The Burning Man (29 page)

"Was Gary a discipline problem at Eisenhower?"

"No, sir. In fact, there are very few negative comments in Gary's folder."

"Do children with Gary's handicap tend to fight?"

"No. To the contrary. Mentally handicapped children tend to shy away from fights, even if -they are big and strong like Gary, unless they come from a dysfunctional family and have developed antisocial traits."

"Why is that?"

"They feel inadequate compared to so-called normal people. They get frightened easily and believe they need permission to do things."

"Was Gary a mean or aggressive young man while at E'senhower?"

I 41 Definitely not. He was usually docile and very sensitive to other people's feelings. Let me give you an example. Gary loves football. I remember one game where a teammate was injured. Mentally handicapped kids have feelings like everyone else, but they have a harder time controlling them. They sort of wear their heart on their sleeves. I remember Gary being in tears while the I coaches attended to this kid."

"As an expert in mental retardation and as someone who knows Gary personally, were you surprised to learn that Gary was charged with this murder?"

"Yes I was. Nothing I know about Gary would have prepared me for this. The amount of violence involved ... Just the idea of Gary inflicting that kind of pain on another nsistent with Gary's person is inca personality and the way someone of his intelligence would function."

"No further questions."

Becky O'Shay glanced through the copy of Gary's school records she had received weeks ago with Peter's discovery material. When she was done, she smiled warmly at Elmore Brock. Brock's shoulders hunched a little more, but he flashed back a brief, nervous smile.

"It's Mr. Brock, not Dr. Brock?" O'Shay asked sweetly.

"Yes."

"So, Mr. Brock, you don't have a Phd.?"

"No.

"Am I correct that your master's is not in psychology?"

"Yes."

"In fact, you are not a licensed psychologist, are ?"

you "No.

"A licensed psychologist has to complete a one-year residency where he performs two thousand hours of ther py assessment in the area of his specialization while a under the supervision of a licensed psychologist, doesn't he?"

"Yes.

"You didn't do that, did you?"

Brock flushed.

"No," he said.

",&nd a licensed psychologist has to take national written exams and an oral examination given to him by the Oregon State Board of Psychologist Examiners.

doesn't he?"

Yes."

"But you didn't do that, did you?

"No," he answered tersely.

"Now, you've explained that the defendant is not as bright as normal folks, is that correct?""

"Yes.

"Could you tell the jurors what Gary's high school average was?"

"That doesn't mean..

"Your Honor ... O'Shay asked the judge.

"Yes, Mr. Brock. Please answer the question. If there is something Mr. Hale wants You to explain, he'll get a chance after Ms. O'Shay is done asking her questions."

Brock ducked his head a little and said, "Sorry."

"That's okay, Mr. Brock," the prosecutor said pleasantly. "This's all new to you. Do you want the question read back?"' "No, I remember it. Gary had a 3.20 grade average."

"A 4.00 is straight A's, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"And a 3.50 is honor roll?"

Yes.

"Now, I believe you said that someone like Mr. Harmon would have poor coordination?"

"Yes'

"Didn't the defendant earn a varsity letter in football his senior year?"

Brock started to say something, then choked it back.

"Yes," he answered tersely.

"You talked about things that the defendant can't do.

I'd like to ask you about some things he can do. For instance, can Gary Harmon lie?"

"Well, yes. Gary could learn how to lie."

"If he murdered a young girl would he be frightened?"

Yes.

"Would fear motivate a person with even an IQ of 65 to 70 to lie?"

"Yes."

"Now, you told a touching story about the defendant weeping when he saw a teammate injured during a football game."

"Yes."

"Then, I believe you testified that Mr. Harmon wept because mentally handicapped people have the same emotions as normal people but they have a harder time controlling their feelings."

"Yes."

ON th' M i "Anger is an emotion, isn't it?"

Brock saw the trap into which he had fallen, but he had no choice but to respond affirmatively.

"Mr. Brock, if someone with an IQ of 65 to 70 was drinking and very frightened because he had just butchered a young girl with a hatchet while in an uncontrollable rage, might he not block out the memory of what he had done?"

"That's ... that's possible."

"Mentally handicapped people are capable of persevering at tasks, are they not?"

"Yes, they can be very single-minded."

"So, if Mr. Harmon committed a particularly bloody and violent murder, fear might spur him to lie and he would be capable of sticking to that be?"

..Yes."

"What effect would being drunk have on this scenario?"

"Alcohol might make it more likely that Gary would not remember killing someone, if he did kill anyone," Brock answered reluctantly.

"I didn't kill that girl," Gary said.

"Your Honor," O'Shay said, staring at the defendant.

"Mr. Harmon, you may not speak out in court," judge Kuffel admonished Gary. "Do you widerstand me?"

Gary nodded. He looked upset. Peter whispered i something in his ear and Gary looked down at the tabletop.

"You said that planning is more difficult for someone with Mr. Harmon's IQ, did you not?" O'Shay continued.

"Yes.

"But he could plan a killing, couldn't he?"

"What type of killing are you talking about?"

"Let's say he was told that a woman at a bar wanted to go out with him by someone who was playing a practical joke. When Mr. Harmon asks the woman if she wants a beer, she not only rejects him, but insults his he intelligence, a subject about which he is very sensitive.

Let's say further that Mr. Harmon physically assaults this woman. My question, Doctor ... Pardon me. Mr. was tchalait he Brock, is whether Mr. Harmon is intelligent enough to make a plan that involves going to his house to obtain a weapon, returning to the area of the bar, following a woman from the bar, killing'her and getting rid of the murder weapon?"

"He ... he could carry out that plan."

!rse- O'Shay smiled. "Thank you. I have no further questions."

"Mr. Brock, you aren't a Phd but you are a speciality I heist in dealing with the mentally handicapped, are you not?" Peter asked the witness.

"Yes. That's where my training lies."

"What does Gary Harmon's 3.20 grade point average see- mean?"

"Not much. His grades are only relative to his ability auld the,11 to perform the tasks he's given. Gary does not have an A in advanced physics.

He has an A in life skills, which means he knows how to make his bed, tie his shoes and things of that sort. The grades are given to make the iant.

Urt", students feel good about themselves, not to reflect real academic merit."

tand "Ms. O'Shay pointed out that Gary was on the varsity football team at Eisenhower. Tell the jury about that."

iered & to- Gary looked up at the mention of his favorite sport.

"Gary loves football. He went. out for the team in ninth grade. The coach let him work out with the other leone con- boys, but he did not have the ability to really play.

Learning all but the simplest plays would be beyond him. So, the coach let him suit up. Every once in a while, if the team was really behind or really ahead, Gary would go in for a play or two. He would be told to block a specific person.

anted "His senior year, the coach put Gary on varsity, but pracf she he was only in five or so plays all year. They gave him a varsity letter because he tried so hard, not because he his 's did the things the other kids did to earn the letter."

"I have one final series of questions, Mr. Brock. How easy would it be to foot Gary into believing that he had supernatural powers that would enable him to project himself into the mind of a dead woman and see how she was killed?"

"It would be very easy. Gary wants very much to please people. He would do or say anything for approval."

"Would he invent a story to make a person in authority happy?"

"Most definitely. Gary has a very limited imagination, but he would pick up cues if the person talking to him suggested what he wanted to hear."

"What effect would there be on Gary if the person questioning him was a policeman?"

"That would have a big effect. Someone with Gary's IQ will follow people in authority without question. If a' policeman made suggestions to someone like Gary, there would be no way of telling if the mentally handicapped person Was remembering something or making it up to please the policeman."

After lunch, Peter called Don Bosco, who voiced his opinion that Dennis Downes had unwittingly placed Gary Harmon in a trance state during the interrogation, thus making any statement he made unreliable for evidentiary purposes. Bosco told the jury that Sergeant Downes's 'projection transfer" technique would invi ite someone of Gary's limited intelligence to fantasize in order to please his interrogator. He pointed out many sections of the transcript where leading and suggestive questions had elicited answers from Gary that echoed suggestions made by Downes.

"Mr. Bosco," Becky O'Shay said, when it was her turn to cross-examine, "if I understand you correctly, you are concerned that the defendant's statements may be unreliable because he may have parroted back suggestions made by Sergeant Downes instead of relating incidents in which he was actually involved."

"That's right."

"You weren't at Wishing Well Park when the murder was committed, were you?" O'Shay asked with a kind smile.

"No."

"So you don't know whether Gary Harmon committed this murder and was telling Sergeant Downes about an incident he remembers or whether he was not present during the murder and is making up a story?"

"That's true."

"Would one way of telling whether the defendant was making up what he told the officer be to see if he knew things about Sandra Whiley's murder that were not common knowledge and were not suggested to him by Sergeant Downes?"

"Yes."

"Thank you. No further questions."

Peter had saved his final witness for late in the day, so his testimony would be the last thing the urors heard.

He wanted the jurors to think about that testimony all night.

"Mr. Harmon calls Zachary Howell," Peter said.

A slender young man with curly brown hair entered the courtroom and walked to the witness stand.

"Mr. Howell," Peter asked, "are you a freshman at Whitaker State College?"

"Yes, sir."

What are you studying?"

Uh, I haven't settled on a major, yet. I'm thinking, maybe, biology."

"DO you have a girlfriend, Mr. Howell?"

"Yes."

"What's her name?"

"Jessie Freeman."

"How did you come to be a witness in this case?"

"There was an ad in the school paper. It asked anyone with any information about the murder to call you."

"Was the ad more specific?"

"You wanted to talk to anyone who'd been around Wishing Well Park from 11 P.m. to 2:30 A.M. on the evening that Sandra Whiley was killed."

"Do you remember what -you were doing on the evening that Sandra Whiley was murdered?"

"I was on a date with Jessie. We went to a late movie.

Afterward, we went to Wishing Well Park and, uh, we were in the park for a while."

Peter did not press Howell for more detailed testimony. He could tell from the amused looks of some of the jurors that they were well aware of what a young couple would be doing in the park on a romantic summer evening.

"When did you start to leave the park?"

"A little before eleven-thirty."

"How can you be certain of the time?"

"We were going white-water rafting the next day and we had to get up early, so I looked.at my watch to see what time it was."

"What path did you take to get out of Wishing Well Park?"

"We walked along the river until we reached the wishing well. Then we walked up the path and left through the main entrance."

"Did you see a dead body next to the well when you passed by?"

"No, sir."

"Would you have noticed a body?"

"Yes, sir. Jessie made a wish at the well and threw in a penny. We were standing there looking down."

"Do you know what Jessie wished for?"

"Yes, sir," Howell smiled.

"Tell the jury how you figured out Jessie's wish?"

"When we reached the place where the stone pillars are, Jessie kissed me."

"And did you kiss her back?' -Yes, sir."

"What happened then?"

"Jessie was holding on to my hand and she swung away from me and said, "See, wishes do come true." -She swung away," Peter repeated.

"Yes." -Why do you remember all this so well, Mr. Howell?"

"The girl who was murdered, Sandy, she was in one of my classes. Everyone was talking about it the next day when we got back from rafting. I realized that we must have been right where the murder took place, right before it happened. That really scared me."

"Mr. Howell, how long did it take between the time you decided to leave the park at a little before eleven-thirty and the time you actually left the park?"

"Not long. We were pretty near the well. Then, we stopped so Jessie could make her wish. That wasn't much time. I'd say no more than five minutes."

"So, it was around eleven thirty-five when you were at the entrance to the park?"

eyes)

"How was Jessie dressed?"

"Jeans and a tee shirt."

"Mr. Howell, are you taller or shorter than Jessie?"

"Taller. She's only about five four, five five."

"One last question. What is the color of Jessie Freeman's hair and does she wear it short or long?"