Seated next to Jerry was Miles Van Meter. Delilah had not included him on her witness list. He was in court to lend moral support to his sister when she testified and because he was writing an updated edition of his book.
Delilah started her direct examination gently, by walking her witness through her relationship with her parents and her high school soccer career. In her opening statement, Delilah had outlined the testimony that she expected Ashley to give, and the jurors listened sympathetically to what Ashley had to say.
After laying her groundwork, Delilah led Ashley to the night that Tanya Jones and her father were murdered. Ashley told the jury how she and Tanya had been attacked and bound, and how she had watched helplessly as the man who invaded her home dragged Tanya into the guest room. Ashley’s poise broke momentarily when she recounted Tanya’s rape and murder, and she had to pause and drink some water before she could go on.
“Do you want to continue, Miss Spencer?” Judge Shimazu asked. “We can take a recess.”
Ashley took a deep breath and looked across at Joshua Maxfield. Once again, Maxfield refused to meet her eyes. That gave her strength.
“I’d like to go on, Your Honor. I’m okay.”
“Very well. Miss Wallace.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. Now, Ashley, you said that you heard Tanya Jones’s muffled screams. What was the first sound you heard from the man who attacked Tanya after he took her into the guest room?”
“I…I heard a gasp.”
“What did you believe that signified?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Eric Swoboda said. “Speculation.”
“Your Honor, there will be testimony that Miss Jones was a virgin and that there was evidence of rape. Miss Spencer’s observation will be amply corroborated by this other evidence.”
“Mr. Swoboda, I’m going to let Miss Spencer testify.”
“Ashley?” Delilah said.
“It sounded like he was…like it was sex.” Ashley reddened. “That he’d had an orgasm.”
“What did you hear after that?”
“Tanya was whimpering. Then I heard a… It was like an animal. It didn’t sound human. Then there were these grunts and Tanya stopped screaming.”
“Did the grunts stop when Tanya stopped screaming?”
“No. They went on and on. Then the door to the guest room slammed open.”
“What did you think was going to happen next?”
“I…I thought he was going to rape me and kill me, like Tanya. The same thing.”
“What happened instead?”
“He stopped in the doorway and looked at me. That seemed to go on forever. But he didn’t come in. He went downstairs.”
“Did you hear anything downstairs?”
“I heard the refrigerator door open.”
“We’ll get back to what happened in the kitchen in a bit, but I want you to tell the jury how you escaped.”
Ashley sat up straight and turned to the jurors. In that moment, she felt as she had in the second grade when she’d played soccer with her father’s spirit inside her. Norman was there once again and he made her strong. He filled her with power and lifted her up.
“My father saved my life,” she told the jurors. “My father sacrificed his life for mine. I would not be alive today if it was not for my father, Norman Spencer.”
Delilah had Ashley detail her escape from her home and her subsequent decision to attend the Oregon Academy. Ashley told the jury about her contacts with Joshua Maxfield and her mother’s involvement with his writing seminar. Then Ashley testified about the incident at the boathouse.
“Ashley,” Delilah asked, “you were real serious about your soccer, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“In addition to your team workouts, did you have your own conditioning program?”
“Well, I did extra workouts.”
“Did you like to run in the woods on the Academy grounds in the evening to build up your wind and your legs?”
“Yes.”
“Did you take a run on the evening that Terri Spencer was murdered?”
Ashley paled. She looked down and said, “Yes,” so softly that the court reporter had to ask her to repeat her answer.
“During your run, did you see anyone?”
“Yes.”
“Who did you see?”
Ashley looked across the room and pointed at Joshua Maxfield.
“I saw him, the defendant.”
“What was he doing?”
“He was walking by the river.”
“Was there anything unusual about the way he was walking?”
“No. I really didn’t think anything of it because he lived near the boathouse.”
“Was he walking toward or away from the boathouse?”
“Toward it.”
“Did anything unusual happen shortly after you saw the defendant?”
“Yes, I heard a woman scream. Then I heard another scream.”
“How close together were the screams?”
“Pretty close. I can’t say exactly.”
“Where did the screams come from?”
“The direction of the boathouse.”
“What did you do after you heard the screams?”
“I was scared. I froze after the first one. Then I thought someone might be hurt so I cut through the woods and ended up on the side of the boathouse.”
“Did you see anyone else on your way to the boathouse?”
“No.”
“What happened next?”
“I heard a woman say something.”
“What did she say?”
“I don’t know. I just heard the sound. It was muffled by the walls.”
“How do you know it was a woman?”
“It was high-pitched.”
“What did you do after you heard the sound?”
“I looked in the window of the boathouse.”
“What did you see?”
Ashley pointed at Maxfield. “I saw him and there were two women lying on the floor. And he was holding a knife. There was blood on it.” Ashley was finding it hard to breathe, but she forced herself to finish her testimony. “He saw me and he tried to kill me. He killed my mother and he ran after me and tried to kill me.”
“Who killed your mother, Ashley?” Delilah asked. “Who tried to kill you?”
“Him. Joshua Maxfield. He tried to kill me. He killed my mother.”
Ashley began to sob.
After a recess, Delilah had Ashley recount her recovery on the Academy grounds and the attack in the dormitory that followed Maxfield’s escape. Eric Swoboda’s cross-examination was mercifully short, and her testimony ended just before five o’clock. Judge Shimazu adjourned court for the day. Delilah, Jerry Philips, Larry Birch, and Tony Marx formed a protective circle around Ashley and helped her get through the crowd outside the courtroom. Delilah stopped in front of the elevators and faced the cameras and microphones. Her body shielded Ashley from the glare of the lights and the questions shouted at her by the reporters.
“Miss Spencer will not answer any questions. She is exhausted. These past five years have been a terrible ordeal for her and I ask you to respect her privacy. She has been very brave today. Let her have some peace.”
Several reporters shouted questions at Delilah. She answered them while Jerry and the detectives hustled Ashley into the elevator.
“You were fantastic,” Jerry said when the elevator doors closed.
“I don’t feel fantastic,” Ashley said.
“Well it’s over now and Swoboda didn’t lay a glove on you.”
“I didn’t see it as a boxing match, Jerry.”
“No, no. I meant that your testimony was basically unchallenged. It was everything Delilah could have hoped for. You’re going to be a major reason that Maxfield will be convicted. He couldn’t even look you in the eye. The jury saw that.”
Ashley felt no elation, only exhaustion, although there was also a feeling of peace because her part in the trial was over.