noon
I could n't see how any lawyer as shrewd as Sidney had shown himself to be would even dream of getting such an array of thugs , cutthroats , sluts and slatterns into court as character witnesses for anybody . The latter , on the other hand , we went after unmercifully , revealing , under their enmity for Cumshaw , a small , hard core of bigoted xenophobia and selfish fear . Goodham did a beautiful job on that ; he seemed able , at a glance , to divine exactly what each witness 's motivation was , and able to make him or her betray that motivation in its least admirable terms . Finally the defense rested , about a quarter-hour before noon . I rose and addressed the court : `` Your Honor , while both the prosecution and the defense have done an admirable job in bringing out the essential facts of how my predecessor met his death , there are many features about this case which are far from clear to me . They will be even less clear to my government , which is composed of men who have never set foot on this planet . For this reason , I wish to call , or recall , certain witnesses to clarify these points . ''