The Trial: Part Five
Emmett Perkins and Jack Santo, sensible career criminals that they were, both pragmatically declined to take the witness stand. The verdict, although unspoken as yet, was already in on them and they both knew it. Perkins had once said that the only way he would ever return to San Quentin would be if he went back to be "topped" -- executed. He was certain that death row awaited him now, as well as it did Santo. The only satisfaction he had was in knowing that Babs had signed her own death warrant as well as theirs.
But Barbara wasn't giving up. She agreed to take the stand in her own defense, and the duped and deceived Jack Hardy agreed to make a last-ditch effort to save her from the executioner. Shapely and attractive in a tailored pearl-gray suit, her hair formed into a conservative bun in back, Barbara was prepared to portray herself not as a member of cold-blooded murder gang, but simply a young housewife whose desire for the easy life had landed her in bad company. It was going to be a stretch, she knew. However, under Hardy's quiet questioning, Barbara emerged as a victim of a sordid, shabby life.
Barbara's reformatory background was explained, as were her four marriages and three sons, her work as a gambling shill for Perkins, and her effort to settle down with Henry Graham and their little son. She admitted to knowing Jack Santo casually through Perkins, said that she had met John True once very briefly, but denied ever knowing or meeting Baxter Shorter. She vehemently disputed True's testimony that she had been at the murder scene, and explained that it was only because she actually couldn't recall where she really was on the night of the murder, that she had tried to arrange a fake alibi with Sam Sirianni.
"I felt he was my last chance," she swore on the stand, voice breaking, hands nervously balling up the same Kleenex over and over. "I couldn't prove where I really was, and if he (Sam) walked out, well, I just wouldn't have anyone."
She said she had admitted being with the gang only to reassure Sirianni that he wouldn't get caught committing perjury. For that same reason she led him to believe that she knew Baxter Shorter was dead.
"I had read several times that Baxter Shorter was kidnapped and had not been seen since," she testified with a shrug, "so I took a chance telling Sam what I did."
Asked for her best guess as to where she had been on the night of the murder, she said that she now thought that she had left Emmett Perkins, with whom she had been living, and gone back to her husband and child. She was unable to prove that, since Henry Graham had moved out of state, and his whereabouts were unknown. Henry Graham's mother was caring for their toddler son, Tommy.
Her explanation of being caught by police in the company of Perkins and Santo was that when she learned that the two men were being sought for the murder, that a woman accomplice was also being sought, and since she had been known to associate with them, and since she was in violation of her perjury probation, she thought it best to hide out with them until they could "clear things up" through a lawyer Perkins knew.
All of it was the best that Jack Hardy could do for a client for whom lying was a way of life. And after it was over, all he could do was turn her over to J. Miller Leavy -- and hope she survived.
Leavy questioned Barbara about the inmate in the women's jail named Shirley Parker, who was actually an undercover policewoman. When an article had appeared in the newspaper about Jack Santo's background, had not Barbara remarked in Shirley Parker's presence, "Jesus, maybe I'll be smelling that cyanide yet."
Barbara's answer: "I hardly think so."
Leavy brought out the love notes exchanged between Mommy and Candy Pants, and forced Barbara to read them aloud to the jury. It was a mortifying experience for Barbara, but she braced up and tried to get through it. When one letter got particularly intimate, she could not continue. Leavy offered to read it for her. Barbara blinked back tears, looking stricken. "Mr. Leavy, do you have to read that'" she implored.
Leavy, a relentless prosecutor who believed to his very core that the woman before him helped kill elderly, frail, helpless Mabel Monohan, had not an iota of mercy for her. He read aloud, "'I do love you, honey. You are so lovely and desirable, sweetheart. I want so much to show you how I love you. I am sure I can make you happy -- '"
The note went on, a heartfelt expression of the love of one woman for another, by someone who, perhaps, had never really felt deep, sincere love from anyone -- not even her own mother. But the revelation made Barbara squirm; this was 1953, when homosexual love in America was not only predominantly in the closet, but the closet was locked as well. For Barbara, it was an excruciatingly humiliating few minutes.
Leavy went on to ask questions about the prior conviction for perjury; to enumerate the many other times Barbara had told lies, and the people she had lied to, from those who accepted her bad checks, to probation officers, all the way up to her own lawyer defending her now. Leavy forced her to admit that, had the Sirianni scheme been real instead of a police set-up, she -- and he -- would have been lying to this very jury.
Leavy then tried to connect Barbara to Baxter Shorter's disappearance. In several of Barbara's notes to Donna Prow, she made reference to "the other party" showing up at the trial. In one note, Barbara had written, "It won't happen," and underlined the words three times.
"Who were you making reference to in that note'" the prosecutor asked.
"Offhand, I don't remember," Barbara replied.
"Not Baxter Shorter, of course," Leavy said sarcastically.
"It could have been," Barbara admitted, bottom lip trembling. Then she began sobbing and shouted at Leavy, "Have you ever been desperate' Do you know what it is'"
"Was it or was it not Baxter Shorter'" Leavy asked doggedly.
"It probably was," she finally said wearily, quickly controlling her sobs.
Later, when Leavy was finished with her, Jack Hardy managed on redirect examination to get Barbara to retract her admission and tell the jury she now believed her estranged husband, Henry Graham, was the person to whom she was referring as the "other party." Barbara said she wrote the note because Donna was jealous of Henry and afraid Barbara would go back to him and little Tommy if acquitted of the Monohan murder. It was yet another stretch for the jury to believe -- and few thought they did.
As Barbara Graham stepped down from the witness stand, the expression on her face clearly told everyone that she wished she had never let herself be sworn in. Following her testimony, Perkins and Santo completely ostracized her; they did not speak to or even look at her for the remainder of the trial.
Once again, Barbara was alone.
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