He’d decided that it had been a mistake not to take the stand in his own behalf during the Sears St. Davids case, but every FBI agent and state cop who ever talked to Jay Smith was inclined to think that his lawyer John O’Brien had been correct in not putting Dr. Jay on the stand. You just got the feeling that this was not a wholesome fellow the second you looked him in the eye.
Jay Smith told Hess that during that last weekend in his house on Valley Forge Road, he’d completed a few chores prior to turning the house over to the new owner, Grace Gilmore. He said that he was supposed to cut the lawn for her on Saturday but hadn’t had time. He said that she’d been at the house on Saturday from early morning to late afternoon getting her own things in order, and that she’d returned on Sunday and was there from 9:00 A.M. until noon. He said that she’d walked in on him once and surprised him when he was working in his basement apartment.
Jay Smith told Hess that he drove his 1973 Mercury Capri to the store to buy some groceries for an apartment he had been ready to move into before the judge sent him to prison. He said that his youngest daughter Sheri had been in a couple of times over the weekend, and that Friday, June 22nd, was her birthday.
When Hess asked if they’d spent Friday night celebrating the birthday, Jay Smith admitted that he hadn’t bought her a card or a present of even seen her on that day, because Friday night he had to visit his dying wife in Bryn Mawr Hospital, a duty he performed twice daily.
Jay Smith said that on Saturday he’d gone to Wayne to pick up a letter from a minister attesting to his sterling character to present in court the following Monday. He claimed that he’d made four or five phone calls having to do with character witnesses.
As to his personal opinion whether William Bradfield was the kind of guy to go around killing people, Jay Smith said that anyone could kill a man or even a woman in a fit of rage, but he didn’t think Bill Bradfield could ever kill children. He said he’d only seen Bill Bradfield a couple of times outside of school to discuss his alibi testimony.
As to the other Bill Bradfield cohorts, he said that Sue Myers would do anything Bill Bradfield ordered her to do and that Vince Valaitis was a polite young fellow who was completely under the control of Big Bill. He figured that latent homosexuality was rampant in the clique. No discussion with Jay Smith would be complete without a little sexual innuendo.
He was forever implying that it wasn’t so bad being called a thief and murderer, but as far as sex was concerned he was as regular as the next guy. As to the exotic stuff he seemed to agree with Voltaire that if you try it once, you’re a philosopher. He ignored the other admonition that if you do it twice you’re a pervert.
* * *
Joe VanNort could say what he wanted about the FBI, but they were thorough. They showed Jay Smiths picture to every doctor, nurse, patient, technician, secretary, janitor, security guard, gift shop worker, cafeteria employee, anyone who could feasibly have seen him during the weekend of June 22nd on any of the three shifts at Bryn Mawr Hospital.
Then they started on the volunteer workers. They talked to every candy striper, priest, nun, minister and rabbi. Cataracts and comas provided the only escape from the feds with their photos.
Many said they’d sure remember that face. Some of those on Stephanie’s ward knew him, but no one had seen him on the weekend in question. By the time the FBI finished checking out Jay Smiths version of the weekend, they could at least prove that he was lying.
Nobody had seen Jay Smith from Friday until late Sunday afternoon when he drove away from Valley Forge Road.
Jay Smith was down but not out. After his dead wife’s friend turned over the “lovecock” letters and all the rest of Stephanie Smith’s diary to the press, he launched a $30 million libel suit against a couple of newspapers. He was turning into quite a jailhouse lawyer. Convicts came to him for help with their appeals.
And he fired off a bulletin to his former colleagues at Upper Merion to brighten their school year. It was as windy and droll as any of his former open-mike interludes. He called it “Letters from State Prison.”
Some of his old subordinates said with a shudder that it was almost like having him back.
Copyright, 1979
Jay Smith, K-4891
Drawer-K
Dallas, PA 18612
Friends,
I want to thank all of you who were able to attend any of the trials or who gave me support during them. Such support takes a great deal of grit in the midst of the horrendous publicity I received and am still receiving. I do not expect it to cease, ever. Annually, you can expect a re-doing of the whole scene. It is a pre-school attention getter in doldrum August, and it is good box office. Frankly, I prefer a free press motored by personal profit than a controlled press motored by bureaucratic propaganda; but we need to lance a few warts and get a few of the bad apples out of the free press barrel. I am hoping that the drift to the right that is detrimental to my current situation will be beneficial to my civil trial conflicts. Decreasing some of the press libel immunity might generate the necessary circumspection they should bring to prosecution feedings.
Regarding the persons whose names have been flung at me, viz., William Bradfield, Kenneth Reinert, Chris Pappas, Sue Myers, and Vince Valaitis, I can say sans any fear of being gainsaid that I never met or saw any of these people off the school grounds. I would not know Kenneth Reinert if he came up to my cell door.
I have had no romantic involvement with Sue Myers or Susan Reinert or any teacher or any student or any parent in the Upper Merion area school district, in or out of school, since I’ve lived and worked there. No sexual involvements either.
I never considered William Bradfield an “adversary” as he puts it; and I never had a “secret close relationship” with him as Mr. Anonymous or Mr. Synonymous puts it. I viewed William Bradfield as a superior teacher who had an uncanny influence on the brightest students and on much of the staff. He also had an unusual influence on the powers that be (superintendents office and the school board). Thus, he could influence the operations of the senior high. I viewed him as someone I had to be alert about, always. The principal’s office is not a windless isle in a tranquil academic ocean. It is a turbulent place with many winds blowing. Bradfield was a strong wind. Not friendly. Perhaps hostile. Perhaps.
Susan Reinert was a pleasant, conscientious teacher, always willing to do more than was required of her. I knew nothing of her out of school activities. The same applies to Sue Myers, an excellent teacher and person. I knew nothing of her out-of-school life.
There was no secret meetings with any witnesses or anyone at any time. I met with each of my witnesses. The topics were substantially the same: don’t let the police scare you off; tell the truth; keep it succinct. At the direction of my lawyer, I met with William Bradfield. We met openly in a public place.
I was never a member-(echoes of the fifties)-I was never a member of any sex cult or Satan cult. I have never participated in any group sex or abnormal sex. As defined by my interrogators abnormal sex includes homosexuality, anal sex, bestiality, sado-masochism, bondage and discipline, or the use of any accompaniments such as vibrators, dildos, or special clothes. My home has been searched many times, legally and illegally, by police and lord knows who else. They have my permission to display at any place they choose any items they took from my house that relate to sex cults or Satan cults. They can even display my trash.
Not only was I never a member or participant in any cult activities, but in my whole time in Upper Merion I never heard anyone discussing such things. Until “those authoritative sources close to the investigation” initiated the rumors, it was unknown to any in-school or out-of-school dialogue. I am eager to see their proof of this slander on me, and the Township of Upper Merion, and the other professionals reputed by the rumors to be members.