The Deadly River

by Jeff Noonan

  “We obtained a search warrant for Mr. Wards’ house, storage shed and other of his properties after Mr. Ortega told us his story. When we searched Mr. Wards’ house, we found a 30-06 that had been fired recently. It’s over there on the evidence table.” He pointed.

  “Okay, Sheriff, what did that tell you?”

  “In and of itself, not much. But when we put the recently fired 30-06 together with the fact that Wards had no alibi for the time of the murder, the fact that he lied about his whereabouts, the fact that he’d been seen watching Kochran on the raft the day before the murder, and the fact that he’d attempted other murders the same day that Kochran died, the facts sure start to add up for me. Wards had publicly admitted to having a hatred for Moore and Kochran and he had threatened their lives. I can only conclude that he accomplished at least half of his threat that day.”

  The Defense Counsel was on his feet, sputtering an objection. The judge simply motioned for him to set down. “Objection overruled.”

  County Attorney Warthen addressed the judge. “That’s all I have for this witness, Your Honor.”

  “Very well. Let’s break for lunch. Court is adjourned. We’ll reconvene at 1 p.m. sharp.”

  At precisely 1 p.m., Sheriff Rose once again took the witness stand. Judge McClain called for order and told the Defense Counsel to proceed with questioning.

  Defense Counsel Leventhall opened. “Sheriff, you have charged my client with the murders of three people and you mentioned that you think three more are missing. Exactly how many of these six people can you definitely say are dead?”

  “The only body we’ve recovered was Kurt Kochran’s. We are confident that at least two others, Owens and Johnson, are dead also. We cannot be sure of the other three.”

  “Really, Sheriff? How can you be any more sure of Owens and Johnson than you are of the other three? In fact, how do you know that the guy that told you about Owens and Johnson didn’t kill them and just pin the blame on my client? How can you even be sure that they are dead? Isn’t it true that the only proof you have on these ‘murders’ is the word of a felon who isn’t even in this country legally?”

  “Sir, I do have the body of Mr. Kochran and I am confident that Mr. Ortega was telling the truth when he described the murders of Owens and Johnson. But I already told the County Attorney that I had no proof in any of the other three potential murders.”

  “But do you have any proof, other than the tale told by Mr. Ortega, as to who committed the murders of Owens and Johnson? In fact, can you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these murders even took place?”

  “No. I have no other proof. No, I cannot. But personally, I am very confident that they happened as Ortega described.”

  “Well Sheriff, it is too bad that the laws of the United States of America don’t allow you to convict a human being based on the local sheriff’s so-called confidence. Unfortunately, you have no proof, so my client must be found “Not Guilty” on these two murder charges. Now, let’s discuss the charge of murder that you have lodged against my client in relation to the killing of Mr. Kochran. Do you have any firm proof that my client did commit this murder?”

  “The evidence is circumstantial. But there is a lot of that evidence. In fact, there is far more evidence that he committed this murder than any of the others. The case against him is circumstantial, but damming.”

  “In fact, Sheriff, you don’t have a shred of hard evidence against my client on any of these murders, including Kochran’s, do you?”

  The sheriff was calm as he answered, slowly ticking off his points on the fingers of his hands as he turned slightly to face the jury. “We do have the recently fired 30-06 together with the fact that Wards had no alibi for the time of the murder. We also have the fact that he lied about his whereabouts at the time of the murder. We have the undamaged truck inner tubes that he claimed he’d just repaired. We have the fact that he’d been seen watching Kochran on the raft the day before the murder. We have the fact that he attempted other murders the same day that Kochran died. We have the fact that Wards had publicly admitted to having a hatred for Moore and Kochran and he had threatened their lives. I believe that we have more than enough facts to establish that Mr. Wards did, in fact, murder Kurt Kochran.”

  Defense Counsel Leventhall wasn’t happy with Sheriff Rose’s answer, but he decided to move on. “Okay, Sheriff, before I go on to the other charges, I’d like to point out to the jury that none of the evidence you just cited is hard evidence. It is all circumstantial. Now let’s move to the charge of attempted murder that you’ve leveled against Mr. Wards for the fistfight he had with Mr. Moore.”

  “Fistfight?” The Sheriff was incredulous.

  “Yes. Fistfight. My client admits that he stopped Moore and Raines on the mountainside. He planned, in his own words, ‘to beat the shit out of Moore’. He was disinterested in Mr. Raines, had no real animosity toward him and had no intention of doing him harm. Somehow, this whole encounter, which should properly have been charged as simple assault, was blown out of proportion by Mr. Ortega. I would remind the jury that Mr. Ortega is a convicted felon who was trying to get a sweetheart sentence for his crimes when he agreed to testify on this matter.”

  The County Attorney was on his feet. “Objection. Is there a question for the witness in here, or is the Defense Counsel just making a speech?”

  The judge nodded. “Sustained. Mr. Leventhall, please get on with the questioning.

  “All right Judge. Sheriff, why did you decide to charge my client with attempted murder in regard to this incident?”

  “Well first off, the testimony of Mr. Ortega had nothing to do with the decision. We had the testimony of Mr. Moore and Mr. Raines as well. You, yourself, just said that Mr. Raines was a disinterested party, so his testimony carries a lot of weight. Plus we had the guns and the baseball bat that Mr. Wards brought to the scene. We have the bullet hole in Moore’s windshield. We have photos of the injuries to Mr. Moore’s torso that the doctor said were consistent with him being struck by a baseball bat. We have photos of the crime scene and an analysis of those photos by the state crime lab that reinforced our on-site investigation. Sorry, Mr. Leventhall. This was no simple fist fight. This was clearly the attempted murder of two human beings.”

  “Well, Sheriff, I’d say that was just your opinion. I see nothing here except a ‘he said - he said’ situation. It’s just your witnesses’ word against that of my client. This evidence it too shaky to be considered reliable for any kind of conviction.”

  County Attorney Warthen was on his feet again. “Objection. Defense Counsel is making a speech again and this time he’s substituting his opinion for evidence.”

  “Objection sustained. The jury will disregard that last statements by the Defense Counsel. Mr. Leventhall, another gambit like that and I’ll hold you in contempt.”

  “I apologize, Your Honor.” Mr. Leventhall walked to the defense table and consulted his notes before turning back to the judge. “I have nothing further for this witness, Your Honor.”

  Judge McClain rose, declaring, “Court is adjourned for the weekend. We will start with the Defense Summation at 9 a.m. Monday. That will be followed by the prosecution’s summation.”

  Mike Morse and Tony Mancini had been waiting for Charlie Benton at his office Company. When Benton came in from the lumber yard, Big Mike greeted him with, “Hi Boss, remember us? We heard you needed some help back here.”

  Charlie Benton actually looked relieved to see them. “Hi Fellas. Are you done with the river job?”

  Tony took the lead now. “Not completely. We did get to the end of the Clark Fork over in Idaho. We still have to do the part from Thunder Creek to here. But Lee Raines is tied up with the trial and we heard that you needed some workers, so we decided to take a break and help out back here for a few days.”

  Mike continued the thought. “Yeah. We heard the baseball guys had left to go back to college, so we figured you might be hurting for workers. Especi
ally with the trial taking up so many people’s time.”

  “Well, you’re absolutely right, fellas. I did some pulling on the green chain myself today, and I’ just too darned old for that. But when do you plan to go back to finish up on the river?”

  Again, Tony spoke first. “We figured we could work in the mill until the trial is over and Lee is available again. Then we’d finish up the river job. But we don’t need all three of us now. With Wards behind bars, nobody’s gonna shoot at us, so we can do the job without a guard. We drew straws and Mike lost. When it’s time, he’ll go back with Lee and finish up. I’ll stay in the mill. Then when they finish, in about a week or so, Mike and Lee will come back and work until the winter shutdown.”

  Benton chuckled. “Mike lost, eh? That’s a diplomatic way to put it.” All three of them grinned. They all knew this was a lie. No one wanted to work on the sawmill’s green chain if there was any other choice.

  Again, Mike took up the conversation. “But Boss, we want to let you know that, after the winter shutdown, we won’t be back for a while. We’ve decided to join the Navy and see the world.”

  Charlie Benton couldn’t contain his smile. These kids had thought it all out and made a plan that was realistic and feasible. They wanted to help him get through the season, but they were thinking of their futures also. “Mike, Tony, I really appreciate the fact that you thought about our needs here when you made your plans. Thank you. I like the Navy idea. It’ll give you a chance to see life as it is elsewhere. I’m proud of you guys. I think you’ll both do well in life.”

  This time they spoke in unison. “Thanks, Boss.”

  “All right then. I’ll see you on the job Monday morning. Please give me a day or two’s notice before you go back to the river, Mike.”

  “Will do, Boss.”

  That evening, the two met Lee at the café for dinner. As they told Lee their plans, they realized that they hadn’t checked with him to be sure he agreed with their river plan. But they didn’t have to worry. “That sounds good. So you’re going in the Navy, eh? That’s a big step.”

  “Yeah, Tony and I want to see something besides Montana lumber towns before we settle down. You’ve been a lot of places, but we haven’t. When you talk about driving west through places like Chicago, that sounds like a real adventure to us. We want some of that kinda adventure for ourselves.”

  Lee smiled. “I do understand. I still want to do more of that myself. But the Navy? I’d have to think long and hard about that. They want you to sign up for four years. That’s a long time.”

  “We know. We talked about it for a week and last time we were in Missoula delivering sample bottles, we stopped and got a bunch of literature from the Navy Recruiter. We didn’t make a decision until we’d thought about it a lot.”

  Tony interrupted Mike at that point. “Anyway, that’s our plan. Now, what’s the latest on the trial? Is Wards gonna be convicted?”

  Lee described the trial events that had transpired since they had last talked and the two friends brought him up to speed on their river work. By the time they’d done this, other teens had joined them and they spent the evening talking and joking over their soft drinks in the way of teenagers everywhere. Saturday and Sunday were spent cleaning up the raft and playing baseball. It was a nice, quiet, weekend.

  Monday morning found Lee and Ray at the courthouse for the summations. Dawn had to stay at work because of a Greyhound bus that had been towed to the truck stop. The café was overwhelmed with bus riders who had to be fed.

  As both Ray and Lee told her later, she didn’t miss a lot. The Defense Counsel spent two hours repeating his previous claims that the prosecution didn’t have any proof about any of the murders and that the situation on the mountainside was “just a fistfight.”

  Then the County Attorney had taken his turn. Lee didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but he was disappointed in the summation. It seemed to him that the County Attorney just spent his time repeating things he’d said earlier in the trial. He ignored the Defense Attorney’s claims regarding the lack of evidence in the Owens and Johnson murders. Instead, he carefully tried to build up the credibility of Jose Ortega and emphasize the little Mexican’s testimony. Then he took great pains to examine, in detail, each item that he considered to be proof regarding the murder of Kurt Kochran on the river and the attempted murders of Ray Moore and Lee Raines during the mountainside encounter.

  Finally, when Lee was thoroughly convinced that he couldn’t stay awake another minute, County Attorney Warthen announced that he was finished with his summation.

  Judge McClain then gave a series of instructions to the jury and told them to begin their deliberations. The fate of William Wards was now in the hands of the seven men and five women who made up the jury.

  Lee and Ray talked to Sheriff Rose and got his promise to call the café as soon as the jury reached a verdict. Then they drove back to St. Dubois together, both wondering what the jury would decide. Neither of them thought the County Attorney had proved all of the charges and both were secretly afraid that Wards might walk free.

  Lee spent the day cleaning up his personal effects, doing laundry and scrubbing out the little cabin. That evening, Ray called the sheriff, but the jury was still locked in deliberations.

  Tuesday came and went. By noon Tuesday, Lee was going stir-crazy, so he went to Mr. Benton and volunteered to work at the mill while they waited for the jury’s verdict. Together, he, Mike, and Tony decided to work the full week at the lumber mill. After that, Mike and Lee would go back on the river to finish the last small part of the sampling job.

  Wednesday was Lee’s first full day working in the lumber mill. He had been assigned to work on the green chain with Mike. It was hard, demanding work. There were three men on each side of a long chain-link conveyer belt, known as the ‘Green Chain’, that brought the boards down from the mill to where they were to be stacked. Enroute to the green chain, an experienced worker known as the Lumber Grader had made his mark on the boards to establish the relative quality of each board. It was the job of the men standing on either side of the green chain to take the wet, green, lumber and pull it off the chain and onto a stack of boards with identical quality markings. The boards were heavy and it wasn’t long before Lee was hurting in every part of his body. Big Mike, however, was working with a gusto, singing ribald songs, joking, and laughing at himself uproariously as he threw board after board onto the stacks.

  That night, Lee could hardly move as he ate dinner at the café with his friends. Luckily, they had all been in the same position several times over their years of working in the mill, so everyone had some sympathy.

  Still no verdict from the jury.

  Thursday came and went. Thousands of boards were stacked. Lee was in serious pain, but was proud of himself for hanging tough on the job. Still no verdict.

  It was late Friday morning when Charlie Benton came out to the green chain and told Lee to take off. The sheriff had called. The jury had ended its deliberations and was going to be announcing its verdict. Lee ran to his car and headed for the café. Ray and Dawn were waiting. The three of them left for Big River as soon as Lee arrived.

  They walked into the courtroom just in time to hear Judge McClain ask the first of his final questions. “Mr. Foreman, has the jury reached a verdict on all counts?”

  “We have Your Honor.”

  “Mr. Foreman, what is your verdict on Count Number One, the premeditated murder of Ralph Owens?”

  “Not Guilty, Your Honor.”

  The courtroom burst open with sound as the spectators showed their displeasure. The judge banged his gavel and shouted for order. Soon, the noise stopped.

  “Mr. Foreman, What is your verdict on Count Two, the second-degree murder of Ole Johnson?”

  “Not Guilty, Your Honor.”

  There was a low buzz from the audience and again the judge gaveled for silence.

  “Mr. Foreman, what is your verdict on Count Three, the robber
y of the St. Dubois Café.?”

  “Guilty, Your Honor.”

  The gallery was silent, as if waiting for the next shoe to drop. Wards looked puzzled.

  “Mr. Foreman, what is your verdict on Count Four, the attempted murders of Ray Moore and Lee Raines?”

  “Guilty, Your Honor.”

  Bill Wards half-rose and slammed his fists onto the table in front of him. His face was suddenly beet red and he snarled at the jury foreman, “I’ll get you, asshole. I’ll get you when I get out.” The gallery erupted again with everyone talking at once. Judge McClean gaveled for order. Gradually silence was regained.

  “Mr. Foreman, what is your verdict on Count Four, the premeditated murder of Kurt Kochran?”

  “Guilty, Your Honor.”

  Wards was stopped cold by that. His face dropped and his hands seemed to just fall to the table in front of him. He looked like he wanted to say something, but the words weren’t audible if there were any. His face was still badly flushed.

  The gallery was silent now. Totally silent. Lee looked over at Ray and saw him exchange glances with Dawn. Wards had been found guilty of murder! Somehow, this fact hit all of them suddenly, even though they had hoped for it. This wasn’t just a story anymore. It was a fact. Wards had been convicted of murdering their friend.

  As was the custom in the State of Montana, Judge McClain took charge immediately. “The Defendant shall rise.”

  Wards and his Defense Counsel rose slowly. Wards looked terrified.

  When the two men were erect and facing him, Judge McClain spoke. “Mr. William Wards, you have been fairly tried by a jury of your peers and have been found guilty of the crimes of two counts of attempted murder and one count of premeditated murder. In accordance with the laws of the State of Montana and the United States of America, I hereby sentence you to death by hanging. May God have mercy on your soul. Sheriff Rose, please take custody of the defendant.”

  Wards knees gave out and he fell heavily into his chair. Again the gallery erupted and again the judge gaveled it to silence.