16 Minutes: Was the Death of Baby Matthew an Accident or Murder? by Diane Marger Moore

16 Minutes: Was the Death of Baby Matthew an Accident or Murder? by Diane Marger Moore

Author:Diane Marger Moore
Format: epub


Chapter Twenty

After working all weekend, and spending Sunday with Jim Finneran, I was psyched for Monday morning. As far as I could tell, my children still recognized me when I woke them to say goodbye each morning.

Van Buskirk had popped in and out of the conference room, and Lisa had been there for the entire weekend. She had helped a lot with witness coordination, preparation, and was always upbeat and willing to do whatever was asked of her.

On Monday morning, I was wearing my best suit, a navy pinstriped number with matching Jones of New York white cotton men’s shirt. My navy pumps were on, and I had pearl earrings and choker. Today would be a serious day and I hoped I looked the part. My shoulder-length hair was up and out of my way. I had even put on some cranberry lip gloss, although it would probably only last through my morning iced tea.

The first witness of the week was Kathy Roberts, one of the women who worked with William Wise at MECA. She told the jury about her job, described MECA, and said she was assigned to train William Wise. Roberts identified Wise as the defendant sitting in the courtroom.

“Did you have an opportunity, during the course of his employment, to observe Mr. Wise under stressful conditions of dispatching fire engines, ambulances, and the like?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Would you describe to the jury how he reacted under stress?”

“He handled it very well.” She and Wise had been friendly. She told the jury what she knew about Wise’s dating, including his seeing a woman named Julie, who worked across the hall from IFD dispatch. I asked Kathy to describe Wise’s engagement.

“Could you tell the jury what he told you about this engagement?”

“He told me that his soon-to-be wife was expecting, and that the marriage was-was-was going to happen.”

“Can you tell us whether he expressed to you any feelings about his impending nuptials?”

“He wasn’t very happy about it,” she said.

“Did he indicate to you his feelings about the pregnancy?” I asked.

“He wanted an abortion to be done, but was told by her, his wife-to-be, that she was not going to have an abortion.” Kathy Roberts had not been invited to the wedding. She did not know of anyone else from dispatch invited either.

“After you learned from him that he had become married, did you hear very much about his relationship at home during the course of the months thereafter?”

“No, not unless we posed a question to him,” she responded.

“Did there come a time when you learned that his wife had delivered their child?”

“Yes.”

“How did you learn that?”

“We asked him if she had had the baby yet.” Kathy Roberts looked in Wise’s direction.

“Aside from you asking him, did the defendant ever volunteer any information about having had a child?” I inquired.

“No.” She said she’d asked to see photos of the baby, but Wise said he didn’t have any. Later, after she and other dispatchers pestered Wise to show them a photo of the child, he brought one in.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.