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."

第十三章间接证据间接证据（旁证），名词。 间接证据使一个人看起来有罪。 例如，如果一个嫌疑人被看到从犯罪现场逃跑，陪审团可能会认为他犯了罪，即使没有人看到他犯罪。 梅金从杰克开始。她问了他三个简单的问题，让他只用一个词回答：是或不是。 “杰克，你见过埃文短裤口袋里的钱吗？”“没有。”

"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

“你看到斯科特·斯宾塞从埃文口袋里拿东西了吗？”“没有。” “从那天起，你见过斯科特·斯宾塞身上带着208美元吗？”“没有。” 然后，她一个接一个地把凯文、马利克、瑞安和保罗叫到证人席上，问同样的三个问题。 他们的回答都是一样的——不。 杰西听着，心里很难过——但她被打动了。 在不到五分钟的时间里，梅根就解开了针对斯科特·斯宾塞的整个案子。 事实上，那天没人在游泳池看到什么。 大家都在猜测埃文的钱去哪了。 在梅根向证人提问的整个过程中，杰西一直担心梅根会传埃文到证人席上盘问。 她知道埃文宁愿把头发一根一根地拔出来，也不愿回到证人席上。 但

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

相反，梅根叫来了另一个证人——一个连杰西都没想到的证人。 “我的最后一个证人，”梅金对陪审团说，“是斯科特·斯宾塞。” 斯科特·斯宾塞一直无精打采地向前走着，坐在球上，胳膊肘支在膝盖上，眼睛盯着地面。 现在他直起身子，挺直了肩膀。 当他在法庭上听到有人叫他的名字时，他看起来和任何人一样惊讶。 “我不想，”他说。 他挑衅地看了看梅金，又看了看大卫，好像他要向他们俩挑战一架似的。 大卫用木槌指着他。 “嗯，你必须这么做。你必须照律师说的去做。” 杰西相当肯定这不是真的。 她记得有条规定说你不必在法庭上指证自己，但她不确定，所以她什么也没说。 斯科特站起来，用脚后跟把篮球往法庭后面推了几英尺。 他走到讲台上，把他的

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

右手捂着心口，举起左手。 法官问道：“你能发誓说出真相，全部真相，绝无虚言吗？” “是的，”斯科特说，但他说得又长又低，就像这个词被绳子从他嘴里拉出来一样。 “我只有一个问题，”梅金说，“而且很简单。” 她双手叉腰，面对着他。 “你真的是用自己的钱买了新的Xbox 20/20吗？”“什么？”斯科特说，好像他不敢相信自己刚刚听到的话。 他转向大卫·K。“我不会回答这个问题。 我不需要回答这个问题。” 大卫说：“是的，你知道！” “不然我就判你藐视法庭。” 他狠狠地敲了一下木槌，让斯科特知道他是认真的。 杰西看着斯科特，完全明白他的感受。 每个人都盯着他看。 “嗯——我——”没有一个人发出声音。 就连榆树的树枝也停止了移动，树叶的沙沙声渐渐消失了

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

沉默。“记住，”梅金平静地说。 “你发过誓的。”斯科特愁眉苦脸。 “没有。我没有。你快乐吗?”他对梅金傻笑。 “我父母给我买的。” 然后每个人都开始大喊大叫。 “我就知道！”我就知道！”亚当说。 大卫不得不敲打他的小木槌大约十次，以4比0的比分平静下来。 “证人可以回避了！”关闭参数!控方先说！快点!”杰西站了起来。 这本该是她的重要时刻。 “我写了一篇非常棒的结案陈词，”她说着，从后口袋里掏出几张索引卡，“但我想我们没有时间了。 所以我就这么说。”她走向陪审席。 十二双眼睛盯着她。 有些陪审员，比如亚当和莎莉，她很熟悉，但大多数陪审员她几乎不认识。 现在他们都看着她。 陪审员席上的每个人都在等着

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,

听听她要说什么。 “陪审团的女士们先生们，”她开始说。 “事实就是事实。钱放在埃文的短裤里，叠好放在杰克的房间里。 斯科特走进杰克的房间，然后跑回家，像个有罪的骗子。 当埃文上楼时，他的短裤打开了，钱不见了。 破案不需要天才。 最后，要看谁说的是真话。 所以，想想你认识埃文·特雷斯基（Evan Treski）和斯科特·斯宾塞（Scott Spencer）这么多年，问问自己：你相信谁？”杰西把索引卡塞回裤子口袋里。 她还没来得及用呢。 她花了那么多时间写了一篇很棒的结案陈词。 这次审判跟她想象的完全不一样。 “好吧，搞定了，”大卫说。现在是辩方的结案陈词。 快,梅根。”梅金站起来走向陪审席。 “事情是这样的，”她说。 “你不能给斯科特定罪，