Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Can I get a witness to testify?
One of my least favorite parts of the cops beat is perp walks. That's when police call the media to come down to the station so we can watch them walk a suspect from the police station to the police car and ask the suspect stupid questions he doesn't answer.
At one of these walks however, Alvin "Fat Albert" Hatfield, surprised me. Hatfield is accused of beating a man to death by slamming his head against the concrete and at the perp walk (which was back in July) he said, "I got nothing to say except he hit me first." Apparently some attorneys in the case think he had quite a lot to say because I have been subpoenaed as a witness in the murder trial because I reported the perp walk comment in my article about the killing.
Today was to be my day in court and I dressed up all pretty and shaved to impress the judge. Surrounded by family of both the victim and accused, I took a seat in the courtroom next to both the paper's managing editor and its lawyer (both of whom have been trying, unsuccessfully so far, to get me off the stand). Mr. Hatfield then took a seat with a big white crucifix dangling against his orange jumpsuit.
Not that my boss wants to hear this, but I am actually kind of looking forward to taking the stand in such a high-stakes trial (he's facing a count of second-degree murder, which means automatic life, no parole, if he's convicted).
Sadly, my hopes were dashed, at least for the time being, as the trial was continued to March 2.
At one of these walks however, Alvin "Fat Albert" Hatfield, surprised me. Hatfield is accused of beating a man to death by slamming his head against the concrete and at the perp walk (which was back in July) he said, "I got nothing to say except he hit me first." Apparently some attorneys in the case think he had quite a lot to say because I have been subpoenaed as a witness in the murder trial because I reported the perp walk comment in my article about the killing.
Today was to be my day in court and I dressed up all pretty and shaved to impress the judge. Surrounded by family of both the victim and accused, I took a seat in the courtroom next to both the paper's managing editor and its lawyer (both of whom have been trying, unsuccessfully so far, to get me off the stand). Mr. Hatfield then took a seat with a big white crucifix dangling against his orange jumpsuit.
Not that my boss wants to hear this, but I am actually kind of looking forward to taking the stand in such a high-stakes trial (he's facing a count of second-degree murder, which means automatic life, no parole, if he's convicted).
Sadly, my hopes were dashed, at least for the time being, as the trial was continued to March 2.
