Ed Lacy - Breathe No More My Lady

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, every man is liable for the natural consequences of his acts—when he knows what he is doing, when he knows the difference between right and wrong. At the time he struck his wife, Matt Anthony didn't know right or wrong, he didn't know anything but a blinding insane rage. There was an accidental death and I say he has already been punished enough by the loss of his wife, the ordeal of jail and publicity—a punishment that will forever sear his soul. With all honesty I ask you to look into your own souls, find compassion for Matt Anthony. In the name of justice I ask you to bring in the only verdict possible in the face of the testimony and medical evidence... I ask you to find Matt Anthony not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. Thank you.”

Jackson had finished with his voice in a low key, throbbing like an old fashioned preacher's. He sat down beside Matt, his face very solemn and full of tired lines—more Lincolnesque than ever. Matt shook his hand, that tiny smile on Matt's face... and for me there was an air of cheap sarcasm in the handshake.

The judge nodded toward Wagner who started walking towards the jury box. I don't know what I expected, a lull, a recess, but somehow it shocked me... sort of a belt line production form of justice. Before Wagner addressed the court and jury he did something out of character, something funny: he ran his hand over the part of the jury railing Jackson had been slapping, as if examining it. The jurors grinned, there were enough giggles in the courtroom for the judge to pound once with his gavel.

In his dry, level voice, Wagner said, “I had looked forward to Mr. Clair's summing up. Not only in my position as prosecutor, but also out of a professional and personal curiosity. Mr. Clair is a big city lawyer, a top trial man, and I was anxious to see him work, thinking a country boy like myself could learn something. I was impressed by his dramatics, by his oratory, which I will not attempt to match. But I was puzzled. Judging from Mr. Clair's remarks one would think Francine Anthony was on trial here for killing her husband. Francine Anthony is dead, struck down and killed by this man!” Wagner made a mildly sweeping gesture toward Matt.

For a second the two men stared at each other, then Matt started writing slowly. I noticed that he was sweating a little.

Wagner turned back toward the jury, standing stiffly, and said, “There has been a lot of loose talk in this trial. Justice is determined by facts, not general words. However, since this talk has been a part of the trial, let us go over that before presenting the facts of the case. The defense has read a number of statements attesting that writers are different from shoemakers. We can dismiss all these learned statements by pointing out that although famous writers went off on erratic and erotic tangents, none of them ever claimed a writer had the right to murder his wife! And under the law, which protects us all, a person has not the right to take another person's life—no matter how much they are supposedly 'nagged.' We have heard Mrs. Anthony called a shrew, a mental midget, who didn't appreciate this 'giant,' Matt Anthony. Just remember that picture came from Mr. Clair's nimble brain. Certainly not from the testimony. The fact is, the testimony states that Mr. Anthony often nagged his wife, 'teased' was the word used. Mrs. Anthony has been presented as a terrible wife, yet if we sift all the words, exactly what did she do? Her husband has heart trouble and she wanted him to stop drinking, stop exercising. Does that sound like a shrew or a woman with her husband's best interests at heart? Even assuming she was a nag —and I repeat, assuming, she was a nag, that didn't give Matt Anthony the right to kill her. Mr. Clair would have the court believe nagging violates the law, is a crime punishable by death.”

Jackson started to rise, but didn't. Instead, he muttered something to Matt, who was watching Wagner as if he were some exciting character he'd never seen before.

“Now let us get to the facts,” Wagner went on, “to the testimony of the witnesses. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter stated that although the Anthonys frequently quarreled, and the Hunters had witnessed these quarrels over several years, they had never heard Matt Anthony threaten to kill his wife except on the day of her death. Miss Fitzgerald, who was not present at the time of the death threat, but who—as their maid—was with the Anthonys every day for about two months and often heard them fight, also stated under oath she had never heard Mr. Anthony threaten to kill his wife. On the morning of July 25th Matt Anthony said to his wife, in the presence of witnesses, 'I'll kill you!' Now these witnesses, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter, have also said that at the time they did not believe his threat, that they thought it was only a phrase, a manner of speech. It seems fairly obvious to me that when you have heard a man and his wife have numerous arguments over a period of years and never hear him threaten her with physical violence, and that man suddenly says, 'I'll kill you!' that's a threat, not a manner of speech! But evidently the Hunters did nothing about this threat, they didn't believe it because it was said in a moment of anger. But when is a real threat made except in anger? Certainly a killer doesn't walk up to his victim and make small talk with, 'I'll kill you!' In this ease, whether the Hunters thought or didn't think Matt Anthony was actually threatening his wife, can we doubt it wasn't a threat when a few hours after he said, 'I'll kill you!' he actually did kill her?

“What sort of man told Francine. Anthony, 'I'll kill you!'? Mr. Clair has stressed that Matt Anthony is no ordinary man. I agree. By his own admission Matt Anthony is an expert on ways and means of murder. He has stated he knows more about murder than most police officials. He is a man who, by his own admission, said under oath, plots and thinks about his writing 24 hours a day, and for the past 10 years he has written only about sex and violence. One only has to look at him to realize he is physically capable of violence. There are various kinds of violence. A war novel might be full of violence, for example, but remember this: for the past 10 years Matt Anthony has only written and thought about criminal violence! This was the type of man who told his wife, 'I'll kill you!' Can we even doubt that he meant it, that this was not a clear, outspoken threat?

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it is the State's contention that Matt Anthony with his vast knowledge of murder, would not and did not make an idle threat. He was sick and tired of Francine Anthony's objecting to his wild spending and wild living. She had shown him up in front of an old friend by asking him to tell the friend to leave. Why did she do this? It wasn't anything personal, she never knew the college professor; she wasn't trying to pick and choose her husband's friends. No, indeed, she merely felt the man's presence in the Anthony home would jeopardize Matt Anthony's future.

“So it is the State's contention, and one we have proved, that when an expert on ways of murder threatens to kill a person, he means to kill. We believe from the time Matt Anthony shouted at his wife, 'I'll kill you!' he was thinking of ways and means to kill her. Mr. Clair has stated that since Mr. Anthony is the only actual witness to the killing, we must take his word. On the contrary, that is all the more reason to doubt his word. A man on trial for murder is not worrying about perjury.

“Then what is the true story of what happened in the boat? The State contends that Matt Anthony, having decided beforehand to murder his wife, deliberately put on the underwater apparatus and swam out to the boat, knowing he was doubly safe—he was swimming underwater so his wife couldn't see him, and since he owned all the land surrounding the bay, there wouldn't be any witnesses to the crime. That he suddenly climbed into the rowboat and deliberately struck this frail woman with all his might, knowing full well his fist had sufficient power to kill her. Francine Anthony may have been dead before her head ever hit the side of the boat—it is medically impossible to pinpoint death time down to a matter of seconds. Then Matt Anthony deliberately tied his dead wife's shoe lace around a duck board and broke the lace—to make it all look like an accident. Matt Anthony then swam back to shore, underwater, dressed, and fooled the Hunters, sleeping on the lawn, about a difference of three quarters of an hour in the time—to establish an alibi for himself. All this was child's play for an expert in criminal tactics, a man who as the defense has said, created people and whole cities out of his typewriter—and who also killed and murdered and maimed people with this same typewriter.

“Matt Anthony knows the law, that's part of his business. He felt he was playing it safe. If his wife's death was called an accident, fine. If the police were suspicious of his yarn, as in this case where Detective Kolcicki saw through the lie, why then Matt Anthony would sign a confession full of a cock and bull story that he and his wife argued over an aqua-lung and he struck her. He thought the most he would get would be manslaughter—a few years in prison. Since we have been told he works so hard at writing, perhaps Mr. Anthony even considered a few years in prison a wonderful investment, give him material for a dozen or more books.

“Members of the jury, it didn't work! Despite his being an expert, when Matt Anthony went up against Detective Kolcicki, it was the old story of an amateur against a professional. In less than an hour Detective Kolcicki had his confession. The defense has asked why it wasn't a confession of first degree murder. I'd like to ask, who says it prove and cry out— isn't a confession of first degree murder! This wasn't a full confession. Matt Anthony admitted he killed his wife, it was then up to the District Attorney to prove premeditation, and I think we have. Granted that since there were only two people involved and one of them is now dead, there is no way we can take Mr. Anthony's mind apart and give you the actual thoughts. But there are other circumstances involved and these all murder!

“Can anyone believe a man would kill his wife over an aqua-lung? Especially a man of Matt Anthony's size—he could have pinned his wife's arm with one hand. Can anyone honestly believe—according to the defense's story—a man would strike his wife merely because she protested skin diving might strain his heart? Even if we accept the defense's claim that Francine Anthony's death was an accident, why would Matt Anthony have lied about it at first, immediately establishing an alibi? An accident—I would insult your intelligence if I asked you to believe that! A man thinks of alibis only when he knows he's guilty. In the course of my job I have come into contact with murderers. No man would kill if he thought he would be caught. But a murderer is arrogant, certain he can outwit the police. I'm talking now of an ordinary murderer—consider the arrogance of an expert, a man who has out-witted the police hundreds of times— on paper. Here was the big time crime writer about to pull the wool over the eyes of some 'hick' cops, sure he could hoodwink a 'yokel' court and—”

“Your Honor,” Jackson roared, springing to his feet, “I have never interrupted a summing up before in my life, but I must object to Mr. Wagner's hitting below the belt. He has made one unfair generalization after another. He has put words into my mouth I've never said or thought of. Now he's off into a dream fantasy of what went on in the defendant's head. At no time in this trial has the words 'hick' or 'yokel' been uttered except by Mr. Wagner.”