Dead Man's Rule by Rick Acker

Author:Rick Acker
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2016-06-27T23:00:00+00:00

Ben arranged his notes on the courtroom podium and looked up at Dmitry Kolesnikov, who sat waiting in the witness box. “Mr. Kolesnikov, is that your signature on Plaintiff’s Exhibit One?” Ben asked, pointing to the minutes.

Dmitry studied the document briefly. “Yes, I believe it is.”

“I . . . Thank you,” said Ben, a little stunned.

“As you pointed out in examining my friend, Mr. Brodsky, we use the same signature block for all company documents. It would be easy—”

“Excuse me, Mr. Kolesnikov,” Ben interrupted, trying to maintain control of the witness. “I haven’t asked you another question yet.”

“I was finishing my answer to the last one.”

“This is all going to come out on direct anyway,” Judge Harris interjected. “I see no reason why we shouldn’t hear it now. You may complete your answer, Mr. Kolesnikov.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.” Dmitry’s English was flawless and had only a slight, urbane accent. “As I was saying, it would be easy for someone to cut the signature block off any of our documents, attach it to these fake minutes, and then make a photocopy to hide what has been done. In fact, that is what I believe has been done here. If you look at the area between the end of the text and the signatures, you will see a faint line. Your Honor, may I leave the witness box so I can be closer to counsel’s blowup of Exhibit One?”

The judge nodded. “You realize that you’re still under oath.”

“Of course. Thank you, Your Honor.” He stepped down from the box and walked over to the easel. “Here is where the real signatures end and the false minutes begin,” he continued, pointing to a faint, intermittent line that Ben had not noticed before. “So yes, I believe my signature on this document is genuine, but the document itself is not. Thank you for allowing me to complete my response to Mr. Corbin’s question.” He returned to the witness box.

“Do you see this line here in the middle of the text?” asked Ben, pointing to the top portion of the blowup.

“I do.”

“Would you agree with me that this line and the line you just pointed out divide the page into thirds?”

“Approximately, yes.”

“Would you also agree that those lines are consistent with the minutes having been folded and placed in a business-size envelope?”

“Yes. If one was trying to conceal a forgery of this type, it would be logical to splice the documents at a fold in the paper to mask what had been done. That must have been done here.”

“Move to strike everything after ‘yes’ as nonresponsive.”

“Granted,” said the judge. “Mr. Kolesnikov, please try to answer yes/no questions with a simple yes or no whenever possible. If you can’t give an unqualified yes or no, then it’s fine to explain yourself. But if you simply disagree with Mr. Corbin’s theory of the case, that is another matter. Mr. Simeon is a very competent lawyer and does not need your help in arguing the defense’s version of the facts.

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