Bob Bennett (Lawyer, Clerk in 1965)
Appearances
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
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Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
I mean, Judge Corcoran was a very patient judge. kind of a laid-back fellow. He was calm. He was deliberative. And because he was new, he wanted to do everything just perfectly right.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
There were a lot of people sitting in the benches and the rows.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
He looked very young, and he wasn't threatening at all. He was a little guy, as I remember it. I don't know what his height was, but he gave the appearance of being smallish and thinnish, as I remember it.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
He was one of her children. She acted, if I remember right, very kindly towards him, and she created the image that she was going to take care of this poor fellow who was incorrectly charged. And she created a very motherly appearance in the courtroom as a protector of Raymond Crump.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
He was. He was a very strong prosecutor. He was a very big fellow. He was very aggressive. Very capable, very capable.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
One thing that just I clearly can never forget is he chewed gum throughout the whole trial. And he chewed it in a very aggressive way. And I could tell that it irritated one or more of the jurors because you could almost hear it. And it wasn't really respectful of the court or the proceedings.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
And one thing that Hantman did quite effectively... was that Raymond had told the police he was fishing, yet there was no recovery of any fishing equipment.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
And a contrast started to develop during the case, where you have Dovey, who was sort of soft and grandmotherly or motherly, and you have Hampton, who is this hard-charging prosecutor. And Dovey knew exactly what she was doing. She played it up something.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
I remember that Hantman put up on the wall of the courthouse what had to be a 25-foot map.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
And his position was that after this came to the attention of the police... that they blocked off every possible exit from the park and Ray was caught in the park that he couldn't get out.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
And I think that map hurt him because Dovey Roundtree pointed out that in such a vast area, while there would be a limited number of official exits, it was such that the true murderer could hide in the trees or escape through a non-official exit. So I think the map actually turned out to hurt him
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
This was the hottest case in the courthouse.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
It was a big deal. And of course, the press was there. Mary Pinchot Meyer was a very prominent, wealthy woman. She was on the social pages and everything. And so it had all those characteristics. And yeah, it was a big story.
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
The Mapmaker's Testimony
It was an exciting case, and yes, I did enjoy it.