Coach, Walt Sautter [ereader for android .TXT] 📗

statements made by you in this court correct and uncoerced?” asked Gerity.
“Yes”-replied Flash appearing to be relieved by the simplicity of the question.
“Thank you. No more questions.
Your Honor, I would like to call Mr. John Crane,” announced Hartly.
The words shot through me like bullets. My knee felt weak as I lifted myself from the chair and approached the stand. I could feel the sweat break out across my forehead and under my armpits.
“Mr. Crane, did you accompany Mr. White on the Mischief Night, October thirtieth of this year to Coach Carter’s house with the intent of playing a practical joke on the Coach?”
“Yes” I stammered.
“Have you heard the testimony of the witnesses about the evening?”
“Yes” I again stammered.
“Do you believe all their statements to be correct?”
“Yes, but I don’t believe Ricky, I mean Mr. White ever killed Coach. I just know he couldn’t,” I spontaneously blurted.
I immediately heard the sharp crack of the gavel and the judge’s voice.
“That’s not the question and you are not to give opinions unless asked. Only facts are required,” he bellowed.
“Yes sir” I murmured in timid reply.
“No more questions” said Hartly and he turned away from me towards the judge.
“Mr. Gerity, do you care to cross examine the witness?”
“Yes, thank you Your Honor.
I have a question for Mr. Crane.”
I sat fidgeting with the button on my shirt cuff, hoping that my question would the same as the one asked of the others. It was.
“Mr. Crane, are all the statements made by you in this court correct and uncoerced?” asked Gerity.
“Yes”-I answered.
“Thank you. No more questions.
Gerity then addressed the judge.
“I have no more cross examination Your Honor” and he reseated himself.
“Do you have any additional witnesses, Mr. Hartly?” asked Somers.
“No, Your Honor, I have no more witnesses at this time” Hartly rose and answered.
The judge then looked at his watch.
“At this time we will conclude the day’s session. Let me remind the witnesses and the jurors that they are to speak with no one about these matters.
Court will reconvene today at six o’clock.
Court is adjourned!” and with that he cracked the gavel.

Chapter 10
It sure didn’t look like much of a defense, not to me anyway. Ricky’s lawyer hadn’t even asked one question of the prosecution’s witnesses except if they were telling the truth. What did he expect them to say, that they had lied?
Even the judge seemed to have been confused by Gerity’s questioning.
As I left the courthouse all I could do was hope that he had something better to offer at tomorrow’s hearing.
The next evening the firehouse and tent annex were again filled to capacity. Again, Judge Somers made his regal entrance at six o’clock sharp and the trial resumed.
“Mr. Gerity, would you like to call your witnesses?” asked the judge.
“Yes, thank you Your Honor. I call Mr. Richard White, the accused to the stand.”
Ricky arose, walked to the chair next to the judge and was sworn in.
“Mr. White, did you kill Coach Carter?”
“No, I did not,” asserted Ricky forcefully.
“Do you know who did?”
“No!”
“Do you know of anyone who might have a reason to kill Coach Carter?”
“No, most everybody I know liked Coach a lot.”
“Did that include you?” asked Gerity.
“I didn’t really like him and I didn’t really not like him” answered Ricky.
“Did you go to Coach Carter’s house on Mischief Night to soap his windows as a Halloween prank?”
“Yes I did.”
“Did you go alone?”
“No, Beamy went with me.”
“Beamy?”
“John Crane” Ricky answered.
“Did you soap the windows?”
“No, we never got to do it”
“Why not?” asked Gerity.
Ricky paused for a moment and looked over at me.
“We chickened out.”
“You mean you got scared?” added Gerity.
“Yeah, we got scared.”
“Were you wearing a hat that night?”
“I was always wearing my hat.”
“What kind of hat was it?”
“It was my Cleveland Browns hat.”
“What’s so special about that hat?” asked Gerity.
“Well, that’s my favorite team and Jim Brown’s my favorite player, so I always wear that hat to show that”, replied Ricky enthusiastically.
“Did you have the hat when you left Coach’s house that night?”
“I’m not sure.”
“What happened after you left the house?”
“We started walkin’ back to town. Flash, I mean Mr. Wheeler drove us up there but he wouldn’t wait, so we hadda walk back” explained Ricky.
“So you walked all the way back?”
“No! When we was about a quarter way back, Moose, I mean Mr. Marvich picked us up and drove us back.”
“Did you have your hat when he picked you up?”
“I thought I did. I don’t know.”
“When you got back to town, what happened then?”
“We kinda hung around Snookie’s for a while and then we rode with Mr. Wheeler for a while.”
“Did you have the hat then?”
“No. That’s when I realized I lost it. I looked all over the back of the car and I couldn’t find it,” answered Ricky excitedly.
“You didn’t know you lost it until then?”
“No. With all the excitement of running away from Coach’s house and all I didn’t even know it was gone.”
“You know that Coach Carter was killed on the Sunday afternoon of November twenty seventh, right?” asked Gerity.
“Yes.”
“Where were you at that time?”
“I was where I always am on Sunday afternoon during football. I was home listenin’ to the Browns on the radio.”
“Who was with you?”
“Nobody, just me.”
“What about your mother and father?”
“My mama goes to the church on Sunday and Dad, he’s no Brown’s fan like me. He goes down to Harold’s Place to watch the Giants on TV. Our TV’s been broke for about a month now, a tube or somethin’, so he’s goes there.”
“What about your brother? Was he around?”
“He’s little. He goes over his friend Jason’s house on Sundays and Jason comes over to our house on Saturdays.”
“So you were there by yourself most of the afternoon?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” answered Ricky.
“Thank you Mr. White. That’s all.”
“Mr. Hartly, would you like to question the defendant?” announced the judge.
“Yes, Your Honor” as he walked towards Ricky still seated in the witness chair.
“Mr. White, when you and Mr. Crane went to Coach Carter’s house on Mischief Night did you witness anything that caused you to have animosity against the Coach?”
“What does that mean?” asked Ricky.
“Did you see anything that made you hate Coach Carter?”
“Hate? No not hate him”, Ricky answered.
“Well, what did you see?”
Ricky glanced over at Gerity for an instant and then replied.
“I’d rather not say.”
“You’ve got to say young man,” the judge ordered.
A long silence filled the room.
“I saw him doin’ queer stuff with one of the guys in his basement.”
A loud gasp issued loudly from crowd.
Suddenly, a man stood up in the audience, red faced, with spittle spraying from his lips as he shouted.
“That’s bullshit!
That’s bullshit!
That’s a lie!
Coach is in his grave because of you and now you’re calling him a fag!
We ought to hang you right now!”
Then another jumped up, equally enraged.
“Coach’s wasn’t no queer!
He wasn’t no queer just cause some nigger kid that killed him says so” he yelled.
The gavel pounded incessantly while the cops wrestled the two men from the court and within a few minutes, the crowd quieted.
“Mr. White, continue,” ordered the judge.
“We saw it just when we were gonna soap the windows. When we saw that, we ran and never did soap any windows. We were scared,” answered Ricky in a low, almost inaudible voice.
Then he continued, “I didn’t like what I saw but I didn’t hate him. I just felt embarrassed and ashamed for him. That’s about all I can say.”
“Embarrassed and ashamed enough to kill him if you had the chance?”
“I could never be a embarrassed or ashamed enough for no one to wanta kill ‘em.”
“What about the day when you went back to get the hat you had lost that night?” asked Hartly.
“I never went back to get no hat!”
“According to Mr. Marvich he picked you up the day of the murder walking down the road from the house towards town” stated Hartly loudly.
“If he picked up somebody that day, it wasn’t me. I already said, I was home listenin’ to the Browns game on the radio.
Moose always use ta tell me he was a big Giants fan and they played that Sunday too. I know, cause like I said, my dad went to Harold’s to watch the game. So why wasn’t Moose watchin’ the game like he says he always did? Why would he be out drivin’ around like he said?” answered Ricky.
“Is it possible that he was listening to the game on his car radio? You told us that you listened to your game on the radio, didn’t you, Mr. White?” questioned Hartly
“I been in Moose’s car lots of times and his radio never works, only once in a while, and even then you can’t hardly hear it. It keeps goin’ in an out. He wouldn’t never take a chance on hearin’ the game on that, especially when it was a big game like the one that day against Green Bay.”
“So you’re saying that Mr. Marvich isn’t telling the truth?” responded Hartly.
“I know he’s not,” answered Ricky sharply.
“Why would he lie about picking you up? He was your friend. You’ve ridden with him many times before hadn’t you? He certainly couldn’t have mistaken you for some else. You’re one of the few colored kids around here.”
“I don’t know why he’s lyin’ but he is” came Ricky’s again sharp retort.
“Well, I don’t think he is lying. He’s got no reason to lie.
No more questions.
Thank you Your Honor” said Hartly and he dismissed Ricky from the stand.
“Mr. Gerity, your next witness please,” asked Judge Somer.
“Your Honor, my next witness could not be here today. He has agreed to travel a great distance to come testify for my client and there has been a delay in his arrival.
I beg the court’s indulgence and ask that court be adjourned until tomorrow when he is sure to be here.”
“Is this witness vital to your client’s defense Mr. Gerity?” asked the judge.
“Most vital!” he replied.
“In light of that fact then, court will be adjourned until tomorrow at six o’clock.”
“A witness for Ricky coming from a ‘great distance’?” I thought to myself.
“I never heard of Ricky knowing anyone outside Highburg and Henderson Town except maybe a few people from the city. Even then, he had left the city when he was just four, so how many people could he know there and how could they possibly help his case?”
Again, I left the courtroom perplexed by the actions of Mr. Gerity but praying for his success.

Chapter 11
Six o’clock, the next evening and once again Judge Somers entered the courtroom to begin the third day of testimony.
“Court is now in session” he spoke and the gavel sounded.
“Mr. Gerity, has your witness arrived?”
“Yes, Your Honor and I will call him to the stand in a moment but first I would like to present to the court some additional evidence in behalf of Mr. White” and with that he stepped forward and handed a large manila envelope to the judge.
“Your Honor would you please examine the seal on the envelope and then its contents?”
Somers adjusted his glasses and carefully perused the seal.
“This is the seal and signature of a notary dated the day before yesterday,” he announced as he read.
He