Theme: Corruption of
Authorities
“Some weeks after the guilty
verdict was handed down, Bobby Lee Cook received an envelope from an anonymous
source in the district attorney’s office. Inside was a copy of the police
report written by Corporal Anderson on the night of the earlier incident. The
report contained the statement: ‘We did
find a fresh bullet hole in the floor.” It contradicted his sworn testimony
at the trial” (Berendt 236).
I think that this quote exemplifies
Berendt’s continued theme of the corruption of Savannahian authorities. The
background for the above quote is that Spencer Lawton was Savannah’s District
Attorney and the prosecutor in the case against Jim Williams, and that Bobby
Lee Cook is defending Williams. Lawton called Corporal Anderson to testify that
the bullet hole found in the Mercer House floor several months before the
murder was not fresh. This would have meant that Danny Hansford did not fire a
Luger into the floor in anger and that the whole “angry outburst” incident was
staged by Williams. Since said incident was several months prior to the actual killing,
it would have meant that Williams had planned out Danny’s murder in advance.
Lawton made this theory the central argument in his case before the Georgia
Supreme Court.
However, the report in the
quote shows that this testimony, and hence theory, were false. This meant that
Lawton conducted serious legal misconduct in his persecution of Williams. Since
Lawton had lost his previous case, perhaps he was extra determined to win this
one, even if it required circumventing the law. This corruption is made evident
by the quote, and provides a key example of Berendt’s continued theme of the
corruption of Savannahian authorities. Previously in the book, Berendt had told
of how, during Prohibition, when alcohol was illegal, Savannah was still “wet”.
This implies that the authorities knew about Savannah ignoring the law, but
chose to not prosecute them. Furthermore, Berendt discusses how many parties take
place in Savannah are loud and disturb the neighbors, implying that they are
likely breaking noise ordinance laws. Again, the authorities do nothing. On top
of all of this, local law enforcement (with the occasional exception of a
rookie) is blatantly stated to allow Emma Kelly, the “Lady of Six Thousand
Songs”, to drive over the speed limit. And, at this point in the book, Berendt
makes it clear that this corruption of Savannahian authorities includes both
the lower-ranking police officer and the higher-ranking District Attorney.
Does anyone agree or disagree?
I did not actually notice a part of the book where these legal authority
figures are portrayed as positive, non-corrupt figures, but it would be great
if someone else did and let me know where it is.
I definitely agree with your point of view. It seems as if the authorities in Savannah are very laid back and seem to let a lot of things slide by. It makes me think that maybe if one of the attorneys did present false evidence that the authorities would not know or not do anything about it, which may affect the outcome of the trial.
ReplyDeleteI also agree. Savannah's authorities seem exceptionally corrupt. I've heard of police giving people a break sometimes for speeding, but never just letting someone get away with it whenever they want flat out. With regard to the murder trial, it was mentioned that the D.A. had pretty much been bought by someone who hated Williams to the core. If the D.A. could be corrupted into over charging Williams, it is pretty reasonable to believe that a cop could also be bought into testifying against him. And, I agree that there hasn't been a part of the novel in which I noticed the police not acting corrupt.
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