to. And he will tell you that he was in those woods because he wanted to protect retired police officer Danni Jansen from harm. Was that a reasonable thing to do? You will have to make that determination. He saw Thomas Felton coming from the direction of Ms. Jansen’s house. He called to him. Felton turned. Mr. Tobin thought Felton had a gun and that Felton was going to shoot him so he fired his gun. That’s all there is to it—self-defense. And that, if nothing else, should create reasonable doubt in your minds.”
They broke for lunch after the openings. Tom stayed in the courtroom with Jack. They shared a couple of Snickers bars and talked about the case.
“Good start,” Jack told him. “Good opening. It will be interesting to see if Merton figures out we were pushing his buttons.”
“I’m sure he will,” Tom said. “But I don’t know if that will help him. The guy is wound pretty tight. Who do you think he’ll call this afternoon?”
Jack didn’t hesitate. He had the State’s case programmed in his mind—at least most of it. “I’d say the two cops and maybe the coroner if he has time. He’ll save Sam for the morning when the jurors are fresh.”
“I agree, but what about Danni?”
“She’ll come after Sam just to buttress his testimony about what happened and about the phone calls. They’ll put on the handwriting guy before Sam, but we’ll make him go away.”
“So they should be done tomorrow afternoon.”
“That’s it,” Jack said. “Short and sweet.”
The two police officers were the first two witnesses in the afternoon just as Jack predicted. Their testimony was pretty much identical. They were there to establish one thing—Jack Tobin said he was going to kill Thomas Felton. Tom’s cross-examination was pretty much the same for both although he went into greater detail with officer Richard Brown. Tom never deviated from his soft-spoken, easygoing manner.
“Why were you at Mr. Tobin’s condo in the first place?”
“We were told to go there by the assistant chief.”
“Where was the chief?”
“We didn’t know.”
“So the chief disappeared after his daughter’s death?”
“I wouldn’t say disappeared. He could not be located for a few days.”
“And the assistant chief was worried that Chief Jeffries might go after Mr. Tobin, isn’t that correct?”
“I don’t know that.”
“Well, weren’t you instructed to go there to tell Mr. Tobin to get out of town?”
“Yes.”
“And didn’t you tell Mr. Tobin that the chief of police, Sam Jeffries, was missing?”
“We may have.”
“You may have? Wasn’t the gist of the conversation—the chief of police is missing, we can’t protect you, so get out of town?”
Merton couldn’t sit still any longer. He hadn’t gone into any of this stuff on direct examination.
“I object, Your Honor! This is beyond the scope of direct examination.”
Tom saw his opportunity. He’d asked a question that didn’t need an answer and he had a good idea what the judge was going to do.
“I’ll withdraw the question, Your Honor, and move on. Officer Brown, what was Mr. Tobin’s condition at the time you spoke to him?”
“He was intoxicated.”
“Severely intoxicated?”
“Yes.”
“So he was not of sound mind?”
“I don’t think so.”
“And this was at a period of time, right after the murder of Kathleen Jeffries, when tensions were high with everybody, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And that includes Chief Jeffries, correct?”
“I don’t know.”
“Weren’t you sent to Jack Tobin’s condo because the assistant chief was concerned that Chief Jeffries might do him harm?”
Merton was on his feet again. “Objection, Your Honor.”
“Sustained!” Judge Holbrook said. “Mr. Wylie, I’ve already ruled on this once.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Tom said, even though the judge had not ruled on the first objection. “Thank you, Your Honor.” Tom turned back toward the witness.
“Officer Brown, why did you go to Mr. Tobin’s condo?”
Merton was up again—furious. Tom was pushing his buttons—again. “Objection, Your Honor.”
“Sustained. Mr. Wylie, I have already ruled!” the judge shouted. Tom was pushing both their buttons now. Tom remained as cool and calm as ever.
“That was a different question, Your Honor. The State put this witness on to testify that he went to my client’s residence. Surely I can ask him why he went there?”
Merton cut in at that point. “He asked that question already, Your Honor. Officer Brown said he didn’t know. Asked and answered.”
Tom had made his point again, or maybe not. You never knew with a jury. In any event, it was time to retreat.
“I’ll withdraw the question, Your Honor, and move on.”
“And don’t revisit this subject again, Mr. Wylie.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” Tom turned his attention back to