The Witness

  It was the first day of the trial, and the defense had finally called up their lay witness: Whitney Lest. She was the one piece of the case Ginny couldn’t figure out; she was certain the defendant was guilty, and there was so much evidence it should have been an open-and-shut case. Of course, the defendant didn’t want a plea bargain, they had decided to fight it, as rich people so often do. The defense team called her to the stand and did the typical direct examination, taking extra care to play to the jury's emotions and adding to the shock value with over-enunciated words that made it seem like this was all such obvious information, and that it proved the defendant's innocence. When they were done, it was finally time for the cross-examination: Ginny’s turn. She sighed, gathered her thoughts for a moment, then took careful steps over to the witness stand, staring Whitney down as she went.

“Hello, Miss Lest, thank you for your testimony today,” Ginny stated calmly, giving the anxious woman a quick sharp smile.

“Yeah…of course.” Whitney’s gaze distanced itself, her face seemingly stuck in place, Ginny followed her eyes behind where she was positioned, and directly into the eyes of the defendant, the alleged murderer himself.

“So, Miss Lest, you were in fact there during the alleged murder of Anna Haft on January 9th, correct?” Ginny jumped straight into the examination, snapping the witness out of her locked gaze, and pacing in front of the stand as she spoke.

“Y-yeah, I was there, cleaning,” she said and took a shaky breath while she fiddled with her long blonde hair.

“Like you do every other day at the Haft household,” Ginny finished for her. Whitney nodded affirmatively.

Ginny continued with her leading questions. She crossed her arms loosley. “You’ve been working there for around 8 years now?” She took extra care in her tone to ensure that it was a question to avoid an objection, the defense could object if it seemed as though she was telling the witness a fact and not asking her. Whitney nodded again.

Ginny frowned, her face lines creasing.

 “Could I get a verbal confirmation please, Miss Lest?”

“Yeah, I started working there when I was in college,” Whitney managed. Her eyes flitted around the courtroom, just for a moment but Ginny caught it.

Ginny maintained careful eye contact and straightened her posture. “If I recall correctly, you had to drop out during your sophomore year due to an unexpected pregnancy, yes?”

“Objection, no case relevance,” Ginny heard the defense lawyer call out as he stood up fervently. The judge looked down at her and opened his mouth a bit before Ginny responded.

“Your Honor, I believe this question has relevance. It will detail the witness’s connection to the defendant and history that could’ve led to her testimony.”

The judge paused for a moment to think. “Overruled, but get to the point quickly.” He nodded his head to signal her to continue.

“Um, yeah,” Whitney replied, “and the Hafts were kind enough to employ me full-time and allow my daughter and I to live there.” She continued twisting her hair between her fingers.

“So you would say you’re heavily indebted to Mr. Haft.” Ginny uncrossed her arms and moved them to her hips. Whitney paused, opening and closing her mouth for a moment, unsure of how to continue.

“Of course,” she finally got out, “I owe him everything. H-he paid for my daughter's private tutoring and schooling, he took care of us. Which is why I know he’d never do anything like this. I can’t believe you’re accusing him of murdering his wife. He loved her.” Whitney looked as though she was going to cry, and she had raised her voice a few levels as she rambled. Ginny maintained steady, cool eye contact and composure. Responding to the outburst would be counter-intuitive. She needed to calm Whitney down to continue.

“Alright Miss Lest, please take some deep breaths. I’d like to continue if that’s alright with you,” Ginny kept her tone even. The witness gave her a piercing glare but said nothing more. She turned the questioning back to the event in question.

“So, that night, could you give us your recollection of what happened again, if you don’t mind?”

Whitney took a shaky, calming breath before she described the events from her perspective. She had just finished cleaning the upstairs bathroom when she heard a scream coming from downstairs, and she found Mrs. Haft fallen at the bottom of the staircase, she had been hit multiple times with a blunt item, or fallen down the stairs, as Whitney noted. She had rushed over to her and called out for Mr. Haft.

“But he wasn’t home,” Whitney said coldly, “He had gone out for the night and didn't get back until I had already called the ambulance. There’s no way he could have done it.”

Ginny smiled again, briefly, “Alright, thank you. Now, you stated he had gone out and hadn't returned until a little later, but are you aware of the testimony provided by his friends that he had left the bar at around 6:30, a full 2 hours before the murder took place?”

“Yes, I’m well aware. I believe he must’ve gone elsewhere; there are other places in the city, you know,” Whitney retorted, her gaze was fiery now, the nervousness eradicated. Ginny winced internally.

This isn’t good. She’s still pissed off, and we’ve barely scratched the surface.

“Are you very certain of that? I mean, you were cleaning the house for hours, and you were upstairs when it happened,” she creased her eyebrows together, “He could have very well stayed hidden and left before you came downstairs, perhaps driven around the block?”

Whitney’s anger subsided a bit as she glanced back at the defendant again, nervously.

“Uhm. No, h-he didn’t,” she stuttered, scratching behind her ear as she seemed to grasp for something else to say. Ginny was tired of tip-toeing around her claims. She knew what was happening.

“Alright, Miss Lest, I’m not going to sugarcoat this, but I’m certain you’re aware of every part of this case by now, including the DNA evidence found on and near the body,” Ginny held her arms behind her back as she turned away to the direction of the jury. “It’s quite a difficult case to defend, and somehow, your testimony is the biggest outlier. May I remind you that lying on the stand is a federal offense?” Whitney had returned to her previous anxiousness, her fiery defensive nature had faded with her assurance; her rapid change in emotions both a sign of lying and instability. She turned back around and got rather close to Whitney, as close as she could without risking an objection. She softened her gaze a bit.

“You know,” she said quietly, “you’re entitled to a settlement if he’s forcing you to give this testimony, enough to sustain you and your daughter, you don’t need his money.”

“Objection your honor, questioning is inaudible to the courtroom,” the defense attorney called out again.

Damnit. Ginny hoped Whitney had heard what she needed to. She resisted the urge to cross her fingers.

“Sustained. Please refrain from attempting private conversations during the trial,” the judge said stiffly.

“Sorry, Your Honor,” she took a few steps back, Whitney seemed deep in conflicting thoughts.

“Your Honor,” Whitney whispered, her voice shaking with some uncertainty, “I’d like to recant my entire testimony please.”       

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This story is titled "The Witness," it was something I wrote for my creative writing class, we didn't have to submit them, but I was proud of this one! It's a legal drama that takes place during a witness cross examination, it's pretty much all dialogue with minimum narration, so the story unfolds solely through the characters speaking to one another! I did a lot of research to be able to properly write this story, and make it as realistic as I could, of course, it's still fiction so it may not be perfectly accurate but I hope it's enjoyable regardless.