THANKS Freddy!!!

Nurse Ethel Crawford testimony at the Dorian Lord murder trial

(Hank has just called Nurse Ethel Crawford to the stand)
Hank: The woman you saw in Victor Lord's room, the woman you saw holding a pillow, forcing it over his face, stopping his last breath. Is that women in this courtroom today??
Ethel: Yes sir, she is!
Hank: Can you identify her?
Ethel: She is sitting right over there. His widow, Dorian Lord!
(Dorian burst out saying it's a lie and the judge tells Nora to control her client.)
Hank: Ms, Crawford, you testified on the night in question you watched from the bathroom doorway of Victor Lord's hospital room as Dorian Lord placed a pillow over his face and left it there.
Ethel: That's right.
Hank: Why didn't you stop it?
Ethel: I was in complete shock. I felt like my feet were rooted to the floor. And by the time I recovered enough to do something, Dorian had left and Mr. Lord was dead.
Hank: What happen then? Did you call the police?
Ethel: No.
Hank: What about later? I mean once it was discovered that Mr. Lord was in fact dead, did you speak to the police then?
Ethel: No.
Hank: Well Ms, Crawford, when did you talk to the police?
Ethel: Actually my first conversation with the authorities came just a few months ago.
Hank: You waited 18 years before you came forward with what you knew! Why?
Ethel: Because I did a terrible thing.
Hank: And what was that Ms, Crawford?
Ethel: Instead of going to the police I went to her!
Hank: Her?
Ethel: Dorian! To tell her that I had been in the hospital room that night and I'd seen her smothering Victor Lord.
Hank: I see and what was the result of that encounter?
Ethel: Well we came to an understanding. Dorian has sent me 60 thousand
dollars a year from that moment on.
Hank: And in return?
Ethel: I never said a word to anyone about what happened that night.
Hank: I see. (Talking to the judge) Your honor, I have hear photocopies of
bank records of the canceled checks that Dorian did in fact send to Ethel Crawford totaling over 1 million dollars. The common wealth would like to enter it into evidence as people exhibit C-15. (To Ethel) 1 million dollars, that's a lot of money.
Ethel: yes it is.
Hank: But I'm puzzled about something, now you just said a moment ago that you finally talked with the police. Does that mean that your agreement with the defendant had ended?
Ethel: It had to.
Hank: Why?
Ethel: Because everything changed. Dorian's niece, Ms. Daimler contacted me and started asking questions about Mr. Lord's death. And then his daughter Victoria Lord Buchanan did the same sometime later. Now it all made me very nervous. I was scared to death.
Hank: Scared that Blair Daimler or Viki Buchanan might somehow force you to reveal your secret?
Ethel: Yes! I am not a young women and I'm sick and I just knew I couldn't stand up to that kind of pressure.
Hank: So what did you do?
Ethel: I called Dorian and I told her that something had to be done about this situation right away!
Hank: And? What was her response?
Ethel: Well, she flew immediately to see me in Charlottesville and she agreed to a final payment. A lump sum so I would be able to leave the country.
Hank: And how much was this final payment to be?
Ethel: 1 million dollars!
Hank: But you didn't leave did you?
Ethel: No.
Hank: Now could you please tell the court why not?
Ethel: Because right after Dorian left my apartment that afternoon, I lapsed into a diabetic coma, which I have no doubt in my mind that she caused!

(Nora says it's a groundless accusation and should be struck from the record! Hank says it's not an accusation and the judge allows it. Then Hank says he has no further questions. After a short break it's Nora's turn.)

Nora: Did you know that he had a heart attack some 9 months before his first stroke?
Ethel: Of course.
Nora: Do you know who the person was that saved Victor Lords life when he was stricken with that heart attack?
Ethel: Yes I do
Nora: Could you point that person out to the court today please?
(Ethel points to Dorian)
Nora: Let the record show that the witness has pointed out the defendant, Dorian Lord. Nurse Crawford, could you also tell us that in the approximate 6-week period between Victor Lords First stroke and the one that ultimately killed him…
Ethel: Dorian Lord killed him.
Nora: Yes, so you claim! Please just tell me, in the times that I mentioned did Dorian Lord ever strike Victor Lord?
Ethel: No.
Nora: Did she ever withhold food from him?
Ethel: No
Nora: Did she ever abuse him; mentally physically, verbally?
Ethel: No
Nora: No..No in fact during that whole entire difficult period Dorian Lord gave Victor Lord nothing but constant and unwavering love and attention, isn't that right?
Ethel: Well she seemed to care for him, yes. Until she withheld the medication that he needed!
Nora: Oh yes when was that day? That was the day he had his second stroke?
Ethel: Yes and that's what caused it!
Nora: Really, Indeed, Well interesting. According to your testimony, Dorian Lord insisted on giving Victor Lord that medication which was already overdue. As Victor lord's private nurse, isn't it your duty to administer medication on a schedule?
Ethel: Well usually yes but…
Nora: So according to your own logic, if delayed medication brought on the stroke, aren't you responsible then for bringing on that stroke?
(Hank objects and judge says "sustained")
Nora: Ethel Crawford, you testified that you were not in the room at the time that Dorian Lord ministered this medication. Isn't that right?
Ethel: Well yes.
Nora: Than how do you know what medication was or was not given at that time?
(Ethel is silent)
Nora: The answer is you don't know!
(Hank objects to Nora badgering the witness. Then she makes a speech about Ethel saying things she couldn't back up and Hank objects to her making speeches when cross-examination is for questions only.)
Nora: (yelling to Hank) I will be asking questions! I will be asking lots of questions! Enough to make it very clear that Ethel Crawford is nothing but a liar!
Nora: (to Ethel) Do you get easily confused?
Ethel: I don't understand the question.
Nora: Do you forget things? Do you get foggy?
Ethel: Never!
Nora: Really? Then perhaps you can explain these medical records from Charlottesville hospital. The ones that indicate that you have gone into a diabetic shock, not once but twice as a result of you accidentally giving yourself an overdose of incline.
(Hank again objects, this time to Nora using Ethel's medical records because it had nothing to do with the case. The objection is sustained. The judge tells Nora to "address the facts of the case and just the facts.")
Nora: All right Nurse Crawford, lets just stick to the facts shall we? Pacifically the facts from 18 years ago! Lets talk about what really happened the night Victor Lord died.

Nora asks Ethel to show where she was and where Dorian was on the night of the death. When Nora puts stickers on the places that Ethel said they were, it shows that she couldn't have seen the face of the person smothering Victor Lord with a pillow. Mostly because the bed was at an angle from the bathroom doorway that Ethel said she was in.
Nora: There was no moon the night in question was there? So the room was very dark, wasn't it?
Ethel: Well I guess so, I don't remember.
Nora: I could show you an almanac. Believe me, there was no moon! As a matter of fact, the only light in the room came from the lumernesent dials of the machines all around his bed, isn't that true?
Ethel: I don't remember but what about it?
Nora: Well if the room were so dim and the person were standing at the bed with there back to you, then I don't see how you could tell who that person was. In fact Nurse Crawford, isn't it true that you never even got a good look at that person?
Ethel: I know what I saw! The person smothering Victor Lord was Dorian Lord!
Nora: Nurse Crawford, you rather deathly parlayed Victor Lord’s ultimate end into a very handsome inneweretey. 60 thousand per curiosity of Dorian Lord, isn't that right?
Ethel: Well I'm not proud of it.
Nora: But it's true.
Ethel: Yes
Nora: And yet according to yot, you are convinced that Dorian Lord had attempted to kill you with an overdose of incline, isn't that right Nurse Crawford. Isn't that the reason that you so zealously brought these charges forward now?
Ethel: No!
Nora: No! Oh, come on Nurse Crawford, the one and only motivating factor in your Ferber to see Dorian Lord punished is that somewhere in your clouded and rather confused mind, you truly believe that Dorian Lord turned on you in Charlottesville, isn't that true?
Ethel: She did turn on me! Did I make up the coma?
Nora: No! No Nurse Crawford, you didn't make up the coma, but you made up a lot of other things and you've admitted to being a blackmailer and last but not least a women lusting in revenge. Which brings me to one more question. Why should anyone believe a person like you now!?
(Hank yells "objection" and Nora says "withdrawn" and she's done)

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