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Jesse has inherited his Grandfather's ranch.
Now he must fight his father to keep it while he must honor his Grandfather's last wish of seeking Coyote.
The White Wolf
Chapter 23 by Barbara Allan
All Rights Reserved. Thank you Hope for your encouragement and help in editing.
Thanks to all who have commented or left Kudos. |
Image: Free Wallpaper from http://www.scenicreflections.com/
Author's Note: I am sorry for the latest delay. I was trying to get the courtroom scene right before posting it. It will be posted over the next three chapters. I hope you enjoy them. Now, I can start the journey home.
Thank you Hope for your invaluable encouragement and help in editing. Thanks to all who have commented or left Kudos. ~Barbara
Chapter 23 The Defense
“Mr. Robertson are you ready?”
“Yes your Honor. I call Dr. Robert Henley to the stand.”
Doc Henley stood and walked to the witness chair. The bailiff swore in the doctor. “Please state your full name for the court,” said the attorney.
“My name is Doctor Robert Henley, MD.”
“And where to you practice?”
“I practice in a small town called Proctor, Montana.”
“What are your responsibilities in this town?”
“I have a private practice with two other doctors. We cover the local emergency room and I am the acting coroner for the county.”
“As the coroner for the county what are your duties?”
“I am on call for any deaths that may be questionable, murders, or for identification of bodies found.”
“How do you identify bodies?”
“I use a combination of dental records and DNA.”
“How do you use DNA to identify a person?”
“Each person's DNA is different unless they are identical twins. There are definitive markers that one uses to match a DNA. It is much like taking two maps and laying one on the other. If the roads match up, there is a high likelihood that they are maps of the same area.”
“If each person has a different DNA, how can you tell if someone is the child of someone else?”
“Each person receives DNA from their parents. Half from their mother and half from their father. By comparing the DNA, one can come to the conclusion that a person is a child of another with some degree of accuracy.”
“I show you two results from DNA labs. Can you tell me about these?”
“This sample result is the one you handed to me when I arrived at your office this morning. It has my initials and date on it. The name on it is Roy Hartman.”
“And the other?”
“This sample result was faxed to me from a DNA lab I use in Helena. It is the DNA sample from Jesse Hartman. I was present when the blood was taken for the sample by the lab.”
“So the DNA lab took the sample?”
“Yes. That way there could be no tampering with the evidence.”
“Why do you think there could be tampering with evidence?”
“Jesse had a premonition that the DNA evidence would be tampered with.”
“What is your opinion of these samples?”
“After comparing the samples, there is no doubt in my mind that Jesse Hartman is the child of Roy Hartman.”
“Please look at these samples that were placed in evidence by the Plaintiff... What can you tell us about these samples?”
“The one marked as Exhibit A, Roy Hartman, matches the sample that you gave me at your office. The sample marked as Exhibit B, Jesse Hartman, does not match the sample that was sent to me by the lab in Helena.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“OBJECTION,” cried Mr. Johnson. “The question calls for speculation on the part of the witness.”
“Sustained,” said the judge.
“I'll withdraw the question,” said Mr. Robertson. “Doctor, Just a few more questions. You are certain that the Defense Exhibit B does not match the sample faxed to you from the lab in Helena?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Doctor Henley, you were a witness to the signing of Mr. William Hartman's will, were you not?”
“I was.”
“And as a witness, by Law you had to be present when he signed the will?”
“I was there.”
“As a small town doctor, do you treat people for mental illnesses?”
“On occasions, we have to treat for minor psychosis. The more serious cases we refer patients to a hospital in Helena.”
“So you have been trained to recognize when a person is suffering from a mental illness and to what extent they are suffering?”
“Yes”
“What do you look for in a person to determine if they are of sound mind?”
“First, I try to determine if they are aware of who they are, and then if they are aware of the present, recent and historical past. If the person is not delusional and is able to make reasoned decisions, I would say a person is of sound mind.”
“With your training, would you have considered Mr. William Hartman of sound mind.”
“Yes.”
“Your Honor I have no further questions for this witness,” said Mr. Robertson.
Judge Stokes looked over the Plaintiff table, “Your witness Mr. Johnson.”
The Plaintiff's attorney conferred with his client a few minutes before standing. “Doctor, where did you get your medical degree?”
“Objection, irrelevant,” stated the defense.
“Your Honor, I am merely trying to ascertain the competency of the witness. He claims to be a doctor, but he has shown no credentials?”
The judge addressed Doctor Henley, “Do you have any credentials on you that prove you are a doctor?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” said the doctor as he pulled his state issued wallet card out of his pocket and handed it to the judge.
The judge examined the card and returned it to the doctor. “Sustained. Move on Councilor.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” Turning back to the Dr. Henley, “Doctor, where did you receive your training in forensics?”
“Objection.”
“Your Honor these are the same type of questions that the Defense asked my witness.”
“I will allow this line of questioning for now. Overruled.”
“I received my training at the state crime lab as part of my state required continuing education courses. One of the areas of study was DNA.”
“Very well. You stated that the DNA in Exhibit A of the plaintiff was the same as what you reviewed at Mr. Robertson's office. Also, you stated that the Plaintiff Exhibit B was not the DNA analysis of Mr. Jesse Hartman. Rather, the analysis that you had performed in Helena is the real DNA of Mr. Hartman. How can you be so sure?”
“I watched the lab tech pull the blood sample from Jesse for the analyst. And then it was sent to my mobile phone. We printed it off in Mr. Robertson's office. The two samples for Jesse did not match. However, the sample that was analyzed in Helena confirms that Jesse is the child of Mr. Roy Hartman.”
“And how can you be so sure?”
“If you examine the DNA sample that was entered as Plaintiff's Exhibit B, you will notice that it looks different from the other two samples. The chains for the Hartman's are longer.”
“Can you explain the reason?”
“It comes from the Native American Heritage of the family and the intertwining of two clans.”
“And this was enough to create the difference in the DNA?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, Doctor Henley, You stated that you witnessed Mr. Hartman sign the will and that he was of sound mind. Did you perform a psychological examination of Mr. Hartman.”
“No.”
“If you didn't examine Mr. Hartman, how can you be sure that he was of sound mind?”
“Bill and I were friends. We were playing Chess an hour before the signing. He stopped playing when the farm report came on and was complaining if the beef prices didn't rise he was going to have a hard time paying the death tax.”
“Death Tax?”
“The federal government tries to confiscate as much of a man's inheritance as they can. They have destroyed many family farms because the family couldn't pay the taxes.”
“And you were able to determine the soundness of Mr. Hartman's mind by playing chess and listening to the farm report?”
“Sir, I'm not sure how you do things back east here, but out west the farm report is important news.”
“Doctor, one more question. If Mr. Hartman was of sound mind why do you believe he referred to his grandchild as a grandson or granddaughter.”
“Objection. Calls for conjecture on the part of the witness.”
“I'll withdraw the question. I'm finished with this witness.”
When Mr. Johnson sat back down he leaned over to Roy, “He should have let him answer that last question, but I can't think of any way to refute the DNA evidence. We will have to rely on incompetence.”
“Mr. Robertson call your next witness.”
“The Defense calls Dr. Margaret Spencer.”
Dr. Spencer passed Doc Henley as she came past the bar. The bailiff swore in the OBGYN. “Doctor Spencer, will you state your full name for the court and the area in which you practice?” asked Mr. Robertson.
“My name is Doctor Margaret Woods Spencer. I practice as a gynecologist here in town.”
“Did you examine a young woman today at my request?”
“Objection. Your Honor what has this to do with this case?”
“Your Honor, the Plaintiff could not prove that Jesse Hartman was not the child of Roy Hartman. Their case hangs on whether my client's grandfather was competent or not. And this rests solely on the phrase in the will “I leave all my worldly possessions to my grandson/granddaughter, Jesse Hartman.”
“Your Honor, Mr. Robertson is summarizing his case. He has yet to explain this line of questioning.”
“Your Honor, this witness is very important to our case, but if it pleases the court we can ask this witness to step down and return later. However, the testimonies of this witness and the one following were meant to establish the validity of my last witness. I can of course begin at this point with my last witness and prove that validity later.”
“Mr. Johnson?” asked the judge.
“I have no objection if the Defense would like to change the order of their witnesses.”
“Mr. Robertson?”
“Your Honor, let me discuss this with my legal team one moment.” Mr. Robertson walked back over to the table and in a low tone, “Jesse, I was going to lay the foundation for your testimony by establishing your status as a female and your mental competency before I call you to the stand. I was hoping to avoid most of your transformation story, but we may have to tell it all. Are you ready?”
“I'm ready.”
“Okay, deep breath and lets win this.”
“Your Honor, we are ready to proceed with my last witness and then recall Dr. Spencer and call Dr. Baker.”
“Dr. Spencer, you may step down. Mr. Robertson, call your next witness.”
“The Defense calls Jesse Hartman.”
The young shaman stood up from the table and walked to the witness chair. Mr. Johnson was out of chair in a flash. “I OBJECT!”
“I ALWAYS KNEW HE WAS A QUEER FAG!” shouted Roy Hartman.
To Be Continued...
Comments
"Expert" Testimony
I'd say "Father" has just blown his own case out of the water, as he just acknowledged Jesse as his offspring.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Jesse vs Roy
Proof of being the descendant of Roy is only half the battle.
Thanks for reading
Barb Allan
Well spotted Karen.
He has just acknowledged that he 'Always knew Jesse'. From his own lips he's dug a huge hole in his case.
Good chapter Babs.
Hugs.
Bevs.
XXX
Court
Get us out of court clear winners, pleeeeeasee!
still a ways to go.
Thanks for reading
Barb Allan
Forest Grump moment
Stupid is as stupid does. Dad certainly showed his colors didn't he? Oh, by the way here's your sign. :)
hugs
Grover
You don't have to be smart
To take someone to court. But as they say it is better to remain silent and thought stupid than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Barb Allan
Personally I do not see how bringing up Coyote in court
... is really necessary. I am surprised she just does not claim intersex and call it a day. That said, she will need all the help she can get from Coyote to convince this judge.
Kim
one witness
a case does not make. We shall see if Coyote actually walks in.
Barb Allan
Now, I wonder how Jesse
Hartman could have such a wonderful grandfather, yet be the child of such a turd of the excrement of humanity?
May Your Light Forever Shine
children
One can try to raise one's children to be respectable members of society, but too many times they stray. Many grandparents wind up raising their grandchildren because the parents are no longer available as they became guests of the state.
Barb Allan
Things are about to come crashing down
On Mr. Heartmen Jesse's father when she tells of her transformation story well the father's lawyer will object but to no avail. This objection HAS to be overruled as they DID object to the second witness being called to the stand so the defense DID say it could move to the last witness so here she is & for Mr. Hearmen's out burst he will be removed from the court room & found in contempt as I do believe this was the SECOND time he did this.
This is going to be hard to prove but... I think Jesse CAN & WILL pull it off.
Love Samantha Renee Heart
Roy is a piece of shit, nice
Roy is a piece of shit, nice to see a new chapter, thanks for sharing.
Big hugs
Lizzie :)
Bailey's Angel
The Godmother :p
And here comes
the real battle. Let's hope the judge has an open mind to all possibilities.
Vivien
I like the way this story is developing.
Jesse’s father is digging himself a hole and may be to getting close to being declared in contempt of the court by the judge. First he introduced false DNA evidence and now this homophobic out burst is only going result in his digging an even deeper hole. One or two more out bursts like this from him and he just might find himself in jail for the night. Looking forward to seeing how you play the next few chapters out Barbara. Please don’t keep us waiting for to long to tell us how this will all play out.
Hugs,
Tamara Jeanne
The next chapter
should come out this weekend.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Barb Allan
Great story. Daddy dear has
Great story.
Daddy dear has just fucked up his own defense and outed himself as a bigot in front of a court... stupid. Um... this is a civil case... I'm not quite sure, but do you have juries on those in america? I guess in that case he might actually have won sympathy points with the queer-fag thing... or not.
Anyway, thank you for writing this captivating story,
Beyogi
In a civil case
a jury can be enpaneled or if both sides are willing leave it to a judge. As this is a case that is heard in Probate Court, it is usually heard and decided by the judge.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Barb Allan
Her dad is sure a piece of work
Unless this is a *pet* judge he has severely hurt his case.
For one there is a transcript and his behavior and that of other is public record.
Contempt of court?
Usually, I think, the judge gives a warning of what they must not do and why. I assume one is coming now. At a minimum, "Counselor, please restrain your client or I will have him removed from the court room and he will have to participate via closed circuit TV. And further outbursts and I will level contempt of court orders. Understand?"
If at this point dad is still an idiot and yells out something stupid.."Contempt of court. Fifteen days in the House of Corrections and a 1000 dollar fine."
That can rapidly escalate.
As to Coyote, I remember The Brass Bottle, a silly mid 1960's fantasy/comedy/romance and Burl Ives as a genie trying to convince a panel -- Securities and Exchange or is it a psych panel? -- his friend, Tony Randal, is quite sane in claiming he is a genie.
That worked, sort of but...
The intersex route seems easier. And coyote is among other things a god of deception. Might get a kick out of aiding in this.
We KNOW Jessie will win in the end, I assume. Question is how much of what underhanded things her dad did will be revealed? HOW does he know about the wealth of minerals on the ranch? Did grandfather even know of it? I still wonder why he is as he is. Just a self made ass or manipulated by evil spirits? If there are spirits for good one would think there are spirits for evil or at least chaos.
And we have the former wolf cub now young girl with the heart problem being operated on. Then we have Jessie and the farm boy who always thought of her as a woman and who clearly desires her.
So far she has adapted well to womanhood. How will she react to being an object of male desire? Wonder if she was duel spirited or whatever native people called those in touch with both sexes.
Time to get this case moving.
Where is Perry Mason when you need him?
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
The Brass Bottle
I remember that one John. However I agree with you about the intersex thing. Have her attorney suggest that she has been inter-sexed all along, but like everyone sees these things in terms of the religion they follow. For her it was Coyote, and it explains why Grand-Dad wrote the will as he did since he suspected.
After all even Father Dear recognized and acknowledge her as his offspring in front of witnesses and the court. All that is left is to give the court a reasonable explanation. If you will due to Coyote he was changed from boy to girl so the inter-sexed story is true from a certain point of view. :)
Hugs
Grover