After an alleged victim brands Joe Lee as a pervert who exposed himself to her, and a cop calls him a liar, Dan Ambrose was Joe's only hope for redemption. Mr. Ambrose showed that the witness embelleshed her story, and that Joe could not have done what he was accused of. NOT GUILTY
On cross examination the officer testified that department policy requires the use of their in car camera anytime that have contact with civilians. Not only did he have an in car camera with a microphone but that there was actually a recording of all of his investigation of this scene. The following dialogue took place:
Question: You know that it’s your side's, the government’s burden of proof when you accuse a man?
Answer: Yes.
Question: It’s your side's duty to gather, preserve, and present evidence to this jury. You know that there is no way that Joe can prove his innocence?
Answer: Correct.
Question: You’re implying to this jury that Joe’s a liar?
Answer: He lied to me.
Question: I assume that you brought the video to court with you today to play for this jury?
Answer: No, nobody asked me to.
Question: So your just asking this jury to take your word instead of providing them with the evidence, which you have already told this jury you have a duty to do?
Answer: I guess so.
I went on to establish that although there were over fifty people at the club that the officer did nothing to inquire if any of the other members had seen anything.
The prosecutor admitted Joe’s written statement, which I believed to be a strategical error. Joe did not testify. He had suffered a head injury twelve years earlier and did not have a clear memory of the day of the accusations.
In closing I argued to the jury that it would have been impossible for Joe to expose himself and Julie, and for the friend not to have seen it, since she was only two feet away. I told the jury that I believed Mary thinks she saw Joe expose himself and that her embellishment of the original versions she told the police was her subconscious mind rationalizing her accusations. Because of the length of Joe’s tee shirt which we admitted into evidence it would have been impossible for Joe to have exposed himself by simply pulling his shorts down, his shirt would have covered his groin area.
At 5:30 p.m. the jury sent Joe home without the stigma of “pervert” attached to his name. |
