Chapter 60
When Jack Dunham was called to the stand and sworn in, DaSilva asked the same question he’d asked both the previous officers and it was curious that Dunham’s response about the events of the night were nearly verbatim of that of his partner, Rossi’s.
Shortly after Dunham’s recounting, Capes received a flurry of phone calls.
Beau Lee looked over to see what the fuss was about, but Capes only moved to dismiss himself and take the calls outside.
Beau Lee knew that he had put all his irons in the fire and not all of them proved worthy.
He wouldn’t be able to use all of them during this trial, but that was how it always was.
A good attorney must be prepared beyond what was necessary.
Shortly after Capes stepped out, DaSilva moved to the witness box.
“Based on your experience in training, was everything you did by the book, Officer Dunham?”
“Absolutely. One hundred percent,” Jack said a little too quickly.
“Now that some time has passed and you’ve been able to review every circumstance in your mind of the traffic stop that night, would you change anything that you did in any way?”
“Attorney DaSilva, as I sit here today, I wouldn’t change one single thing that I did that night,” Jack said.
“I mean, if this guy would have been able to shoot Officer Rossi, then he could have got a round off on me, too. I took it as my responsibility to make sure that me and all my fellow officers got home to our families. I know too many good cops who didn’t survive a stop. ”
“I have no further questions. Thank you, Officer Dunham. I am glad that you and all your officers made it home safe.”
Beau Lee began his cross-exam as he walked up to the podium. “Mr. Montrose swore that he had his wallet in his back pocket. Do you know who took it, since he was unconscious due to the shooting?”
“No, I do not, Mr. Cooper. You are assuming that he had a wallet on him that night.”
“Now, that is something that doesn’t add up to me.” Beau Lee put his hands on his hips, the way his mother used to when she was stumped. “Why would a law-abiding citizen who always obeys the law and has never gotten so much as a traffic ticket be driving without a license? Do you have any idea?”
“Law-abiding citizens don’t shoot at police officers,” Jack said.
“We will get to that in just a minute, Officer Dunham. But for now, I want to ask you a direct question. Did you or the officers on the scene take Hollis Montrose’s wallet, which contained his driver’s license and badge?”
“Now, why would any of us do that, Mr. Cooper?” Jack leaned forward, a near smile on his face.
Beau Lee staved off the fury in his chest. Jack’s display of arrogance was why this case was so important: to get justice for Hollis. Jack would be an obstacle in that effort, and Beau Lee reminded himself of how important it was to keep cool in the court of law. “Is your answer yes or no?”
Jack took a breath and sat back. “Of course not, Mr. Cooper.”
“You didn’t answer my question, Officer Dunham.”
“Objection. He’s badgering the witness, Your Honor,” DaSilva said.
“I will sustain the objection. I believe the witness has answered the questions sufficiently. Now move on, Mr. Cooper,” Judge Lambert said.
“Your Honor, I want to note for the record that the witness never answered yes or no to my direct question.”
“Attorney Cooper, I acknowledge that I heard Officer Dunham respond by saying of course they didn’t take his wallet. Now ask your next question.”
Beau Lee took a deep breath and proceeded. “Officer Dunham, how much time passed before you went to handcuff Mr. Montrose after the shooting stopped?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to make sure that all the officers were safe, and I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to put any of my fellow officers in jeopardy.”
“So how long did it take, Officer Dunham? You were there.”
“I’m not sure. I just know I was more concerned with my officers’ safety.”
“You can’t give me an estimate, Officer Dunham?”
“Objection, asked and answered.”
And sustained.
“Officer Dunham, would it help if you reviewed the cellphone video that was taken of the shooting incident by a bystander as to how much time passed after you shot your weapon and then handcuffed Mr. Montrose?”
“Objection, Your Honor, this goes outside of your prior ruling regarding the video.”
Beau Lee interjected with, “Your Honor, I know that you allowed only parts of the video to be presented to aid the jury as fact finders. The witness said he doesn’t know how much time has passed, but the time clearly can be seen on the video because there is a time stamp.
And this will show how much time passed before the shooting stopped and when Officer Dunham put his heel in the back of Mr. Montrose and handcuffed him. It is very factual and beyond debate.”
“Mr. Cooper, you have been trying to get around my ruling on the video throughout the trial,” Judge Lambert said. “I am not going to allow you to get things that are inadmissible in through the back door. The objection is sustained.”
Beau Lee took the hit. He was always ready with the next comeback, because when you grow up in the hood, you have to know how to play the dozens.
“Officer Dunham, do you have any reason to dispute that in less than forty-seven seconds after the last shot was fired, you were on top of Mr. Montrose putting your hands over his hands and handcuffing him?”
“Objection, Judge, he is still trying to go around your ruling.”
“Sustained,” the judge said, snapping. “As I have ruled, the jury will get to watch the video and glean whatever evidence they feel is important from it without your commentary, Mr. Cooper.”
“Yes, ma’am, Your Honor, absolutely,” said Beau Lee with the slightest hint of cynicism. He turned his attention back to Dunham. “Would you agree that when you fired your gun, there was gunshot residue on your hand?”
“I suppose.”
“Following that, would you agree that your hand with the gunshot residue would have touched Mr. Montrose’s hand when you put the handcuffs on him?”
“I don’t know,” Jack answered nonchalantly. “As I said before, I was concerned about me and my fellow officers’ safety.”
“Sir, are you trying to tell this jury that you can’t remember that your hand made contact with an unconscious man who you were putting in handcuffs?”
“Objection, argumentative.”
“Sustained.”
Beau Lee paid them no mind and tried again. “Would you have any reason to believe that your hand would not have touched his hand when you put the handcuffs on Mr. Montrose?”
“No,” Jack said reluctantly, eyeing his attorneys.
“Then you would agree that the gunshot residue on your hand would have made contact with Mr. Montrose’s hand?”
“The gunshot residue on his hand would have made contact with my hand, too.”
“And that is presuming that Mr. Montrose shot his gun, correct?”
“He did shoot his gun. He almost killed my partner, and I would have been next,” Jack said, getting heated.
Beau Lee smiled. He was a seasoned trial lawyer, but this moment never got old. Jack’s last statement got Beau Lee exactly where he wanted to take this cross-examination.
“Officer Dunham, this is a presumption that you have made during your entire testimony: that Mr. Montrose fired his gun at your partner, Officer Rossi. In fact, Rossi said he fired at him twice.”
Jack elaborated in animated fashion and put two fingers in the air. “That’s right, he shot at us twice.”
“Thank you for that confirmation of your sworn testimony, Officer Dunham. Your Honor, at this time I would like to play the video based on your pretrial ruling. I believe that the record will reflect that the government stipulated to that part of your ruling.”
“Mr. Cooper, where are you trying to go now?” the judge said.
“Your Honor, we would simply like to play the video and let the jury listen to the shots that were fired.”
“You may proceed in accordance with my pretrial ruling.”
As the clerk played the video, the jurors watched intently, some even cringing while others looked away. At its conclusion, Beau Lee stared directly at Jack and then asked, “Did you hear ten shots fired?” Jack didn’t answer—he just looked at DaSilva.
Beau Lee waited for what seemed like an entire minute and then broke the silence in the courtroom. “Officer Dunham, did you count ten shots?”
“No, I didn’t. It was hard to tell because there were fireworks going off all night because of the election,” Jack said through gritted teeth. He was doing his best not to concede anything to Beau Lee.
“Would you have any reason to disagree with your police captain, who said he heard ten shots from the video?”
“If that’s what he said, then I guess that’s what he heard. Like I said, I can’t tell how many shots were fired when I listen to that video.”
“Would it surprise you if not only your captain said that there were ten shots fired, but also the ballistics report showed they only found ten casings from gun shots that were fired on the scene?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” DaSilva announced as he stood up. “The witness testified that he can’t tell how many shots were fired from the video, so these questions become argumentative. Additionally, the prior question has been asked and answered.”
The judge nodded. “I am overruling the objection for now, but Mr. Cooper, I am not going to give you much more leeway.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. We’ve deduced that the officers fired ten shots, which can be confirmed by the audio on the video and the casings identified by ballistics.
And the records show two casings originating from Officer Rossi’s gun, two from Officer Johnson’s, one from Officer Caruthers, and five from your gun, Officer Dunham.
I think we can all agree. You claimed Mr. Montrose also shot his gun twice.
Officer Dunham, what I want to know is if you are testifying that Officer Montrose fired two shots from his gun, then where are the casings from his gun? ”
Alvarez was smirking. Beau Lee could feel his heart pounding as he waited for the response, which came quickly.
“Objection, speculation,” DaSilva said. “How is Officer Dunham supposed to know what they did or did not do at the scene?”
Alvarez stood up for this one. She had agreed to let Beau Lee handle the cross-examinations and statements, but she was particularly fired up.
“Your Honor, they want to ratify conclusions of the homicide investigation when it is beneficial to their argument, but they want to object when it shows that Hollis Montrose never fired his gun.”
“I object again, Your Honor. Now Ms. Alvarez is trying to testify using misinformation and innuendos,” DaSilva said, and gave Alvarez a pointed look.
“I sustain the objection. Mr. Cooper, do you have another question?”
“Yes, I do, Your Honor. Officer Dunham, isn’t it true that Mr. Montrose never fired his gun at the scene? And the only reason he had gunshot residue on his hand is because you touched his hand?”
DaSilva slammed his fist on the table and screamed, “Don’t answer that question, Officer Dunham. We object, Your Honor. Mr. Cooper continues to try and dance around the rules by arguing conclusions that are supposed to be decided by the jury.”
“Sustained. I am shutting this down. These are conclusory statements and inappropriate questions for the witness. Now, Mr. Cooper, I am going to ask you again: Do you have any appropriate questions for the witness?”
Jack bore a shit-eating grin, the smile of someone who’d always gotten their way and was getting it again.
“Yes, Your Honor. Officer Dunham, does the Chicago Police Department do thorough investigations based on your experience with the department?”
“Yes, I will say we do.”
“Do they take their jobs seriously when they do investigations?”
“Of course they do.”
“Would you say that when doing a thorough investigation where it was alleged that a suspect had fired two shots at police officers, it would be important to find his shell casings?”
“Objection,” DaSilva said, this time with far less conviction. Beau Lee watched as the smile fell from Jack’s face.
“There is no need for him to answer. I withdraw the question.”
“Then ask your next question,” admonished the judge.
“Officer Dunham, who was Theodore Briscoe?”
“He was my first partner, my mentor, and one of the finest police officers to ever wear a CPD uniform,” Jack said with pride. “Tragically he lost his life in the line of duty two years ago when he was shot by some thug from the South Side of Chicago.”
“Would you be surprised to know that Teddy Briscoe was named in a discrimination lawsuit along with other officers from CPD that was filed by Officer Montrose?”
“Objection,” barked DaSilva. “Relevance.”
“Sustained,” agreed the judge. “Attorney Cooper, what is the relevance of this line of questioning?”
“Your honor, Officer Dunham just lamented that Officer Briscoe was his hero. I would like to explore whether or not that fact of him being named in a discrimination lawsuit filed by Hollis Montrose that led to several officers being reprimanded had anything to do with Officer Dunham shooting Mr. Montrose,” explained Beau Lee.
“I am not going to allow this fishing expedition. Like I said, the objection is sustained,” Judge Lambert repeated.
“Do you have any further questions, Attorney Cooper?”
“Not at this time, but I want it on the record that the defendant believes this issue of his discrimination lawsuit involving Officer Theodore Briscoe and other CPD officers is relevant to his case.”
“So noted,” said Judge Lambert. “Any redirect, Attorney DaSilva?”
“None, your honor.”
“Then, Officer Dunham, you can step down from the witness stand,” said Judge Lambert. “The court will be in recess for twenty mintues.”
Beau Lee looked over at the counsel table at Nellie to glean his thoughts on the cross-examination. Nellie gave him a subtle nod. The bait was set.