The Touch of Treason by Sol Stein

was less than two feet from Cooper’s. Cooper was trying to control the fire Thomassy had lit in his chest.
    “Mr. Cooper,” Thomassy said, “did you have a search warrant when you entered the residence of Professor and Mrs. Fuller?”
    “I didn’t come to the Fuller place to—”
    “Your Honor, Mr. Cooper is an experienced witness. Perhaps he could be reminded that his role here is to answer questions yes or no. He can elaborate on his answer, but we have to have the answer before the elaboration.”
    The judge nodded.
    “Will the court reporter please repeat the question.”
    Cooper said, “No, I didn’t have a warrant.”
    Thomassy said, “Do you know whether the defendant lived in the Fuller house?”
    “I was told he stayed overnight.”
    “Mr. Cooper,” Thomassy said, “that’s hearsay, which may be admissible in federal court but has no place here. I asked you whether you knew whether the defendant lived in the Fuller house. Is the answer no?”
    “Yes.”
    “Your yes means that your answer is no, is that correct?”
    There was a titter in the room.
    “Mr. Cooper, as an experienced police officer, do you know whether the defendant, whether he was a guest in the house or a resident in the house, had a reasonable expectation of privacy when he decided to stay the night?”
    “Yes.”
    “Did you in fact deny him his reasonable expectation of privacy by going into his room twice without invitation by him in order to interrogate him about various matters?”
    “Yes. I believe—”
    “Mr. Cooper, the court is interested in your answers, not in your beliefs. Your Honor, I’d like to save time by stipulating that Mr. Cooper as a detective investigating a serious matter had a right to interrogate possible witnesses. Now Mr. Cooper, may I ask if your interrogation of the defendant involved asking him numerous questions?”
    “It did.”
    “Did it also involve opening closet doors, dresser drawers, and a night-table drawer in which you found a user’s quantity of marijuana?”
    “I saw it.”
    “You are not answering my question again, Mr. Cooper. Are you familiar with the plain-sight doctrine?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “And was the marijuana in plain sight before you opened the drawer?”
    Cooper was silent.
    “Mr. Cooper,” Thomassy said, “I could interpret your silence in one of three ways. Two of them would not be a credit to your profession or responsive to the oath you took. Was the marijuana in plain sight?”
    “It was in the drawer.”
    “Did you order Mr. Porter to open the drawer?”
    “I did and he refused.”
    “Did you then open the drawer?”
    “Of course I didn’t. I insisted he open it.”
    “Your Honor,” Thomassy said, “It doesn’t matter who opened the drawer. I would like to suggest that when a police officer asks a citizen to do something, that the citizen takes that as an order, not knowing the law, and that in the absence of a search warrant, and in reliance on a guest of a reasonable expectation of privacy, and the plain-sight doctrine, that the investigating officer, investigating an entirely unrelated matter, was clearly in violation of the defendant’s constitutional rights as much as if he had searched his pockets without reason, and unless every single person in this room—” Thomassy turned to take in the spectators as well as the police sergeant and the judge—“is ready to turn his pockets inside out at this moment or at any moment on demand by a police officer without the right to do so, then we have a clear instance of one choice and one choice only. Your Honor, we either throw out statutory and constitutional protections afforded all citizens or we find no probable cause and throw out this unmeritorious case and discharge the accused.”
    *
    Ed Porter was fulsome in his gratitude. “I don’t want your gratitude,” Thomassy said. “I want your address so I can send you a bill for my time.”
    *
    It was almost midnight when Thomassy got home. He