The judge looked at Tom. “Do you have any objection, Counselor?”
“No, Your Honor.”
“State’s Exhibit number ten is admitted. Proceed, Counselor.”
“Now, Chief Jeffries, I have a pointer here and I would like you to come down and take this pointer and show the jury approximately where you found the body, where you first saw Mr. Tobin, and where you looked for this gun you believe Mr. Tobin threw away.”
Sam Jeffries got up from the witness stand, lumbered down to the easel, took the pointer from Robert Merton, and proceeded to show the jury all of the important locations specified by Merton in his question. It was a very effective presentation.
“Once again, can you show the jury where you looked for the gun Mr. Tobin threw away?”
Again using the pointer, Jeffries showed the jury the specific area. “We looked here in the area of woods and backyard to the left of Danni Jansen’s house.”
“Why did you look there?”
“Jack Tobin is right-handed. If he is running toward Danni’s house and he needs to get rid of the gun, that is the most logical place that he would have thrown it.”
“I have no further questions, Your Honor.”
“Cross-examination, Counselor?” the judge asked Tom.
“Yes, Your Honor.” Tom stood and walked to the podium.
Tom had no intention of cross-examining Jeffries on most of the issues that he had raised. There was no need. Jack was going to testify and Jack would address just about everything. Tom had a few points he wanted to make and that was it. As an experienced trial lawyer, he knew less was sometimes more. Make it simple. Keep the jury focused.
“Chief Jeffries, why were you out there in the woods on a Sunday morning?”
“Why?”
“Yes, that’s the question. Why?”
“I anticipated Felton might come after Danni. Danni was on the task force. Felton had threatened her in the past. He killed my daughter to get back at me. It was logical that he would come after Danni, and it was logical that he would come through the woods where he could not be seen.”
“But why you?”
“Why me what?”
“Why were you out there on Sunday morning? You have a whole police force under you. You could have had two or four or six officers out in those woods or, even better, a SWAT team, couldn’t you?”
“I could have but I chose to do it myself.”
“Because it was personal.”
“Yes.”
“We’ve already had two of your police officers testify in this case, and I asked each of them if there were any general orders to watch the woods behind Danni Jansen’s house and they said there weren’t. Is it true that you did not put out any general orders to your officers to be especially vigilant of the woods behind Danni Jansen’s house?”
“Yes.”
“And again, that’s because it was personal.”
“Yes.”
“If Felton was after Danni Jansen, why didn’t you just wait for him in her house?”
“I wanted to. She wouldn’t let me. She wanted to catch the son of a bitch as much as I did. Excuse my language, Your Honor.”
The judge didn’t respond.
“So you obviously wanted to get him because of what he did to your family. Why did Danni Jansen want to get him?”
“Objection, Your Honor. He’s asking this witness to speculate about what was in Danni Jansen’s mind.”
“I’ll rephrase the question, Your Honor.”
“Proceed.”
“Did Danni tell you why it was personal for her?”
“Yes.”
“What did she tell you?”
“Objection, hearsay.”
“Your Honor, I anticipate that Danni Jansen will be the State’s next witness.”
“Is that true, Mr. Merton?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“I’ll allow it.”
“What did she tell you?” Tom asked again.
Sam was an experienced witness. He knew when Merton objected that he didn’t want him to answer the question. But Sam couldn’t help himself. He wanted the jurors, everybody, to know that Danni wanted Felton almost as bad as he did.
“She was on the task force when he was terrorizing this city. Danni has a daughter. Felton had threatened her daughter in the past. She wanted him apprehended.”
“It was personal with her, too.”
“Yes.”
“So you were patrolling the woods—was that on a daily basis?”
“Yes, several times a day.”
“And Danni Jansen was sitting in her house waiting for Felton to come?”
“Yes.”
“And from the evidence you uncovered, Jack Tobin was living in the woods waiting for Felton?”
“No, he was luring Felton into the woods.”
“I know that’s your opinion and your opinion is based on the telephone calls to Felton’s phone, correct?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t listen to those phone conversations?”
“No.”
“In fact, you don’t even know that there were phone conversations, correct?”