Mock Trial Part Twelve; The Doctor

“That is all the questions I have at this time,” Tucker finished off his questioning. “Please answer any questions the defence may have for you.”

It was your turn. Tucker headed back to his table, and you were the member of the team with Dr Brookes on your rebuttal list. And now you had a decision to make - try and counter her now, to her face, or wait until you could call her ex Garret Smith.

The more dramatic, splashy thing to do would be to call Mr Smith while you were mounting your defence and poke holes in Dr Brookes’ story - and that probably would have been the right option for a Jury Trial where you really did want to put on a show for the Jury, and also use the fact that you presented after the Plaintiffs to leave the most recent impression about a witness or event. To be fair, that could be risky because whoever set the initial record could bias the Jury to a later rebuttal from another witness, but in this case, it didn’t feel like Dr Brookes would need defending if you just took the deposition, and her answers now, as gospel.

And who questioned the word of a Doctor, especially when there didn’t seem to be anything in it for them. Lying during sworn testimony, when she had nothing personal on the line, was a stupid risk to take.

You stood, clearing your throat as you stepped around Sabrina’s chair. “May it please the Court,” you said, performing the proper ritual before addressing the room. You stepped up to the small podium and set your notepad on it with your previous notes on how to handle Dr Brookes laid out in bullet points. Tucker, and Eric, both used a more ‘Hey, I’m your buddy’ kind of style, asking to approach the witness, speaking a little more casually. It worked for some things and not for others.

In this case, you didn’t think that your questions were going to ingratiate you to ‘Dr Brookes’ and based on the fact that Barbara had donned a prop for her role as the doctor, she was doing more acting than most of the other witnesses called so far.

“Dr Brookes,” you said. “Thank you for coming in today, I just have a few questions for you. On the day in question, were you driving the vehicle that you were in at the time of the accident?”

Barbara, as Dr Brookes, scowled slightly. “No, I wasn’t,” she said.

You could hear a heavy, pregnant beat before papers started shuffling behind you at the Plaintiff's table.

“Earlier, in response to opposing counsel’s question about whether you observed erratic driving in the other vehicles prior to the accident, you answered, ‘One moment the traffic seemed to be moving fine, and the next there were crashes and honking behind us,’” you said, reading your quick annotation. “Who else was driving the vehicle you were in?”

‘The Doctor’ scowled a little more. “Garret Smith,” she said.

You were walking a thin line, trying to make it seem like you had legitimately stumbled across this information based on her testimony and hadn’t had it prepared ahead of time. You had only just realised that the information packages had been different for the Plaintiff and the Defense teams, and if you could keep the opposition from figuring that out for longer then that just served you even more.

“Garret Smith,” you said, pausing to make it look like you were connecting some dots. “What was the nature of your relationship with Mr Smith?”

“We were married at the time,” ‘the Doctor’ grunted. “And are divorced now.”

“I see,” you said. “Following the accident occurring, you said that you pulled over to the side of the highway and called for emergency services. What did Mr Smith do?”

“He got out of the car and went to check on the other drivers,” ‘Dr Brookes’ said. Barbara was doing a good job of looking agitated, and her pauses before answering came across as measured and calculated as she tried to figure out how to say as little as possible. You knew what her character script probably said, though. Something along the lines of ‘Spiteful against ex-husband.’

“Is Mr Smith a trained medical professional?” you asked.

“No,” she grunted.

“But you are a medical Doctor, correct?”

“I’m an OB/GYN,” she said. “Fully licensed to practise in the State.”

“Was there a reason that your husband, at the time, went to check on the victims of the accident while you remained in your vehicle on the phone with emergency services?” you asked.

“I don’t know,” she said noncommittally.

“Did he say anything to you before leaving the car?”

“I don’t know,” she said again.

“Objection, Your Honour,” Thomas said behind you. “Asked and Answered, he’s badgering the witness.”

“The witness is being non-responsive, Your Honour,” you said.

“Objection overruled,” Judge Mathews said, then looked right at ‘the Doctor.’ “Please answer the questions presented to you, Dr Brookes. And I remind you that you are under oath.”

“Thank you, Your Honour,” you said, though you didn’t hear Thomas say it behind you.

“Did Mr Smith say anything to you, Dr Brookes, before he got out of the car or immediately after?” you asked.

Barbara did a good impression of a piece of metal getting heated up by a fire, starting to flush red. You wondered if she’d been into drama club or something prior to becoming a lawyer. “He asked me why I wasn’t coming to help,” she said.

“Did you offer him a reply?” you asked.

“I told him it wasn’t our business,” she said.

“So you did not provide any medical or first aid assistance at the scene of the accident, Doctor Brookes?” you asked, emphasising ‘Doctor’ just a little.

“No,” she grunted.

“Did Mr Smith provide first aid to victims prior to emergency services arriving?”

“... Yes,” she answered.

You nodded. “In the moments before the accident occurred, were you and Mr Smith having a heated, even argumentative, exchange of a personal nature?”

‘The Doctor’ grit her teeth and then sharply nodded. “We were arguing,” she said.

“Would you say you were paying more attention to Mr Smith or the vehicles around you during said argument?” you asked.

The Doctor sneered, and you were almost shocked by the vitriol Barbara managed to put into it. “Mr Smith,” she admitted.

“Thank you,” you said. “That is all the questions I have for you at this time.”

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