Page 105 of The Accomplice
‘We can deal with that at the end of the day. Back to you, Mr. White.’
White seemed to have grown an inch. He stood very straight, his back almost arched as he thrust out his chest. Some prosecutors lose sight of the law early in their careers. For them, the job becomes about getting convictions, racking up victories, winning, winning, winning – that’s all they care about.
‘Mr. Peltier, I’ll repeat the question. From the journals, Carrie Miller noticed her husband exhibited strange behavior. He was out late at night, most nights. He gave her jewelry that she knew came from the Sandman’s victims. And more. She came to you, and sheknewher husband, Daniel Miller, was the Sandman, correct ?’
‘She suspected him, I would say. But she didn’t have any real evidence.’
‘That’s not what the journal says, is it ? She knew and she came to you for advice, right ?’
Peltier licked his dry lips, said, ‘You can interpret the journal anyway you want, but suspecting something and having knowledge of a crime are two different things.’
‘In the last entry, which the jury have had time to read in advance, she tells you her husband is the Sandman. Not only that, but she tells you that she gave a false alibi for her husband to the police.’
‘I think it’s clear she was pressurized into giving that alibi,’ said Peltier.
‘She doesn’t claim that her husband threatened her in order to get that alibi, does she ?’
‘No, but—’
‘She backed up her husband’s lies to the police. She told the officer her husband was at home the night of Margaret Sharpe’s murder, didn’t she ?’
He sighed, said, ‘Yes.’
‘Once you told her about the penalty in the prenuptial agreement for making false allegations she didn’t go to the police, did she ?’
‘She didn’t go to the police.’
‘The evidence she presented to you wasn’t enough to convince you that Daniel Miller might be a person of interest to the police ?’
‘I’m not saying that. I’m saying there wasn’t enough to prove he was the Sandman. We looked into Daniel, but we never found anything more. Had we made further discoveries, well, then I might have advised her to go to the police.’
‘Did she tell you, at any point, about the bloodstains on the sleeve of her blouse ?’
This was a turning point in his testimony. White wanted to use Peltier to paint Carrie as dishonest.
‘No, she didn’t.’
‘She told you that she had in her possession the silver rose earrings that belonged to Margaret Sharpe and the rings that belonged to Penny Jones and Suzanna Abrams. Did she ever mention the cameo brooch that had been taken from Lilian Parker ? Because that item has never been recovered.’
‘No, she didn’t mention that.’
‘Did she, at any time, mention her husband giving her the black pearl necklace that was stolen from Stacy Nielsen ?’
‘I think that item was found in her closet, but no, at no time did she tell me about that item.’
‘Mr. Peltier, is it clear to you now the purpose of Carrie Miller coming to you, and giving you these journals ?’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Youand the journals areheralibi. She knows that eventually she and her husband will get caught, and she wants to paint a contemporaneous picture that she suspected her husband, maybe even believed he could be the killer, but she never had absolute proof. She was attempting to forge that narrative, in order to disguise her complicity in her husband’s crimes, is that what really happened here ?’
Clearing his throat, Peltier reached for a glass of water. He took a sip, composed himself before he said a word – always a bad sign. It looks like you’re searching for an answer that helps you, instead of just telling the truth.
‘I can only explain to the court what Carrie Miller told me, and her journals are an accurate reflection of our conversations. She merely suspected her husband – she had no proof and she wasneversure that he was the Sandman.’
‘And yet she kept important information from you that implicated her in the murders ?’
I stood up to object, ‘Your Honor, Mr. White is cross examining his own witness …’
