The trial transcript is equal parts dry (technical witnesses discussing how cell tower coverage works), disturbing (Watts describing the moment he finds Miller’s leg), and emotional (Sarah’s name, any mention of her).
While reading, I have moments when I cry out, press my hands on the page as if my touch can make the words disappear. My dog is startled by my outbursts. I rant to Josh as he makes me cup after cup of coffee to fuel my reading. I take fastidious notes, designate colored tabs for different parts I want to keep track of. I call my stepmom and tell her, haltingly, of the first time Sarah’s name appears during the trial. I read over certain sections obsessively, imagining myself in the courtroom watching the witness on the stand. A transcript of a court hearing does not include stage directions or blocking, unfortunately, but the more I read, the more I feel as if I am there.
Dale Brady had a public defender who arranged for his plea deal. Raymond Douglas can afford his own lawyer: Shawn Cook is a self-described “bulldog.” Cook frightens me, like he could climb out of the transcript and convince me that I am guilty of all the crimes. He reminds me of my father, who could turn an argument on its head, coerce an apology instead of giving one.
From the first page of the prosecution’s case, Cook comes out swinging: he implies evidence has been tampered with and suggests that witnesses are lying. He is actually quite good at his job.
The prosecution is led by District Attorney Phil Boyd. He is methodical and careful. I see him as an Atticus Finch type, an upstanding lawyer in the midst of a dysfunctional justice system. I don’t know this, of course; I just need someone to be the good guy. Boyd seems confident in his case, lays out each piece of evidence as if he is showing a winning hand. Which makes sense; there is a coconspirator willing to testify against Douglas, multiple witnesses who can place Douglas at the scene the night Eric Miller was killed, cell records that determine that Douglas was at the house when the murder occurred and in the areas where body parts were dumped. When things begin to deteriorate, Boyd keeps his composure, even though I cannot. I throw the transcript on the bed and march into the kitchen to vent to my partner. “It’s all falling apart,” I tell him. “There is no way for the case to recover from this.”
Dale Brady is the center of the deterioration. He gives multiple days of testimony for the prosecution. He was at the house; indeed, he participated in the murder of Leland Miller. He names Raymond Douglas as his coconspirator.
The details of his testimony are horrific. Brady walks everyone through his version of the night of Miller’s death. Douglas came up behind Miller while he was making a sandwich in the kitchen. Douglas picked up a knife laying on the counter and stabbed Miller in his side. An altercation ensued and Miller was stabbed multiple times. Brady claims he heard the noise from the fight and came running, saw Miller bleeding and weeping on the tile floor. Brady, in an act of self-described mercy, took the knife from Douglas and slit Miller’s throat. Douglas and Brady brought the body into the garage and chopped Miller into smaller, more manageable pieces.
During Brady’s cross-examination, defense attorney Cook brings up Sarah. “Do you believe my client is responsible for the death of one of your closest friends?” Brady is reluctant to discuss my sister but Cook is persistent. “Isn’t it true that you want revenge against Raymond Douglas because you blame him for the death of Sarah Andersen and that is why you are testifying against him?” Cook says that Brady is doing all of this, lying about Douglas’s involvement, so he can get him imprisoned as retribution. It goes on and on, a relentless barrage to break Brady. At one point it seems to be working, and he refuses to answer any more questions. He says that he doesn’t care that he is violating an order from the court to answer Cook. After all, he will already be in prison for the rest of his life. After a recess, Brady agrees to come back to the stand, and he sticks by his story that Douglas is culpable in Miller’s death.
Attorney Boyd rests his case. Cook is scheduled to take a number of days to present the defense. He calls two technical witnesses to the stand before announcing that Dale Brady will now be a witness for the defense. This is different from Cook calling Brady back to the stand to cross-examine him. This means that Brady is testifying on behalf of the defense to further their case instead of the prosecution’s.
Is Cook smiling as he talks to Brady? Is he swaggering around the courtroom? Cook asks Brady a series of questions he has been asked before. This time, the answers are different. Brady takes full responsibility for Miller’s death, erases Douglas’s presence from the scene. He explains away his previous testimony as anger toward Douglas manifested as false accusation. His conscience will no longer allow him to say that Raymond Douglas was a killer.
Brady admits under Boyd’s cross-examination that he was able to send a message through the jail the night before this testimony and communicate with Douglas. No one knows what was said. Was there a financial agreement made? A threat? Perhaps Douglas told him what he actually knew of Sarah’s death. I suppose there is a chance that Douglas pleaded with Brady, and it changed his mind. One conversation floating through the jail has tainted an entire murder trial.
I hold my breath. Something as close to rage as I have felt during this process creeps into my body, a fury at Brady for changing his testimony and letting me down. Me, personally.
Boyd does his best to recover. He brings in video of Brady walking police through the scene of the crime early on. Brady is describing what he and Douglas did to Miller. He breaks down, weeping into his hands. Boyd’s closing argument lays out every detail of the case, building a strong argument that Raymond Douglas is guilty of murder.
Cook’s closing statement attempts to dismantle Boyd’s version of events, but it is Brady’s displays of feeling throughout his waffling testimony that are his main focus. Cook acknowledges that Brady’s testimony is problematic, that he isn’t trustworthy. He urges the jury, though, to look for the points where Brady shows genuine emotion in the courtroom. Therein lies the truth, Cook claims. “Dale Brady only showed emotion when he spoke about the death of his friend, Sarah Andersen. Brady blames Raymond Douglas for her overdose. That emotion, that anger, is what drove Brady to make false claims about my client’s involvement in the death of Leland Miller.”
Raymond Douglas is acquitted. A jury member cites Brady’s lack of credibility as the deciding factor. I am stuck, reframing this trial scene, wondering how Sarah’s death has been used by the defense to set her potential murderer free.