by Noel Obiora
“Rachel Johnson,” Didi said, but he had paused before answering.
“Ms. Johnson lives at the same apartment building where Footsie lived, right?”
“Yes.”
“In fact, she personally delivered Footsie’s tape to you.”
“Yes, she did.”
“How did you meet Ms. Johnson?”
“I don’t recall, probably at a cocktail party.”
“Which is it? You don’t recall or a cocktail party?”
Didi paused contemplatively again before he said, “It must have been a cocktail party.”
“How often have you been to that apartment complex to visit?”
“To visit Goldie?” Didi Pare asked.
“Yes.”
“Two or three times,” Didi said.
“How about to visit Rachel Johnson?”
“Objection,” Amy said, standing up.
“Sustained,” Judge Barney ruled.
“So, how often would you say you have been to the apartment building, in general?”
“Asked and answered,” Amy objected again.
“I will let that stand, overruled,” Judge Barney said.
“About a dozen times, I don’t recall,” Didi said.
“Mr. Pare, as you walk up to the gates of Armacost Arms, there is a camera above the call box that picks up the person visiting—” Kenneth produced an exhibit and showed Didi. “The day Ms. Silberberg died, I’m not sure this camera picked up everyone visiting the complex. Can you tell us if you were at the complex on that day?” Kenneth asked.
“I may have been, I don’t recall.”
“You’re not sure?” Kenneth asked. Kenneth knew then that Didi had been to the complex. “There is evidence in this case that Ms. Silberberg was in London for about three months. How many times did you visit her apartment complex while she was in London?”
“A couple of times maybe, around that period, I was helping her in any way I could.”
“Did she ask you to check her kitchen sink as well?”
Amy objected and Judge Barney sustained the objection.
Kenneth glanced at his note and at the clock and decided it was time for his last set of questions.
“Are you married, Mr. Pare?”
“Yes.”
“Did the police tell you that they needed your DNA to compare with semen samples found on Goldie Silberberg’s bed and in condoms found in the trash can in her bedroom?” Kenneth asked.
Didi did not respond.
Amy rose again but this time politely. “Objection, your Honor.”
“Sustained,” Judge Barney said.
“When you visited the apartment building at Armacost Arms, were you going there because Ms. Rachel Johnson was your mistress?”
“Same objection,” Amy said.
“Same ruling,” Judge Barney replied, and added, “Sustained.”
Kenneth picked up a rolled-up poster-sized document and placed it on the easel without showing it.
“Mr. Pare, one of Footsie’s songs, ‘A Past That Breathes,’ was recently released to airplay on the radio, was it not?” Kenneth asked.
“Yes, it was.”
“Was that one of the songs that Mr. Jackson wrote and owns all the publishing rights to?”
“I think they wrote it together. Goldie contributed some of the lyrics.”
Kenneth placed the large rolled-up poster-sized picture of the compact disc for Goldie’s single, and placed it on the easel.
“Mr. Pare, is this a true picture of the compact disc for the song ‘A Past That Breathes’?”
“Yes,” Didi said examining it more closely.
“And on that compact disc, it has the name of the publishing company that owns the rights to the song now, does it not?”
Didi was again quiet before he answered with an expression that begged where Kenneth was going with the question.
“Yes, it does.”
“And that publishing company belongs to you, does it not?”
“Goldie asked me to —”
“Move to strike as non-responsive,” Kenneth said.
“Mr. Pare, you are to answer the question, not comment on it. The answer is stricken,” Judge Barney said.
“Yes, it is my publishing company.”
“And 100% of all the publishing rights of the song that Paul Jackson wrote and used to own as a publisher, goes to your publishing company, none to him?”
“Mr. Jackson and Ms. Silberberg wrote the song and that was the agreement she asked for to get away from his control.”
“Mr. Pare, what is the title of the record that Ms. Silberberg made in London?”
Didi was quiet before he answered.
“Footsie.”
“Footsie,” Kenneth repeated, and paused.
“Is there a song on that record that has that title?”
“No,” Didi said.
“What does that mean? Footsie?”
“That was her stage name when she performed around town.”
“But what does it mean?”
“It is a name he gave her the first time they met at his club.”
“You mean, Paul Jackson gave her the name Footsie?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Footsie,” Kenneth said. “Would you agree, Mr. Pare, that this record Ms. Silberberg recorded was the most important achievement of her life and the culmination of her dreams?”
“Objection, calls for speculation,” Amy said.
“Sustained,” Judge Barney said.
“Mr. Pare, of all the titles that Ms. Silberberg could have chosen, if as you claimed she broke up with Mr. Jackson, do you know why she chose the name that Mr. Jackson gave her as the title of her dream, her greatest achievement?”
“So people who have seen her perform could make the connection to the record,” Didi said.
“She told you that?”
“Yes.”
“Because you tried to dissuade her from using that title, didn’t you? That was why she had to give you an explanation. Any explanation.”
“Objection, argumentative,” Amy said.
“Rephrase the question, counsel.”
“Did you try to dissuade her from using ‘Footsie’ as the title for her record?”
“Some of us thought the record should be called ‘A Past That Breathes,’” Didi said.
“But still she called it Footsie—I have nothing further,” Kenneth said.
Amy was not sure what she despised more about Kenneth’s cross-examination, his use of the contract she had sent to him or Mr. Pare being her witness in this trial. She had not yet accosted him about who sent Rachel Johnson’s dossier to him and to the defendants. She wanted him off the stand more than she wanted to rehabilitate him.
She asked him to open the contract Kenneth had given him to the signature page, and when Didi opened it, she asked him who signed it and why.
“Mr. Jackson did not sign it because he was no longer her manager,” Didi said.
“If he was no longer her manager, why did Goldie leave his name on the contract?”
“It was the record company’s decision, not Goldie’s, they didn’t think it was a big deal as long as he didn’t have to sign it.”
“Isn’t it true that there is an insurance policy that might also protect Goldie if someone were to sue her for plagiarism on the songs that Mr. Jackson wrote or cowrote?”
Didi was already nodding before Amy finished the question.
“Yes, the insurance policy would provide coverage for Mr. Jackson, only if he is named on the contract as manager, that way Goldie won’t be caught holding the bag for his mistakes like she always did,” Didi said.
“That concludes my examination of this witness,” Amy said and s
at down.
“We have nothing more as well,” Kenneth said.
•••
Amy called a custodian of records from the Bank of America to the stand, and the custodian produced pictures from a security camera on an ATM machine on Wilshire Boulevard. The custodian testified on the bank’s practices for collecting records from the camera, how long such records were kept, where they were kept or stored, why the particular records in this case could not have been tampered with, and how the bank came to produce the stills for this proceeding. The custodian also testified on the ATM receipts collected on Paul’s account and how they were able to identify the particular machine that issued the receipt.
Cassandra did not want to examine the bank custodian, but she did not want to leave his testimony undisputed for the record either. She asked why the time and date on the photographs did not match the time on the receipt, and the custodian explained that the time on the camera was measuring frame times per second, and the particular frame for the picture that exactly matched the time on the receipt may not be the one showing his face. He said he brought the pictures he thought were best, and the difference in the time on the receipt and the time on the camera was a matter of seconds anyway.
“Would the calibration of the ATM clock result in a completely different date appearing on the picture, if the person in charge of that calibration wanted?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do know that they are maintained and checked, don’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And calibrated occasionally?”
“Yes, I suppose.”
“I have nothing further,” Cassandra concluded.
Amy was ready for the questions Cassandra had asked the custodian, and next called the technician charged with maintaining the particular ATM in question. Rather than make the technician the routine witness she had intended, Amy took her time to lay out the technician’s credentials, expertise, and background before she began to examine him on the mechanics and maintenance of the ATM.
Cassandra had no cross-examination for the technician. Thus, the conclusion of the technician’s testimony took the parties to the end of the day. The technician walked through the double doors and exited into the hallway before Judge Barney called the attorneys to his bench.
“Ms. Wilson, your witness list tells me you have five more witnesses. Is that still right?” Judge Barney asked.
“Actually, your Honor, one witness is not currently available,” Amy said.
“Which witness would that be, counsel?”
“Rachel Johnson.”
Kenneth turned to look at Big in the stand, and Big slowly shook his head from side to side.
“So, now, we have Officer Tse, the lady who saw them arguing, and a serologist who collected evidence at the scene. We think we can finish those tomorrow, your Honor,” Amy said.
“The lady is Ms. Ola?” Judge Barney inquired.
“Yes, your Honor, and of course, we are assuming that the defendant has chosen not to testify, because we would like to call him if he is not exercising the Fifth Amendment right not to testify.”
“Counsel, does the defendant intend to testify?” Judge Barney asked.
“No, your Honor,” Kenneth said. “He will exercise his Fifth Amendment right under the Constitution.”
“Very well. So, we have these witnesses left for the prosecution. Would the defense proceed immediately with its first witness, once the prosecution concludes its case?” Judge Barney asked.
“No, your Honor,” Cassandra said. “We’ll have a motion for directed verdict for your Honor.”
“Will that be a long or a short motion?” Judge Barney asked, as though indicating that such a motion would be purely academic.
“The motion we have will take no more than an hour. I can’t speak for the response,” Cassandra said.
Judge Barney turned to the jury and informed them that the court would resume at its normal hour on Friday. “The court is in recess for the day,” Judge Barney added and exited the courtroom.
“What’s a directed verdict?” Paul asked Kenneth as the judge left the courtroom.
“It’s a motion to dismiss the case, but we must make it when the DA is done putting up her case, to say she didn’t meet her burden to prove her case against you after she has presented all her evidence and her witnesses. If we don’t make it, we don’t get to appeal that the evidence was insufficient.”
Paul nodded.
At the office, Amy explained to Kate that she had to make a rushed decision not to call Rachel Johnson, because she was convinced that the judge would allow the dossier on her if she testified. Kate agreed with her. After their conversation was at an end and Amy was about to leave, Kate said, “thank you.”
“For what?” Amy asked.
“Thomas was here earlier in the week to watch part of the trial. He came to my office. I know it was because of you.”
Amy shook her head slowly before she spoke. “No, we did not have a conversation about anything personal. We are not really together anymore.”
“I understand. But I think your response to what happened made him a better man.”
Amy thought about Kate’s comment. What happened was that she got pregnant, which Kate does not know, Amy thought, and it brought her close to tears. “When you put it that way Kate, then it was well worth it,” she said, choking up and walking away.
41
A Chronic Pain
On Friday, Judge Barney’s early morning calendar ran slightly over schedule and trial did not resume until 10:30 a.m.
“Anyone looking at Goldie as she lay on the floor would know she was dead,” Tse said as he explained the condition he and his team found Goldie’s body in. He told the jury he was one of the first officers to arrive at Goldie’s apartment after the incident. He repeated much of the same testimony Conrad gave on the stand. Amy wanted to use Tse’s examination to support Conrad Wetstone’s claim that he had gone to the apartment to check the water pressure. Tse testified that when they talked to him, Conrad had said he was going to check the garbage disposal in the kitchen, and after the police talked to him, they confirmed his claim with the tenant who had complained about the water pressure. Tse then explained how all the evidence was collected.
On Amy’s further examination, he admitted the investigation had not progressed much when the police learned of Paul Jackson’s involvement, and the first forty-eight hours are the most crucial of any murder investigation and they needed to do something before evidence was destroyed.
“How is that possible,” Amy inquired, “when there could have been many leads to other suspects?”
“No, there were only leads to the defendant,” Tse testified.
“What were the leads?”
“The imprint of his shoe, the information about the abuse, the prints on the bottles in the guest room, and the fact he was fired as her manager.”
“And were there other leads?”
“While we were at the house, Mr. Jackson called.”
“When Mr. Jackson called, did you ask him if he was the boyfriend?”
“We did.”
“What did Mr. Jackson say when you asked him if he was her boyfriend?”
“He said he was Ms. Silberberg’s boyfriend.”
Paul frantically scribbled a note for Cassandra after Tse answered: “I didn’t say that. I didn’t say nothing,” it read.
“And what did you do after that?”
“We let the detectives know and we continued the investigation.”
“Were there other calls?”
“A few more calls came into the apartment while we were collecting evidence. We talked to the people calling to determine what else they could possibly tell us.”
“Were you able to learn anything?”
“Yes, we learned she had changed her mind about playing at the club that night for some reason.”
“By the club, you mean Cool Jo’s Café, Mr. Jackson’s nightclub?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Tse further testified as to the items of evidence that were collected at the scene of the crime, particularly the sexual paraphernalia and their possible uses. He presented more crime scene pictures showing where they were found, leaving nothing out. Amy pretended that she had concluded her examination on this response from Tse, and began to walk back to her table, then stopped as Cassandra began to stand up.
“Just one more thing, Officer. Why would the person who is accused of killing Goldie be calling her apartment when he should have known that she was dead?”
“Classic perpetrator mentality, ma’am. They always return to the scene of the crime, in one form or another to see what’s happening, even to see how the investigation is getting along.”
“Are you a psychologist?” Amy asked.
“No, ma’am, but I have been investigating crimes for years, and we get training on this kind of crime all the time.”
Amy concluded her examination with this response. When she sat down, it seemed to Kenneth like she was relieved to be done with the examination. Their eyes met, but she looked away quickly. Cassandra rose to begin her cross-examination as Amy returned to her table.
“Officer Tse, you said Mr. Jackson called Goldie Silberberg’s apartment while officers of the Los Angeles Police Department were at the scene, is that correct?” Cassandra asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And he told you he was the deceased’s Black boyfriend as well?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Did he tell you he was ‘Black’? Or just the boyfriend?” Cassandra asked.
“He said he was the boyfriend—”
“And you filled in the rest?”
“More or less.”
“From the sound of his voice?”
“Objection,” Amy said.
“Sustained.”
“How did you determine that Mr. Jackson was Black without asking him, Officer?” Cassandra asked.
“Rachel, the lady that lives next to Ms. Silberberg told us. .”
“Do you recall how long Mr. Jackson was on the phone when he called?”