The Trial: winners and losers

by Dean Minnich

"The Trial" is taking people away from their soap operas.

They're talking about it in coffee shops, at the store, in club meetings - even in the banter before or after council meetings.

The trial.

It's Bobby and Tina and "that guy Chadderton." It's Hickman, said with either a tone of respect of or a sneer. No middle ground, it seems.

"This case is gonna break Hickman," says one.

"This case is Hickman's finest hour," says another.

The Carroll County State's Attorney in not talking. He is following the judge's edict on trial publicity to the letter. No slips, no leaks, no "off the record" comments. Mum.

Hickman had always played the game that way. He has such a high standard for the office he holds that he is sometimes accused of holding himself in too much esteem. In an election year, he finds himself in a position of being unable to defend himself in the midst of a controversy. The temptation must be there to get around the rules and speak, even if it through a third party, but my bet is that he will not do that because he would perceive that as violation of the intent of the judge's ban on discussing the case at hand.

So, Hickman will let his performance in court do the talking for him. It may be an incomplete statement on election day; there is some speculation that the trial may not be over by then.

If a verdict has not yet come in when the people go to the polls, how will it go for the incumbent?

There are a lot of people working against him. People who don't have to watch how much they drink when they drive. People who have been arrested or convicted of crimes in the years he has been prosecutor. People who work on the edge of the law, and consider him a threat to their "business."

He is tough.

There are some perfectly law-abiding people against him, too. Most of them will eventually come around to "the Myers case," now known as, "The Trial." Hickman never should have agreed to let Tina off, they say. Guilty or not guilty, makes no difference. If he was going to try "Bobby," he should have stuck to trying Tina, too.

These people do not care to hear the facts of life about the way the legal system works, or about what plea-bargaining really is all about. "If you're gonna hang one, Hang' em all. If you can't do that, better let em all go free," one man told me.

Hickman is counting on the facts he has at his disposal for use in the trial of Robert Myers. He thinks those facts will convince enough people that (1) Not only was an indictment in order, but (2) the agreement with Tina Marco was in order; (3) a conviction the jury will convict Robert Myers, and (4) voters will reelect him as state's attorney.

His courtroom adversary may be more of a challenge than Benjamin Love's candidacy on the Democratic ticket in the general election. Defending Myers is Anton J. S. Keating, a British-born attorney with a stylish courtroom presence enhanced by an accent and demeanor that makes us think all those Alfred Hitchcock movies were right on the button. He has already left some local lawyers just a little awe-struck with his ability to pin down the truths which best serve his client, and to swat away any testimony which annoys him in his quest to gain freedom for his client.

He is a very, very good lawyer to have on your side. If he were to be compared with an athlete, he would be called a "gamer," willing to do everything required to win; a crafty veteran, who knows full well how the game is played in the mind as well as on the field, and who is willing to take risks and make bold plays to gain advantage over his opponent.

If he were an actor, he would be called a scene-stealer, one who has the ability to compel attention for so long as he is on stage.

Perhaps the analogy of dramatics is the most appropriate for this whole story unfolding in a county courtroom. It is a story that has not only violence, not mere murder, but the spectre of evil; the question is, who is evil for are we all capable of it? It has love, and sex, and hints of darker crime figures in the wings. It has rags-to-riches, big money, a man who has lost everything, a victim who has lost everything including her life; it is "the other woman," and an assortment of children affected by the events. It has a "hit man" scenario that may have implications across the country. Mystery, foolishness, even humor.

And ultimately, there will be winners and losers. The combinations in which the winners and losers may be tallied are intriguing. Hickman could win the case and lose the election. Myers may win his freedom and Hickman lose the election. They could both lose. They could both win.

Keating could win his case and win prestige and perhaps even fortune. Or he could lose his case and still win prestige and fortune - at least prestige.

He is not a loser.

Tina? From the facts available on her, it seems safe to say that she has a knack for finding a way to lose less than those around her. She won a man, a house, jewels, a car, and a shot at all the luxury she has always wanted. All of it is gone, now.

She lost her freedom for awhile, but she will be free again. Certainly, she has lost less than Daniel Lee Chadderton, who is now serving life in prison for killing Mary Ruth Myers, who was the biggest loser of all. She has lost less than Robert Myers, even if Myers is found innocent by the jury.

But by no stretch of the definition can she be called a winner.

Reprinted from The Carroll County Times June 6, 1982

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