Appendix — United States v. Agurs
Supreme Court brief1976
Ask Donna
What actually matters in this document.
Text
Supreme Court, U. & >
FILED a
—SAN £31976
| MICHAEL RODAK, JR., CLERK
Supreme Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM, 1975
APPENDIX
No. 75-491
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Petitioner
—l'.—
LINDA AGURS
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT
OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
PETITION FOR CERTIORARI FILED SEPTEMBER 29, 1975
CERTIORARI GRANTED NOVEMBER 17, 1975
Supreme Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM, 1975
No. 75-491
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Petitioner
—
LINDA AGURS
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT
OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
CONTENTS OF INDEX *
Page
RE RR a 1-5
RES ICS IGE A pa vn ar a OS DOC 6
Calendar Call of ici i 7-12
Transcript of Respondent’s Trial —........00.00000-0000....... ialsbiameiaiae 13-140
Transcript of Post Trial Hearing of July 24, 1978 ............... 141-156
Judge Robinson’s Order of July 24, 1973 ~........0000000ee.n.. 157
Motion of Respondent’s Trial Counsel for Consideration of
Appointment of Substitute Counsel 158-164
Transcript of Post Trial Hearing of April 17, 1974... _......165-187
Judge Robinson’s Order of May 7, 1974. saan ...188-190
Affidavit of Respondent’ s Trial Counsel filed om Respond-
ent’s brief in the Court of Appeals ...... 1 OR SE 191
Order Allowing Certiorari.......................... SE eres 192
* The opinion of the court of appeals below, the statement of
five judges below dissenting from the denial of the government’s
petition for rehearing en banc, and Judge Leventhal’s statement
on why he voted against rehearing en banc, are contained in the
Petition for Certiorari.
Ee
DOCKET ENTRIES
CRIMINAL DOCKET
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Cr. No. 2081-71
UNITED STATES
v8.
LINDA V. AGURS
DATE PROCEEDINGS
1972
Apr. 27 Called for trial; deft not present; trial con-
tinued. ROBINSON, J Rep-D. Spencer Robert Gas-
ton, Atty
Jun. 28 Motion for issuance of subpoena, GRANTED.
Jul.
Jul.
Jul.
Jul.
ROBINSON, J.
5 Jury and 2 alts. sworn; trial begun; respited
until 7-6-72 at 9:30 a.m. Remanded to custody,
ROBINSON, J. Rep: D. Spencer R. Gaston, Atty.
6 Juror No. 9. Bessie R. Jordan excused; Alt. Juror
No. 1, Carrie M. McCrae takes seat No. 9 in jury
box: Trial resumed; respited until 7-7-72 at 10:00
A.M.; rem. Reporter—D. Spencer; Robert T. Gaston;
ATTY; ROBINSON, J.
6 Motion for issuance of subpoena-GRANTED-
ROBINSON, J.
7 Trial resumed; same jury: Alt. Juror excused;
VERDICT: GUILTY AS CHARGED; Jury polled &
discharged; referred; remanded to custody.
Note from jury filed. Accommodations for lunch or-
dered & issued for 12 Jurors & 2 Deputy Marshals.
ROBINSON, J. Rep-D.Spencer Robert T. Gaston,
Atty
(1)
2
‘DATE PROCEEDINGS
Oct. 20 SENTENCE: (Mur. II) Five (5) years to
Twenty (20) years; Remanded to custody Judgment
and Commitment. ROBINSON, J. Rep: D. Spencer
R. Gaston, atty.
Oct. 20 Notice of appeal from sentence of OCT. 20,
1972.
Oct. 25 Copy of docket entries sent to USCA & US Atty.
Copies of notice of appeal sent to USCA, US Atty,
Atty, and deft.
Oct. 20 Notice of appeal from sentence of 10-20-72.
(error)
Oct. 27 Authorization for transcript of trial on July
5, 6 & 7. ROBINSON, J. #45741.
Nov. 13 Certified copy of ORDER USCA dated 11-13-72
appointing Robert T. Gastor & directing Clerk of
District Court to transmit the record as promptly
after the filing of transcripts as business of office
permits.
Nov. 20 Record on appeal delivered to USCA; In forma
pauperis (Clerk’s fee $1.00) Receipt from USCA
for original record
1973
Jan. 30 TRANSCRIPT of proceedings of 7-5-72; pages
1-48; Court’s copy: Rep-D.Spencer TRANSCRIPT of
proceedings of 7-6-72; pages 49-157; Court’s copy;
Rep-D.Spencer TRANSCRIPT of proceedings of 7-7-
72; pages 158-191; Court’s copy; Rep-D.Spencer
Feb. 1 Supplemental record on appeal delivered to
USCA; receipt acknowledged. ,
Feb. 5 Letter dated 1-16-72 in the nature of Motion for
reduction of sentence, FIAT. ROBINSON, J.
Feb. 7 Motion for new trial; ¢/s; p/a.
DATE PROCEEDINGS
Feb. 20 Government Opposition to motion for new trial;
Attachment 1; c/s (Attachment 2 to be attached when
obtained )
Feb. 28 ORDER denying motion of deft for new trial
without prejudice. (N) ROBINSON, J.
Mar. 12 MOTION for reconsideration of motion for
new trial; ¢/s; p/s.
Mar. 30 ORDER denying motion of deft for reconsidera-
tion of motion for new trial. (N) ROBINSON, J.
Jul. 24 MOTION of Defendant for new trial; Defend-
ant’s presence waived; heard & denied. ORDER deny-
ing Defendant’s motion for new trial. (N) Exhibit of
Defendant to motion for new trial, filed. ROBIN-
SON, J. Rep-D. Spencer Robert T. Gaston, Atty
Aug. 3 NOTICE of appeal from denial of deft’s. motion
for new trial.
Aug. 3 COPY of docket entries sent to USCA & US
Atty. Copies of notice of appeal sent to USCA, US
Atty, Atty, and Deft.
Aug. 6 RECORD returned from USCA; receipt ac-
knowledged.
Aug. 7 ORDER authorizing transcript of motion for
new trial on 7/24/73. (Spencer) ROBINSON, J.
#100751
Sept. 4 RECORD ON APPEAL delivered to USCA; re-
ceipt acknowledged.
Sep. 24 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS of July 24,
1973; Pages 1-23; Court copy; Rep-D.Spencer
Sep. 27 SUPPLEMENTAL RECORD ON APPEAL de-
livered to USCA; receipt acknowledged.
Nov. 7 CERTIFIED copy of Order USCA 11-5-73 ap-
pointing Robert Gaston.
4
DATE PROCEEDINGS
1974
Jan. 18 CERTIFIED copy of Order entered USCA
1-16-74 vacating Robert T. Gaston and appointing
Sherman Cohn as counsel.
Feb. 22 MOTION for new trial; P’/A; Affidavit and at-
tachment; C'S MOTION for Order permitting stu-
dent counsel to argue Motion for new trial; P/A;
Attachment (2); C/S
Mar. 8 ORDER authorizing transcript of Calendar Call
on 1-10-72. (Rep: D.Spencer) +137125 ROBINSON,
J.
Mar. 12 OPPOSITION of Government to Motion for
New Trial; C/S
Mar. 18 REPLY to Opposition to Motion for new trial;
Cs
Mar. 25 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS of 1-10-
72; Pages 1-8; Court copy; Rep-D.W.Spencer
Mar. 27 PRAECIPE entering appearance of Edwin J.
Bradley as Co-Counsel with court-appointed counsel
in U.S. C. A.
Apr. 1 SUPPLEMENTAL RECORD ON APPEAL de-
livered to USCA; receipt acknowledged.
Apr. 12 PETITION for Writ of Habeas Corpus ad
Prosequendum for defendant (FIAT). BRYANT, J.
FINDINGS, Order and Writ of Habeas Corpus ad
Prosequendum to Federal Reformatory for Women.
Alderson, W. Va. for defendant for 4/17/74. (N)
BRYANT, J.
Apr. 17 MOTION for new trial, heard & taken under
advisement; (defendant not present). ROBINSON, J.
Rep-G.Fedoration E.J.Bradiey, A.Rubenstein & R.T.
Gaston, Attys
DATE PROCEEDINGS
May 7 ORDER denying defendant’s motion for new
trial. (N) ROBINSON, J.
May 17 NOTICE OF APPEAL from Order denying
motion for a new trial of 5-7-74.
May 17 Copy of Notice of Appeal to USCA and U. S.
Attorney. Copy of docket entries to USCA, U. S.
Attorney, Attorney and Defendant.
May 20 ORDER authorizing transcript of motion for
new trial on 4-17-74. ROBINSON, J. Rep. G. Fedora-
tion No. 137116
May 30 CERTIFIED copy of Order USCA dated 5-29-
74, appointing Sherman Cohn as counsel for defend-
ant, and directing Clerk of District Court to trans-
mit the record as promptly after filing of transcript
as business of office permits. CERTIFIED copy of
Order USCA dated 5-29-74, consolidating No’s 72-
2072, 73-1956 and 74-1542 for al purposes.
Jun. 18 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS of 4/17/
74; pages 1 thru 33; Court’s copy. (Reporter E. T.
Fedoration )
6
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Holding a Criminal Term
Grand Jury Sworn in on October 6, 1971
Criminal No.
Grand Jury Original
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
LINDA V. AGURS
Violation: 22 D. C. Code 2403
(Second Degree Murder)
The Grand Jury charges:
On or about September 24, 1971, within the District of
Columbia, Linda V. Agurs, with malice aforethought, did
stab, James T. Sewell, with a knife, thereby causing in-
juries from which the said James T. Sewell did die on or
about September 24, 1971.
A TRUE BILL:
Foreman.
Attorney of the United States in and for the District of
Columbia
Copy for:
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Criminal No. 2081-71 ~
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
vs,
LINDA V. AGURS, DEFENDANT
January 10, 1972
Washington, D.C.
Calendar Call and Bond Review Hearing held before the
Honorable AUBREY E. ROBINSON, JR., United States
District Judge.
APPEARANCES:
JOHN O’B. CLARKE, Esq.
Assistant United States Attorney
For the Government
ROBERT T. GASTON, Esq.
For the Defendant
DOYNE W. SPENCER
Official Reporter
[2] PROCEEDINGS
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Linda V. Agurs, Criminal
Action 2081-71.
(Defendant present. )
THE COURT: This is on for bond review, is that
correct, Mr. Gaston?
MR. GASTON: That is correct, Your Honor. -
As to the question of bond, Your Honor, while there
have been some problems with Mrs. Agurs before with
8
regard to leaving the half-way house, she has been a life-
time resident of the D. C. area and she has practically all
of her relatives living in the area, and when she did leave
the halfway house, she didn’t actually leave the area.
Furthermore, as to the evidence in the case, I think that
Mr. Clarke would agree that there is a substantial defense
in the case of self-defense. I personally believe the Gov-
ernment’s case is quite weak. I have discussed the matter
with Mr. Clark at some length, and that conference with
him hasn’t changed my opinion at all in that regard.
THE COURT: I don’t have in my possession a Bail
Agency report.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, I have a Bail Agency
report.
THE COURT: Could I see it.
MR. CLARKE: Which goes back to September 27th.
{3} I will pass it up to the Court.
THE COURT: Would you, please.
What is the prospect of any employment?
Do you want to be heard in this matter, Mr. Clarke?
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, I would ask that the de-
fendant, if released, be given conditions that would ensure
the safety of the community besides her appearance at
trial. Those conditions being that she not be allowed to
leave the metropolitan area; that she obtain employment;
and, also, I would ask that the Court consider work re-
lease for this defendant.
MR. GASTON: Your Honor, the defendant has ad-
vised me that she can obtain employment within a day
or two.
THE COURT: What was the relationship between the
decedent and this defendant?
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, apparently this was, I
guess the easiest way to say it would be a prostitute-John
relationship. They registered at a tourist home as Mr.
and Mrs., and a couple of minutes after they had regis-
tered, the altercation broke out from which the decedent
died.
We do not know if there was any friendship relation-
ship besides their registering at that time.
9
MR. GASTON: Your Honor, if I may, I would like to
point out one strong piece of evidence, or the most strong
piece of evidence towards self-defense. That is, the person
[4] who was running the tourist home was hearing
screams of help from Mrs. Agurs, and he went to the door
of the room and the screams for help continued. Because
no one opened the door, he then broke it down and he
found the deceased on top of Miss Agurs on the bed
struggling over the knife in the matter, and she was still
—" “help” while he was still standing outside the
oor.
I think there is other evidence of self-defense, but that
is about the strongest piece of evidence of it.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, I might point out to the
Court, as defense counsel knows, the decedent was holding
the blade of the knife, whereas the defendant was holding
the handle of the knife.
THE COURT: Where would the defendant live if she
were released?
THE DEFENDANT: My sister.
THE COURT: The same place you were living before
on L Street?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: When you were on narcotics, was it
heroin?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: You went right back to it when you
left the half-way house, is that right?
THE DEFENDANT: Every now and then. I didn’t
have [5] no habit.
THE COURT: How long will it take to try this case?
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, I anticipate at least two
days.
THE COURT: What is your estimate, Mr. Gaston?
MR. GASTON: That would seem to be sufficient, Your
Honor. Perhaps two and a half.
THE COURT: I think she is entitled to her release.
She will live at 807 L Street with her sisters. Employ-
ment within ten days. Not to leave the Metropolitan
Washington Area, and undergo narcotics surveillance.
Any positive test for any kind of narcotics will bring you
10
right back here, Miss Agurs, right bacx here, and I am
going to revoke the bond at that point, and you will await
trial in jail if you bother with narcotics.
Now, she will have to contact the bail agency at least
once a week by telephone and her lawyer once a week by
telephone so he can get this case ready for trial.
Mr. Clarke, you wanted to say something?
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, you have covered the
condition I was about to offer.
THE COURT: If you prepare such an order, Mr.
Gaston, and explain it to Miss Agurs very carefully, I
will sign it.
MR. GASTON: Yes, Your Honor.
[6] In addition, we are here for a hearing on motions
today. There are no motions to be filed. As I stated
earlier, I had a rather lengthy discussion with Mr. Clarke
and we have reached a substantial agreement as to discov-
ery matters, and I was wondering if we might place that
agreement on the record at this time.
THE COURT: If it is necessary. Have you had all
of the discovery you want?
MR. GASTON: Well, not all, Your Honor, primarily
because Mr. Clarke does not have it all in his possession
at this time, such as photographs and things of that
nature, physical evidence. But he has indicated his will-
ingness to turn them over to me upon his receipt.
THE COURT: It has been this Court’s experience we
have never had a problem in that regard.
MR. GASTON: I have never had any, Your Honor.
THE COURT: If you have any, let me know.
MR. GASTON: Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Clarke has also
agreed to hand me the grand jury minutes one week be-
fore trial. Is that not right, Mr. Clarke?
MR. CLARKE: Yes, Your Honor.
Your Honor, I might also point out that I have sent
defense counsel a copy of the autopsy.
MR. GASTON: Then I will make this out.
THE COURT: If you will, I will pass the matter [7]
until you do.
(At this point the Court proceeds momentarily with
other business. )
11
THE COURT: Have Miss Agurs come up.
(The detendant comes to the podium.)
THE COURT: Now, when you get a job, you are
supposed to notify the bail agency right away so that they
know who your employer is. Do you understand that?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: And tell Mr. Gaston, also.
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Now, if you violate any of the condi-
tions of your release, back you come. And that includes
—_ arrested for anything else. Do you understand
that!
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: If you fail to show when you get notice,
now, notice is going to be sent to you at 807 L Street,
and that is Apartment 2, is it not?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: That is where the notices are going
to go to you. So you look at your mail every day, because
there will be a notice when you are to come back here for
trial. And if you fail to appear after you are notified,
that might get you five years in jail without regard to
this second degree murder business.
[8] Do you understand that?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: I think you do. I think you do. I have
ordered that you keep in touch with Mr. Gaston so he
can prepare to defend you in this case. He can’t do it by
himself.
Do you understand?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Allegedly you were there with the de-
cedent. Mr. Gaston was not. And you have got to help
him in order to help yourself. That is the only way he
can do his job.
(Whereupon the hearing was concluded. )
12
REPORTER’S CERTIFICATE
This record is certified by the undersigned Official Re-
porter of the United States District Court for the District
of Columbia to be the official transcript of the proceedings
indicated.
/s/ Doyne W. Spencer
DOYNE W. SPENCER
13
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Criminal No. 2081-71
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
vs.
LINDA V. AGURS, DEFENDANT
Wednesday, July 5, 1972
Washington, D.C.
Trial before The Honorable AUBREY E. ROBINSON,
JR., United States District Judge, and a jury.
APPEARANCES:
JOHN O’B. CLARKE, Esq.
Assistant United States Attorney
For the Government
ROBERT T. GASTON, Esq.
For the Defendant
CONTENTS
WITNESS Direct Cross Redirect Recross
Willetta Sewell 6 17 21 21
Lawrence E. Smith 24 40 45
EXHIBIT Identified Admitted Into Evidence
Government Nos. 1-7 6
1 No. 8 23 23
No.9 24
No. 10 27
Nos. 11-13 34
No. 1 43
14
[3] PROCEEDINGS
(The trial commenced at 2:05 p.m.)
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, the Government is ready
to proceed in the Agurs case.
THE COURT: Mr. Gaston.
MR. GASTON: The defense is ready, Your Honor, as
soon as my client is brought out.
Also, I have a couple of preliminary matters that I
wou'd like to bring out at this time.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Linda V. Agurs, Criminal
Action 2081-71.
‘The defendant enters the courtroom. )
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may the record reflect
that I have given to defense counsel a copy of all Jencks
Act material in this case, including the statement counsel
indicated was exculpatory.
MR. GASTON: I have received those items, Your
Honor, at this time. I have not had a chance to read
them yet.
The first matter which I wanted to discuss is the fact
that there is some evidence of narcotics use on the fringes
of this case. I don’t see how it is at all probative, and I
think it would be quite prejudicial to the defendant if
statements concerning that use were admitted into evi-
dence.
In talking to Mr. Clarke, it is my impression that he
does not intend to have that brought out in the presence
of {4] the jury, but I wou'd either like a stipulation from
him at this time to that effect, or I would like to make an
objection to any such statements in the presence of the
jury.
THE COURT: I don’t understand what you mean, a
stipulation. The Government knows what is probitive and
what isn’t, and I will rule on any objection made.
MR. GASTON: Once the statement comes out in ques-
tion—
THE COURT: Mr. Gaston, don’t argue with me dur-
ing the course of this trial. If it is not relevant, the Gov-
15
ernment has already indicated it has nothing to do with
this case and there will be no evidence. You make any
objection to any question that suggests it. We have no
problems at all with regard to it.
MR. GASTON: All right.
The other item, Your Honor, is that the defendant,
Miss Agurs, according to my information, does have a
prior conviction, an unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
I believe it was in 1970.
It’s a Louck question. I realize that the new statutes
permits that to be brought out for impeachment purposes,
and perhaps Your Honor would like to delay—I would
argue that that statute is unconstitutional, and the
grounds for keeping it out would be based on the Louck
and Gordon cases.
[5] Perhaps that could, if Your Honor wanted to wait
until after the Government’s case or now.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, I might add that al-
though the defendant was initially charged with unauthor-
ized use of a motor vehicle, there was a conviction of at-
tempted unauthorized use of motor vehicle. This would
fall under the misdemeanor section of the new Louck
Statutes, and on past decisions, unauthorized use of a
motor vehicle does not go to honesty. Therefore, the Gov-
ernment would not seek to introduce this as impeachment.
THE COURT: No problem. This is straight second
degree murder, uncomplicated as far as evidentuary prob-
lems are concerned.
All right. Is there anything else?
MR. CLARKE: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Let’s get the jury panel down.
(Voir dire examination of jury panel and the open-
ing statements not transcribed. )
MR. CLARKE: With the Court’s permission, the Gov-
ernment will call Mrs. Willetta Sewell.
Your Honor, in order to save time, I would ask that the
following articles be marked for identification as Govern-
ment exhibit numbers 1 through 7.
16
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Government Exhibit Num-
bers 1 through 7 marked for identification.
[6] (Government Exhibit Numbers 1 through 7 were
marked for identification. )
Whereupon,
WILLETTA SEWELL
was called as a witness and, having been first duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. With the Court’s permission, will you please state
your name, and speak loudly so everybody can hear you.
Will you spell your name for the Court Reporter.
A. Willetta Sewell.
Q. Is that Miss or Mrs?
A. Mrs.
Q. Mrs. Sewell, are you familiar with an individual
by the name of James T. Sewell?
A. He was my husband.
Q. When was the last time that you saw your husband
alive?
A. About a quarter of three.
Q. What day?
A. September 24, 1971.
Q. Going back to that day, September 24, 1971, about
what time was it in the day or night that you first saw
your husband?
{7} A. Between ten thirty and eleven o’clock.
Q. Do you know where your husband was working
during that couple of days before and on that day, if any
place?
A. He was working at the George Washington Univer-
sity Hospital in the housekeeping department. He was
off on that Friday.
Q. Friday would be September 24th?
A. Yes, it was.
17
Q. Going back to that day again, where was it that
you first saw your husband on that day, and what time
was that again?
A. Down at 14th and New York Avenue, Northwest.
It was between ten thirty and eleven. We were down at
the Holloway Restaurant.
Q. Is that in the morning?
A. Yes, we were down at the Holloway Restaurant
there on the corner of 14th and New York Avenue.
Q. Were you and your husband living together at that
point?
A. No, we was not.
Q. Were you or your husband going any place that
day?
A. Yes, we were.
. Where was that?
A. Well, we went shopping and we were supposed to
be leaving at six o’clock going to New York, and from
there to [8] Connecticut.
Q. Can you tell us, if any place you and your husband
went when you met him at that time at eleven o’clock in
the morning?
A. Well, we had lunch first at the Holloway Restau-
rant there on the corner. We left there and went to
Peoples Drug Store.
. Try to keep your voice up, if you can.
A. We left there and went to Peoples Drug Store.
He bought some after-shave lotion and some deodorant.
We walked around to Hahn’s which is next door from
there around the corner on 13th and G and picked up his
wedding band, and we left there and continued walking
until we got over on 7th Street. We were just window
shopping from store to store. We got over to 7th Street
and we went into Hecht’s, and went back up, I guess
you would call it, north on 7th Street. We stopped at
Majors and we ended up, we was at the Peoples Drug
Store at 7th and K, Northwest.
Q. Let me go back for a moment. You say you went
to pick up his wedding ring. Can you tell us where that
took place, if you remember?
A. This was at Spicer’s at 13th and G.
18
Q. What if anything happened when you picked up
the wedding ring, what did you do?
A. When we picked it up, we had put it in to have it
[9] stretched because he had broke his finger. After we
got the ring, it wouldn’t go on his finger because his finger
was swollen, so he tried and tried to put it on. So the
gentleman there at the jewelry store was very kind. He
put it on his finger for him.
Q. Now, when it was being placed on your husband’s
finger, did he say anything?
A. Yes, he told him it was too tight, but the jewelry
man insisted that he leave it as it was, and that way it
wouldn't come off, but when my husband’s finger got back
into place, it would be down to the right size.
Q. At this time I would like to show you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
Number One. I would ask that you take a look at that
particular item. Can you identify it?
A. Yes, this is my husband’s ring.
Q. Is that the wedding ring that you were talking
about that was placed on his hand that morning?
A. Yes, it is.
Q. Now, when you left your husband later on that day
at around a quarter of three, as you testified before, did
he still have that ring on him?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. Now, can you please indicate where if any place
you went once you got to the Peoples Drug Store, what
you did and [10] what happened at that point?
A. When we got to the Peoples Drug Store, we pur-
chased two root beer sodas. I took one and he took his.
We went over to catch my bus which was across the street
at Hahn’s. I was going down H Street.
I got on the Seat Pleasant bus, and he waited until I
got on mine, until I caught my bus.
His bus was ready to pull off, so he ran back across
the street against the light and got on a 70 Silver Spring
bus. He was supposed to be going to his father’s house.
Q. Where does his father live?
A. He lives at 12th and Vermont, Northwest.
19
Q. Now, about what time was it in the afternoon that
you last saw your husband? .
A. It was a quarter of three.
Q. This was at 7th and New York Avenue, is that
correct?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. Now, going back to that particular time and a little
bit before hand, did you or your husband have any dis-
cussion of money?
A. I didn’t understand you.
Q. Did your husband or you have any discussion about
whether or not he had any money?
[11] A. Well, we had discussed that. He had told me
that we were going to New York, which is true.
Q. Let me ask you this: Did he show you anything?
A. Yes, he did.
. Can you tell us about that, please.
A. Well, when we were in Peoples Drug Store, I had
put my clothes in the cleaners, and he was supposed to
have been getting them out. So he gave me $15 to get my
clothes out of the cleaners. And at the time he asked me
if I would count his money, which I did, and I counted
$360 before he gave me the $15 for the cleaners after
which that left him $345, and that is what he was left
with when we left.
Q. Did you see where your husband took the money
from when he gave it to you?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Where did he take it from?
A. From his right pants pocket.
Mrs. Sewell, are you familiar with whether or not
your husband carried a wallet?
A. Yes, I am.
. Do you know if he was carrying a wallet that day,
September 24th?
A. Yes, he was.
Q. Excuse me?
A. Yes, he was.
[12] Q. What type of wallet was that?
A. It was a brown imitation alligator wallet.
20
Q. Do you know if he kept his money in the wallet on
that day?
A. No, he did not.
Q. Do you know if your husband had any habit about
keeping money in his wallet?
A. He didn’t have any habit at all of keeping it in
his wallet. My husband never kept money in his wallet, if
he had over $5. When he got down to $3, he would put
it in his wallet. Otherwise he would keep it in his front
pocket.
At this time I would like to show you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
Number Two. Can you identify that particular item?
A. Yes, I can.
Q. What do you identify it as?
A. My husband’s wallet.
Q. What about the papers that are there?
A. He has a letter that I wrote to him while he was in
North Carolina, his insurance policy card, his National
Bank card.
Q. Well, let me just simplify matters. They are his
identification papers?
A. Yes, they are.
. Did you see any of those papers on him that day?
[13] <A. Yes, I did.
Q. Mrs. Sewell, are you familiar with what type of
clothing your husband was wearing that day?
A. Yes, I am.
Q. What type of clothing was he wearing?
A. He had on his blue work shirt, his blue work paiits,
a green knitted T-Shirt, black loafers, and he also had
on a short western jean jacket.
Q. At this time I would like to show you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
Number Three. Will you take a look at that, please. Can
you identify it?
A. Yes. They are his work pants.
Q. Are they the work pants that he was wearing that
day?
A. Yes, it is.
21
Q. I would like to show you Government Exhibit Num-
ber Four for identification. Can you identify that?
A. Yes. This is his work shirt.
Q. I would like to show you Government Exhibit Num-
ber Five for identification. Can you identify that?
A. Yes. That is his T-Shirt.
Q. Was he wearing all of these items on that day?
A. Yes, he was.
Q. Now, are you familiar with what type of under-
shorts your husband wore, insofar as what are called boxer
shorts or [14] briefs?
A. He wore briefs.
Q. I would like to show you what has been marked
for identification as Government Exhibit Number Six.
Can you identify that?
A. He wore shorts like that. I can’t say that those
are the ones he had on, sir.
Q. What type of shoes did your husband have on that
day?
A. Black loafers. The top, they are not, they are made
on the loafer style, but they has a ].igh, sort of high point
on them.
Q. I would like to show you what has been marked
as Government Exhibit Number Seven. Can you identify
that?
A. Yes, I can.
Q. What do you identify that as?
A. Those are his shoes.
Q. Mrs. Sewell, going back to that day, the 24th of
September, did your husband ask you to go any place
with him during the day itself?
A. Yes, he did.
Will you please tell us about that.
A. Well, he asked me three or four times to go to the
tourist home with him.
Q. What tourist home was he talking about?
[15] A. Roberta’s Tourist Home out on Benning Road,
Northeast.
Q. What if anything did you say to him?
22
A. I told him I was not going. So he kept insisting,
and I still answered him no. The last thing he asked me
just before I got on my bus was had I changed my mind,
and I told him no, I had not.
Q. Now, at the time you got on your bus, what if any-
thing did you see your husband do?
A. When I got on my bus, his bus, just before pul’ing
off, he ran back across the street between the traffic to
get his bus and the driver waited for him, and his bus
went on and made the light.
Q. Did you see your husband any time after that?
A. No, I didn’t.
Q. Did you see your husband’s body any time after
A. Not until the night before the funeral.
Q. That was your husband’s funeral, is that correct?
A. Yes, it was.
. Getting back to one more thing: Did you ever see
your husband carry a knife?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. What type of knife did he carry?
A. A small black knife about this long, about six or
seven inches.
[16] Q. Would you please demonstrate that again so
we can see.
A. About this length closed.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may the record reflect
that is approximately three inches.
THE COURT: Very well.
MR. CLARKE:
Q. Continue.
A. It was about six or seven inches when it was open.
Q. Did you see if your husband had that knife on him
that day?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Did you ever see your husband wear a knife in a
sheath?
A. No, sir.
MR. CLARKE: May I have the Court’s indulgence
for a second.
23
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. You have indicated that your husband stopped at
the drug store and picked up some items?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. When you left him that day, did you see what if
anything he did with those items?
A. He had them when he left.
Q. What did he have them in?
[17] A. A Peoples Drug Store bag.
Q. What were those items again?
A. Deodorant and after-shave lotion.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honor.
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. Mrs. Sewell, isn’t it a fact that in addition to that
pocket knife, your husband very often did carry a hunt-
ing knife or hunting type of knife in a sheath that he
wore on his belt?
A. No, he did not.
Q. He never did?
A. No.
. When was it that you told the police or first teld
them about the money that your husband had on him that
day?
A. When I talked to Detective Horstkamp and Detec-
tive Greenwell.
Q. Do you remember when that was?
A. I don’t exactly remember the date, sir.
Q. Well, do you have an approximate idea how long
after this incident that it was? Was it a week after, a
month after, two months?
A. No, it was not.
Q. It was not what?
[18] <A. It was not. I can tell you when it was. I came
down—I was looking for insurance papers and an insur-
ance card and I talked to Detective Hortskamp and Detec-
tive Greenwell. But at the time we did not mention it,
and it was approximately a week later that I mentioned
24
about the money. I asked them about the money, where
was it, along with the rest of his things.
Q. So the first time you saw Detective Hortskamp,
you didn’t mention the money?
A. I didn’t mention the money. All I wanted right
then was the papers that I needed.
Q. When was the first time that you saw Detective
Hortskamp in relation to the time of this incident? Was
it a week after this incident, two weeks, or when was it?
A. It was about a week afterwards.
Q. Then it was another week after that that you first
mentioned the money to him?
A. No. I saw him—my husband was killed on the
24th and I went looking for his papers the week-end.
I talked to him by phone. He told me to come down at
No. 1 and to go over there to Homicide and they would
ask them about his things.
I did, and I didn’t get any consideration whatsvever.
So then I goes back to him and I mentioned it to him.
I told him, also, then that he had money on him, but
at the time I was nervous and I didn’t remember.
[19] Q. All right. Now, do you remember what the
date of that occasion was, or approximate date?
A. It was on a Monday.
Q. In the month of October?
A. Yes.
Q. In the first part of October or the last part of
October?
A. The first part.
Q. Now, did there come a time—well, let me ask you
first: You and your husband had been separated?
A. Off and on.
Q. How long had you been separated this time?
A. The last time?
Q. Yes.
A. About six months.
All right. Had there taken place the beginnings
of 2 reconciliation between you and your husband?
A. Yes, there were. —
Q. That was the purpose of the trip to New York?
A. Yes.
25
‘ Q. Was it for that reason that he had the money with
im?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. Are you sure that he didn’t give you
any of the money?
[20] A. I am positive he didn’t give me nothing but
$15, sir.
Q. He didn’t give it to you to keep for the trip?
A. No. I asked him to, and he said he would keep it
himself.
Q. Did there come a time when you went to Buddies
Tourist Home after this incident?
A. I went to Buddies Tourist Home afterwards before
my husband was buried.
Q. All right. At that time you spoke with some of
the people who worked there?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. You spoke with the person who owned it who goes
by the name of Mr. Buddy?
A. I wouldn’t know, sir.
Q. Does the name Lawrence Smith mean anything to
you?
A. I didn’t ask any of the gentlemen their names.
There was three gentlemen there.
Q. Isn’t it a fact that you told those gentlemen that
your husband did in fact carry a knife and that he would
use it?
A. No, I did not.
Q. You don’t recall making that statement?
A. I didn’t make that statement at all.
Q. All right. Now, you didn’t see the actual incident,
[21] did you?
A. No, I did not.
Q. And you have no firsthand knowledge of what
happened in that room?
A. I do not.
MR. GASTON: I have no other questions, Your Honor.
26
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Mrs. Sewell, when you first were interviewed by the
police about a week or so after the killing, did they ask
you anything about money?
A. No, he did not.
Q. Mrs. Sewell, did you receive any money from
George Washington Hospital?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. What was that money that you received from the
hospital?
A. $2,000.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honor.
RECROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. When was it you received that money, Mrs. Sewell?
A. It was in November.
Q. Following this incident?
[22] <A. Yes, it was his life insurance they paid off.
I also picked up a check of his the following pay day for,
I think it was $23 or $34, something iike that.
MR. GASTON: I have no other questions, Your Houor.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honor.
THE COURT: You may step down.
(The witness steps down.)
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may I have the Court’s
indulgence for a second.
Your Honor, I at this time, with the Court’s permis-
sion, I would like to announce a stipulation.
THE COURT: Very well.
MR. CLARKE: The stipulation will be as follows,
Your Honor: It is agreed between the defense and the
Government that if Evelyn B. Thomason were called to
testify, she would testify as follows: That she is employed
by George Washington University Hospital. That she
27
has care, custody, and control over employment records.
And those records would show that on September 24, 1971,
James T. Sewell was given a check from George Wash-
ington University in the amount of $143.13. And that
check would show that it was endorsed by James T. Sewell.
At this time, Your Honor, I would ask that this item
[23] be marked as Government Exhibit Number Eight
for identification. I will show it to counsel.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Government Exhibit Num-
ber Eight marked for identification.
(Government Exhibit Number Eight was marked for
identification. )
MR. CLARKE: A further part of the stipulation,
Your Honor, is that Government Exhibit Number Eight
is a true and accurate copy of the check that George
Washington University made out to James T. Sewell on
September 24, 1971.
(Government Exhibit Number Eight was received in
evidence. )
THE COURT: That is a stipulation, ladies and gentle-
men. In other words, there is no other evidence needed
about that fact. He got this check from George Washing-
ton University in the amount of $143.13 on September 24,
1971, and the check was endorsed by him, and that is a
true and accurate copy of that check.
MR. CLARKE: With the Court’s permission, the Gov-
ernment will call Lawrence Eugene Smith.
While Mr. Smith is coming in, Your Honor, I would ask
that this item be marked as Government Exhibit Number
Nine for identification.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Government Exhibit Num-
ber Nine marked for identification.
[24] (Government Exhibit Number Nine was marked
for identification. ) ‘
28
Whereupon,
LAWRENCE E. SMITH
was called as a witness and, having been first duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. With the Court’s permission, will you please state
your name, sir.
A. Lawrence Eugene Smith.
Q. Where are you employed at the present time, Mr.
Smith?
A. Buddies Tourist Home.
Q. You have to speak up.
A. Buddies Tourist Home.
Q. Going back, Mr. Smith, to September 24, 1971, a
Friday, where were you employed on that day?
A. Buddies Tourist Home.
Q. What type of occupation, position, did you have at
that time?
A. Sir?
Q. What did you do at Buddies?
A. Well, I was an all around man—clerk, painter—
a little bit of everything.
[25] Q. Going back to that day, September 24, 1971,
did you have an occasion to see anyone at Buddies that
you now see today.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who is that, sir?
A. The young lady over there.
_ Q. Will you please point her out and tell us what she
is wearing.
A. Over there.
Q. What is she wearing?
A. Today?
Q. Yes.
A. A brown dress.
29
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may the record reflect
the witness has pointed and described the dress of the
defendant.
THE COURT: It may.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. About what time was it in the day or night that
you saw the defendant?
A. About four thirty.
Q. In the day or night?
A. Four thirty in the evening.
Q. Can you tell us under what circumstances you
saw her?
[26] A. Her and a gentleman came in together.
Q. What did they do?
A. They registered the card for a room.
Q. They registered, is that correct?
A. Yes, sir, the gentleman registered a card.
Q. What did they do after they registered?
A. They went to the room.
Q. What room did they go to?
A. Room number two.
Q. Do you know how they got to that room?
A. I took them around to the room myself.
Q. Now, Mr. Smith, I would ask that you take a look
in a second at an item.
THE COURT: I think you are going to have to shove
that around so the defendant and her lawyer can see it.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Mr. Smith, can you see that particular item from
where you are?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Let me move it back a little bit. Can you identify
that, sir?
A. Yes, sir. That is the room number two right there.
Q. What is in room number two?
A. Asink, a dresser on one corner by the window, and
then you have the bed. In relation to the bed you have
[27] another, a table.
30
Q. Is there a bath room in that room?
A. No, sir.
Q. Where is the bath room?
A. The bath room is next door near the telephone
booth.
Q. How do you get into the bath room?
A. You can come out of the room right into the bath
room.
Q. Can you get to the bath room from the room itself?
A. No, you can’t.
Q. In other words, you have to go outside?
A. Yes, you do.
Q. What type of locks do you have on the doors to the
rooms?
A. It is not a spring lock. It’s a heavy duty lock.
Q. It is one which closes automatically and locks auto-
matically?
A. No, it don’t. You have to lock it from the inside.
MR. CLARKE: At this time I would ask that this be
marked as Government Exhibit Number Ten for identifi-
cation. I will show it to the defense counsel.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Government Exhivit Num-
ber Ten marked for identification.
(Government Exhibit Number Ten [28] was marked
for identification. )
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Mr. Smith, going back to that time when they came
in, will you please indicate exactly what took place when
they came in to sign in the card.
A. They came in and signed. I spoke to them as they
came in, I said “How are you all doing?” They signed
the card.
What did they sign the card as?
Mr. and Mrs.
Was there any particular charge?
$4.00.
How was that paid, do you know?
Four one dollar bills.
POPrPO PO
31
Do you know where the man got the money?
From out of his pocket.
Did you see if he had anything else at that time?
No, I didn’t.
What happened after the bill was paid?
I directed them to the room.
This was room number 2?
Room number 2.
. At this time I would like to show you what has
been marked as Government Exhibit Number Ten. Will
you please take a look at that particular item.
(29] Q. Can you identify it, sir?
A. Yes. My initials are at the bottom of it. It is
my handwriting.
Q. What do you identify it as?
A. Sir?
Q. What do you identify it as?
A. As a register card.
Q.
OPOPOPopo
What name is it in?
A. Mr. and Mrs. James Johnson.
Is that the register card used by the individuals in
this case, the defendant and the man with her?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Mr. Smith, can you tell us what happened, if any-
thing, after they went to the room? What time, first of
all, does the card reflect that they rented that room?
Repeat that, please.
What time does the card show?
4:30. ~
In the evening?
4:30 p.m.
Did anything happen later on?
I heard someone screaming later on.
. About how long after they went into the room, you
showed them to the room, would you say it was?
A. About a quarter to five.
[30] Q. About fifteen minutes later?
A. About fifteen minutes later.
. Can you tell us where you were, who you were
with, and what happened?
OPOoPOoPoy
32
A. I was in room 14 with Mr. Henderson and Mr.
Griffin at the time.
Q. Is that Mr. Thomas Henderson and Mr. Sherman
Griffin?
A. Yes. I was sitting there talking for about fifteen
minutes, we sat there for about that long, and then I
wag A scream and I heard somebody holler “help” just
ike that.
Q. Were you able to tell whether it was a male or a
female voice?
_A. It was a female voice. You can distinguish the
difference between a female voice, whether it was heavy
or light.
y. In your opinion, it was a female voice?
A. It was a female voice.
Q. Then what happened, sir?
A. I came to the center hallway which was on the
1320 side, and I came to the circle hallway and I told
Mr. Henderson to come on, and we stood there to try to
find the direction where it came from. And when we
found out where it came from—
Q. Did you hear it again, sir?
A. Sir?
Q. Did you hear any more noise?
[31] A. Yes, sir. She was still hollering “help”.
Q. This was the female voice?
A. A female voice.
Q. Then what happened?
A. We went around by the office where it was and,
number 2, and me and Mr. Henderson, after we got there,
I knocked on the door and I didn’t get no reply. The only
reply I got was “help”. And we stood there for about
ten seconds. I didn’t get no reply, so I just kicked the
door open.
Q. When you kicked the door, what if anything hap-
pened?
A. Sir?
Q. What happened when you kicked the door open?
A. When I kicked the door open, the gentleman was
laying over the top of the lady trying to push a knife
into her chest.
MR. CLARKE: Now, Mr. Smith, I would ask at this
time that you come down here and take a look at Gov-
ernment Exhibit Number Nine for identification.
(Witness goes to the blackboard.)
MR. CLARKE: Now, standing over there, take the
pointer and this microphone.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Keeping this red pen available, will you please,
first of all, just indicate where the doorway is into the
room?
A. Right here.
[32] Q. Now, where were you when you first heard
the scream, where abouts, in that drawing would you
have been?
THE COURT: Hold the microphone.
THE WITNESS: You can’t show it here. We have a
center hallway. It is up here, coming back this way.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. About how many feet away would you say it is?
A. Fifteen feet.
Q. Now, once you broke down the door, where did you
see the man and woman?
A. Right here. She was hanging over the bed.
Q. Now, you are indicating facing the bed it would
be the right side of the bed near the wall?
A. Right here, yes sir.
Q. She was what?
A. She was hanging off the bed and he was on top of
her with the knife.
Q. Was she on her stomach or on her back or side?
A. She was on her back with one leg hanging off the
bed.
. Where was he?
A. Over the top of her trying to push the knife into
her chest.
Q. Will you please take the red pen and just mark
with an X on that diagram where it was you saw both
of them.
[33] A. Right here.
Q. A little larger.
A. Yes.
Q. Now, what did you do when you saw this?
A. I went—
Q. Try to speak into the microphone.
A. I went in and I grabbed them. I grabbed the blade
of the knife from him and I pulled him off the lady. We
struggled all the way back to here where the police found
that on the floor right there.
Q. Indicating on the floor area?
A. Yes.
Q. Mark that area with a little 1. Why don’t we do
it this way. Use a zero, because that will distinguish it.
A. Okay. After I got the knife out of his hand, which
was lying on the floor at the time, I took the knife and
put it on top of the telephone booth right here. Then
I went into the telephone booth and called the operator
and told her to connect me with the Rescue Squad and
the Police Depatment.
MR. CLARKE: Mr. Smith, you can take the stand
again.
(Witness resumes the stand.)
MR. CLARKE: At this time, Your Honor, I would
ask that this item be marked as Government Exhibit
Number Eleven for identification, number twelve and
number thirteen.
(34) THE DEPUTY CLERK: Government Exhibit
Numbers Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen marked for iden-
tification.
(Government Exhibit Numbers Eleven, Twelve and
Thirteen were marked for identification. )
BY MR. CLARKE:
@. Mr. Smith, I would like to show you at this time
what has been marked for identification as Government
Exhibit Number Eleven. Will you please take a look
at that.
A. Yes, sir.
35
Can you identify that particular item?
Yes, sir.
What do you identify it as?
A. This was the knife I took from the gentleman and
put it on top of the telephone booth.
Q. At this time I would like to show you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
Number Twelve.
A. That belongs to ity too.
Q. Can you identify that?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is it?
A. It’s a knife we have around the tourist home. We
have a lot of them. We use them to cut up meat and
stuff. We have a little kitchen back there. _
Q. Do you know where that particular knife was [35]
located?
A. It was on the top of the telephone booth.
Was that there the time you placed that knife,
Government Exhibit Eleven, on the telephone booth?
A. It was there at the time. They found it up there.
Q. I would like to show you now what has been
marked as Government Exhibit Number Twelve. Can
you identify that item? ae
A. Well, the police say they found it in the room.
Q. My question is can you identify that?
A. No, I can’t identify it, sir.
Q. Did you see that on that day?
A. Later on when the police brought it out of the
OPO
Q. Did you see it on top of the telephone or any place?
A. No, sir. cathy
Q. Now, Mr. Smith, when you first saw the individ-
ual who came with the man who was in the room, the
defendant in this case, did you see what she was wear-
ing?
A. Yes, sir; a blue blouse. ;
Q. Will you please describe what she was wearing at
hat time?
' rt "A blue blouse, a pair of dungarees and a pair of
tennis shoes, blue and white stripes.
36
Q. What kind of shoes?
A. Tennis shoes.
{36] Q. Continue.
A. Blue with white stripes around them.
When you went into the room and this woman was
screaming, did you see what she w
time? as wearing at that
A. She had on panties and a bra.
Q. Did you see if she had any shoes on at that time?
A. No, sir.
Q. You didn’t see or you don’t know?
A I didn’t see. .
. Now, can you describe what the man was wearing
— x? ig Pepe the room when you broke in?
.. He didn’t have no shirt on; idn’ y
i ete tee n; he didn’t have no shoes
Q. Just a pair of pants?
A. A pair of pants.
Q. Did you see if there was any blood or anything
when you came into the room?
A. There was a lot of blood.
Q. Did you see any on the man?
A. All I seen was a lot of blood.
©. Did you notice if the man himself had any blood
on him?
A. No, I didn’t.
Q. What about the woman?
on - ae soe pay no mind.
. at happened to the woman ;
in and took the =a a of her? cartes
A. I came out and made a telephone call and called
the police.
Q. Let me ask you this: When you came out to call
the police, was she still in the room?
A. Yes, sir, at present.
Q. Excuse me?
A. At the present, I believe so, when I came out and
put the knife on the telephone bbdoth.
Q. What happened then?
A. At that time I heard the doorbell ring.
37
Q. When you say you heard the doorbell ring, exactly
what do you mean?
A. In other words, we have two buzzers. One will ring
when somebody is going out and it will ring if somebody
wants to come in.
Q. They are different sounds?
A. Yes, they are different sounds.
Q. What sound did you hear then?
A. Somebody going out.
THE COURT: Going out where? What door?
THE WITNESS: Out the 1320 side.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. That is the same side this room was on?
[38] A. No, sir. This is up on the 1322 side.
THE COURT: I think you better explain that to the
jury
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. How many entrances are there to or from this
building.
A. We have two entrances, but we don’t use one en-
trance.
Q. Where are the two entrances?
A. We got one on the 1322 side and one on the 1320
side.
Q. Which side do you use?
A. We use the 1320 side for entrance.
Q. Is that the side where you heard the buzzer ring?
A. That is the only one that has the buzzer.
MR. CLARKE: Now, Mr, Smith, I would ask at this
time that you step down and come over to where I am.
Now, at this time I would ask that you take Government
Exhibit Number Eleven and stand over here so everyone
can see.
(Witness goes to the blackboard. )
MR. CLARKE: Take Government Exhibit Number
Eleven and use your hands as if you were the woman
that you saw on the bed. How was she holding that knife,
and use my hands as the man who was on top.
38
THE WITNESS: Well, I took the knife from the
man’s hands like this.
(39] (Indicating)
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Mr. Smith, will you please indicate exactly what
you saw when you got to the bed, how did it appear to
you at that time?
A. At the time? I don’t understand.
Q@. How did the hand appear to you.
A. Well, it appeared—
Q. Take this as the knife and please indicate how it
was—you being the girl and myself being the man.
A. Well, it had to be—
Q. Not how it had to be. What you saw.
A. You are the man and I am the girl?
Q. How is the knife pointing?
A. Pointing at the woman. She was trying to get back
up this way and stop it coming into her chest.
Q. Now, where was the man on the woman? Was he
directly over her?
A. Yes, he was over her.
Q. Now, directly, indicating this to be the bed, just like
this, directly over her?
A. She was hanging off the bed, one leg off the bed,
one leg on the bed.
Q. Where were his legs when he was over her?
A. He was on the bed.
[40], Q. Where were his legs? Pointing which way?
A. Just like this.
Q. Try to speak up Icudly so we can hear.
A. Pointing back this way. His head would be this
way at the head of the bed.
MR. CLARKE: You may take a seat again, sir.
(Witness resumes the stand.)
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honor.
39
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. Mr. Smith, when Miss Agurs and Mr. Sewell came
into the tourist home, who was it that filled out that card
that you identified before?
A. The gentleman.
Q. The gentleman did?
A. Yes, sir. They have to fill it out.
Q. He completed the whole form, did he not?
A. ‘Yes, sir, except for the bottom part of it where
I completed it with my initials and everything on the
bottom. noe
Q. Now, when you went into the room after this inci-
dent occurred, was there any evidence of a struggle that
might have occurred between the people who were in the
room?
A. All I saw was a lot of blood.
THE COURT: Where did you see the blood?
[41] THE WITNESS: On the floor, the bed and the
wall.
MR. GASTON: Will you come down here and tell the
ladies and gentlemen of the jury the various areas where
you saw blood.
(Witness goes to the blackboard.)
THE WITNESS: Here and here and all over the bed
and along side of the wall here, and on this side of the
wall.
MR. GASTON: Your Honor, could the witness take a
pen or something and mark it so the record is clear.
THE WITNESS: On this side here, the wall here and
the floor and on the bed.
(Indicating).
MR. GASTON: While you are here, Mr. Smith, can I
get you to draw on this paper a floor plan of the first
floor of the tourist home showing the location of this par-
ticular room in relation to the location where the sign-in
desk is and the hallway that leads to it.
40
THE WITNESS: Here is the hallway coming down.
Here is the office here. Here is room number 2, the bath
room and the telephone.
MR. GASTON:
Q. Wait a minute. Try and do it a little more clearly
so the ladies and the gentlemen of the jury can identify
the rooms. In other words, make each room a square.
What is that?
A. This is the 1322 side. Here is the hall.
[42] MR. GASTON: You have to speak up.
THE COURT: Let him draw it and then describe it
for us. You draw it and then when you are through
drawing, stand back and take the pointer and describe it
to the jury.
MR. GASTON: Take your time.
THE WITNESS: This is the hall.
MR. GASTON:
Q. Where is the front door?
A. The front door is right here by room 14.
Q. Was that where they came in?
A. They came in through here.
Q. Where is the sign-in desk?
A. In the center hallway right here.
Q. How would they get from the front door to the
desk?
A. They come in and come down this hallway, come
in the front door right here.
Q. Draw a path, if you would, please.
A. (Witness indicates on diagram.)
Q. From the desk where did they go, where does the
path go?
A. From here they come from the desk and into room
number 2 right here.
Q. Now, you stated you were at the desk when they
came in. Where were you when you heard the screams?
A. In room 14 here.
[43] Q. In room 14?
A. Right.
41
Approximately how far here is room 14 from room
2?
About fifteen feet.
What were you doing in room 14?
Sitting there talking.
Can you recall approximately how many screams
for help that you heard?
A. No, sir, I couldn’t.
Q. Can you give an approximation? Was it five, ten,
twenty?
A. It could have been five, it could have been ten.
. In the area of five or ten?
A. It could have been.
THE COURT: Are you through with him at the
board?
MR. GASTON: Yes, I am. You can return.
THE COURT: Return to the stand again.
(Witness resumes the stand.)
MR. CLARKE: May that diagram be marked as de-
fendant exhibit Number One.
THE COURT: Very well.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Defendant Exhibit Number
One marked for identification.
(Defendant Exhibit Number One was marked for
identification. )
[44] BY MR. GASTON:
Q. Now, you identified a sheath that counsel for the
Government showed you, a knife sheath.
THE COURT: That’s not so.
THE WITNESS: Sir?
THE COURT: He withdraws the question. Do you
want to rephrase the question. Did you hear his testi-
mony, counsel?
MR. GASTON: All right.
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. There came a time you picked up the knife—cor-
rect?
A. Yes, sir.
" OPop ©
42
Q. Did you ever see the container which held that
knife? |
A. No, sir.
Q. You never did?
A. No, sir.
THE COURT: You saw it after the police showed it
to-you, did you not?
THE WITNESS: After the police showed it to me,
yes, sir; not before.
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. Did you see where the police got it from?
A. No, I didn’t.
. Now, how long was your struggle with Mr. Sewell
over [45] the knife?
A. I guess it took about ten or fifteen seconds.
Q. Was anyone else involved in that struggle with
Mr. Sewell?
Mr. Griffin.
Mr. Griffin?
And Mr. Henderson.
Did he get involved in it, also?
Yes.
. So it took all three of you that length of time to
get the knife from him?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did there come a time when Mrs. Sewell came to
the tourist home?
A. She came there once.
Q. Did she talk at all about a knife that her husband
may have had?
A. She told me that her husband would use a knife.
MR. GASTON: I have no other questions, Your
Honor.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Mr. Smith, when you say you were struggling for
this knife, exactly what do you mean?
A. I had the knife—in other words, I had my hand
on the knife because I cut my hand trying to take the
knife from [46] him.
PO PO Pp
©
43
Q. What was he doing?
A. He was still clutching to the knife.
Q. Was he saying anything or doing anything?
A. He wasn’t saying nothing. He just wouldn’t turn
the knife loose.
Q. How did you finally get it from his hands?
A. Mr. Griffin and I twisted it out of his hands. Then
— I got it, I took it and put it on top of the telephone
Q. When you were twisting it out of his hand, where
was the defendant at that time?
A. I think she was still on the bed at the time. She
never did come down. I didn’t see her go out of the door,
actually.
Q. Out which door?
A. Out the 1320 side.
Q. Did you see her go out of the room number 2?
A. No, sir.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions.
THE COURT: Did you ever hear a man’s voice come
out of that room at all?
THE WITNESS: No, sir.
THE COURT: So far as you know, he never uttered
a sound?
[47] THE WITNESS: No, sir.
THE COURT: Any further questions?
MR. GASTON: No further questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. You may step down.
THE WITNESS: Thank you.
THE COURT: Do you wish to have the witness ex-
cused?
MR. CLARKE: Yes, Your Honor, I would ask that
the witness be excused at this point.
MR. GASTON: I would like to have him remain on
call, Your Honor, if I could. I may want to use him in
my case.
44
THE COURT: Very well. You will be on telep’ one
call, Mr. Smith.
(Witness excused. )
THE COURT: Now, ladies and gentlemen, I know
you would like to work longer today, but I think we are
going to call it quits. We have to for several reasons—
first of all, you are going to find out that it is a lot harder
to sit and listen to somebody talk all day than you ever
believed. |
Second'y, we have other things that have to be done
besides the trial of this case, and we have got to have
some daylight hours to do it because we have personnel
that have a right to a decent working day, as well as the
judges need some time.
[48| So we-are going to adjourn at 4:30. I would ask
you to remember not to discuss any of this evidence among
yourselves or with anyone else. Have a pleasant evering,
and return at 9:30 tomorrow morning. You will reassem-
ble in the jury room and, hopefully, we can start at 9:30
or a few minutes thereafter. I may have some preliminary
matters in other cases that will delay us, but we can’t
predict with great precision.
But if you are ready and al! of the other people are
ready and everything falls into place, we should be able
to proceed with this trial with some dispatch.
Another thing to remember during the course of the
month: This is not a Ford assembly line where you have
got buttons to push and everything falls in place. We
are dealing with human beings. We are dealing with
human beings, and we cannot run it like you would run
some factory, and there may be five or ten minutes leeway
and there may be times when you don’t know what is
happening, but there is nobody sleeping, believe me.
All right. Good night.
(Whereupon, at 4:30 p.m. the trial was adjourned to
reconvene Thursday, July 6, 1972.)
45
[49]
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Criminal No. 2081-71
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
a
LINDA V. AGURS, DEFENDANT
Thursday, July 6, 1972
Washington, D.C.
Trial resumed before The Honorable AUBREY E.
ROBINSON, JR., United States District Judge, and a
jury.
APPEARANCES:
JOHN O’B. CLARKE, Esq.
Assistant United States Attorney
For the Government
ROBERT T. GASTON, Esq.
For the Defendant
[50]
CONTENTS
Witness Direct Cross Redirect
Thomas O. Henderson 57 65 68
Lawrence R. Kennedy 70 76
Joseph C. Quantrille 77 81 82
William J. Brownlee 89 102
Sherman C. Griffin 110 118 118
Robert E. Laeghery 120 135
Stanley E. Alexander 135 139
Jane Brazier 142 147 149
Exhibit Identified Admitted Into Evidence
Government No. 14 80
? No. 15 88 89
» No. 16 100
a Nos. 17A-17G 122
= No. 18 129
- Nos. 1-14, 16, 18 156
46
(51) PROCEEDINGS
( The trial resumed at 10:10 a.m., the defendant be-
ing present. ) .
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Li _
Action 2081-71. inda V. Agurs, Criminal
THE COURT: Are you ready, counsel?
Bg CLARKE: Yes, Your Honor, the Government is
MR. GASTON: Yes, Your Honor, the defense is
ready. I have one matter which I would like to bring
before the Court prior to bringing the jury out, if I may. .
Yesterday in chambers, informally, I brought to the
attention of the Court the matter which Mr. Clarke had
brought to my attention yesterday involving a Brady
question about two witnesses who neither he nor I have
been able to locate who his police officer witness has in-
dicated would testify that the decedent was accustomed
to wearing the kind of knife involved here.
I have continued to try and contact those people and
have been unsuccessful, and haven’t heard anything con-
trary from Mr. Clarke and I assume he has been unsuc-
cessful, also.
I also indicated in chambers that I didn’t recall Mr.
Clarke advising me of what these witnesses would testify
to during discovery procedures earlier in the case. I have
gone over my file and checked my notes on the conversa-
tions I had [52] with Mr. Clarke, and I could find no
such indication in those notes.
Also, it was my impression that when Mr. Clarke told
me yesterday about this matter, that it had come to his
knowledge just from talking to a police officer, something
of that nature. But, of course, I don’t know about that.
But at any rate, as far as I know, and as far as my
recollection serves me, this matter was first brought to
my attention yesterday.
Other than that, there was some indication in the
Grand Jury Minutes which I received on Friday that the
brother, one of the witnesses I am discussing, might have
been of some assistance, and it was then that I tried to
reach him by phone. "
47
Now, I have prepared, if Your Honor would go along
with me, a subpoena for their appearance to come here
forthwith. Frankly, I don’t know how much good it would
do in light of the fact that neither Mr. Clarke nor I have
been able to reach them at their residence phone number.
If I am unable to have them come here, I think that I
would be entitled to have a stipulation from the Govern-
ment that they would so testify, and I would ask that I
receive that stipulation.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, the Government would
object to that last part. I still don’t know exactly what
the facts are in this case. I do know I spoke to the
brother and I did [53] not speak to the brother’s wife,
but I had personally spoken to the brother back in Janu-
ary or February of 1972. At that time the brother men-
tioned to me that his brother, the decedent in this case,
did have and normally carried with him a hunting knife
in a sheath.
However, first of all, I don’t see what, really, what
matter it makes in this case or what difference it makes
in this cace to whose knife that was. It was either the
defendant’s or the decedent’s knife and it doesn’t matter
whose. :
Secondly, I don’t know if that is exactly what the
brother would testify to if it did come down to trial.
Of course, there has been an insurance fight between
himself and the decedent’s wife as to who should receive
in insurance in this case. I don’t know where the truth
lies, so I couldn’t stipulate to the fact that that is what
he would testify if he was called down and testified in
this case.
I could stipulate that that is what he told me before.
But, again, it comes down to the fact that I don’t see the
relevancy, really, or the materiality as to whose knife
it was.
Now, as to whether or not I told Mr. Gaston about this,
I would just like to mention for the record, Your Honor,
that back in January and February of 1972, the defense
counsel [54] and myself had an extensive discussion
about this case.
48
At that time the defense counsel was the one who told
me that the knife was the decedent’s knife. Then I had
my discussions with the witnesses, and I heard from the
brother, that he said that was true.
So I told Mr. Gaston, I said: “Yes, what you told me
a to be the fact, that the knife was the decedent’s
nife.”
I cannot say specifically I mentioned the brother as
being the one who told me that. I believe I did, but I
cannot say definitely that I did or did not.
MR. GASTON: May I be heard in response, Your
Honor.
Mr. Clarke is accurate when he states that I told him
_— it was my information that it was the decedent's
nife.
THE COURT: Where did you get the information?
MR. GASTON: The information was from double
hearsay from the ultimate source which was the decedent’s
wife, who was now testified that she didn’t say anything
of the kind and that it was wrong, and it was when I
presented the wife’s potential testimony to Mr. Clarke
yesterday in Mr. Clarke’s office that he said that he later
came back and told me that the police officer had said it
wasn’t the decedent’s wife, it was the brother’s wife, the
brother’s wife that made the comment.
[54-A] THE COURT: We are getting off on a collat-
eral issue. I will issue the subpoena. If it is possible to
Serve it, very well. If not, it doesn’t make any difference.
It is not crucial as to whose knife it was.
MR. GASTON: Can I address myself to that point
briefly. I think it is, Your Honor, because I think that
what Mr. Clarke is trying to do in this case is set up
sufficient circumstantial evidence to show that. in effect,
Miss Agurs had this in mind all along. And if it is possi-
ble for him to argue—
THE COURT: Had what in mind? 7
MR. GASTON: Taking or leading this man into the
tourist and then, in effect, rolling him.
THE COURT: That doesn’t necessarily involve a
knife.
49
MR. GASTON: Well, if he is able to argue that the
knife is hers, it would lend support to his argument. —
THE COURT: How can he argue that if there is no
id to it. ay
*vMR. GASTON: If there is no evidence to it, it seems
to me that it is free for conjecture.
° THE COURT: He can’t argue anything that is not in
evidence.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, I might also add—
THE COURT: He makes no proffer, and I have heard
[55] no evidence so far that indicates that knife was
in her possession at any time.
MR. GASTON: Fine, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Counsel are going to argue the evi-
dence. I don’t permit counsel to just speculate as to what
might have been. What does the evidence show, what can
be inferred from the evidence—that is all that he can
ue.
nM. GASTON: All right, Your Honor. —
THE COURT: Are these witnesses within the sub-
wer of the Court?
POMR. GASTON: They are in Wheaton, Maryland.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, I believe that is within
the subpoena power of the ema Zz is within—
COURT: Twenty-five miles. —
MR. CLARKE: I believe it is 50 miles, Your Honor,
istrict Court.
(ONE. GASTON: I think that is right, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you have an address that you have
? .
nen GASTON: Yes, Your Honor, I obtained it from
terday.
Mee CLARE: - Honor, this is the address that
the witness gave me when I spoke to him. Also, the phone
h ve me.
~ THE COURT. We will see if we can get the witness
here.
PMR GASTON: Thank you, Your Honor.
COURT: I will issue a subpoena. ;
i a No. 9 has had death in her family, so she is not
present. So we will have to seat the alternate.
50
MR. GASTON: All right.
THE COURT: Are we ready to proceed?
MR. CLARKE: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Have the jury come in, please.
(The jury enters the courtroom at 10:18 a.m.)
THE COURT: Now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
unfortunately, Miss Jordan, Juror No. 9, has had death
in her family. So we will have to ask Miss McCrae,
Alternate No. 1, to take Juror No. 9’s seat.
It has been brought to my attention that yesterday I
might have created more confusion than anything else
when I was talking about the stipulation and blythly
told you with all of the coufidence in the world that yester-
day was the 6th of July. Today is the 6th of July. I
guess I just got confused because we had a holiday, but
today is the 6th of July, ladies and gentlemen. I can’t
even make it anything else if I tried.
I hope you were not confused by my error as I explained
or tried to explain what a stipulation is all about.
All right. The Government is ready with its next wit-
ness.
(57) MR. CLARKE: Yes, Your Honor, with the
Court’s permission, the Government will call Mr. Thomas
Henderson.
Whereupon,
THOMAS 0. HENDERSON
was called as a witness and, having been first duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Now, Mr. Henderson, speaking up as loudly as you
can and into the microphone, will you please state your
name for the record.
A. My name is Thomas O. Henderson.
THE COURT: They all have to hear. Everyone of
those jurors must hear you.
51
THE WITNESS: My name is Thomas O. Henderson.
THE COURT: Thank you.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Where are you employed at the present time, Mr.
Henderson, where do you work?
A. I work part time at the tourist home.
Q. Is that Buddies Tourist Home?
A. That’s right.
Q. Going back to September 24, 1971, a Friday last
year, do you know where you were working on that date,
if you were working any place?
[58] A. At the Tourist home.
Q. Same place, Buddies Tourist Home?
A. Same place.
Q. Now, on that day, that Friday, September 24th,
what were your duties, what did you have to do at the
tourist home, what type of work did you do?
A. Buffing and mopping, cleaning up in the rooms.
Q. Do you know where Room No. 2 is at the tourist
home?
A. I do.
Q. Where is that located? First, second, third floor?
A. On the first floor.
Q. Is it any where near the main hallway?
A. Down on the corner, alwut two steps down the
hallway.
. Now, Mr. Henderson, on that day, again, Friday
the 24th of September, did you have an occasion, or did
you go in to clean up No. 2?
A. I did that morning.
Q. About what time would you say it was?
A. It was around about 11:00.
Q. When you say cleaning up, what do you mean?
When you say that, what do you mean?
A. We go in and change the linen, take the old soap
out, towels, change the bed, sweep the floor, and if it needs
mopping, we mop it. If it needs waxing, we wax it.
[59] Q. Now, Mr. Henderson, after someone uses a
room at the tourist home, do you have anything to do
with that room? Do you do anything to the room after
it is used?
52
A. Clean it up. We have a special man that changes
the bed and takes care of the bed. But I do the cleaning
of the rooms, the sink, the desk, trash.
Q. Now, is that done before anyone uses the room
again?
A. Before anybody goes in.
Q. Now, going back to this day, the 24th of Septem-
ber, did you see anything unusual in the afternoon hours?
Say, something around 4:30 to a quarter of 5:00, did
anything unusual happen at the tourist home?
A. There did.
Q. Can you tell us about that.
A. It was between 4:30 and 5:00, we was down in
Room 14, which is around the corner from No. 2. We
heard somebody screaming and hollering, about three or
four times she made a noise. The three of us ran around
there.
What?
The three of us ran around to No. 2.
There were three of you?
Yes.
Who were the other two?
. Lawrence Smith, and the other fellow, I don’t
know his name.
{60} Q. Sherman Griffin?
A. Sherman, that’s right, and myself. He knocked on
the door.
Q. Who knocked on the door?
A. Lawrence Smith knocked on the door about twice.
He couldn’t get in. So he just taken his right foot and
busted the door, he didn’t bust it down but he knocked
it off the hinges, off the catch. Then we all went in.
I went in last. And there was the man and the woman
was scuffing.
Q. All right. Now, Mr. Henderson, once the door was
opened and you went inside, what did you see when you
went inside?
A. They was scuffling over the knife.
Q. Let me sort of phrase it a little bit better. Was
anyone in the room when you went in?
A. Just the two, the man and the lady.
POPO PO
53
Q. Where were they?
A. They was, oh, the position they was on the bed,
she was about half-way across and he was on top of her
scuffing with the knife. She was under him.
Q. Now, when you went inside the room, what did you
do?
A. We tried to get him off the top of her, scuffled
with him trying to take the knife.
Q. Now, how was the knife positioned? Do you [61]
remember?
A. May I demonstrate it?
Q. First of all, did you see them with the knife?
A. I saw them with the knife.
MR. CLARKE: Will you step down here, and taking
Government Exhibit No. 11, you be the man and I will be
the woman.
(The witness leaves the stand.)
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. First all, who had their hands on the handle of
the knife?
A. The lady.
Will you please place my hands—see, I will act as
the lady so the jury can see—will you place my hands on
the knife the way the lady had her hands.
A. (Indicating. )
Where did the man have his hands on the knife?
Down around the blade (indicating).
Now, who was laying on the bed?
She was.
Try to speak up so we can all hear you.
The lady was.
Where was the knife pointing, if anywhere?
Right down between them.
. Between them, is that correct?
[62] <A. Yes.
MR. CLARKE: Will you take the stand again.
(Witness resumes the stand.)
OPOPOPOo PHO
54
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Now, Mr. Henderson, when you went into the room,
how much of the woman could you see? Let’s see, now,
try to keep your voice up, sir.
A. I could see her feet and her head.
Q. Excuse me?
A. He was practically covering up her body. I saw
her feet.
Q. As to her feet did you notice if she had anything
on her feet?
She had some tennis shoes on.
What?
A pair of tennis shoes.
Tennis shoes?
Yes.
What color were they?
My best knowledge, I think they was white. I am
not : sure, but I think they was white.
Q. What about her pants, did she have any dress or
pants on?
She had on pants.
Could you see any more of her besides that?
[63] A. No. That is all I could see.
. What about the man?
POPO PO P
o>
Q
A. He didn’t have no shirt on.
Q. Did you see if he had any shoes on?
A. I didn’t notice because his feet was way down to
the bottom of the bed. I didn’t notice that.
Q. Did you notice if there was any blood in the room
when you went in?
A. Sure.
Q. Where was the blood?
A. On the bed and on the floor.
Q. What part of the floor?
A. Right in the middle part as you go in the door
Q. What about the man himself, did you notice if he
had any blood?
A. Sure, he had blood on him.
Q. Whereabouts?
—
55
A. On his pants and all up in here. I got blood on
myself.
Q. You are indicating the front part of the body?
A. That’s right.
Q. What about the girl?
A. I didn’t see any blood on her.
Q. Now, what happened after you got in there, did you
[64] start to help them, did you say?
A. I helped them.
Q. What happened then?
A. Well, we pulled him off her, what little part was
on her, and they was still tussling with the knife, so
Lawrence took possession of the knife. But I left then.
I didn’t see no more.
Q. When you left, what did you do?
A. Iran down the street to see if I could see a police-
man to get help.
Q. Now, when you left the room, were they still in-
side?
A. They were still inside.
Q. Who is they?
A. Lawrence and the other fellow, I have forgotten
his name, that was working there at the time.
Q. Now, Mr. Henderson, when an individual goes in
for a room, are they given anything?
A. Sure.
Q. What are they given, sir?
A. They are given soap and a towel.
. After a person leaves the room, what happens to
that soap and towel?
A. We take it out and throw it away. We don’t use
it any more.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions.
[65] CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
. Mr. Henderson, when you first saw the knife, was
the knife pointed toward the feet of the man and the
woman, or was it pointed toward either one of the upper
portions of the body?
A. Upper portion of the body.
56
Q. Whose body was it pointed toward?
A. It had to be the lady from what I saw.
. Who was on top? Were these two, one body on
top of the other?
A. Not all the way on top. He was laying on the side
there.
Q. One body was over the other body?
A. The man’s body was over the woman’s body.
Q. The man’s body was over the woman’s body. The
knife was pointed toward the woman’s body?
A. That’s right.
Q. Now, you heard about, how many screams did you
hear before breaking in the room? Do you recall?
A. I couldn’t be exact, but I guess about three or four.
I couldn’t be perfect about it.
Q. Was that before you broke in the door?
A. Before.
Q. Were there any screams coming while the door was
[66] being broken in?
A. No, there wasn’t none then.
. How many times did Mr. Smith have to—how did
Mr. Smith break down the door?
A. He kicked it with his right foot.
Q. How many times did he kick it? Do you remember?
A. About two.
THE COURT: Could you tell whether the screams
were those of a male or a female?
THE WITNESS: Male or female?
THE COURT: Did it sound like a female to you?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. Now, you engaged in a struggle with the decedent
over the knife. |
THE COURT: Do you want to rephrase that.
BY MR. GASTON:
When you went in the room, Mr. Henderson, what
happened? I’m sorry. Let me ask you another question.
Who went in the room first?
A. Lawrence.
57
Q. What did he do?
A. He broke the door and then he tried to take posses-
sion of the knife.
Q. From whom?
[67] A. From both of them. Both of them had posses-
sion of the knife.
Q. All right. What happened?
A. Well, they struggled over the knife, and it wasn’t
long before I left.
. Who was involved in the struggle at first?
THE COURT: Mr. Gaston, would you come to the
bench.
(At the bench:)
THE COURT: Did you hear the direct examination?
MR. GASTON: Yes, Your Honor. But what I am
trying to find out—
THE COURT: Cross-examination is cross-examina-
tion, not a repetition of direct examination. You can
cross-examine him on the basis of any of his direct exam-
ination. You are just repeating the questions that the
Government asked. Who kicked the door down—he told
you on direct examination who kicked the door down. Who
went in the room first—he told you who went in the room
first.
MR. GASTON: May I ask him how long the struggle
was?
THE COURT: Certainly. You can ask anything that
is relevant to cross-examination. Cross-examination is not
the repetition of direct examination. It is not direct exam-
ination all over again.
MR. GASTON: I was just trying to bring it out in
[68] more detail.
THE COURT: All right.
(In open Court.)
BY MR. GASTON:
. Mr. Henderson, do you recall how long you were
engaged in the struggle?
58
A. I couldn’t say. It wasn’t no more than about three
or four minutes. Not that long. It wasn’t that long. I
couldn’t be exact.
Q. When you left, was the struggle still going on?
A. Sure.
Q. Were you able to actually see Mr. Sinith take the
knife from the decedent?
A. I wasn’t there. By the time he had taken the knife
out, I left.
. You had left?
A. I had done left.
MR. GASTON: I have no other questions, Your
Honor.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Mr. Henderson, when you entered the room, did
you notice if the man was completely over the woman,
partially over, or how was he on top of the woman?
A. Partially. He was over like this way and she was
back down that way.
[69] MR. CLARKE: Would you step down here again.
Use this as the bed. This is the bed. This would be the
wall.
(At this point the witness leaves the stand and comes
down to the counsel table in front of the jury.)
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. This would be the wall. Which side would the door
be on?
A. This side.
Q. What side of the bed were they on?
A. On that side.
Q. Indicating the right side.
MR. CLARKE: Why don’t you step over here. Now,
I will be the woman. You place me on the bed the way
she was.
(At this point Mr. Clarke and the witness both lay
on the counsel table in front of the jury.)
59
MR. CLARKE: You get on the other side. Take the
knife. You be the man.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Did she have both her feet on the bed?
On the bed. ;
Try to keep your voice up.
Both feet was on the bed.
Keep your voice up.
He was laying in this position like this. Both of
them was struggling with the knife.
[70] Q. Which way was the knife?
POPOoP oO
A. That way.
Q. Try to do it like it was, if you can.
A. Like this.
Q. Try to put your hand over here a little more so
the jury can see.
A. In that position is the way they were struggling
like when we entered the room.
(At this point Mr. Clarke and the witness complete
the physical demonstration. )
MR. CLARKE: Thank you, Mr. Henderson. I have
no further questions, Your Honor.
MR. GASTON: I have no questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. You may step down, Mr.
Henderson.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, I would ask that the wit-
ness be excused at this point.
THE COURT: He may be excused.
(Witness excused. )
MR. CLARKE: With the Court’s permission, the Gov-
ernment will call Lawrence R. Kennedy.
Whereupon,
LAWRENCE R. KENNEDY
was called as a witness and, having been first duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
60
[71] DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Will you please state your name, sir.
A. Yes, sir. My name is Officer Lawrence R. Kennedy,
assigned to the First District, Metropolitan Police.
Q. What is your occupation, sir?
A. Police officer.
Q. Going back to September 24, 1971, what was your
occupation on that date?
A. I was assigned to Scout 12 working the 3:00 to
11:00 tour of duty.
Q. 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.?
A. That’s correct.
Q. Now, on that particular day did you have an occa-
sion to respond to 1320 5th Street, N. W., in the District
of Columbia?
A. Yes, sir, I did.
. If you can refrain from referring to your notes,
it would be good.
Now, going on to that day, can you tell us approxi-
mately what time it was in the day or night that you
responded to that location?
A. I received a radio run at approximately 4:55 p.m.
Q. Was that Buddies Tourist Home that you responded
to?
A. That’s right, sir.
(72] Q. Can you tell us what happened if anything
when you arrived there, what you saw, what happened,
and so forth?
A. Yes, sir. Upon being directed to Buddies Tourist
Home located at 1322 5th Street, N. W., I went to Room
No., I believe it was No. 2, and observed a Negro male
lying face down naked from the waist up in a pool of
blood, who was later identified as the decedent.
MR. CLARKE: Officer, at this time will you step
down here, please.
(Witness goes to the blackboard.)
61
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Now, taking the microphone and looking at Gov-
ernment Exhibit No. 9, I believe it is, 9 for identification,
can you indicate first of all whether or not you can iden-
tify that particular item?
A. The map?
Q. Yes.
A. Yes, this appears to be a diagram of Room No. 2
at 1322 5th Street, N. W., Buddies Tourist Home.
Q. Where would it have been that you noticed the man
lying on the floor face down?
A. Right here where the blue X is.
Q. Now, there are two blue X’s or that particular
diagram. Just for the record, wi!! you indicate whether it
is the blue X on the bed or the »lue X there—which blue
X it is?
[73] A. It’s the blue X on the floor with the red circle
by it, between the bed and the hallway door.
MR. CLARKE: You may take the stand, again, sir.
(Witness resumes the stand.)
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Now, Officer, when you arrived at that room, what
if anything did you do?
A. At first, my first intention was to preserve the
crime scene. I had to remove two gentlemen who were
standing in the doorway from out of the room and to.
prevent anybody further from coming in.
Q. When you say “preserve the crime scene,” can you
be a little bit more detailed about that? What actually do
you mean?
A. Well, I guess it would be to seal off the room from
any other person that is unauthorized to be in there, to
keep them out and to remove anybody that was in there
at the present time, to get them out, also.
Q. Where were the two individuals that you saw near
or in the room when you arrived there?
A. They were standing in the doorway.
Q. Whereabouts in the doorway? Can you indicate
from where you are.
62
A. Where the hallway is marked, they were standing
between, they were standing actually into the doorway;
they [74] weren’t inside the room itself. They weren’t
outside in the hallway. They were in between.
Q. Now, Officer, after you preserved the scene, did
anyone e!se arrive on the scene?
A. Yes, sir, they did.
Q. Who came?
A. Sergeant Quantrille, a First District Detective,
and the Mobile Crime Lab.
Q. Now. before any of these individuals arrived, did
you notice if anything was done with the man who was
lying on the floor face down?
A. Yes, sir. He was removed by the ambulance aid
men who were on the scene when I arrived.
Q. Do you know where he was taken?
A. He was taken to Freedmen’s Hospital on 7th
Street.
Q. Now, Officer, after the additional police officers
you have indicated arrived on the scene, did you have an
occasion to recover any particular items?
A. Yes, sir, I did.
Q. Will you tell us about that.
A. Yes, sir. A Mr. Lawrence Smith, who was the desk
attendant—
Q. Try to stay away from what someone told you, if
you can. Do you remember recovering anything picking
up any items?
[75] A. Yes.
Q. What items were they?
A. They were two knives, and I am not really sure of
this, and a sheath.
Q. At this time I would like to show you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
No. 11. I would ask that you look at this item.
Can you identify it?
A. Yes, sir: This is one of the knives I removed
from the top of the telephone booth in the hallway.
Q. Is that the telephone booth that is right near the
bathroom?
A. Yes, sir.
68
Q. Was there anything else up there when you took a
knife off?
A. Yes.
Q. What else?
A. A small paring knife, steak knife type.
Q. At tnis time I would like to show you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
No. 12. Can you identify that?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What do you identify it as?
A. This is the knife, one of the knives I removed from
the top of the telephone booth.
[76] Q. Now, you have indicated something about a
sheath. Can you tell us what you remember about that?
A. I don’t remember the sheath specifically being re-
moved from the top of the telephone booth. I really don’t
know where that was recovered. I can’t remember if I
myself handled it.
Q. At this time I would like to show you Government
Exhibit No. 13 for identification. I will ask you, basic-
ally, this: do you remember seeing that particular item
before?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. That is the item that you said you don’t know
where it came from?
A. Yes, sir.
MR. CLARKE: You don’t remember. May I have
the Court’s indulgence for a second.
I have no further questions, Your Honor.
MR. GASTON: I have just one question.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. I wasn’t clear on the time you arrived at the scene.
A. Approximately 4:55,
MR. GASTON: Thank you. I have no further ques-
tions, Your Honor.
64
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may the officer be ex-
cused [77] at this point?
THE COURT: Yes.
(Witness excused. )
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may counsel approach
the bench?
THE COURT: Surely.
(At the bench:)
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may I have the Court’s
permission to go out and check in the hallway, check in
the witness room to see which witnesses I have available
at the present time. I am expecting Dr. Brownleee at
11:00. I don’t know if he is a little early.
_I also have a couple of other witnesses that will be here
right around 11:00 to 11:15, and I could put one of them
on if Dr. Brownlee is not here at the present time.
THE COURT: Yes.
(In open Court.)
(Short pause. )
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, the Government now
calls Detective Joseph Quantrille.
Whereupon,
JOSEPH C. QUANTRILLE
was called as a witness and, having been first duly sworn
was examined and testified as follows:
[78] DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Will you please state your name, sir.
A. Joseph C. Quantrille.
Q. What is your occupation?
I am employed by the Metropolitan Police Depart-
. In what capacity?
A. As a detective.
65
Q. For what section?
A. First District.
Now, Detective Quantrille, going back to Septem-
ber 24, 1971, what was your occupation and assignment
on that day?
A. I was assigned to the First District Detective
Cruiser. I believe it was 717.
Q. Going back again, to that day, September 24, did
you have an occasion to respond to a location known as
Buddies Tourist Home?
A. Yes, sir, I did.
Q. About what time of the day or night do you re-
member first arriving there?
A. I believe it was right after 5:00.
Q. Did you have an occasion to leave Buddies Tourist
Home at any time after you arrived there in relation to
the case that you went there and go some place else?
A. Yes, sir, I responded to Freedmen’s Hospital.
[79] Q. Try to keep your voice up. Where did you
respond?
A. To Freedmen’s Hospital.
Q. About what time was that?
A. I believe it was around 5:30.
Q. Can you tell us what if anything you did when you
got to Freedmen’t Hospital?
A. I went to Freedmen’s Hospital to see how badly
the complainant was hurt. I recovered some property
while I was there.
Can you tell us about recovering property. First
of all, what is the standard operational procedure, if you
want to use that word, as far as recovery of property
from a hospital? What do you do?
A. Well, they take the property from him when he is
admitted. And if it is a serious case, then we recover the
property at that time.
Q. Will you describe in a little more detail what you
mean by the property—you recover the property and
they take it from him.
A. Well, he was being operated on, so they take what
he was wearing off and give it to the head nurse. As I
66
remember, at that time we wanted to see if he had any-
thing of value to safeguard, and things like that.
Q. What did you do when you got to the hospital about
this property?
[80] A. Well, we recovered what property that they
had. And we were told that this was all he had. We
recovered a pair of pants and a knife.
Q. At this time I would like to show you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
No. 3, and I would ask that you look at that item.
MR. CLARKE: In the meantime, Your Honor, I
would ask that this be marked as Government Exhibit
No. 14 for identification.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Government Exhibit No. 14
marked for identification.
(Government Exhibit No. 14 was marked for identi-
fication. )
MR. CLARKE: I will show it to defense counsel.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Officer, going to Government Exhibit No. 3 which
you have before you, for identification, can you identify
that particular item?
A. Yes, sir. They are the pants that were recovered
from Freedmen’s Hospital.
Q. Now, when you recovered these pants, what if
anything did you do with the pants?
A. I put them in, they were in a green bag, a green
trash bag, a plastic bag. So I checked the pockets and
found the knife in one of the pockets.
[81] Q. Did you find anything else in the pockets be-
sides the knife?
A. No, sir.
Q. At this time I would like to show you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
No. 14.
Can you identify that particular item?
A. Yes, sir. I believe this is the knife I took from
the pocket. I didn’t mark it with my initials or anything,
but I believe that is the knife.
67
Q. Now, what did you do with the knife and the pants
after you recovered them from the hospital?
A. I responded back to the scene of the crime and
turned them over to the Mobile Crime Lab.
Q. Would that be Officer Laughery of the Mobile Crime
Section?
A. I believe so, sir.
Q. Officer, did you find any money in the pockets of
those pants, Government Exhibit No. 3?
A. No, sir.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. Officer, you state you didn’t mark that particular
knife.
A. No, I didn’t.
[82] <A. No, I didn’t.
Q. In the usual course of your business don’t you
mark articles recovered?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. As a matter of fact, Officer, you have no way of
knowing whether that is actually the knife that came from
that pants pocket or not, do you?
A. It looks like the knife. .
Q. It looks like the knife. But you can’t be positive
it is, can you?
A. No, sir.
MR. GASTON: No other questions, Your Honor.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. How many knives that look like that did you give
to Officer Laughery?
A. Just one.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions.
MR. GASTON: No questions, Your Honor.
68
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may the officer be ex-
cused?
THE COURT: Yes, you may be excused.
(Witness excused. )
MR CLARKE: Your Honor, may counsel approach
the bench again.
[83] THE COURT: Very well.
(At the bench:)
THE COURT: You want to look for witnesses? We
will take a short recess. How many more do you have?
MR. CLARKE: Officer Laughery, Dr. Brownlee, and
then I have one downstairs in the cell block, Mr. Griffin.
That will be it.
MR. GASTON: Are you going to have Officer Horst-
kamp here?
MR. CLARKE: No I know where he is. I just have
him on call.
(In open Court. )
THE COURT: The next witness to testify, ladies and
gentlemen, is the Deputy Medical Examiner of the Dis-
trict of Columbia. He was instructed to be here at 11:00.
So we are going to take a short recess and he should be
here. We will take a short recess.
(Short recess taken. )
THE COURT: Are we ready to proceed?
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, the Government is ready.
MR GASTON: Your Honor, before he brings the jury
out, may I bring another matter before the Court.
Your Honor, another witness in this case that I learned
that the Government intends to call is Sherman Griffin,
who was also an employee at the tourist home. I sometime
in |84] the past—and if I had time to check my file, I
could give you the exact date—I tried to contact Mr.
Griffin and learned that the phone number which I
phoned, he no longer lived at, and I was told he had
moved out of the city. I understand the Government has
him available.
69
I asked Mr. Clarke if I could speak with him, and Mr.
Clarke said only in Mr. Clarke’s presence.
I think, Your Honor, that I have a right to talk to a
witness, who legally doesn’t belong io either side, without
the strictures of Government counsel being present. And
I would ask that I be allowed to speak to Mr. Griffin
alone.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, Mr. Griffin has been in
jail since, I believe, January 1972. He is presently in the
lockup behind the courtroom at the present time. He is
now in the minimum security section of Occoquan and has
been sent up here pursuant to a come-up from the United
States Attorney’s office.
The reason that I requested that counsel not talk to
Mr. Griffin unless I be present with him is that there has
been some problem running through, actually, two of our
witnesses so far, Mr. Lawrence Smith and Mr. Hender-
son. Mr. Smith told me a completely different story from
what he testified to at the trial, basically as to the way
the knife was held and such things as that.
[85] I have already spoken to Mr. Griffin back in, I
believe it was February. The police officer has spoken to
him today. I just ask that basically so that I don’t learn
anything by surprise from the witness stand, that I be
allowed to be there, too, when counsel talks to him.
I do not consider this to be in any way infringing upon
counsel’s ability to prepare his defense. Just as when
I talk to the witness, counsel being there would not hinder
that in any way, so I do not see how my being there would
hinder counsel.
MR. GASTON: For one thing, I don’t know how those
witnesses have—now, Mr. Clarke hasn’t actually claimed
surprise, but all of the prior statements obtained by the
police seem to be in substantial corroboration with what
testimony we have heard here today.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, the basic difference is in
two matters—whether or not they have seen this individ-
ual before. Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Henderson have told
me at prior occasions that they saw the defendant in the
tourist home on several different occasions in the same
70
tyne of situation, as a Mr. and Mrs., with other individ-
uals.
This would go to the inference that on this particular
occasion she was there in an act of prostitution.
The witnesses both deny that particular episode prior
to the time they testified. So I did not ask them on the
[86] stand.
Also, Mr. Smith changed on several matters. One is
the amount of money that was paid. One time he told me
that it was, in the statement it was four singles. Then
another time he told me he was given a $10 bill and he
gave $6 change.
But the main way he changed was to the positioning of
the knife. Before, he had told me that the defendant’s
hands were up at the top and the other individual’s hands
were down on the blade of the knife. And then at the
trial he changed that.
Mr. Henderson yesterday two times demonstrated that
the hands were as he demonstrated in Court. And then
this morning his demonstration was different until we
spoke to him again, and then he, you know, said yes, he
was mistaken and changed the demonstration.
THE COURT: I guess what you are going to have
to do when you interview them is interview them with a
tape recorder and then take a signed statement and swear
them to the statement. Then when they change, indict
them for perjury. That is what you are going to have to
do with them.
The witness is available to you. He is available to you.
You can talk with him. Mr. Clarke doesn’t have to be
present.
MR. GASTON: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And Mr. Clarke will have an oppor-
tunity, |87] before he testifies, he will have an opportunity
to read the perjury statute to the witness.
MR. CLARKE: Yes, Your Honor.
MR. GASTON: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Read the perjury statute to them. All
we have to do is lock up some of these liars. Then it will
stop.
71
MR. GASTON: I guess it is neither here nor there,
but I can see how some of the discrepancies occur just
from memory.
THE COURT: No, no. Don’t be so naive, counsel.
Don’t be so naive. They lie with impunity, with absolute
impunity. You can try this case every week for the next
52 weeks and get a different version out of it. That’s this
Court’s experience with some of these witnesses.
You may speak with him, certainly.
MR. GASTON: Thank you, Your Honor.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, the Government is ready
to proceed. Dr. Brownlee is here.
THE COURT: All right. Call the jury in.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, while the jury is coming
in, may this be marked as Government Exhibit No. 15 for
identification.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Government Exhibit No. 15
marked for identification.
[88] (Government Exhibit No. 15 was marked for iden-
tification. )
(The jury enters the courtroom. )
MR. CLARKE: Before the doctor testifies, may I an-
nounce to the jury a stipulation entered into between
counsel.
THE COURT: Very well.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, the stipulation is as
follows: It is agreed between the defense and the Govern-
ment that if called to testify, Mrs. Edna G. Strong would
testify that she is the Director of the Medical Records
Department, Freedmen’s Hospital in the District of Co-
lumbia. And that as such, as part of her position, she
has care, custody and control and access to the records
kept in the norma! and routine course of business pertain-
ing to the patients which are treated or admitted at the
hospital.
She would testify that Government Exhibit No. 15 for
identification is a true and accurate copy of the records
pertaining to James Sewell from December 14, 1971, at
Freedmen’s Hospital, the medical records pertaining to
72
that individual. And that she has care, custody and con-
trol and access over those records, Government Exhibit
No. 15, and they are kept and made in the normal and
routine course of business.
THE COURT: Is that acceptable, Mr. Gaston?
MR. GASTON: That is correct, Your Honor.
[89} MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, at this time the
Government would ask that Government Exhibit No. 15
be received in evidence.
THE COURT: Any objection?
MR. GASTON: No objection.
THE COURT: All right. It will be received.
(Government Exhibit No. 15 was received in evi-
dence. )
MR. CLARKE: The Government will call Dr. Brown-
lee.
Whereupon,
WILLIAM J. BROWNLEE, M. D.
was called as a witness and, having been first duly sworn,
Was examined and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Will you state your name, sir.
A. Yes. Dr. William James Brownlee.
Q. Dr. Brownlee, what is your occupation at the pres-
ent time?
A. Iam a doctor of medicine and I am a Deputy Med-
ical Examiner for the District of Columbia.
Q. Dr. Brownlee, would you please explain to the
Court and the ladies and gentlemen of the jury what your
experience has been.
A. Yes. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in [90]
chemistry and a Doctorate of Medicine.
Subsequent to that I interned for one year at Freed-
men’s Hospital. I have had four years of surgical train-
73
ing in a Howard University affiliated hospital, culminat-
ing in certification by the American Board of Surgery.
Following that I was a Medical Officer and Chief Med-
ical Officer at the District of Columbia General Hospital.
In 1966, I transferred from the D. C. General Hospital
to the then Coroner’s Office of the District of Columbia,
which has had its named changed as of February 1, 1971,
4 the Medical Examiner’s office of the District of Colum-
ia.
I have been there since that time.
Q. Doctor, as part of your functions as a deputy
coroner and deputy medical examiner, do you ever do
what is known as an autopsy?
A. I do.
Q. Will you please explain basically what that is and
then what type of experience you have had in autopsies?
A. Yes. In an autopsy—
THE COURT: You are going to have to keep your
voice up a little.
THE WITNESS: All right, sir.
A. (continuing) an autopsy is a procedure that is per-
formed by doctors in the medical examiner’s office on a
person who has died, regardless of the type of death. It’s
an [91] examination of the body after death. This in-
volves quite, without going into a lot of technical aspects,
it involves several phases.
One is an external examination, where the body is ex-
amined on the outside and, also, the body is examined on
the inside.
In addition to these, we do certain studies, microscopic
studies, where sections of tissue are taken and slides are
made of them. And we do certain chemical studies where
we may take body fluids or tissues and run them for chem-
ical analyses.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Doctor, can you give us the purpose or the reason
an autupsy is performed on an individual?
A. Our office is obliged by the Government of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, it’s our obligation to examine people
74
who have died in the jurisdiction of the District of Colum-
bia, to ascertain why they died.
Now, in effect, our office has the charge of insuring a
person the right to die, whether he died of a natural death
or whether he dies as a result of suicide, or overdose, if he
is killed, did he die of drowning, did he have a heart at-
tack—just why did he die. That is our job.
Q. Doctor, since 1966 how many autopsies have you
performed, or could you estimate?
[92] A. I would say on an average I do about 400 per
year.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, the Government would
submit that Dr. Brownlee is qualified to testify as to the
cause of death and autopsies.
MR. GASTON: No objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Very well.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Dr. Brownlee, going back to September 24, Septem-
ber 25, 1971, did you have an occasion on either of those
two days to review the remains of an individual by the
name of James T. Sewell?
A. I did.
Q. At this time, Doctor, I would show you Govern-
ment Exhibit No. 15 which is in evidence, which are med-
ical records of Freedmen’s Hospital pertaining to Mr.
Sewell from the 24th of September, 1971. Have you had
an occasion to review those particular records?
A. I have.
Q. Now, Doctor, on what day was it in September
1971 that you did perform or review the remains of Mr.
Sewell?
A. The autopsy was performed on the 25th of Septem-
ber 1971.
Q. Can you tell us, Doctor, what findings, if any, you
had in that particular case? What you did and what you
observed?
'93] A. Yes. In a general description of the decedent,
he was identified as being 27 years of age. He is a Negro
male. He weighed approximately 150 pounds, and he was
five-feet-nine-inches in height. He was very well devel-
75
oped and well nourished, and he had a number of wounds
on his body some of which were surgical wounds, that is,
created by surgeons in a hospital, and some were wounds
that were inflicted prior to the surgeon’s wounds.
Most of the wounds were located in the trunk of the
body, that is, involving say, between the neck and the
legs. There were several stab wounds and there were
Several cuts on the body.
I think it’s best that I probably go through them and
then place them for you. I am only going to list the
wounds that were inflicted, not the wounds inflicted by
the surgeons.
There was a wound that was in the front of the chest
near the breastplate near the neck just to the right of
the mid-line. This was a stab wound of his chest.
Q. Doctor, if I may interrupt you for a second, can
you please tell us the difference between what you have
described as a stab wound and a cut?
A. Yes. A cut and a stab wound are both incised.
These wounds, meaning by that that they were inflicted by
a sharp instrument. We differentiate between a stab
wound and a [94] cut mainly in the direction of the inflict-
ing object. A stab wound, a point is going into the body.
And in a cut, the sharp edge of it is laying tangenital
to the skin, so that one cuts in this manner and stabs in
this manner (indicating. )
Q. Now, Doctor, could you continue with your descrip-
tion of the wounds in the chest area.
A. The wound that I have just mentioned, that is, one
near the breastplate and just to the right in the front of
the chest, measure three-fourths of an inch in width.
There were what we call abrasive wounds, three abrasive
wounds on the left side of the chest.
Now, an abrasive wound is one that is created mainly
by friction, as one would notice if you rub your arm or
hand or knee, say, on gravel and you notice a scraping
effect. That is what we call an abrasion. We had three
of those wounds. These do not go into the body. In fact,
they don’t go through the skin. They were on the left side
of the chest.
76
On the right side of the chest in the front near the
lower part of the rib cage was a three-inch cut or lacera-
tion.
On the opposite side, the :. ft side of the chest, there are
two wounds. One is four inches in length and the other
is one-half inch in length.
Now, the four inch wound is a cut wound or laceration.
The one-half inch wound was a stab wound.
So at this point we have two stab wounds—one in [95]
this position and the other in this position. That is, one
in the upper right side of the front of the chest and one
on the left lower side of the chest (indicating.) On the
abdomen or the area overlying the stomach just above the
navel is a one-half inch stab wound. That is, if you take
the point of your navel and go up about an inch and a
half above it, you have a one and a half inch stab wound.
So now we have a total of three stab wounds to the body.
As one goes to the left side of the abdomen near the
navel we find another one and a half inch wound. These
are all of the major stab wounds on the front of the body.
On the back we have a three-inch gaping wound, that
is, a wound opening up and quite deep which is in the
region of the lower back or what we call the lumbar area.
It’s on the right side. It’s transverse. If the person were
standing, it would be parallel to the floor.
And on the upper portion of his back near his neck
there is a six-inch wound which goes into the skin but
doesn't go through it.
Now, on his arms and hands, on the right forearm
there is a two-inch cut that courses through the dermis
and into the sub-cutaneous tissue. This is a fatty tissue
beneath the skin. It does not go into the muscle of the
arm, just through the skin and into the fatty area.
On the left hand, the third and fifth fingers on [96]
the palm side are cut.
Now, in addition to the wounds that I have given you
thus far, there were two significant surgical incisions.
One is a hockey stick incision that courses from his right
shoulder doy.a and parallels his collar bone and comes
down across his breastplate. And the other is a long mid-
77
line incision of the abdomen. These were created by sur-
geons at the hospital.
Now, if one goes into taking the stab wounds and the
wounds inflicted on the outer surface and projecting
what was found on the inside—
Q. Doctor, if I may interrupt you a second before
you go into the internal examination, can you go back a
— 2 the wounds you noticed on the arms and hands.
es.
Q. In your experience as a coroner, deputy coroner
and medical examiner, have you noticed wounds similar
to that before?
A. Yes, we have.
= Is there any particular pattern that these wounds
take?
A. Most wounds that occur either on the surface 7???
{97] You can understand if somebody comes with a
knife, your natural instinct is to ward that inflicting ob-
ject away from you and frequently you will get cut in
the areas that I mentioned, the dorsal surface of the hand
or in the palm of the hand.
. And are the wounds that you noticed on the arms
and the palms of the hand consistent with that?
A. Yes, they are.
Q. Doctor, are there also any wounds in the hands
that would have been consistent with someone holding a
knife, the blade of a knife?
A. Well, the wounds that cross the fingers, there is a
possibility that those fingers held the knife. I can’t say
exactly. The only thing I can tell you is that you have
sharply incised wounds in these areas.
Now, to project as to whether or not a knife was held,
whether it was cut, I couldn’t tell you. They inflict the
same wound.
Q. Let me ask you this: would they be consistent with
an individual holding a knife?
A. That’s possible, yes.
Q. Would you continue with your internal stab
wounds.
78
A. The wounds that entered the upper right chest just
to the right of the breastplate, the sternum, coursed into
the heart. It went through two chambers of the heart and
it [98] crossed one of the main valves of the heart. This
wound, when I examined it, of course, had been closed by
the surgeons. This was the reason for the hockey stick
incision, because they had gone in to repair the heart.
The wound that entered just above the navel went into
the liver and penetrated for a depth of approximately
five and a half inches from the skin surface.
Q. Doctor, can you estimate or did you measure how
far in the wound that went into the heart penetrated?
A. The estimated depth of that wound from skin sur-
face to the tricuspid valve would be approximately three
and a half to four inches.
Q. Thank you.
A. The wound that entered, the stab wound that en-
tered the left side of the chest just above the left lower
rib cage. the boarder of it, entered the chest, it entered
the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a layer of muscle
tissue that separates the two main cavities in the body,
the abdominal cavity from the thoracic or chest cavity,
and this wound entered the left chest, coursed in through
the diaphragm and then went into the stomach.
The stab wound in the lower right-chest that we men-
tioned before went through the muscle between the ribs,
between the seventh and eighth rib, and also entered the
diaphragm and cut the right lobe of the liver.
Now. the essential features from the interior [99]
examination. and joining them with the findings of the ex-
ternal examination, without going into a lot of medical
terminology, we came with a conclusion as to the cause of
death, that the decedent died of shock which was second-
ary to or due to a massive bleeding from these various
wounds which were due to the multiple wounds, and the
principal wound being that of the heart.
Q. Doctor, at this time I wou'd like to show you what
has been marked as Government Exhibit No. 11. Now,
looking at that particular instrument, do you know
whether or not, first of all, as to the cut wounds on the
79
individual’s body, if that would be consistent, if the
wounds would be consistent with a weapon like that?
A. It’s very possible, yes.
Q. What about the stab wounds?
A. It’s possible, also.
Q. Now, Doctor, if you notice, the width of that is
slightly more than a half-inch. Would that still be con-
sistent with the size of the opening on those stab wounds?
A. Do you mean can a half-inch measured stab wound
on the skin surface be created by an instrument greater
than one-half inch? The answer is yes.
Q. Can you please explain that.
A. The skin has elastic tissue in it. It has the capa-
bility of giving and retracting, giving and retracting.
[100] One can, therefore, penetrate the skin in, say, a
taut situation, or even if it is not taut, and create a wound
that when the inflicting instrument is removed, the skin
just contracts and you measure the distance of the skin
at that particular point and it is less than what the wound
is, than what the instrument is. So it’s very possible that
you may get a three-quarter or one inch instrument creat-
ing a half-inch wound.
MR. CLARKE: Doctor, at this time I am going to ask
that you become an artist, in a sense, and if you could,
step down over to this blackboard where we have a blank
piece of paper, and I will give you a pen and ask if you
just mark basically sort of the figure of a human being
and whereabouts on the figure the wounds would have
been.
(Witness goes to the blackboard. )
MR. CLARKE: Will you take this microphone and
any number of pens that you wish.
Your Honor, after the doctor has marked that, I would
ask that that be marked as Government Exhibit No. 16
for identification.
(Government Exhibit No. 16 was marked for identi-
fication. }
MR. CLARKE: Doctor, could you just mark above the
top of that whether that is a front or a back view. |
imagine it is a front view.
EES S'=S“~CCO ll
80
[101] Doctor, could you just take the pen, the blue pen,
I guess, would be the easiest way to do it, and just en-
circle those wounds which were stab wounds as compared
to cut wounds.
tam WITNESS: You don’t want the incisions, do
you?
MR. CLARKE: Do you mean the surgical incisions?
THE WITNESS: Yes. 7 "
MR. CLARKE: No, we don’t need that.
(Witness resumes the stand.)
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Doctor, do you know if it is normal procedure for
the Coroner’s Office to have tests performed on the blood
of an individual as to ethyl alcohol content?
A. Yes, we do.
Q. Was that done in this particular case?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. Is it standard procedure to make a report of that?
Do you keep those on file with the Coroner’s Office?
A. That’s correct.
Q. What are the results in this particular case?
A. That the decedent had a blood alcohol level of 0.12
percent.
Q. Do you know what is the legal percentage for in-
toxication in the District?
A. It is considered 0.15 percent.
[102] Q. And this would be below that, is that correct?
A. That’s correct.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honor.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. Doctor, as to the alcohol content of the blood, do
you know at what time of day the blood was examined
for that purpose?
A. I don’t know what time of day it was done. I
know what time I took it.
Q. Excuse me?
81
A. I know what time I took it, but I don’t know what
time of day the actual examination was performed.
Do you know what time you took the blood?
Yes.
To perform the examination?
Yes.
When was that?
That was done in the morning, about 11:00, on
September 25, 1971.
Q. Does the hospital record, Government Exhibit No.
15, indicate anything about transfusions being given to
the decedent?
A. The portion of the records that I have does not
[103] reflect evidence of a transfusion. I have the doctor’s
progress notes and the operative report, and the emerg-
ency care report. That is the emergency room record.
Q. So you are unable to say from those reports whether
there was a transfusion or not?
A. No; these records do not state whether there was
or was not.
Q. All right.
A. One could presume that there was.
Q. Presume that there were transfusions?
A. Yes, surely.
If there were transfusions, this would certainly
diminish the percentage of alcohol content of the blood,
would it not?
A. It would.
Q. Also, Doctor, isn’t it true that—what was the time
of death according to the records?
A. The pronouncement time was 10:30 p.m. on Sep-
tember 24, 1971.
Q. All right. Assuming that the alcohol was consumed
prior to 4:30 p.m. on that date, isn’t it also safe to say
that the natural purification system of the body would
diminish the percentage of alcohol in the blood at the time
of death, or by the time of death?
A. You have to take into consideration that you don’t
[104] have a natural phenomenon occurring here. This
man from his hospital records was in a state of shock for
a considerable period of that time, so he doesn’t have the
PO PO PO
82
normal filtration system or detoxification system of alco-
hol system working for him.
Q. Would the system be completely shut off or would
it be working to a certain extent?
A. Probably to a lesser extent, but quite a marked
lesser extent.
Q. Now, Doctor, you have called, or have characterized
the wounds on the hands of the decedent as being defen-
sive. Now, is it not perfectly possible for someone to
receive defensive wounds while engaged in an offensive
attack?
A. I think you have to define what is defensive and
what is offensive.
Q. Excuse me?
A. I think what you are looking for is a definition of
offense and defense. You are asking me, in one sense, to
say he is offensive, that is, receiving a defensive wound
while he is being offensive.
Q. Right. Isn’t that possible? That’s what I am ask-
ing.
A. I don’t quite understand what you are saying.
Q. In other words, isn’t it possible for a person to
ward off a knife defensively and still be on the attack
himself?
[105} <A. I think if you emperically look at what you
are describing as defensive wounds, just from an empir-
ical basis, then you have to call them defensive wounds,
as I did. A person who is in an offensive position is not
likely to have the palm of his hands open, nor is he likely
to get cut in these positions. He gets cut in these posi-
tions in a defensive effort.
Now, what his activities were, I can’t say. All I can
say is that these are well defined areas which we call de-
fensive wounds.
Q. Right. I am not arguing with the characterization
of the wounds. My point is trying to establish
THE COURT: I don’t think you can make the point
with the question. He has answered the question.
MR. GASTON: Well, if I may make another attempt.
THE COURT: You don’t do so over the ruling of the
Court, counsel.
83
MR. GASTON: With a rephrasing of the question,
Your Honor.
THE COURT: If the jury understands and the Court
understands your question, insofar as the hands and the
arm wounds are concerned, he was in what you charac-
terized medically as a defensive position?
THE WITNESS: That is correct.
THE COURT: What his position was prior to that
[106] time, you have no way of telling, is that correct?
THE WITNESS: That is correct.
BY MR. GASTON:
. Then you mean defensive as to the knife?
THE COURT: As to whatever instrument inflicted
the injury.
THE WITNESS: I mean defensive in relationship to
the wounds, the wounds of the hands and the arms.
MR. GASTON: I have no other questions, Your
Honor.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honor. May the doctor be excused?
THE COURT: Yes, you may be excused.
(Witness excused. )
THE COURT: Do you want to come to the bench a
minute, counsel.
(At the bench:)
THE COURT: Who is your next witness?
MR. CLARKE: I have Officer Laughery of the Mobile
Crime Lab.
THE COURT: Who is after Laughery?
MR. CLARKE: Lieutenant Alexander, and then there
is a possibility of a stipulation ending the case, or I might
have to call the nurse. I will have to check.
THE COURT: About what?
MR. CLARKE: The nurse from the Department of
[107] Corrections, Womens Detention Center, as to
whether or not this defendant had any cuts or bruises on
her when she was admitted.
84
THE COURT: Then we will take our recess. That
should give you time to talk to this other witness.
MR. GASTON: Is he back here now?
THE COURT: Check with the marshal, Mr. Kelly.
(In open Court. )
THE COURT: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we
are going to recess this trial until 1:45. If you can enjoy
your lunch after the coroner’s testimony, do so. 1:45.
(Luncheon recess taken. )
[108] AFTERNOON SESSION
(The trial resumed at 2:02 p.m., the defendant being
present. )
THE COURT: Are we ready to proceed?
MR. CLARKE: Yes, Your Honor. Before we proceed,
I would just like to point out one thing to the Court.
Over the luncheon recess I spoke to Mr. Griffin who is
in the cell block. When Mr. Griffin was first interviewed
by the police approximately two hours after this episode,
he gave a statement to the police saying that he saw the
way the knife was being held. The handle, as te state-
ment goes, the handle was in the defendant’s hand. The
blade was in the deceased’s hand.
Mr. Griffin spoke to me in my office in February when
he was in jail. I called him up the week before February
18th. That would be February 11th. At that time he also
told me the same story.
However, in the cell block now he tells me that it was
a different way. I cannot claim surprise if he testifies on
the stand as to what he told me in the cell block, since that
is what he just told me at this point. However, I wi] seek
to refresh his recollection if it appears that possibly his
recollection is hazy, at this point.
I would just like to point that out to the Court before
we proceed.
{109} MR. GASTON: Your Honor, I also spoke with
Mr. Griffin and he told me that—he didn’t tell me he
could tell me which way the knife was pointing—just that
85
he couldn't tell, just that the two of them were grabbing.
Also, at this time, Your Honor, the reason I might want
to call Officer Horstkamp which I mentioned earlier is that
during the grand jury, he testified that he had a conver-
sation with Mrs. Sewell, and that she told him that he
carried a knife and that he carried it in a sheath, and
that is contrary to her testimony. That would be my rea-
son for having him here.
I would ask at this time that he be called so that he
will be ready for the defense case.
THE COURT: Is he available?
MR. CLARKE: Yes, Your Honor. The detective-
sergeant knows where Officer Hortskamp is at this time,
and I still have him called. However, I think the witness
who will be testifying, Mr. Griffin, will obviate any need
to call Detective Hortskamp, because Mr. Griffin will tes-
tify that at the time Sewell registered at the motel, he
noticed a sheath on the man’s side. So that could obviate
the problem at that point.
MR. GASTON: It could well, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Have the jury come in.
(The jury enters the courtroom at 2:05 p.m.)
[110] THE COURT: Would you call your next wit-
ness, please.
MR. CLARKE: With the Court’s permission, the Gov-
ernment will call Sherman Clarke Griffin.
Whereupon,
SHERMAN C. GRIFF!»
was called as a witness and, having been first duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Will you please speak into the microphone, sir, and
keeping your voice up, will you give us your name?
A. Sherman Griffin.
86
Q. Mr. Griffin, try to move forward a little bit and
speak into the microphone, if you can.
A. Sherman Griffin.
Q. Mr. Griffin, going back to September 24, 1971, a
Friday about a year ago, do you know where you were
working on that day?
A. Yes.
Q. Where was that, sir?
A. Buddies Tourist Home, N.W.
Q. Now, Mr. Griffin, going back to that day, again,
did you see anyone on that day that you now see in Court?
A. Yes.
[111] Q. Who is that?
A. The defendant.
Q. Will you point her out. Try to keep your voice up.
A. The young lady there.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may the record reflect
the witness has pointed to the defendant.
THE COURT: It may.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Mr. Griffin, was that the first time you have ever
seen this individual before?
A. No.
Q. When had you seen her before? How many times,
first of all, would you say you had seen her before that
day?
A. About two or three times.
Q. Where did you see her before?
A. I have seen her at the tourist home and I have
seen her, again, on the street.
When you have seen her at the tourist home, was
she by herself?
A. No.
Q. Was she with anyone else?
A. She was with a young man.
Q. Was that each time? How many times did you see
her at the tourist home, would you say?
{112} A. About two or three times.
87
Q. During what year, month, or period of time, can
you give us an estimate?
A. The month of August and September.
Q. Now, when you saw her those times, do you know
whether or not she just walked into the tourist home or
was she renting a room?
A. She came in with a young man, so I assumed she
rented a room.
Q. How long were these rooms rented for?
A. Did you say how long are they rented for?
. Yes.
A. Well, by the day or the night or the week.
Q. Is there any lesser period of time that they can
rent the rooms for?
A. Yes.
Q. What is that period of time?
A. Oh, three hours or less.
Q. Do you know how long she stayed in the room or
stayed at Buddies Tourist Home on those days?
A. No, not really. Sometimes she would come in and
go out in the course of an hour or three hours, and then
other times, I didn’t know, really.
Q. Now, Mr. Griffin, going on to this day the 24th of
September, 1971, did anything unusual happen on that
day to you?
[113] A. Yes.
Q. About what time was it?
A. It was in the afternoon. I couldn’t say the exact
time. It was in the afternoon.
Q. Can you tell us where you were at that time?
A. I was working there.
. Whereabouts were you working?
A. There are two parts to the building. I was on the
first side of one side of the building.
Q. See if we can describe it by way of Fifth Street,
and what is the other?
A. Both parts are on Fifth Street. One is, I think it
is 1320, and the other part of the building is 1322.
Q. What part were you in?
A. 1320.
88
Q. Now, immediately prior to this time that we are
speaking about and the time when you first saw this in-
dividual, the defendant, that day, was she with anyone
when you first saw her on that Friday?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, the individual that she was with, this is
when they were registering for the room?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you notice if he had anything on him at that
time, any weapon of any sort?
[114] A. Yes, I did.
Q. What did you notice?
A. It was a Bowie Knife.
Q. Where was it?
A. Ina sheath on his side.
Q. This is immediately before they registered, is that
correct?
A. Yes.
Q. After they registered and went in the room, did
anything unusual happen?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you tell us about that?
A. I guess about five or ten minutes after they were
in the room, the young lady screamed help, and then she
continued to do so until we broke into the room.
Q. When you broke in the room, what did you notice?
A. Well, I noticed she was partly on the bed and on
the floor, and the young man was on top of her.
Q. Did you notice how she was dressed, if at all, when
you went in there?
A. She had on a blouse and a pair of dungarees.
Q. What about on her feet?
A. She had her shoes on.
Q. Now, you indicated she had a blouse on. Do you
remember the color?
(115) <A. It was dark in color.
Q. Did she appear to be fully clothed to you?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, what happened after that, what about the
man? Was he fully clothed?
A. No. I think his upper body was naked.
89
Q. Now, what did you once you entered?
A. What did I do?
Q. Once you entered the room and you saw the man
and the woman, what did you do?
A. Well, Lawrence Smith and myself and another
older gentleman tried to separate them.
Q. Can you tell us what did you do and what hap-
pened?
A. They were struggling and she was continually
screaming “Help” when we broke into the room, and we
separated them, and right after that she left out.
Q. C : you tell us how did she leave the room, what
did she dc?
A. She left because she was afraid to death.
Q. Did she walk out slowly?
A. No.
Q. How did she leave?
A. Well, from the time it took us to separate them
until the time I looked around, she was gone.
. Now, Mr. Griffin, when you got into the room, were
[116] you able to see a knife?
A. Yes.
Q. Where was that knife?
A. In both the defendant and the young man’s hand.
Q. Do you remember today who was holding it and
how that knife was being held?
A. They were both holding the knife.
. Do you remember how they were holding it?
A. Well, they were both holding it as though neither
one of them wanted the thing used on them.
Q. Do you remember whether or not you were able
to see the handle?
A. Well, as I can recall, it seems that—well, I can’t,
I am not really positive now because I don’t know who
was holding the blade or the handle, but both of them
were holding the knife. I may have said previously that
the lady was holding the handle and the man was holding
the blade part, but it cou'd have been either way because
in our hurry to get them apart, that’s all we were really
trying to do.
90
Q. Okay. Now, Mr. Griffin, let me go back to what
you were just saying then. After this incident, in about,
say, two hours later, did you go down to the police station
and talk to a police officer around 6:50?
A. Yes.
. Do you remember that police officer asking you
what [117] you saw that time?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you remember telling the police officer exactly
what you saw?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, were you trying to be as accurate and as
truthful as you could be at that time?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, at the time you spoke to the police officer,
is that the time you were speaking about when you told
or said that the woman had the handle and the man had
the blade?
A. I may have said that. I am quite sure I said that.
Q. And at that time you were trying to be as honest
as you could?
A. Yes.
Q. And that was the best of your memory at that time?
A. Yes.
MR. CLARKE: May I have the Court’s indulgence
for a second.
I have no further questions.
THE COURT: Have you ever seen the man before the
defendant was with?
THE WITNESS: I can’t really remember ever seeing
him before.
THE COURT: You may inquire.
[118] CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
Mr. Griffin, you stated that you heard some scream-
_@
ing?
A. Yes.
Q. Was that a male or a female?
A. Female.
91.
Q. Did you ever hear a male voice?
A. No, I never heard it once.
Q. Had other people checked into the tourist home
that day?
A. Yes.
Q. How many others?
A. Maybe two or three couples during that time. There
were others after then or before then, but during the time
they came in, there couldn’t be over two or three couples.
MR. GASTON: I have no other questions, Your
Honor.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Do you know if anyone else used that Room No. 2
immediately prior or before the defendant and the man
went in there?
A. Yes, before they went in, sure.
Q. How long before?
A. I couldn’t say definitely.
[119] Q. Do you know if it was used that day?
A. Yes, it was used that day.
Q. Do you know if it was cleaned up afterwards?
A. Yes,
Q. Now, you said that you didn’t hear a male voice
before you got in there, is that correct?
A. No, I didn’t.
Q. Did you hear a male’s voice from the room?
A. No, I said I didn’t hear a male voice from that
room.
Q. After you got into the room itself, did the man say
anything.
A. No.
Q. Was he able to talk at all?
A. I don’t know whether he was able to. He didn’t.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honcr.
MR. GASTON: No questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. You may step down.
92
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may the witness be ex-
cused at this point?
THE COURT: Yes.
(Witness returns to the lockup.)
MR. CLARKE: The Government will now call Officer
Laughery, with the Court’s permission.
(120) Whereupon,
ROBERT E. LAUGHERY
was called as a witness and. having been first duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Will you please state your name, and spell your
last name for the court reporter?
A. Robert E. Laughery, L-a-u-g-h-e-r-y, assigned to
the Mobile Crew Lab, Metropolitan Police Department.
Q. Officer Laughery. going back to September 24,
1971, what was your assignment at that time?
A. It was Mobile Crime Lab Technician.
Q. Will you please explain to the Court and to the
ladies and gentlemen of the jury exactly what the duties
are of a mobile crime technician.
A. To respond to scenes of major crimes upon request
of the investigator, to photograph the scene, collect phys-
ical evidence, process it. process for latent prints, preserve
the evidence and send it to various bureaus, if requested.
Q. Officer, are you familiar with what preserving the
crime scene means, prior to the time that you arrive
there?
A. I beg your pardon?
Q. Are you familiar with what preserving the crime
scene means prior to the time that you arrive there?
[121] <A. The officer remaining on the scene will pro-
tect the scene until I arrive.
93
Q. What do you do when you first arrive on the scene
after a crime scene has been preserved?
A. We photograph the scene in black and white photog-
raphy and color photography.
Q. Is this before anything is moved?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Going back to this day, the 24th of September,
did you have an occasion to go to 1320 5th Street, N. W.,
in the District of Columbia?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you go to any particular room or area in that
place?
A. Yes, sir. It was a room on the first floor.
Q. Officer, going back to that day, again, can you tell
us about what time it was of the day or night that you
arrived there?
Yes, sir. I arrived on the scene at 3:30 p.m.
Can you check that time again?
I have, on the scene from 1730 hours to—
That is 1730 hours?
Yes, sir.
What would that be—
I’m sorry. Five-thirty.
] Q. Five-thirty p.m.?
Yes, sir.
Q. When you arrive there, what did you do at that
time?
A. We recorded the scene in photography and made a
diagram, a rough chart.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Government Exhibit 17-A
through 17-G marked for identification.
(Government Exhibit Nos. 17-A through 17-G was
marked for identification. )
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may the record reflect
I am now showing them to defense counsel.
THE COURT: Very well.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Officer Laughery, I am now showing you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
PipPOrO Pop
94
17-A through 17-G, and I would ask, first of all, that we
start with 17-A, which is the bottom one. They are all
in sequence. As to Government’s Exhibit 17-A, can you
identify that?
A. Yes, sir. That is a photograph of nightstand
against the wall.
Q. Was that nightstand located in Room No. 2 at the
address that you went to on that date, the 24th?
A. Yes.
Q. Let me ask you this, Officer: How many rooms did
[123] you go to on that day?
A. Just the scene itself.
Q. Was that nightstand located at the scene?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. When was that picture taken, do you know?
A. That was taken on September 14th.
Q. At the time that you went there?
A. Yes.
Does that accurately depict what the area or the
nightstand looked like?
A. Yes, sir, it does.
Q. Are there any items being displayed in that?
A. This is a man’s wallet which I recovered from the
scene, a photograph of a green shirt, and, also—
Q. Was that wallet in the same condition when you
took that picture as it was when you first arrived on the
scene?
A. Yes, sir. There is also a blue shirt that was on top
of the stand.
Q. Going on to Government Exhibit 17-B, can you
identify that particular item?
A. That’s a pair of men’s brown shoes.
Q. Is that a picture of the scene again?
A. Yes, sir, it is.
Q. Does that picture accurately depict what is shown
in that picture as you saw it at the time you arrived on
the [124] scene?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was anything moved in that picture before it was
taken?
A. I beg your pardon?
Q. Was anything moved in that picture from the time
you arrived until you took this photograph?
A. No, sir.
Q. Going on to Government Exhibit 17-C—to save
time, take a look at 17-C through 17-G, the rest of the
pictures you have in your hand.
Do all of those pictures accurately depict what they
represent as you saw it at the time you arrived on the
scene on September 24, 1971?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Had anything shown in those pictures been moved
from the time you arrived there until the time you took
those pictures?
A. No, sir.
MR. CLARKE: Now, Officer, at this time I would ask
that you step down and come over here to the blackboard.
(Witness goes to the blackboard.)
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Now, Officer, standing over here in the corner, I
will give you this pointer, and, again, hand you this micro-
phone. [125] Now, at this time would you please take a
look at Government Exhibit No. 9 for identification. See
if you can stand over a little bit more so there is no
problem with the Court and everybody else seeing the
diagram.
Will you please take a look at Government Exhibit No.
9, the diagram before you. Have you ever seen that be-
fore? The one right in front of you.
A. Yes, I have seen it before.
Q. Do you know how it was made?
A. Yes, sir. That is a reproduction of my original
sketch made on the scene.
Q. Now, going to that diagram, again, Government
Exhibit No. 9, and before we go to that, I would like to
show you what has been marked for identification as
Government Exhibit No. 1. Can you identify that particu-
lar item?
A. That is a cannister.
96
Q. Try to keep your voice up.
A. A cannister in which I placed the yellow metal ring
from the scene that was recovered underneath the bed in
the bedroom.
Q. Now, will you please place on that diagram with
the green pen the No. 1 to indicate where that ring was
found.
A. It was recovered under the bed approximately in
this area (indicating).
Q. Place the Figure 1 there. That would be under-
neath [126] the bed, is that correct?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. I now show you what has been marked as Govern-
ment Exhibit No. 2 for identification. Can you identily
that particular item?
A. Yes, sir. That’s the brown wallet that was found
on the nightstand.
Q. Will you please mark that with the number 2 where
that wallet was located.
A. It was located on the desk closest to the door.
Q. Contained in Government Exhibit No. 2 are certain
papers. Were those papers in or around the wallet at the
time you first saw it?
A. They were scattered about on the desk and a few
were on the floor.
Was there any money found in the wallet?
No, sir.
Was there any money found around the wallet?
No, sir.
Was there any money found in the whole room?
No, sir.
Officer, I would like to show you now Government
Exhibit No. 3 for identification. Can you identify that
item? Try to keep your voice up.
A. Yes, sir. These were the blue slacks with the belt
{127] turned over to me by the investigator.
Q. Would that be Joseph Quantrell of the First Dis-
trict?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. I would like to show you what has been marked
as Government Exhibit No. 4 for identification. Can you
identify that?
EOP oPere
97
A. Yes, sir. This is the blue shirt which I recovered
from the nightstand on the scene.
Will you please mark on the diagram where that
blue shirt was found.
A. Right here (indicating).
Q. I now show you what has been marked as Gov-
ernment Exhibit No. 5 for identification. Can you identify
that?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What do you identify that as?
A. It’s a green undershirt. It was recovered from the
nightstand on the scene.
Q. Will you please mark on the diagram where that
was recovered from.
A. (Indicating.)
. I now show you what has been marked as Govern-
ment Exhibit No. 6 for identification. Can you identify
that?
A. It is a pair of undershorts.
Q. Do you know where they were recovered, if any
place?
[128] <A. If I may refer to my notes, sir.
Q. Yes.
A. They were also with the clothing on the nightstand.
Q. Will you please mark with the number 6 where they
were recovered.
A. (Indicating. )
Q. I am now showing you what has been marked as
Government Exhibit No. 7 for identification. Can you
identify those items?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What do you identify them as and where were they
recovered, if any place?
A. A pair of shoes recovered from underneath the
nightstand. |
Q. Will you please mark with number 7 where that
would be.
A. (Indicating.)
Q. Now, showing you what has been marked as Gov-
ernment Exhibits 11, 12 and 13 for identification, I
would ask first that you take a look at Government Ex-
hibit No. 11. Can you identify that item?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What do you identify it as?
A. I describe it as a Bowie Knife.
. Did you see that before?
[129] <A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where did you see it?
A. It was turned over to me on the scene by Sergeant
Jenipher of the District.
Q. Do you know what it was turned over to you in?
A. A brown paper bag, sir.
Q. Was there anything else in the bag at the time it
was turned over to you?
A. Yes, sir. Items marked as 12 and 13.
Q. Indicating the small knife and the sheath?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Iam now going to show you what has been marked
as Government Exhibit 14 for identification. Can you
identify that?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What do you identify it as?
A. It’s a pocket knife that was turned over to me by
the First District investigator, along with a prophylactic.
MR. CLARKE: At this time, Your Honor, I would
ask that this item be marked as Government Exhibit 18.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Government Exhibit No. 18
marked for identification.
(Government Exhibit No. 18 was marked for identi-
fication. )
[130] BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Now, Officer, I am just going to place here Govern-
ment Exhibit No. 18 for identification, and I would ask
that you don’t open it up. Can you identify that?
A. May I look at it?
Q. You may. Can you identify it?
A. Yes, sir.
99
Q. What do you identify it as?
A. It’s a cannister in which I placed a prophylactic
that was recovered from the scene and placed in that can-
nister.
Q. Where was the prophylactic found on the scene?
A. It was recovered under the bed nearest the wall.
Q. Will you please mark with an 18 whereabouts it
would be where it was found.
A. (Indicating. )
Q. Now, Officer, was that in a used or unused condi-
tion when found?
A. It was unfolded from the way in which you pur-
chase them and it appeared to me through the strong odor
that it may have been used.
MR. CLARKE: You may resume the stand.
(Witness resumes the stand.)
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Officer, do you know if any piece of evidence was
picked up at the morgue or from the medical examiner
shortly [131] after this episode?
A. Yes, sir, there was.
. What was that?
A. It was blood from the decedent.
Q. Do you know if anything was done with that or
any other items which have been exhibited to you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What was that, sir?
A. I took several of the items consisting of the two
knives, the sheath, the sample of blood which was turned
over to me by the technician.
. Now, when we are talking about two knives, we
actually have three here—Government Exhibits 11, 12 and
14, if can find it, for identification. Which knives are you
talking about?
A. Exhibits 11 and 12, and the sheath.
Q. Indicating the Bowie knife in this hand and the
little knife?
A. Yes, sir.
100
Q. What did you do with the four items—the two
knives, the sheath and the sample of blood?
A. And, also, the white pillow case, I took them and
delivered them to the FBI for a blood test.
Q. When you say blood test, what do you mean?
A. For grouping and, also, for identification of blood
[132] on the—
MR. CLARKE: May I have the Court’s indulgence
for a second. Your Honor, may counsel approach the
bench a second.
THE COURT: Surely.
(At the bench:)
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, I have conferred with
Mr. Gaston on this one point. All] of this is, in a sense,
hearsay, that the officer—I will ask him at this point to
testify as to the results of the examination. Mr. Gaston
has indicated he has no objection.
THE COURT: In relation to what?
MR. CLARKE: The grouping was found Type 0.
There was blood found on the hunting knife but insuffi-
cient to group. No blood was found on the sheath or on
the little knife.
MR. GASTON: I have no objection.
THE COURT: All right.
(In open Court:)
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Officer Laughery, are you familiar with the results
obtained from the FBI Laboratory as to the requests that
you had made?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know whether or not they were able to
group the blood, the sample blood that was given to them?
{133} A. Yes, they were.
Q. What was that grouping?
A. The report indicates Type O.
101
Q. Do you know whether or not as to Government's
Exhibit No. 11, the Bowie Knife, the FBI reported
whether or not there was any blood, human blood found
on that item?
A. There was on the Bowie Knife, there was blood,
human blood found on it.
Q. Were they able to group that blood?
A. No, sir.
Q. Now, as to Government Exhibit No. 12 for identi-
fication, the other knife that was brought over there, do
vou know whether or not there was any blood or human
L.ood found on that item?
A. The report indicated no blood on it.
. And as to Government Exhibit 13, the sheath.
A. No blood was found on it.
MR. CLARKE: May I have the Court’s indulgence a
second.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Officer, do you know whether or not you saw any
soap in that room?
A. Yes, I did.
MR. CLARKE: Will you please, again, step over to
the blackboard and will you indicate with the letter S
where it [134] was you noticed the soap.
(Witness indicates on diagram and then resumes the
witness stand.)
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Now, Officer, I am going to show you what has
been marked for identification as Government Exhibit
17-F and I would ask that you look at that item and see
if you can see the soap in there?
No, sir, not the soap.
Is there anything shown in that particular—
It is a soap wrapper.
Where was that located?
That was on the window which housed the air con-
ditioner to the right of the sink.
POPP
102
Q. Now, was the soap that saw on the sink, was
it encased in a wrapper?
A. No, sir, it wasn’t.
Q. Will you please mark on 17-F with a circle the
wrapper we are talking about so the record is clear.
A. (Indicating.)
Q. Place your initials, there too.
A. (Indicating. )
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honor.
(135) CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
Officer, anywhere in this room did you find any
after-shave lotion or deodorant?
A. No, sir.
Q. No brown paper bag containing those items?
A. No, sir.
MR. GASTON: No other questions.
MR. CLARKE: May the witness be excused at this
point?
THE COURT: Very well.
(Witness excused. }
MR. CLARKE: With the Court’s permission, the Gov-
ernment will call Detective Sergeant Alexander.
Whereupon,
STANLEY E. ALEXANDER
was called as a witness and, having been first duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CLARKE:
Wil you state your name, sir.
Stanley E. Alexander.
What is your occupation?
. Detective Sergeant, Homicide Department, Wash-
ington, D. C.
>O>O
103
[136] Q. Detective Sergeant, going back to September
25, 1971, what was your occupation at that time ?
A. Homicide investigator.
Q. Going back to that date, did you have an occasion
to see anyone that you now see in Court today?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who is that?
A. That lady sitting at the table over there.
Q. Describe the dress she is wearing.
A. I believe it is dark brown, and black sweater.
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, may the record reflect
the witness has pointed to the defendant?
THE COURT: Very well.
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Now, Officer, will you please indicate about what
time it was in the day or night you saw her and where
did you see her?
A. Yes, sir. It was about 10:25 a.m. Saturday mor-
ning, September 25, 1971, in the Homicide office.
Q. Was she by herself?
A. No, sir.
Who was she with?
A. Her husband Samuel, and, I believe, her sister
Vivian.
Can you please indicate when you saw Mrs. Agurs
at [137] that time whether or not you had any conversa-
tion with her?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Will you also indicate what that was, what hap-
pened, what was said, if anything?
A. Yes, sir. She was brought to my attention by Ser-
geant Spencer. He advised me that this was the lady that
we wanted for the case in question, and would I talk to
her and process her. He had already advised her of her
rights and stated that she was not going to give us a
statement.
Q. She was advised of her rights, is that correct?
A. Yes, sir.
104
Q. Then you were preparing the paper work and
speaking with her, is that correct?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What if anything did she say, and how did it come
about?
A. I was typing, I believe, the police department Form
163 that we make out on people, and during the conversa-
tion she asked me was there a knife found. I stated there
were two knives found. She stated there was only one.
At that time her husband Samuel asked her—
MR. GASTON: Your Honor, I am going to object to
this as hearsay.
THE COURT: Let’s talk about what she said.
THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
{138} There was a question asked her. She stated “He
was holding it when I left.”
BY MR. CLARKE:
Q. Sergeant Alexander, when an individual comes in
who is a suspect, or a defendant in a homicide case, do
you have any standard procedure which you utilize in
order, do you look for anything in particular when a
person comes in and you have an interview of someone
like that and they are a suspect or a defendant in a homi-
cide case?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is that, sir?
A. While we are talking to them we will look for
injuries on the body, visible injuries.
Q. What do you do if you find any?
A. We will ask them, question them as to how they
received them.
Q. Now, as to this particular case, did you notice any
injuries upon Mrs. Agurs—her face, her arms, her hand,
any item that was exposed to you, any part of her body
that was exposed?
A. To the best of my knowledge sir, and after refer-
ring to my notes, I did not see any injury to Mrs. Agurs.
Q. If you had seen any injury, what would you have
done besides question them about it?
A. I would have made a notation of it. What we
105
[139] generally do is have it brought to the attention of
the Identification Section and have colored photos taken
of that injury.
Q. In this case did you make any notes as to injury?
A. No, sir.
Q. Were any photographs taken?
A. No, sir. I beg your pardon—there was a photo-
graph taken, but not of an injury. That was in the
processing.
Q. That’s the normal procedure—taking a _photo-
graph?
A. Yes, sir.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honor.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GASTON:
Q. Officer, the examination you performed, was that
just from the distance of talking to her?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. So underclothing or something like that, she could
well have an injury?
A. We are not allowed to touch a woman, sir.
Q. So the answer to the question is no?
A. I didn’t see any, no.
Q. But she might have had—
MR. CLARKE: Objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Sustained.
[140] BY MR. GASTON:
Q. She showed up voluntarily at the police department,
did she not?
A. That is correct, sir.
MR. [GASTON: I have no other questions.
MR. CLARKE: I have no further questions, Your
Honor. May the witness be excused?
THE COURT: Yes, Sergeant, you may be excused.
(Witness excused. )
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, before I call my next
witness, may counsel approach the bench for a second?
THE COURT: Very well.
106
MR. CLARKE: I would also add, Your Honor, that
this is the last witness for the Government.
(At the bench:)
MR. CLARKE: Your Honor, my next witness is a
Mrs. Brazier. She is a nurse at the Women’s Detention
Center, and it will be a matter of formality of introduc-
tion of records, medical records taken at the time this
defendant was admitted to the Women’s Detention Center.
Up until recently I felt we would have a stipulation—
actually, it is the Government’s own stipulation, and I see
in this case that we don’t have a stipulation because coun-
sel has indicated there was a cut on one of the defendant's
hands, but I had nothing to show that, so I couldn’t stipu-
late [141] to that one fact. I called Mrs. Brazier down
right before we came back to Court. So I wonder if I
could have the Court’s indulgence for a second just to tell
her what will happen when she comes in here to testify.
THE COURT: What do you mean, what will happen?
MR. CLARKE: As to the questions I will ask her.
THE COURT: Where is she from?
MR. CLARKE: She is a nurse at the Women’s Deten-
tion Center.
THE COURT: She ought to have enough sense to
respond to questions without your talking to her.
MR. CLARKE: Yes, Your Honor. But I just wanted
for my own benefit to know exactly what she had to say
so I don’t put my foot in my mouth in a sense. It would
only take about a minute, Your Honor, just outside the
hall.
THE COURT: Very well.
MR. GASTON: Your Honor, may I inquire of Mr.
Clarke as to whether or not he intends to have the notes
which she drew up admitted into evidence?
MR. CLARKE: I will ask that they be admitted. I
will have to do that in order to have her testify from it.
B
This text is long and has been trimmed here. Open the source document for the complete record.
This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.