“No, no.” Noah didn’t elaborate. He couldn’t. There was nothing more to say. He’d tried to score but it had backfired.
“You weren’t too shocked, horrified, and grief-stricken at Anna’s murder to call your lawyer, were you?”
“I was horrified. I had those emotions.”
Linda crossed her arms. “But nevertheless you carried on somehow and called your lawyer, did you not?”
Thomas shifted uncomfortably back at counsel table, and Noah took it as a signal. They had discussed how to deal with these questions. Their defense was that the prosecution’s case was circumstantial, and Noah was supposed to remember to use the termcircumstances.
Noah cleared his throat. “As I said in my direct testimony, I called my lawyer because, given thecircumstances, I knew it could look like I killed Anna even though I didn’t do it.”
“So you admit you were thinking of yourself at that time, weren’t you?”
“Partly, yes.” Noah had no choice but to admit it. He and Thomas had decided that was the best strategy.
“You weren’t concerned with Anna anymore, were you?”
“I still was, but I had determined that she had no pulse. There was nothing I could do.”
“But you tried chest compressions earlier, after you had determined she had no pulse, did you not?”
“Yes.”
“So, therewassomething you could do, wasn’t there?”
“Okay, yes.”
“I’m confused, were you or were you not administering chest compressions at the time you called your lawyer?”
“I was, I said I was.” Noah didn’t believe for one minute that Linda was confused.
“Dr. Alderman, when during the twelve minutes of that conversation with your lawyer did you stop administering chest compressions?”
“I don’t know.”
“Between one and five minutes, or between five and ten minutes?”
“Between one and five.”
“Did you have a hard time talking with your lawyer and compressing Anna’s chest, is that why you stopped?”
Again Noah couldn’t say yes or no. “I stopped because it was futile. She had passed.”
“But you said she had passed before you even called 911, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“The phone record shows that you spoke with your lawyer for twelve minutes, isn’t that correct?”
“Yes.”
“So your conversation with your lawyer was twelve times as long as your conversation with the 911 dispatcher, isn’t that correct?”
“Yes.” Noah got the implication, and so did the jury. He could hear them shifting. He had to fight back.
“And isn’t it true that you spent a minute and ten seconds on the phone trying to save Anna’s life and twelve minutes trying to saveyourself?”
Noah’s mouth went dry. “I called my lawyer, and that’s how long we spoke. I was concerned for Anna the whole time and I was also concerned for myself. Both things can be true.”
