Chapter 25

"Officer Farnham," began Timmy's attorney when the hearing resumed, "How are you today?"

"Fine," bit off Farnham, warily watching Edelstein.

Edelstein jumped right in. "You've never observed Timothy Barker in any wrongdoing, have you?"

"No," admitted Farnham.

"No crimes? Nothing illegal?" persisted Edelstein.

"No, Sir, nothing like that," came the further admission.

"I am at a loss here, Sir. You didn't observe Timothy doing anything wrong at any time, you've only met the boy twice, and you leaped to the conclusion he was in need of State supervision," Edelstein summarized. "Can you explain to me why, Officer Farnham?"

"Er, it just seems he was on the loose, Sir, and that he would get in trouble without adult guidance," the witness stumbled.

"On what did you base your conclusion?" Edelstein probed.

"Well, I have two boys of my own, Sir, and I've done some volunteer work with kids, and well, it's been my experience that children left on their own get into trouble," Farnham opined.

"So, let me see, you based seeking this petition on past events concerning OTHER children and young adults?" Edelstein pushed, making his point.

"In part, yes."

"Let's talk about the other part. Had you ever met Timothy Barker prior to the accident?"

"No, Sir."

"Ever had contact with him again other than the one time on Goldspink?"

"No, Sir."

"Ever had direct personal knowledge of Mr. Barker other than two brief episodes and short conversations, that were, in fact, undertaken without the necessary precautions to protect him in place?"

"Objection! Asked and answered, your Honor, the boy's attorney is haranguing the witness," Flowers stated.

"Overruled. Answer the question, Officer Farnham," the judge directed.

"Er, no," Farnham squirmed.

"When did you decide to ask the State's Attorney to seek State supervision for Timothy?" Edelstein drove on.

"Um, for sure after talking to Timothy the second time, but I had considered it after the first conversation," Farnham revealed.

"And when did you first speak with the State's Attorney about Timothy?"

"Monday morning."

"What time Monday morning?" Edelstein prodded.

"About 9:30, Sir," came the answer.

Edelstein dive bombed again. "In regards to that first conversation with Attorney Flowers, how many hours had passed since you had last spoken with Timothy?"

"Objection!" Flowers jumped up.

The judge cut him off without hearing the reason for the objection. "Overruled!" he announced curtly, obviously irritated by the State's Attorney's interruption.

"Uh, let me see, about 20 hours," calculated Farnham.

"And when did you investigate Timothy Barker's situation?" asked Edelstein.

"Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday," replied Farnham.

"In all, as of today, less than a week has elapsed since your first introduction to Timothy Barker?"

"Yes, Sir," confirmed Farnham.

"What, specifically, did you do in your investigation between the time of the first incident and the initial conversation with Attorney Flowers?" requested Edelstein reasonably.

"I spoke with Timothy's parents Sunday evening," Farnham informed the Court.

"And again, when?"

"Just the one time, Sir," admitted Farnham.

"That's all?!?" exclaimed Edelstein.

Farnham shrunk down a bit. "Yes."

"Well, okay," Edelstein said, putting his chin on his hand, and pacing in front of the witness as if he was thinking. "What did they say to you to make you believe Timothy was in danger?"

"Er, that he was unruly and unmanageable," Farnham paraphrased.

"Is that all they said? Sounds like you're giving us an abbreviated version, Officer. Tell us exactly what they said," Edelstein prompted.

"Objection! Asked and answered, your Honor. Additionally, Attorney Edelstein is asking the witness to give hearsay evidence. The referenced parties are present and able to testify."

The judge decreed the objection overruled in part and sustained in part. "It is not redundant to ask for clarification, Attorney Flowers. On the other hand, I'm more concerned about the called for hearsay. Attorney Edelstein, you may only proceed in this vein if you limit the questioning to the witness' perception of what was said to him and his conclusions therefrom."

"Thank you for the guidance, your Honor," responded Edelstein politely. He turned back to Officer Farnham. "Tell us about your observations about that conversation that led you seek protection for Timothy."

"Er, well, Mr. Harlan Barker said his son was out of control and needed correction, and that his efforts to physically punish him had failed. The mother, Pauline Barker, asked me to please bring her son home," answered Farnham. Flowers did not renew his objection.

"Nothing else? How long did the conversation last?" asked Edelstein with a hint of incredulity.

"Um, I have my notes here," vacillated Farnham, as he looked through papers on his lap.

"May I see those?" asked Edelstein, holding his hand out.

Officer Farnham looked at the judge. "Do I have to, your Honor?" he begged the judge.

Judge O'Grady nodded, and said, "Yes, if you are going to rely on them to answer the question." Flowers did not jump to Farnham's aid.

Edelstein briefly glanced at the papers, then handed them back. They were copies of Farnham's work logs that would be in the case file in the Small Town police station. "We would like to have a copy of these," Edelstein said to Attorney Flowers loudly enough for the court reporter and judge to hear.

"We would object on the grounds that these notes are protected from discovery, your Honor," said Flowers, standing.

The judge tilted his head. "I haven't seen them yet, so I haven't had a chance to evaluate their discoverability or admissibility. I truly think this entire matter will be concluded today, or at the latest, tomorrow. If it does not, I'll entertain motions from both attorneys as to the proposed use of the documents. For this proceeding, I'll limit their use to the refreshing of the witness' mind."

Edelstein thanked the judge, and reminded Farnham to answer the outstanding question.

"Er, about five minutes, it says here in my handwriting, so the conversation must have been five minutes long," replied the policeman.

Edelstein shouted as if he just couldn't believe it, "That's all?!?"

Farnham's face got very red, and he looked ashamed. "Yes," he said, in a small voice.

"And what did you conclude from those few comments?" demanded Edelstein.

"Uh, that Timothy was out of control and his parents were unable to provide him with the necessary supervision without state intervention," Farnham declared more forcefully.

"Do you usually bring action against citizens based on so little evidence, Officer Farnham?" needled Edelstein.

"Objection, your Honor," Flowers objected vigorously. "Attorney Edelstein is baiting and harassing the witness."

"Sustained. Be nice, Sir," the judge chastised Edelstein.

"I'm sorry, your Honor, Officer Farnham." Edelstein paused a moment, then looked back at Farnham. "Assuming for a moment, hypothetically, that Timothy Barker has no supervision, what is the danger in that? He's 17 years old, not 10 or 13."

Farnham held onto his position with dogged determination. "In my experience, children without supervision fail to take adequate care of themselves."

"You've testified that he witnessed an accident, which might happen to any of us, and that he provided aid to a friend who was injured, although, as we'll show later, he wasn't present when the friend was injured. In what way has being on his own hurt Timothy? Not whether any other child living on his or her own has been hurt, but how has Timothy been hurt?"

"He's been exposed to dangerous situations," Farnham insisted.

"How has he been hurt? Please answer the question!" Edelstein pinned Officer Farnham.

"I don't know, Sir," admitted Farnham, finally.

"Have you, or anyone else you've spoken to, to the best of your knowledge, observed any injury, damages, pain and suffering to Timothy or others as a result of Timothy living on his own?" Edelstein asked the ultimate question.

"No," Farnham supplied the bottom line answer.

Edelstein sighed theatrically and nodded at Officer Farnham. Going back to his table, he reviewed his notes made when Attorney Flowers was questioning Farnham. There were a few relatively minor points he wanted to bring out about the accident and overdoses. Farnham confirmed he had not verified Melvin Gifford's story, and that Gifford, himself, had put into motion the events causing the collision. The boys' blood alcohol counts had been at background levels, showing no sign of intoxication. Hitchhiking, he admitted, was a common mode of transportation in 1973, and was not evidence, in and of itself, of wrongdoing or poor self care, especially when done with a partner. He had never asked for state supervision for any other 17 year old child, or indeed a child of any age, solely on grounds of hitchhiking, he reported. Unfortunately for the state, when his conversations with Timmy were disallowed, Farnham had been unable to testify to any other evidence of Timmy's incorrigibility. He praised Timothy for coming to the help of his friend and thinking clearly enough to perform first aid on him and call for assistance. He finally divulged that he had no proof that Timothy had been involved whatsoever with the incident on Goldspink other than as a rescuer who had discovered the emergency just before calling for help, since Mr. Domkins had said Timmy was not present when he complained about the noise, and that he had never seen him before the boy's alarm on Sunday.

In the end, Farnham came off as a bumbling policeman who rushed to justice without adequate proof or preparation. Without testifying, and despite his less than pristine lifestyle, Timmy had won a reputation for being well behaved and mature. The truth, as it often does, lay quite somewhere else entirely.

To Farnham's credit, he never once referred to Timmy's homosexuality. During the next recess, Timmy and Edelstein were surprised to find Farnham had waited in the lobby, rather than leaving, to tell Timmy no matter what, the most important thing was that Timmy knew he had a friend on the Small Town police force. He insisted that if Timmy ever needed anything, to call on him. He shook Timmy's hand, thanked Edelstein for being such a fierce advocate for Timmy, and left. Both the lawyer and the young man looked after him in shock. Despite everything, Timmy had gained a friend and supporter in Officer Farnham.

After the break, State's Attorney Flowers made the disastrous decision to call Timmy's parents to the stand, Harlan Barker first. Harlan blustered through his description of Timmy's sins before God, as he called them, citing Timmy's love of music and art, and lack of willingness to work without ceasing. When Attorney Flowers called upon him to choose a sample incident to illustrate Timmy's waywardness, Harlan talked about Timmy bringing his African-American friend Ben to the house. Harlan's racism shone forth like the ugly thinking it was. Harlan compounded the problem by gleefully telling how he had ordered Ben and Timmy off the property at the point of his shotgun, rebutting his own testimony that he was willing to supervise and care for Timmy. Of course, he allowed, Timmy would have to work hard if he came home as he was supposed to, so he wouldn't be persuaded to sin by having idle hours. Flowers suppressed a shudder and ended his direct examination in order to limit the damage, but he had left Edelstein plenty of leeway to dig Harlan's hole deeper. Yes, Harlan admitted, he knew that Timothy had suffered ear and tonsil problems as a direct result of Harlan telling him and Ben to leave the property that cold night, he had "damned well" been ordered by Jennifer Jones to pay for the resulting necessary surgery. No, Harlan insisted to Edelstein, no boy should visit other children, because that would lead to mischief, and he thought college was evil because it encouraged free thinking. Then he shocked the Court and earned a severe reprimand from the judge by musing, "Edelstein, that's a lousy Jew name, isn't it?" Edelstein smiled grimly, watching the state's case wash further down the drain. To top it off, Harlan outright denied having ever beaten Timmy.

Attorney Edelstein had great fun temporarily excusing Harlan and calling the truant officer as a rebuttal witness. Mr. Guthrie readily impeached Harlan's words by recalling the bruises he had observed on Timmy, and Harlan's repugnant action at the time in bragging about inflicting them in his quote service to the Lord unquote. The truant officer further related the abusive insults Harlan had heaped upon Mr. Guthrie for doing his job. Back on the stand, Harlan stuck to his story and denied having beaten Timmy despite the Court's warning of the consequences of perjury. By the time Harlan was done, Flowers decided he'd risked enough with the senior Barkers, and changed his mind about calling Pauline. Mrs. Barker's recent attempts to reconnect with her son never came forth.

Attorney Flowers had one card left. He knew he may not be allowed to play it, but he tried. The information the witness could give to the court would blow Edelstein's case apart. Flowers called Michael Spallen to the stand.