Angels & Imperfections
Chapter 29
I love autumn in East Texas. In the fall, the leaves change color, hunting season opens, the holidays are approaching, and we anticipate a fire in the fireplace.
In the fall, the Rose City, hosts the Tyler Rose Festival which brings people from all over the country to participate in the festival, see our spectacular Rose garden, and enjoy the city. But the thing I love best is the change in the weather. Summer’s heat is finally broken.
Lori had started a new school year, at a new school, with a newish car. She was living the life of a typical American teenager. Because I was tied up with the trial of Evan Whitaker, Christine was handling the whole operation. We had people doing the skip tracing, subject surveillance, and other investigative activities, while Christine managed the office and did research.
I was testifying in Federal Court as a witness in the Whitaker trial.
“So, you’re saying you were able to identify Mr. Whitaker’s car, based on a tip from an anonymous person. Is that correct?
“The person I spoke to indicated on the day Victoria Winslow was abducted, he had seen a man strike a female child and put her into the trunk of a blue, or possibly black, Chevrolet Impala. He said he saw this occur in a parking lot, just down the street from the supermarket where Victoria Winslow was last seen. He wrote down the license number of the vehicle on a scrap of paper, but he was unable to find the scrap of paper for several days.”
“Did you inform the police about this anonymous tip?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Specifically, who did you speak to?”
“I spoke to Detective Sergeant Anthony Escalante, who was working the case at that time.”
“Detective Sergeant Anthony Escalante, now Lieutenant Anthony Escalante, of the Tyler Police Department, is that correct?”
“Yes, it is.”
“What was his response to the information you provided him.”
“He informed me the FBI had identified the suspect vehicle as possibly being a Chevrolet Impala.”
“What did he do about the information you gave him?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him.”
The defense attorney was thoughtful for a beat.
“Let’s go back to this tip from this ‘anonymous’ person, for a moment. How did this ‘anonymous’ person contact you?” He was emphasizing the word, by indicating quotation marks with his fingers.
“I don’t understand the question. Are you asking me how he knew I had been hired by the Winslows, to try to find their daughter?”
“Uhhhh, yes, how did he know that?”
“I don’t know. I have no reason to think he did.”
“…Objection your honor! What is the point of this questioning? How an anonymous person knew who to contact is irrelevant,” the prosecuting attorney interjected.
“I’ll prove the relevance in just a moment, Your Honor.”
“Very well, I’ll permit this line of questioning to continue for a moment, but get to the point quickly, Counsellor. Objection overruled,” said the judge.
“Now then, Mr. Tucker isn’t it true you actually know the person who provided you with this tip. Isn’t it true you met with him face to face?”
“Which question do you want me to answer first?” I asked the judge.
“When you ask a question, Counselor, ask just one question at a time and one question only. Is that understood?” the judge directed.
“Yes, Your Honor.” The defence attorney replied. He changed the question.
“Mr. Tucker, do you know the person who gave you the tip?”
“At the time he first told me what he had seen…”
“Yes, or no, Mr. Tucker, do you know the person who gave you the tip?”
“Yes, I do. No, I didn’t. This is not a question that can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no.”
“…Permission to treat the witness, as a hostile witness, Your Honor?”
“I want to hear what Mr. Tucker has to say. The witness is directed to answer the question, in his own words. Take your time, Mr. Tucker,” the judge ruled.
“Thank you, Your Honor. I had no idea who the man who gave me the initial tip was, at the time he gave it to me. In that sense, he was an anonymous person. I immediately contacted Detective Sergeant Escalante and told him about our conversation. He informed me the man I had spoken to was a person that was known to the police. They had questioned him at the time of the abduction and had ruled him out as a suspect. He is a homeless man with limited mental capacity. The information he gave me has proven to be accurate.”
“So, you do know him, and he is not an ‘anonymous’ person. Isn’t that true?”
“…Objection. Asked and answered, Your Honor!” The prosecutor interjected.
“Objection sustained. Move on, Counselor. Redirect your line of questioning.” The judge ordered.
The defense attorney took it in stride.
“When did you first learn the name of the man who is now accused of these crimes?”
“At the time we found him with the abducted girls.”
“How did you learn his name?”
“Lieutenant Escalante told me.”
“How did Lieutenant Escalante determine my client was a suspect in these crimes?”
“You’ll have to ask him that question.”
“Surely, he told you something.”
“…Objection! Your Honor, this is not a question the witness can answer.” The prosecutor interjected.
“Withdrawn, Your Honor I’ll rephrase my question.”
That was the way my day was going. We had discussed with the prosecutor how we ought to handle the issue with Dustin. He said the defence had little going for them, except to discredit Dustin as a reliable source of information. Of course it wouldn’t ultimately do them any good. Their client was captured with the girls in his trailer. He had confessed to the crimes at the time of his capture, and there was an overwhelming amount of physical and forensic evidence gathered from his car and his trailer in the woods. The evidence alone was enough to get a conviction. The girls had been interviewed on video tape under the supervision of their guardians and mental health professionals. These video interviews would be the only testimony introduced from the victims. They would not be asked to appear in open court. Other professionals would describe the mental, physical and emotional effects on the girls, sustained during their abductions and their treatment by Whitaker.
The prosecutor had met with the defence attorneys to ensure Dustin wouldn’t have to testify. The defence was pretty focused on trying to make Tony and I look bad.
I knew the defence team was doing all they could, but there was no real defence for Whitaker. He had been found mentally competent, and a finding of insanity would have been their only hope.
Their defence was so pointless it looked to me like they were almost trying to do so poorly their client might later win an appeal, based on the incompetency of their defence.
By the time the judge adjourned the trial for the night, I was dead tired. I stumbled out of the courthouse with only one desire, to go in search of a big, thick steak. On my way to the truck, I remembered to turn my cell phone back on. There were several messages. I listened to the one from Christine.
“John, call me as soon as you get this message.”
I did.
“Hey, Christine, what’s going on?”
“You are not going to believe this. Lori has been talking to Walter. They’re even friends on Facebook.”
I thought about all the possible implications of this new wrinkle.
“John, did you hear me?”
“Yes, I did, I was just considering how to respond.”
“…How to respond? For crying out loud, we’ve got to put a stop to this!”
“Right…I understand how you feel, but what exactly do you plan to do??
??
“What do I plan to do? What do you plan to do?”
“Christine, can we talk about this tomorrow? I’ve spent the whole day giving testimony in the Whitaker trial, and I don’t know up from down at this point.”
She was quiet for a moment. I could feel her beginning to calm down.
“I’m sorry. How’s the trial going?”
“Well they’re done with me for now, though I’ll probably be called back later. The defence is trying really hard to discredit everything about the case, the evidence, my involvement, Tony, Dustin, everything.”
“Can they do that? Are they winning?”
“They can try to, they have to try, and no, they aren’t winning. They can’t win; the State has a lock on this.”
“But all they have to do is get the jury to think there is a possibility Whitaker is innocent…” She observed
“There’s no chance of that, Christine, but they have to try everything they possibly can.”
“OK, so we’re winning?”
“Yeah, we’re winning, but it sure is a struggle.”