whom he evidently felt so comfortable that he could confide in him his secrets from “the wonderful world of publishing”—like a businessman confiding the details of the day’s deals to a trusted mistress. And just as the subject, after the book or article comes out, will desperately attempt to unsay the things he wishes he had not said to the journalist, so, at the trial, did McGinniss attempt to repudiate his letters to MacDonald.
“ ‘What the fuck were those people thinking of? How could twelve people not only agree to believe such a horrendous proposition but agree, with a man’s life at stake,that they believed it beyond a reasonable doubt in six and a half hours?’ ” Bostwick read aloud from McGinniss’s second letter to MacDonald. He then turned to McGinniss and said, “Did you believe that when you wrote it to him?” McGinniss replied, “I did and I still do. I think it’s the most horrendous proposition in the world that a man could murder his wife and two little girls.” The transcript continues:
Q: What I’m asking you, Mr. McGinniss, is something else. Didn’t you try to tell him with those words that you found it hard to believe that the jury had come to the verdict they did?
A: I was surprised it only took them six and a half hours, but my perspective, you’ll have to remember, was totally and entirely from one side during that trial. I spent my time only with MacDonald, not with the prosecution.
Q: I understand that, Mr. McGinniss. What I’m asking you is whether you were trying to get Dr. MacDonald to believe that you believed the jury had been wrong.
A: No.
Q: You weren’t, not with those words?
A: I didn’t feel that the jury—
Q: I’m just asking you what you were trying to get Dr. MacDonald to believe with those words.
A: I have no recollection of what I was trying to get Dr. MacDonald to believe.
Bostwick continued to tighten the screws: “Did you consider yourself [MacDonald’s] friend at the end of trial?”
A: I considered myself the author, I considered him the subject during those six or seven weeks. We certainly got along well. I don’t know how you define “friend.” It was a professional relationship.
Q: How do
you
define “friend”?
A: I defined “friend” as someone whose company I enjoy from time to time; someone whose—with whom I would have reason to stay in some kind of contact. I have never really stopped and thought about a definition of the word “friend,” but I’m sure we could find one in a dictionary. But Dr. MacDonald was the subject, and I was the author. And that was the primary focus of the relationship.
Q: I’m going to ask you again: Did you consider at the end of the trial that you were his friend?
A: I don’t know how to answer that. I felt terrible when he was convicted. If I hadn’t considered him in some degree a friend, I suppose I would have felt happy he was convicted. Instead I felt real bad.
Q: Did you consider him your friend?
A: That’s the best I can do, Mr. Bostwick.
Q: Would you take a look at Exhibit 36A again.… It says, “Goddamn it Jeff, one of the worst things about all this is how suddenly and totally all of your friends—self included—have been deprived of the pleasure of your company.” Why was it so easy for you to know that you were his friend when you were writing him that letter, and you can’t decide today whether you were his friend at the end of the trial?
A: Well, that was eight years ago, and my recollections were a lot fresher.
Q: You’ve just forgotten that you used to be his friend, right?
McGinniss’s agony went on:
Q: “Total strangers can recognize within five minutes that you did not receive a fair trial.” You didn’t really believe that he didn’t receive a fair trial, did you?
A: Well, I’m sure that that was an oversimplification,and indeed it misstates the total strangers. How could they recognize anything within five minutes?
Q: I don’t know. Why did
“ ‘What the fuck were those people thinking of? How could twelve people not only agree to believe such a horrendous proposition but agree, with a man’s life at stake,that they believed it beyond a reasonable doubt in six and a half hours?’ ” Bostwick read aloud from McGinniss’s second letter to MacDonald. He then turned to McGinniss and said, “Did you believe that when you wrote it to him?” McGinniss replied, “I did and I still do. I think it’s the most horrendous proposition in the world that a man could murder his wife and two little girls.” The transcript continues:
Q: What I’m asking you, Mr. McGinniss, is something else. Didn’t you try to tell him with those words that you found it hard to believe that the jury had come to the verdict they did?
A: I was surprised it only took them six and a half hours, but my perspective, you’ll have to remember, was totally and entirely from one side during that trial. I spent my time only with MacDonald, not with the prosecution.
Q: I understand that, Mr. McGinniss. What I’m asking you is whether you were trying to get Dr. MacDonald to believe that you believed the jury had been wrong.
A: No.
Q: You weren’t, not with those words?
A: I didn’t feel that the jury—
Q: I’m just asking you what you were trying to get Dr. MacDonald to believe with those words.
A: I have no recollection of what I was trying to get Dr. MacDonald to believe.
Bostwick continued to tighten the screws: “Did you consider yourself [MacDonald’s] friend at the end of trial?”
A: I considered myself the author, I considered him the subject during those six or seven weeks. We certainly got along well. I don’t know how you define “friend.” It was a professional relationship.
Q: How do
you
define “friend”?
A: I defined “friend” as someone whose company I enjoy from time to time; someone whose—with whom I would have reason to stay in some kind of contact. I have never really stopped and thought about a definition of the word “friend,” but I’m sure we could find one in a dictionary. But Dr. MacDonald was the subject, and I was the author. And that was the primary focus of the relationship.
Q: I’m going to ask you again: Did you consider at the end of the trial that you were his friend?
A: I don’t know how to answer that. I felt terrible when he was convicted. If I hadn’t considered him in some degree a friend, I suppose I would have felt happy he was convicted. Instead I felt real bad.
Q: Did you consider him your friend?
A: That’s the best I can do, Mr. Bostwick.
Q: Would you take a look at Exhibit 36A again.… It says, “Goddamn it Jeff, one of the worst things about all this is how suddenly and totally all of your friends—self included—have been deprived of the pleasure of your company.” Why was it so easy for you to know that you were his friend when you were writing him that letter, and you can’t decide today whether you were his friend at the end of the trial?
A: Well, that was eight years ago, and my recollections were a lot fresher.
Q: You’ve just forgotten that you used to be his friend, right?
McGinniss’s agony went on:
Q: “Total strangers can recognize within five minutes that you did not receive a fair trial.” You didn’t really believe that he didn’t receive a fair trial, did you?
A: Well, I’m sure that that was an oversimplification,and indeed it misstates the total strangers. How could they recognize anything within five minutes?
Q: I don’t know. Why did
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