Garcia and the Siren

“And then what, Mr. Wilson?”

“She was washing herself, sir. Upside down. I could see everything.”

“You say you saw everything? Every part of her naked body?”

“Yes, sir. Except for her feet, because she was turned to the side. But I saw everything else.”

“Every part of her body? How can you be so certain?”

“I am a man of science, sir. I have no time for fantasies and lies about things that could not possibly have been seen with the human eye. No, sir. I saw everything—every last inch of her body that I described to you earlier in my testimony. All of it, right there in front of me, just like I said.”

**

The jury nodded and took notes on their tablets before turning back to face the witness stand. “And what did she do next?”

The accused tilted her head to one side and waited for a long while before answering the question put to her by the prosecuting attorney: “She asked me to join her.”

A gasp went up among the spectators as they jostled each other for better views of the woman on trial for indecent exposure—a woman who had answered questions with a tone as flat as an abandoned train station at midnight. The prosecuting attorney looked at his notes and tried again: “Did you approach her? Of your own volition? Or was she somehow enticing you into doing so? Did she say anything to you? Did she engage you in conversation at all? What happened after that? Did you touch her? Did you kiss her? Did you fondle any part of her body besides those which are listed in my report from your medical examination here before the court today? Did you do anything...coercive with this woman when you were both in such intimate proximity to each other without clothes on in a bathroom together?"

The accused smiled slightly at this question and replied again: “She asked me to join her."

**

The prosecutor sat down tiredly and wiped his brow with a handkerchief he produced from his suit pocket. He looked briefly over at the defense attorney and received a nod indicating that he was ready to cross-examine now if he wanted to. He summoned his strength and stood up to begin questioning the defendant once again: “Wouldn't it be more correct to say that this woman, who is seated here before us today under oath and is facing being convicted of crimes against decency and morality, would not have invited a strange man into her home if she did not have any intention of sexual congress with him after having seen him naked in her own bathroom?"

There was a mixture of silence and murmurs from the audience as people whispered quietly among themselves about the proper interpretation of such an event on its own merits; but eventually someone stood up from his seat in one corner of the courtroom and shouted out: “Objection! Counsel's conclusions do not follow logically from his premise! The witness has testified that she did invite this man into her home! Counsel cannot argue now that she would never do so unless she intended something illicit as a consequence! This objection is sustained! The witness is instructed not to answer counsel's question until he has framed it properly according [to] clear rules laid down by our common law precedents!"