- The Defense - Page 134

Hadley thought this was the kind of questioning that Williams should have gotten from police on the night of the murders.  As Hadley remembers it.  Williams now seemed flustered and confused, not combative any longer, but groping for words.  He was ready to blurt something.

Q: If you were nervous, why didn't you tell the ladies what happened?

A: Who?

Q: Rogenia Thomas.  Why didn't you tell  her what happened?

A: Jesus, have mercy on me.  Give me patience.  Didn't I just tell you that I told [her] that man tried to kill me in the store?

Q: You told them that Tommy did?  What exactly did you say to them?

At this moment Don Frye and a state's attorney's investigator, Jere James, walked into the room.

JAMES: That's it.  We quit.

HADLEY: Why?

JAMES: Mr. Eagan's orders.  You get a court order in the morning, whatever you need to do.

HADLEY: You're terminating the deposition?

JAMES: Yes.

HADLEY: On what grounds?

JAMES: On Mr. Eagan's orders to terminate.

HADLEY: That's fine.  I'm just wondering why you're terminating it.

JAMES: I'm terminating on Mr. Eagan's orders.

HADLEY: Certify it.

DAVIDS: You are going to object on the record and request to continue the deposition right now.

HADLEY: Let the record reflect, Jere—Jack, are you terminating it or is Jere?

BACHMAN: that's the word I got from the boss.

HADLEY: Which one of you is terminating it?

DAVIDS: Let the record reflect they have already taken the witness out of the deposition room before we have finished.

Subpoenaed witnesses do not quit depositions. Prosecutors—whose interest in determining the ultimate truth of a matter is presumed greater than any desire to shield witnesses or preserve a case—do not terminate depositions without a protective order from the court.

Yet Williams was gone.

Hadley and Davids immediately went before Judge Maurice Paul.  One of Eagan's assistants represented the state, and told the judge that Eagan intended to