The Whole Truth

“Do you, Andrew Q. Jones, promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

“I do so swear. It is important to me.”

Andrew Q. Jones is a key witness for the prosecution in a trial concerning a murder that took place late on a Saturday night, in a back alley behind a local bar, where he, the accused, and the victim had all been drinking quite a bit. It was a small town, so all three were well-known to many, and the murder was the talk of the town. It had been a long time since such an example of extreme violence had taken place there. Almost everyone who spoke about it had the same opinion, and that was that they believed that the accused, Robert. F. Brown was guilty. He was known to have something of a nasty temper. Many stories of arguments and fights he had been involved with were being taken out of the refrigerator of remembrance and heated up for hot local gossip all over town.

People thought of Andrew Q. in very different ways. He was a quiet man, known to strictly adhere to the truth at all times. His parents raised him that way. And they were very strict. He was considered to be an ideal witness for the prosecution. It was particularly the case in this instance, as the murder victim, Jennifer Wilson was a former girlfriend of his that had broken up with him just a few weeks before.

Interrogated by the Prosecuting Lawyer

“Now Andrew, I may call you Andrew can’t I. Tell me what you saw at the bar concerning Robert F Brown, particularly as that relates to the victim, Jennifer Wilson. Take your time in telling this. You don’t have to rush.”

           “Well, sir, it was like this. The two of them were sitting beside each other at the bar. She was on the left and he was on the right. It seemed to me, as far as I could tell, that the two of them had been there a long time, and both of them had been drinking rather heavily. I say that because of the slurring in their speech, and the awkward way in which both of them moved. I hadn’t seen them drinking. I just saw the signs of their prior drinking.”

           The prosecutor nodded his head, encouraging his lead witness. “Now what did you do after you saw them?”

           “Well sir, I went to the washroom for a pee. I drink a lot of coffee during the day, you see.”

           This brought a smile to the faces of some members of the jury.

           A little exasperated by Andrew’s need to ‘tell it all’ when asked what the prosecutor thought was a quite relevant question answered in an irrelevant way, he asked “What did you see after you returned from the washroom and, I presume, ordered your first drink?” 

           He hoped that this would lead Andrew into getting to the point that he wanted judge and jury to hear.

           “Well, sir, a little after I was served my beer, the two of them, Jennifer, who until recently was my girlfriend, and Robert, whom I went to school with and never liked, started to argue, in a very loud, and I thought a very mean way, although what they said may have been the truth.”

           “Tell us what they said, Andrew?”

           “Well, sir, what I can remember is that Robert said to her ‘Listen. If you feel that way about me, why don’t you go back to your old boyfriend Andrew who is sitting at a table all on his own. Big surprise. I’m sure he would not do anything that would offend you.”

           “Then Jennifer said, ‘A lot you know. I would never go back to him. He was too boring, No fun at all. Oppressed by his parents. But at least he wouldn’t grab me like you just did, in a public place.’

Then he said, “If it’s a public place, then everybody’s grabbing you there. That’s what I’ve heard lots of people say.’”

Several members of the jury laughed lightly at that, until the judge gave them a harsh look that enforced silence.

           Andrew then sighed and took a deep breath. He didn’t like what he was saying, but was compelled to repeat the words, “Oppressed by his parents.” He had sworn to tell the whole truth. And his parents, now deceased, wouldn’t have approved of his saying anything less than the whole truth – no sugar coating, no little white lies, no bowing to the feelings of the listener, none of it.

           “What happened then, Andrew? Tell us what you saw.”

           “Well, she stood up, and pushed herself away from him.”

           “What did she do next?

           “She walked past me, gave me a hard look and told me that she had long wanted to say what she felt about me. She said that I had been bad for her self-esteem. That I never would understand the situation when she needed a compliment, a little flattery, a tiny boost to her confidence. She gave the example of my truthful answer to a question she once asked: ‘Yes, the dress does make your butt look big.’”

“After that she stomped out the front door, taking out a pack of cigarettes for a smoke. I had always told her that bad habit made her breath smell bad, and gave her face a harsh, looking older than she actually was appearance.”

           “Okay, now, more importantly, what did Robert do next, after she left the bar?”

           “He rushed out, obviously intending to chase after her, swearing, and saying what he was going to do to her – ‘Smack her across her mouth’ was what I heard him say.”

           “And was that the last you saw of him that night?”

           “That’s right. He wasn’t outside the place when I left the bar. He wasn’t in sight.”

           “Thank you Andrew for telling me, the judge and the jury the truth of what you saw and heard. I knew that was what you would do.”

           The judge then spoke. “Now, Mr. Hamill, you have your opportunity to cross-examine the witness.”

           Henry Hamill, the defense lawyer, got up and approached Andrew.

           “Now Andrew, is it true that you and I were in several classes together in high school?

           “Yes, Henry, that is certainly true.”

           “And would you say that I know you rather well.”

           “Yes, Henry, I would say that that is certainly true also.”

           “And is it fair to say that you will speak the truth, no matter what the consequences are?”

           “You would know that to be true, Henry. You would know that to be true.”

           “And it is fair to say that your parents raised you that way, and punished you severely if you did not?

           “You’ve got that right Henry. That is why I still cannot tell a lie. It was sometimes even beaten into me. They told me that I was sure to go to hell if I lied. I was raised to believe that, and I still do.”

           “Okay, then, I am going to ask you one more question. And I want you to respond by telling me, the judge and jury the truth”

           “Ask away Henry.”

           “Did you kill Jennifer?”

           “Yes I did. She was in the alleyway smoking when I walked out of the bar. She repeated what she had said before. That made me angry. She was dishonouring my parents. I won’t blame the drink, even though I had drunk five beer, because it was my anger that was the main cause. Better to be in prison for telling the truth, than to be condemned in hell for lying.  My parents would have approved of this choice.”