you tell him that?
A: I don’t know. Because, you know, Mr. Bostwick, when I write a letter it’s like making a phone call. You just—
Q: You talk about what’s in your heart, right?
A: You talk about—it’s not like writing for publication.
Q: You say what comes to mind—isn’t that right? What you really feel?
A: You take less care with the way you phrase things.
Bostwick’s own carefully shaped narrative hewed close to its theme of cold betrayal. He relentlessly hammered home the idea that McGinniss’s deception of MacDonald had been a matter of simple opportunism, and that the letters had been written in utter cynicism—to get material out of MacDonald and to lull any suspicions he might have which could imperil McGinniss’s project. To nail down his harsh thesis, Bostwick prefaced his reading of excerpts from the letters with a reading of excerpts from newspaper interviews that McGinniss had given during his publicity tour for
Fatal Vision
, in which, evidently thinking himself safe from the vengefulness of a man locked up for life, he spoke of MacDonald with frank loathing. (“He is a very sick human being,” he told one reporter, and, in response to another reporter’s question, fixed the time of his realization of MacDonald’s guilt as having actually occurred during the trial.)
Kornstein, in his friendly examination of McGinniss, three weeks later, did what he could to repair the damage. On the fair assumption that deceiving a few journalists during a book tour was a lesser offense than deceiving MacDonald for four years, Kornstein had McGinniss testifythat he had misinformed the reporters. “Statements by me that I was convinced of MacDonald’s guilt before the jury came back were not accurate reflections of the way things really were,” McGinniss said, at Kornstein’s prodding, and went on, “I just gave some simplistic shorthand answers which, no question about it, in two or three instances created an impression which is not—it’s the way I wished it had been, more than the way it was.” Kornstein also asked McGinniss, “In those letters in 1979, did you genuinely feel every emotion that you expressed?”
A: Yes, sir, I felt every emotion I expressed. I’m not that good a writer to fake something like that.
Q: Was there anything in those letters that you intended to be false?
A: Nothing I intended to be false.
Q: Was there anything in those letters that you intended to deceive MacDonald with?
A: If we’re talking about these first six or nine months, no, sir. They were honest expressions of feelings that I had at the time.
In his cross-examination, Bostwick went straight for the exposed throat:
Q: You said yesterday … looking at the letters of the first six to nine months after the trial, [that] you never intended to deceive him.…
After
the first six to nine months, did you intend to deceive him?
A: Well, there certainly came a time when I was willing to let him continue to believe whatever he wanted to believe, so he wouldn’t try to prevent me from finishing my book, yes, sir.
Q: Is the answer yes?
A: The answer could be interpreted that way, I suppose.
Q: By someone reading the letters, for instance.
A: Well, I’m sure it would be by yourself, sir. I don’t know—other people might interpret it differently.
Bostwick went on to read from a letter from McGinniss to MacDonald dated April 14, 1982, written soon after MacDonald had been reincarcerated following an eighteen-month spell of freedom. (In July 1980, the Fourth Circuit Court had ruled favorably on MacDonald’s appeal that he had been denied a speedy trial, and he was released. Then, in March 1982, the Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s decision, and MacDonald went back to jail.) Bostwick continued, “Mr. McGinniss, you told your wife you were glad he was back in jail. Two weeks later, in this letter, you’re telling him that you hope you’ll be able to call him at home. Why?”
A: As
A: I don’t know. Because, you know, Mr. Bostwick, when I write a letter it’s like making a phone call. You just—
Q: You talk about what’s in your heart, right?
A: You talk about—it’s not like writing for publication.
Q: You say what comes to mind—isn’t that right? What you really feel?
A: You take less care with the way you phrase things.
Bostwick’s own carefully shaped narrative hewed close to its theme of cold betrayal. He relentlessly hammered home the idea that McGinniss’s deception of MacDonald had been a matter of simple opportunism, and that the letters had been written in utter cynicism—to get material out of MacDonald and to lull any suspicions he might have which could imperil McGinniss’s project. To nail down his harsh thesis, Bostwick prefaced his reading of excerpts from the letters with a reading of excerpts from newspaper interviews that McGinniss had given during his publicity tour for
Fatal Vision
, in which, evidently thinking himself safe from the vengefulness of a man locked up for life, he spoke of MacDonald with frank loathing. (“He is a very sick human being,” he told one reporter, and, in response to another reporter’s question, fixed the time of his realization of MacDonald’s guilt as having actually occurred during the trial.)
Kornstein, in his friendly examination of McGinniss, three weeks later, did what he could to repair the damage. On the fair assumption that deceiving a few journalists during a book tour was a lesser offense than deceiving MacDonald for four years, Kornstein had McGinniss testifythat he had misinformed the reporters. “Statements by me that I was convinced of MacDonald’s guilt before the jury came back were not accurate reflections of the way things really were,” McGinniss said, at Kornstein’s prodding, and went on, “I just gave some simplistic shorthand answers which, no question about it, in two or three instances created an impression which is not—it’s the way I wished it had been, more than the way it was.” Kornstein also asked McGinniss, “In those letters in 1979, did you genuinely feel every emotion that you expressed?”
A: Yes, sir, I felt every emotion I expressed. I’m not that good a writer to fake something like that.
Q: Was there anything in those letters that you intended to be false?
A: Nothing I intended to be false.
Q: Was there anything in those letters that you intended to deceive MacDonald with?
A: If we’re talking about these first six or nine months, no, sir. They were honest expressions of feelings that I had at the time.
In his cross-examination, Bostwick went straight for the exposed throat:
Q: You said yesterday … looking at the letters of the first six to nine months after the trial, [that] you never intended to deceive him.…
After
the first six to nine months, did you intend to deceive him?
A: Well, there certainly came a time when I was willing to let him continue to believe whatever he wanted to believe, so he wouldn’t try to prevent me from finishing my book, yes, sir.
Q: Is the answer yes?
A: The answer could be interpreted that way, I suppose.
Q: By someone reading the letters, for instance.
A: Well, I’m sure it would be by yourself, sir. I don’t know—other people might interpret it differently.
Bostwick went on to read from a letter from McGinniss to MacDonald dated April 14, 1982, written soon after MacDonald had been reincarcerated following an eighteen-month spell of freedom. (In July 1980, the Fourth Circuit Court had ruled favorably on MacDonald’s appeal that he had been denied a speedy trial, and he was released. Then, in March 1982, the Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s decision, and MacDonald went back to jail.) Bostwick continued, “Mr. McGinniss, you told your wife you were glad he was back in jail. Two weeks later, in this letter, you’re telling him that you hope you’ll be able to call him at home. Why?”
A: As
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