Sycamore Row - John Grisham

victims. He was well acquainted with the tumors under discussion and did a thorough
job of describing their effects on the body. He had seen patients cry and scream for
prolonged periods of time, turn deathly pale, vomit uncontrollably, beg for medications,
pass out, and even beg for death. Thoughts of suicide were quite common. Actual suicide
was not rare. Demerol was one of the more popular and effective treatments. Here, Dr.
Niehoff ventured off script when he lapsed into a bit of technical jargon, as happened so
often when experts couldn’t resist the temptation to impress their listeners. He referred
to the drug as meperidine hydrochloride, said it was a narcotic analgesic, an opiate pain
reliever.
Lanier stopped him and brought his vocabulary back in line. Dr. Niehoff told the jury
that Demerol was a powerful pain reliever and highly addictive. He had worked with
the drug for his entire career and had written numerous articles about it. Doctors prefer
to dispense it in the hospital or in their clinics; however, in a case like Seth Hubbard’s, it
was not unusual to allow the patient to take it orally at home. The drug was easy to
abuse, especially for a person in severe pain like Seth.
Jake rose and said, “Objection, Your Honor. There is not a shred of evidence that Seth
Hubbard abused this drug.”
“Sustained. Stick with the facts, Doctor.”
Jake sat down, relieved to have finally received a favorable ruling on something.
Dr. Niehoff was an excellent witness. His descriptions of the tumors, the pain, and the
Demerol were detailed, and after forty-five minutes on the stand it was easy to believe
Seth was suffering greatly and his pain was relieved only by massive doses of Demerol,
a drug that practically knocked him out. In his expert opinion, Seth Hubbard’s judgment
was so adversely affected by the daily dosages and cumulative effects of the drug that he
could not have been thinking clearly in his final days.
On cross, Jake lost even more ground. When he tried to make the point that Dr.
Niehoff had no idea how much of the drug Seth was taking, the expert “guaranteed”
Jake that anyone suffering like Seth would be desperate for Demerol.
“If he had access to a prescription, then he was taking the pills, Mr. Brigance.”
After a few more pointless questions, Jake sat down. The two doctors had
accomplished precisely what Wade Lanier had intended. At that moment, in the minds
of the jurors, and practically everyone else in the courtroom, Seth had been disoriented,
dizzy, drowsy, lightheaded, and unable to drive so he asked Lettie to do it.
In summary, he lacked testamentary capacity.
After a ten-minute recess, Lanier continued when he called Lewis McGwyre as a
witness. Because the Rush firm had made such an ungraceful exit from the case, and was
thus cut out of the fees, McGwyre at first refused to testify. So Wade Lanier did the
unthinkable: he subpoenaed another lawyer. In short order, Lanier established that
McGwyre had prepared a thick will for Seth in September 1987. That will was admitted
into evidence, and McGwyre stepped down. As much as he wanted to hang around and
watch the trial, his pride wouldn’t allow it. He and Stillman Rush hurried from the
courtroom.
Duff McClennan took the stand, took the oath, and proceeded to explain to the jury