said anything. It was lying where the sun was glinting on the metal enough so that you could see there was something in the alfalfa.”
“I think that tells the story in a manner which is admissible in evidence,” Judge Polk said. “Do counsel for either side wish to ask any more questions?”
“This covers the evidence that I expected this young man to give,” Roberts said.
“Is there any cross-examination?” Judge Polk asked Newberry.