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"We&039;ll hear those at trial Anything else?"
"Not at this time"
"Now, Mr Buckley, will the State file any motions?"
"I can&039;t think of any," Buckley answered meekly
"Good I want to make sure there are no surprises between now and trial I will be here one week before trial to hear and decide any pretrial matters I expect any motions to be filed promptly, so that we can tie up any loose ends well before the twenty-second"
Noose flipped through his file and studied Jake&039;s e of venue Jake whispered to Carl Lee, whose presence was not required for the hearing, but he insisted Gwen and the three boys sat in the first row behind their daddy Tonya was not in the courtrooance, your motion appears to be in order How many witnesses?"
"Three, Your Honor"
"Mr Buckley, how many will you call?"
"We have twenty-one," Buckley said proudly
"Twenty-one!" yelled the judge
Buckley cowered and glanced at Musgrove "B-but, we probably won&039;t need them all In fact, I knoon&039;t call all of them"
"Pick your best five, Mr Buckley I don&039;t plan to be here all day"
"Yes, Your Honor"
"Mr Brigance, you&039;ve asked for a change of venue It&039;s your motion You may proceed"
Jake stood and walked slowly across the courtroom, behind Buckley, to the wooden podium in front of the jury box "May it please the court, Your Honor, Mr Hailey has requested that his trial be moved from Ford County The reason is obvious: the publicity in this case will prevent a fair trial The good people of this county have prejudged the guilt or innocence of Carl Lee Hailey He is charged with killing two men, both of ere born here and left families here Their lives were not famous, but their deaths certainly have been Mr Hailey was known by few outside his community until no everyone in this county knoho he is, knows about his fahter and what happened to her, and knows ed crimes It will be impossible to find twelve people in Ford County who have not already prejudged this case This trial should be held in another part of the state where the people are not so faest?" interrupted the judge
"I wouldn&039;t recommend a specific county, but it should be as far away as possible Perhaps the Gulf Coast"
"Why?"
"Obvious reasons, Your Honor It&039;s four hundred miles away, and I&039;m sure the people down there do not know as much as the people around here"
"And you think the people in south Mississippi haven&039;t heard about it?"
"I&039;m sure they have But they are much further away"
"But they have televisions and newspapers, don&039;t they, Mr Brigance?"
"I&039;o to any county in this state and find twelve people who haven&039;t heard the details of this case?"
Jake looked at his legal pad He could hear the artists sketching on their pads behind hi out ot the corner of his eye "It would be difficult," he said quietly
"Call your first witness"
Harry Rex Vonner orn in and took his seat on the witness stand The wooden swivel chair popped and creaked under the heavy load He blew into the microphone and a loud hiss echoed around the courtroom He smiled at Jake and nodded
"Would you state your name?"
"Harry Rex Vonner"
"And your address?"
"Eighty-four ninety-three Cedarbrush, Clanton, Mississippi"
"How long have you lived in Clanton?"
"All my life Forty-six years"
"Your occupation?"
"I&039;m a lawyer I&039;ve had my license for twenty-two years"
"Have you ever met Carl Lee Hailey?"
"Once"
"What do you know about him?"
"He supposedly shot two men, Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard, and he wounded a deputy, DeWayne Looney"
"Did you Know either of those boys?"
"Not personally I knew of Billy Ray Cobb"
"How did you learn of the shootings?"
"Well, it happened on a Monday, I believe I was in the courthouse, on the first floor, checking title on sounshots I ran out into the hall and bedlam had broken loose I asked a deputy and he told me that the boys had been killed near the back door of the courthouse I hung around here for a while, and pretty soon there was a ruot raped"
"What was your initial reaction?"
"I was shocked, like most people But I was shocked when I first heard of the rape too"
"When did you learn that Mr, Hailey had been arrested?"
"Later that night It was all over the television"
"What did you see on TV?"
"Well, I watched as much of it as I could There were news reports froot the cable, you know, so I watched the news out of New York, Chicago, and Atlanta Just about every channel had soe fro that ever happened in Clanton, Mississippi"
"How did you react when you learned that the girl&039;s father had supposedly done the shooting?"
"It was no big surprise to ured it was hiot kids, and I sympathize hat he did I still admire him"
"How much do you know about the rape?"
Buckley leapt to his feet "Objection! The rape is irrelevant!"
Noose ripped off his glasses again and stared angrily at the DA Seconds passed and Buckley glanced at the table He shifted his weight from one foot to the next, then sat down Noose leaned forward and glared down from the bench
"Mr Buckley, don&039;t yell at ain, so help me God, I will hold you in contempt You may be correct, the rape may be irrelevant But this is not the trial, is it? This is si, isn&039;t it? We don&039;t have a jury in the box, do we? You&039;re overruled and out of order Now stay in your seat I know it&039;s hard with this sort of audience, but I instruct you to stay in your seat unless you have so truly worthy to say At that point, you may stand and politely and quietly tell me what&039;s on your mind"
"Thank you, Your Honor," Jake said as he s, how much do you know about the rape?"
"Just what I&039;ve heard"
"And what&039;s that?"
Buckley stood and bowed like a Japanese sumo wrestler "If Your Honor please," he said softly and sweetly, "I would like to object at this point, if it pleases the court The witness e, not from what he&039;s heard from other people"
Noose answered just as sweetly "Thank you, Mr Buck-
ley Your objection is noted, and you are overruled Please continue, Mr Brigance"
"Thank you, Your Honor"
"What have you heard about the rape?"
"Cobb and Willard grabbed the little Hailey girl and took her out in the woods somewhere They were drunk, they tied her to a tree, raped her repeatedly and tried to hang her They even urinated on her"
"They what!" asked Noose
"They pissed on her, Judge"
The courtroom buzzed at this revelation Jake had never heard it, Buckley hadn&039;t heard it, and evidently no one knew it but Harry Rex Noose shook his head and lightly rapped his gavel
Jake scribbled soal pad and e "Where did you learn about the rape?"
"All over town It&039;s co the details the nextat the Coffee Shop Everybody knows it"
"Is it cohout the county?"
"Yes I haven&039;t talked to anybody in a month who did not know the details of the rape"
"Tell us what you know about the shootings"
"Well, like I said, it was a Monday, afternoon The boys were here in this courtroo, I believe, and when they left the courtroom they were handcuffed and led by the deputies down the back stairs When they got down the stairs, Mr Hailey jumped out of a closet with an M-16 They were killed and DeWayne Looney was shot Part of his leg was amputated"
"Exactly where did this take place?"
"Right below us here, at the rear entrance of the courthouse Mr Hailey was hiding in a janitor&039;s closet and just stepped out and opened fire"
"Do you believe this to be true?"
"I know it&039;s true"
"Where did you learn all this?"
"Here and there Around town In the newspapers Everybody knows about it"
"Where have you heard it discussed?"
"Everywhere In bars, in churches, at the bank, at the cleaners, at the Tea Shoppe, at the cafes around town, at the liquor store Everywhere"
"Have you talked to anyone who believes Mr Hailey did not kill Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard?"
"No You won&039;t find a single person in this county who believes he didn&039;t do it"
"Have uilt or innocence?"
"Every single one of them There are no fence strad-dlers on this one It&039;s a hot topic, and everyone has an opinion"
"In your opinion, could Mr Hailey receive a fair trial in Ford County?"
"No, sir You couldn&039;t find three people in this county of thirty thousand who have not already made up their ed already There&039;s just no way to find an impartial jury"
"Thank you, Mr Vonner No further questions, Your Honor" Buckley patted his poers over his ears to make sure every hair was in place He walked purposefully to the podiunificently, "have you already prejudged Carl Lee Hailey?"
"Dae, please," said Noose
"And ould your judgment be?"
"Mr Buckley, let me explain it this way And I&039;ll do so very carefully and slowly so that even you will understand it If I was the sheriff, I would not have arrested hirand jury, I would not have indicted hie, I would not try him If I was the DA, I would not prosecute hiive hi on his wall, and I would send hihter is ever raped, I hope I have the guts to do what he did"
"I see You think people should carry guns and settle their disputes in shootouts?"
"I think children have a right not to be raped, and their parents have the right to protect theirls are
special, and ifraped by two dopeheads I&039;ood and decent fathers should have a constitutional right to execute any pervert who touches their children And I think you&039;re a lying cohen you claihter"
"Mr Vonner, please!" Noose said
Buckley struggled, but kept his cool "You obviously feel very strongly about this case, don&039;t you?"
"You&039;re very perceptive"
"And you want to see him acquitted, don&039;t you?"
"I would pay money, if I had any"
"And you think he stands a better chance of acquittal in another county, don&039;t you?"
"I think he&039;s entitled to a juryabout the case before the trial starts"
"You would acquit him, wouldn&039;t you?"
"That&039;s what I said"
"And you&039;ve no doubt talked to other people ould acquit him?"
"I have talked to many"
"Are there folks in Ford County ould vote to convict him?"
"Of course Plenty of them He&039;s black, isn&039;t he?"
"In all your discussions around the county, have you detected a clear majority one way or the other?"
"Not really"
Buckley looked at his legal pad and ance a close friend of yours?"
Harry Rex smiled and rolled his eyes at Noose "I&039;m a lawyer, Mr Buckley, my friends are few and far between But he is one of them Yes, sir"
"And he asked you to come testify?"
"No I just happened to stuo and landed here in this chair I had no idea you guys were having a hearing this al pad on the table and sat down Harry Rex was excused
"Call your next witness," Noose ordered
"Reverend Ollie Agee," Jake said
The reverend was led from the witness room and seated
in the witness stand Jake had met him at his church the day before with a list of questions He wanted to testify They did not discuss the NAACP lawyers
The reverend was an excellent witness His deep, graveled voice needed no microphone as it carried around the courtroo They were members of his church He had known them for years, they were family almost, and he had held their hands and suffered with them after the rape Yes, he had talked to countless people since it happened and everyone had an opinion on guilt or innocence He and twenty-two other black ministers were members of the council and they had all talked about the Hailey case And, no, there were no unmade minds in Ford County A fair trial was not possible in Ford County, in his opinion
Buckley asked one question "Reverend Agee, have you talked to any black ould vote to convict Carl Lee Hailey?"
"No, suh, I have not"