Hamilton Burger met his eyes unflinchingly. “I’ve sympathized with some of the things you’ve done in times past, Mason. I have been so intrigued by your rapid-fire methods and the results you have achieved that I haven’t realized that as far as justice was concerned the viciousness of those methods more than offsets the benefits achieved. Now then, I’m going to pull your house of cards down.”
“How?”
“I’m going to convict your secretary of spiriting off a material witness in a murder case. After that, I’m going to try you as an accessory and I am going to convict you. Then I am going to have you disbarred on the strength of those convictions. Now, you probably have a writ of habeas corpus in your pocket that you’ve been preparing to slap down on my desk as your last word. Go ahead and slap it. I have no desire to be unduly harsh with Miss Street. I am proceeding against her because that’s the only way I can get at you. I don’t intend to confine Miss Street in jail. I am perfectly willing to let you have a writ of habeas corpus. I am perfectly willing to see that she is admitted to bail. I am, however, going to convict her of a crime. If she wants to apply for probation, that’s all right. I won’t stand in her way. Then I am going to convict you of a crime. I am not going to ask for a jail sentence. I am going to see that a fine is imposed, and then I am going to use that conviction to terminate your activities as a member of the Bar.”
Burger pushed back his swivel chair and got to his feet. “Now then, that last word that you were talking about — that business of slapping the writ of habeas corpus on my desk, loses some of its dramatic punch, doesn’t it, Mason?”
Mason also got to his feet, stared across the desk at the district attorney. “All right, I told you I was going to have the last word. Now I’ll have it.
“Burger, the trouble with you is that you’ve hypnotized yourself by looking at law entirely from the viewpoint of a district attorney. District attorneys have organized themselves and they’ve organized public sentiment. You have gradually lulled the public into a feeling of confidence that it can trust you to see that no innocent person is ever knowingly prosecuted.”
Hamilton Burger said, “I am glad to hear you admit that, Mason.”
“You shouldn’t be. You should be sorry.”
“Why?”
“Because the public has sat idly by and let the organized prosecutors amend the law until the constitutional guarantees of the public were swept away. We’re living in a period of changing times. It’s quite possible that the definition of crime will be broadened to include things which we might at present list in the category of political crimes. When the ordinary citizen is dragged into court, he’ll find that the cards have been stacked against him. Ostensibly, they were stacked against the professional criminal by organized public servants, but actually they’ve been stacked against Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary Citizen, because the whole legal procedure has been completely undermined.
“It’s high time for citizens to wake up to the fact that it isn’t a question of whether a man is guilty or innocent, but whether his guilt or innocence can be proved under a procedure which leaves in the citizen the legal rights to which he is entitled under a constitutional government.
“You object to spectacular, dramatic methods of defense. You overlook the fact that for the past twenty-five years you have beguiled the public into releasing its constitutional rights so that the only effective methods of defense which are left are the spectacular and the dramatic. Now then, Mr. District Attorney, you go ahead and arrest Della Street, and we’ll thrash this thing out in a courtroom.”
Burger said, “That’s right, Mason. We’ll thrash it out in a courtroom. And, if you ask me, your last word didn’t amount to much.”
Mason paused in the doorway, his face hard with anger. “I haven’t had that last word yet,” he said. “I’ll have it in court.”
And he slammed the door behind him.
Chapter 21
Judge Lankershim came to the bench amidst a swish of whispers from the crowded courtroom, which subsided as a bailiff pounded a gavel.
“The People of the State of California versus Della Street,” Judge Lankershim called.
Mason got to his feet. “The defendant is in court and on bail. Let the records show that she has surrendered for the purpose of trial.”
“The record will so show,” Judge Lankershim said. “She will remain on the same bail during the trial. I understand this action has been brought on for immediate trial pursuant to stipulation of counsel.”
“That is right,” Hamilton Burger said.
“I would like to hear from the prosecution as to the nature of the case.”
Burger said, “Your Honor, I will make a brief preliminary statement. It is the contention of the prosecution that while the police officers were investigating a felony, to wit, an assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder, committed by persons unknown upon one Jerry Templar, the defendant in this case willfully spirited away a certain witness, one Franklin Shore, who had information which, if communicated to the police, would have materially aided the police in the solution of the crime. Specifically, it is charged that the defendant in this case, fully aware of the full significance of the facts which this witness knew, concealed him from the police and continues to so conceal him.”
“And the defendant has pleaded not guilty?” Judge Lankershim asked.
“The defendant has pleaded not guilty, and asked for a trial by jury,” Mason said. “And to prove our good faith in the matter, we will accept, without examination, the first twelve names which are called to the jury box as jurymen to try this case.”
Judge Lankershim looked over his glasses at Perry Mason. “You are, however, insisting upon a trial by jury?”
“Exactly,” Mason said. “Trial by jury is guaranteed by the constitution to the citizens of the state. We have lost too many of our constitutional guarantees by not insisting upon them. Upon behalf of this defendant, I insist upon a jury trial more as a gesture than otherwise. I would be perfectly willing to submit the matter to Your Honor’s discretion otherwise.”
“Do you wish to accept Mr. Mason’s stipulation that the first twelve names called to the jury box may constitute a jury, Mr. District Attorney?”
Hamilton Burger, who had personally embarked upon the trial of the case, relegating his assistants to subordinate positions at the far corners of the counsel table, got to his feet.
“No, Your Honor, we will examine the jurors in the regular way.”
Mason settled back in his chair. “I have no questions to ask of any juror,” he announced with a smile. “I waive my challenges for cause. I waive my peremptory challenges. I am satisfied that any twelve American citizens who file into that jury box will give the defendant the benefit of a square deal when the evidence is in — and that’s all the defendant wants.”
“The Court will observe,” Burger said acidly, “that counsel is using the excuse of waiving his rights as a peg upon which to hang a dramatic statement intended to impress the jurors in advance with...”
“The Court understands the situation,” Judge Lankershim interrupted promptly. “The jurors will pay no attention to the extraneous comments of either counsel. Let’s get on with this case. Under the circumstances, Mr. Burger, it devolves upon you to examine the jurymen on their voir dire.”
And examine them Burger did, with the painstaking, mathematical, searching questions which a man might have expected a prosecutor to use in a murder case, while Mason tilted back in his chair, an amused smile on his face, his bearing indicating that he was paying no attention either to questions or answers. And, somehow, the more Burger examined the jurymen, the more he made it appear that he was suspicious of their probity, of their impartiality, an attitude which contrasted unfavorably with that of counsel for the defense. Twice his associates tried to warn him of this, but Burger paid no attention to their warnings. He went doggedly ahead with his questions.