no sign of a struggle, you say.
as peculiar as a struggle between a 235 pound man, and an assailant strong enough to subdue him. that leaves only a single overturned cup in its wake?
my gosh, alvin, was i supposed to object every time you did that?
if i did that your honor, i'd be dead.
right. in the middle. of the floor.
i think you testified all the lights were on. cabin, mast, net lights, picking lights.
and yet you started the engine right up. with all those lights drawing all night, the batteries had that much charge. did that strike you odd?
does it now?
you have to wonder.
you found three batteries, you say. a d-6 and d-8 in the well. and a spare d-8 on the cabin floor. correct?
now i did some measuring down at the chandlery. a d-6 is one inch wider than a d-8. it would be too large for the deceased's well.
but he had a spare d-6, you said. right there. why not use that?
maybe he carried a spare that was too large to fit. so he'd have to bang out the flange to squeeze it in?
sheriff, how many batteries and what size did you find on defendant's boat?
no spare.
so the defendant went out fishing for the night with no spare battery, hmmn?
i'm curious. the d-6 that was refitted into the deceased's well. was it exactly the same brand and model as defendant's?
now you've testified that the deceased was a heavy man, and hard to bring out of the net.
is it possible his head struck the transom, or the stern gunnel, or the net roller, as you were bringing him in?
you don't. think so.
you don't. remember.
operating this winch you'd rarely operated before, doing this awkward job of bringing in a drowned man of 235 pounds. is it possible. possible that he struck his head after death. possible?
so this. foam you found in the lungs. how does it get there?
meaning that he wasn't murdered first, say on the deck of the boat, and then thrown overboard.
your report says death by drowning, which means he went into the water alive and breathing. and the report is accurate?
of course, it is. now as to the head injury. you say made by an object narrow and flat. that is your inference, correct?
in your motorcycle example. those injuries are produced by the head being propelled against an object. rather than the reverse, yes?
can you tell whether an object moved against the head, or the other way around? or would both look the same.
so if his head struck something narrow and flat, the gunnel of a boat, a net roller, a fairlead, could that have.
is it possible?
is it fair to say that you do not know for certain which it was.
and that you can't say for certain whether the head injury was sustained before or after death?
but you are certain that he died by drowning.
yes, you can tell me about the minor cut you found on the deceased's right hand. the report says 'recent origin'. how recent? as much as 24 hours before death?
are you absol.
thank you, horace. no more questions.
objection. asking witness to speculate about deceased's state of mind.
just three questions. the miyamoto family bought your seven acres for $4500?
second question. what did ole jurgensen pay you per acre?
so that makes what would have been $4500 into $7000, doesn't it? if you sent the equity back, you had a profit of $2500.
it is.
you, too. no further questions.
your daddy played. i asked, down at the japanese community center. you smoke cigars?
white or black?
nice. when two fellas understand each other.
i think you like learning.
me, too. that's why i come.
bet there's a few things you could teach me. kendo, for one.
you're wonderin'. how come i never ask. if you did it.
now, you've told me you killed four men. in germany. so i know you are the kind of man who can kill. when there's a reason.
you feel guilty. that you took their lives. that's in your eyes.
prosecutor thinks. what was your reason? to kill carl heine.
well, there is the land itself. raise your children where you were raised. sleep with your wife at night, 'stead of bein' alone on the sea.
there's fairness and honor. you were cheated by that old bitch. boy, she is something.
and prejudice, like you say. your people locked in a concentration camp. you go off to fight for our country's freedom. come back to this.
but mr. hooks has missed the one reason. one reason. you coulda done it.
i read you etta heine's deposition. so i could watch your mind. like i do when you move your rook, or when i move mine.
and you weren't thinking about her. or about land. or about you.
no, someone cheats you, you can rise above that. you're a family man. you put them ahead of you, hmmn?
wasn't you she dishonored.
your father was a strong and tireless man. honest to a fault. kind, and humble as well.
now this jury is gonna be lookin' at the evidence with one eye. and at you with the oth.
your father needs you. to return to your family.
so every time you think about showing that jury strength. or honor or composure. or dignity.
show them an innocent man.
now your testimony was interrupted yesterday, when that power line set fire to your mother-in-law's farmhouse.
how is your mother-in-law?
and her farmhouse?
well, just to put it back in our minds, could you repeat what you told us. about the type of batteries you found. one carl's boat.
which you inferred was replaced by the d-6, which must have been a spare.
even though a d-6 is too big, and the flange had to be banged out to squeeze it in. which makes it a peculiar choice. for a spare.
no further questions.
so the blood on the gaff was not fish blood at all. it was human, yes? type b positive.
but you can't say with any certainty that the blood was his.
and the blood could not have belonged to defendant. seeing that his type is o negative.
you scraped the dried blood from the butt of the gaff. where a fella's hand goes. and what did you see under your microscope, besides the b positive blood and the wood scrapings?
no bits of bone, no particles of scalp, no strands of hair?
well, if the blood got onto the gaff by crushing a man's skull.
you don't.
the coroner testified that carl heine had a cut. a fresh cut. probably one or two hours old.
on the palm. of his right hand.
with no bone or scalp or hair present. would it be more probable that the blood came from crushing a man's skull.
or from the cut on his hand. which is more probable?
you're right.
that's the jury's job.
so your husband said he's think it over. encouraged mr. miyamoto to believe he might sell to h.
well, he didn't say 'no', did he? didn't say no hope existed.
so the defendant was encouraged to hope. or could have been.
i guess you'd have to guess. not having been there with them. having to guess whether your husband's report was word for word accurate.
of course not. but it was emotional. a friend's plea set against his mother's attitude.
those 'dirty looks'. defendant ever aim one of those at you?
carl ever say he got one?
you can speak for what he said. just like you did for mr. hooks.
sorry about that, mrs. heine. shall i repeat the ques.
the question is more about the defendant's attitu.
but carl didn't say yes.
well, in the week that followed, the week before carl's death.  did your husband pursue him?
and when did you first learn. that carl had drowned?
thirty years fishing alone. ever had an occasion to board another man's boat except in an emergency? maybe to socialize or some such?
now, mister gi.
now if you wanted to kill a man. think you'd try boarding against his will, and hitting him with a fishing gaff?
i'm sorry about that. it wasn't mine in the first place.
so the fishing gaff method wouldn't make sense?
now the sheriff believed that the d-6 battery in carl's well was carl's own spare. even though it was too large f.
course, if carl lost both batteries, dead in the water, his radio wouldn't work. so how would he signal for help?
all right, what if the defendant heard? so carl let him aboard, to help. and then the fishing gaff?
well, what if?
thank you, mr. gillanders. thank you for coming down, in this cold weather.
but the toughest scenario. is the one hooks will never raise.
that you came upon carl by accident. like you said. gave him the battery. like you said. asked him about the seven acres. like you said.
only. he said no.
and something. happened. that you'd never planned. because you're not a cold-blooded killer.
you won't hear that from hooks. because the charge is first-degree murder, which requires premeditation. he can't change the charge.
so if the jury thinks you did kill. but only in the heat of anger. they have to acquit.
and you couldn't. be. re-tried.
i want you. to tell the truth.
i told your wife. trials aren't always so much about actual truth. as about what folks believe is true. that's sad. and it's real.
a question first. why do you want to know?
i believe you are a good man. who belongs with his family.
and i believe. you didn't do it.
objection!
not a single witness has testified to anything that could suggest pre- meditated murder. not in the days before carl heine's death. or at any time. has anyone described a murderous rage toward the deceased.
etta heine had cheated his family. he had asked his childhood friend carl to sell him the land. and carl was considering it.
there is no evidence of anger at carl, much less rage, much less murderous rage. no reason for premeditation and no evidence of it. anywhere.
and yet the state is required to prove these things. beyond. a reasonable. doubt.
can you seriously think there is no reasonable doubt? why is kabuo's d-6 battery in carl's well, if carl was helping him?
why isn't the blood on the gaff more consistent with carl's hand wound than a skull fracture? given the absence of bone or brain tissue.
what mr. hooks asks you to believe is that no proof is needed. against a man who bombed pearl harbor.
look at his face, the prosecutor said. presuming that you will see an enemy there. treacherous by nature, by a thousand years of something or other.
an argument i find as despicable as it is dishonest and twisted and insulting to us all. mr. miyamoto is a much-decorated hero of the united states army. for god's sake.
if someone said you should convict carl heine. or his lovely widow. of murder. without proof. because their ancestry is the same as hitler's. you would spit in his eye.
and every decent american. would applaud you.
now kabuo miyamoto did one thing wrong. he was afraid to trust us, at first. afraid that he would be crucified by prejudice. as mr. hooks is urging you to do.
well, we sent him. and his wife. and thousands of americans to concentration camps. they lost homes, belongings, everything. we did that, folks. can we now be unforgiving about his uncertainty? his mistrust?
you may think this is a small trial. in a small place. well, it isn't.
every once in awhile. somewhere in the world. humanity goes on trial. and integrity. and decency. every once in awhile, common folks get called on to give the report card for the human race.
now here in america. we relish those chances. give us that one, we say. that's why we built this country in the first place.
be americans. make your children proud.
well. it's imaginative.
i'll give you that.
no, you don't.
that report. about the freighter? you didn't find that tonight, did you?
you went right to the cell. then to the boat. then here. how long did you know about the freighter?
this tastes horrible, hmmn?
i'm wondering how the judge is gonna like my waking up his old bones. in the middle of the night.
your daddy. was quite a feller.
he's looking down. and he's not thinking 'bout the man you were yesterday. he's proud of the man you are tonight. that's what counts.
what if i told you he once said to me. don't matter the road we take. just so we get there.
doesn't make me wrong.
all right, let's say that twine had been there to lash a lantern. that it had come from the shuttle of twine found in the deceased's pocket.
now to re-open a trial that had gone to jury. new evidence should be pretty important.
tell us why that lantern would be so significant.
now you believe there were two lanterns when defendant arrived. one in carl's hand. the second lashed to the mast.
well, why does it?
your honor, all of this is speculation. including mr. hooks' dramaturgy about the defendant issuing a false distress call.
so how does this fit with what you told us at the start? the freighter that plowed through ship channel bank.
fell.
still lashed to the mast.
just as the freighter comes through? isn't that quite a coincidence?
maybe?
but you could be wrong. he could have climbed up earlier.
the knife. what knife?
still a coincidence. timing and all.
still and all. carl was a strong swimmer, he m.
you think so?
well, anything coulda caused that.
request introduction of exhibit 18. one single blond hair. which sheriff moran dug out of that fracture. below the mast. of carl heine's boat.
we will call sheriff moran, who will confirm this. and coroner whaley to testify that the damage to the gunnel is of a size and nature not inconsistent with the deceased's skull fracture.
but for now. your witness.
all things considered.
you were adequate.
i could make a few quibbles, but i am loathe to hurt your feelings.
i'll take two. one for later.
if i whistle. those boys'll see you, and come runnin'. you're the story today.
naw, i've seen what that can do to a pack of cigarettes.
prejudice is like any obsession.
there's a reason why we can't let go. even when we want to.
hate or love. it works the same.
it's a rare thing. takes a turning point.
you gave this jury three chances. to turn.
no other way to explain it all. that was one. i caught some of 'em fluttering, waking up, on that.
second. you sent him to manzanar, and you didn't do it alone. i liked that one, they didn't. no surprise.
last. you gave your arm. to buy this woman back her husband. are they gonna cheat you out of that?
some let go, some don't. where did you?
the prosecutor, the judge, cut her off. she was desperate. her husband helpless. i was helpless.
you couldn't let her. be helpless.
when this verdict is read. she may look for your face.
here's what she needs to see: this is nothing. we win it on appeal.