Chapter 37
"Detective Taggert, can you please tell this court the events that took place on March 14, 2001?"
Taggert took a deep breath and addressed the jury. "At approximately 3 PM I was called to the Port Charles Memorial Park because a shooting had taken place. When I got there I was informed that Elizabeth Webber had been shot and on her way to the hospital. Her condition was critical. She had taken a bullet to the chest and had lost a lot of blood. The first officer on the scene told me that Jason Morgan was present at the shooting, but he'd left with the ambulance. Witnesses questioned said they heard an argument between a man and a woman before hearing the gun shot. I then went to the hospital to find out about Elizabeth's condition and question Jason Morgan."
"Was Mr. Morgan at the hospital?" Dara asked looking over to Jason.
Taggert shook his head. "No, I spoke with Bobbie Spencer, the head nurse. She told me Morgan went to the surgical waiting area, but he wasn't there when I checked."
Dara nodded as if drawing a conclusion from the detective's response. "What happened next?"
"As I was leaving the hospital, I got another call informing me that a body had been found on the Elm Street Pier. When I got there, I was able to identify the body as Lucky Spencer." He paused to look at the jury. "Lucky was Elizabeth's boyfriend. It seemed he'd been shot in the chest at close range. Forensics speculated the gun was a 9 mm automatic, possibly the same gun that had shot Elizabeth."
"What did you do then?"
Taggert shifted in the witness box then answered. "I got a search warrant for Jason Morgan's room over Jake's Bar."
"Why did you suspect Jason Morgan?"
Taggert looked over to Jason and gave him a cold stare. "Jason Morgan is a known hit man for the mob. He kills people for a living."
"Objection, your honour," Alexis said as she rose from her chair. "My client has never been convicted of any crime, mob related or not. Detective Taggert is trying to influence the jury about my client."
"I agree," the judge replied. "Your objection is sustained. The jury is instructed to disregard the detective's comments and Detective Taggert, if you make another unfounded remark, you will be charged with contempt. Is that understood?"
Taggert nodded silently cursing Morgan and Corinthos. "Yes, your honour."
Dara looked to the jury. She knew even though the judge order them to ignore Taggert's comments, they really wouldn't be able too. "Did you find anything at the defendant's room?"
He nodded. "Yes. We found a 9 mm automatic in one of Morgan's dresser drawers."
Dara went back to her table to retrieve the said gun. "Is this the gun you found in Jason Morgan's room?" When Taggert said yes, she addressed the judge. "Your honour, I would like to admit this gun into evidence, prosecution's exhibit A," she said handing the gun the Judge Torrie and turning back to Taggert. "Was this the gun that shot Elizabeth Webber and killed Lucky Spencer?"
"Yes. The gun had been wiped clean, but forensics was able to determine that it had been fired that day and then ballistics was able to match the gun to the bullets taken from both victims. Later we discovered that Lucky Spencer had purchased the gun illegally a week before."
"Why did he do that?"
"From witness statements, he was going to go after Morgan because he believed Morgan was trying to take Elizabeth found him."
"Did he have a reason to believe that?" Dara asked looking at the jury.
"I don't know for sure. I do know Morgan and Elizabeth had a previous relationship when Lucky was kidnapped the year before. When Lucky came back, he and Elizabeth got back together, but Morgan wasn't in the city at that time. He only came back about a month before the shootings. I can only speculate on what could have occurred during that month, but I don't think it's a coincidence that Morgan returns and little after a month later Lucky Spencer is dead."
Dara could see some of the jury looking at Jason with questions in their eyes. Maybe they thought it was too much of a coincidence, too. "If Lucky bought the gun, how did it end up in the defendant's room?"
"Witness statement's say that Morgan and Spencer struggled for the gun and Morgan won. He must have taken it with him after he shot the boy."
Dara was confused, "If the gun didn't belong to Mr. Morgan, why did he keep it?"
Taggert shrugged, "I don't know what Morgan's brain-damaged mind was thinking. He obviously didn't think he would get caught."
Before Alexis could say anything, the judge intervened, "Detective, you are treading on very thin ice. I will not warn you again. Counsellor," she said looking over at the DA, "let's move on."
Dara nodded deciding they had gotten enough from Taggert. "What did you do after you found the gun?"
"I arrested Jason Morgan," he said calmly.
Dara looked at the jury then back at the witness box. "Thank you, Detective. I have no more questions at this time."
Alexis stood and waited for Dara to sit down before walking towards the witness box. "Detective, when you arrested my client, did you know the gun you found was the murder weapon?
Taggert shifted uncomfortably. "No, but I was pretty confidant it was."
"Okay," she said letting the comment go. "Besides the gun, did you have any evidence placing my client at the pier? Was there a witness?"
"No, but when Morgan wasn't at the hospital, I knew he would go after Spencer."
"Oh, why?"
He looked over at Jason again. "He has a thing for Miss Webber. He would go after the person that hurt her."
"But you didn't know that Lucky shot Elizabeth, did you?"
"No..."
Alexis didn't let him continue, "In fact, you believed my client shot Elizabeth. You initially arrested him for her attempted murder."
"That's true, but -"
She stopped him again, "When did you learn the real story?"
"When I was able to question Miss Webber."
She brought her hand to her chin, pretending to think for a minute. "That was four days after you arrested my client, isn't that right?"
"Yes..."
"That was also around the time you found out that Lucky had purchased the gun. So for days you thought you knew what had happened. You were sure of it, correct?"
"Yes."
"And now you know differently. Tell me, Detective, what's to say you won't change your mind again tomorrow?"
Taggert seethed with anger, "I just follow the evidence as it comes."
Alexis nodded. "You claim my client wasn't at the hospital when you checked. Other than the surgical waiting area did you look anywhere else?"
Taggert shook his head. "No, by then I had gotten the other call."
"So how can you say for sure that he wasn't at the hospital?"
Taggert frowned. He didn't have a response to the question.
"What if I told you my client was on the roof the entire time waiting for Elizabeth to come out of surgery?"
Taggert smiled, "I find that hard to believe without proof."
Alexis smiled back. "Oh, I have proof."
She walked back to her table and pulled three files from her briefcase. She handed one to the DA, one to the judge, and one to Taggert.
"I had a private forensics lab inspect the roof of General Hospital. They found my client's fingerprints on the roof door and handle."
Taggert glanced at the file and said, "That doesn't mean he was there that day. He could have been up there any time."
Alexis nodded in agreement. "True, but if you read a little more, you will see they also found traces of Elizabeth Webber's blood with those fingerprints. Jason had Elizabeth's blood on his hands because he had given her CPR when she was shot."
Loud whispering and mumbling could be heard from the back of the courtroom. The judge had to quiet them down before she allowed the questioning to continue.
Taggert spoke up before Alexis could speak. "This doesn't mean that Morgan was there the whole time. For all you know he could have just gone up there to leave the evidence then left to hunt down Lucky Spencer."
Alexis nodded. "That's true, but it does tell me something about you, Detective. You have a one track mind when it comes to my client. You never even considered that Jason may have been somewhere else in the hospital. It never even entered your mind. When you arrested my client you didn't know what had happened. You didn't even know that the gun you found was the murder weapon. All you knew was that Jason Morgan was somehow involved therefore he must be the murderer."
Taggert shook his head, "That's not true."
"Isn't it?" She asked. "Did you even consider any other suspects besides my client?"
"There were none," he insisted.
"Weren't there? I find that hard to believe when Lucky was a Spencer and everyone in this town knows about the Spencer-Cassadine feud. In fact, Lucky was kidnapped and held against his will for over a year because of it, isn't that true?"
"Yes..."
"And last year, both he and Elizabeth were involved in the events that led to the death of Helena Cassadine, the person that kidnapped Lucky."
"Yes."
"So why, if both Elizabeth and Lucky had enemies, did you immediately jump to my client as the murderer?"
Taggert shifted again. "He was there at the park and the gun was found in his room."
Alexis jumped at that comment. "A gun that had no fingerprints. You never thought that maybe, just possibly, that the gun had been planted that someone was trying to frame my client."
"No."
"Oh, come now, Detective. You would like this jury to believe that Jason Morgan is a cold blooded killer, a professional hit man working for the mob. If that's true, then why would a professional keep a murder weapon that didn't belong to him instead of getting rid of it."
"I don't know. Maybe he wanted to keep it as a souvenir," he suggested grasping at straws.
Alexis gave him a look that said you could do better than that. "You refuse to admit that it is possible someone could be framing my client because then you would have no case against him. You don't care if Jason is guilty or not. You just want him to be convicted and go to jail. You'd rather let the real killer go if it meant Jason went to jail, isn't that true?"
"Objection..." Dara was on her feet.
"I withdraw the question," Alexis interrupted before Dara could begin her objection. "I have no more questions," she said and walked back to her chair beside Jason.
Dara remained standing. "Redirect, your honour?" At the judge's nod she looked at Taggert.
"Detective Taggert, have you let your personal feeling influence your handling of this case?"
"No, I have not," he said confidently. "I followed the evidence and it led me to Jason Morgan."
She nodded accepting his answer. "When you arrested the defendant, was he surprised to learn of Lucky Spencer's death?"
"No, he didn't appear to be." he said knowing that Alexis couldn't object to his answer.
"Did he profess his innocence at any time during your questioning?"
Taggert leaned into the microphone to make sure he was heard. "No, he did not."
Dara nodded liking his answer. "Thank you," she said walking back to the prosecution table.
"Detective, you may leave the witness stand," the judge said. "Counsellor, call your next witness."
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