Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Circumstantial Evidence circumstantial evidence (circumstantial evidence), n. Indirect evidence that makes a person seem guilty. For example, if a suspect is seen running away from the scene of a crime, a jury might assume that he's guilty of the crime, even though no one saw him commit it. Megan started with Jack. She asked him three simple questions and told him to answer with just one word:yes or no. "Jack, did you ever see the money in Evan's shorts pocket?" "No."

"Did you see Scott Spencer take anything out of Evan's pocket?" "No." "Since that day, have you ever seen Scott Spencer carrying around two hundred and eight dollars?" "No." Then, one by one, she called Kevin, Malik, Ryan, and Paul to the witness stand and asked the same three questions. Their answers were all the same —no. Listening, Jessie felt miserable—but she was impressed. In less than five minutes, Megan had unraveled her whole case against Scott Spencer. The truth was, nobody had actually seen anything that day at the pool. It was all just guessing about what had happened to Evan's money. The whole time Megan was asking the witnesses questions, Jessie worried that Megan was going to call Evan to the stand for cross-examining. She knew that Evan would rather pull his hair out, one strand at a time, than get back up on that witness stand. But

instead Megan called a different witness—one that even Jessie didn't expect. "My last witness," Megan said to the jury, "is Scott Spencer." Scott Spencer had been slouching forward, sitting on his ball, his elbows resting on his knees, his eyes on the ground. Now he straightened up and squared his shoulders. He looked as surprised as anyone to hear his name called out in court. "I don't want to," he said. He looked defiantly at Megan and then at David, as if he was going to challenge both of them to a fight. David pointed his gavel at him. "Well, you have to. You've got to do what your lawyer says." Jessie was fairly certain that this wasn't true. She thought she remembered a rule that said you didn't have to testify against yourself in court, but she wasn't positive, so she didn't say anything. Scott stood up, shoving his basketball with his heel so that it rolled a few feet toward the back of the courtroom. He walked to the podium and put his

right hand over his heart and raised his left. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" asked the judge. "Yeah," said Scott, but he said it long and low, like the word was being pulled out of his mouth on a rope. "I just have one question," said Megan, "and it's an easy one." She put her hands on her hips and faced him straight on. "Did you really pay for your new Xbox 20/20 with your own money?" "What?" said Scott, like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He turned to David K. "I'm not going to answer that. I don't have to answer that question." "Yes, you do!" said David. "Or I'll hold you in contempt." He banged his gavel sharply once to let Scott know that he was serious. Jessie looked at Scott and knew exactly how he felt. Everyone was staring at him. "Well—I—" Not a single person made a sound. Even the branches of the elm trees stopped moving, the gentle rustling of the leaves dying down to

silence. "Remember," said Megan quietly. "You're under oath." Scott made a sour face. "No. I didn't. You happy?" He smirked at Megan. "My parents bought it for me." Everybody started shouting then. "I knew it! I knew it!" said Adam. David had to whack his gavel about ten times to get 4–0 to quiet down. "The witness is excused! Closing arguments! The prosecution goes first! Hurry up!" Jessie stood up. This was supposed to have been her big moment. "I wrote a really great closing argument," she said, pulling some index cards from her back pocket, "but I guess we don't have time for it. So I'll just say this." She walked over to the jury box. Twelve pairs of eyes stared right back at her. Some of the jurors, like Adam and Salley, she knew well enough, but most of them she hardly knew at all. Now they were all looking at her. Everyone in the jury box was waiting

to hear what she had to say. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," she began. "The facts are the facts. The money was in Evan's shorts, safely folded up in Jack's room. Scott went into Jack's room and then went running home, like a guilty crook. When Evan went upstairs, his shorts were unfolded and the money was gone. It doesn't take a genius to solve this crime. In the end, it comes down to who's telling the truth. So think of all the years you've known Evan Treski and all the years you've known Scott Spencer, and ask yourself this: Who do you believe?" Jessie stuffed her index cards back in her pants pocket. She hadn't even gotten to use them. And she'd spent all that time writing a really great closing argument. This trial was nothing like what she'd thought it would be. "Okay, done," said David. "Now, the closing argument for the defense. Fast, Megan." Megan stood up and walked to the jury box. "Here's the thing," she said. "You can't convict Scott,