“Yes, sir, a woman called in on the line from the social hall and said...”
“Just a moment,” Mason interrupted, “we object to anything which was said over the telephone as hearsay.”
“I don’t wish to ask for any conversation which took place over the telephone outside of the presence of this defendant,” the deputy district attorney said, “which will be binding upon the defendant. I am only asking now, if the Court please, to show the identity of the person placing the telephone call.”
“The Court will not permit the witness to testify as to what was said,” Judge Romley ruled.
“Would you recognize the voice of that person who placed the telephone call which you have characterized as unusual if you heard it again?”
“I would.”
“Have you heard that voice again?”
“I have.”
“Whose voice is it?”
“Objected to,” Mason said. “Incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial. Apparently this entire procedure is either for the purpose of intimidating the witness the Prosecutor is about to call, or else for the purpose of impeaching his own witness.”