MacDonald vs. McGinniss Trial Transcript i. UNITED STATES DIRSTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 4 HONORABLE WILLIAM J. REA, JUDGE PRESIDINC 5 G 7 8 DR. JEFFREY R- MAC DONALD, 9 Plaintiff 10 vs. No. CV 84-6170-WJR 11 JOE-MC GINNISS, 12 Defendant. 13 v\ 14 m .\ ^ REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 16-. Los Angeles, California 17 Thursday, July 30, 1987 18 19 20 21 Sherrill Boutte, CSR Official Court Reporter 22 402 United States Courthouse v.. 312 North Spring Street 23 Los Angeles, California 90012 (213) 613-1381 24 25 INDEX I 2 3 4 WITNESSES 5 6 PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS: , DIRECT' CROSS REDIRECT RE-CROSS : 7 MAC DONALD, JEFFREY' R.' "•> 4 8 I 9 10 ... >*-• 11 12 13 EXHIBITS. >; 14 B* (FOR*-- 15 EXHIBIT '' ID ENTIFI CAT I ON >\r"TEV/I~DENCE 16 159 5 17 474 58 5 8 .-M; IS 475 58 59 19 476 59 59 20 21 22 REPORTED BY: 23 Sherrill Boutte Pages 3 56 3*., Sft' 24 Kathleen Haaland 57 87 25 -••V "-^ A .• v*e_ \v , 1 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA; THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1987; 10:00 AM to 2 r THE CLERK: Civil 84-6170-WJR, a f i 4 Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald vs. Joe McGinniss. Counsel, please state your appearances. 5 6 MR. BOSTWICK: Good morning, your Honor. 7 Gary Bostwick and Jo-Ann Horn on behalf of the plaintiff. i Dr. Jeffrey R. MacDonald. 8 9 MR. KORNSTEIN: Good morning, your Honor. Daniel Kornstein and Mark Piatt on behalf of the defendant, 10 Joe McGinniss. 11 THE COURT: All right. We want Dr. MacDonald 12 back on the witness stand. 13 MR. KORNSTEIN: I have a few more questions for E* 14 him. 15 THE COURT: All right. Doctor, resume the 16 witness stand, please. E 17 IS JEFFREY R. MAC DONALD - PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS PREVIOUSLY SWORN 1 19 20 THE CLERK: Would you please state your name 21 again for the record. THE WITNESS: My name is Jeffrey R. MacDonald- 22 E THE COURT: You may proceed. 23 24 ///// 25 ///// CROSS-EXAMINATION (RESUMED) 2 BY MR.- KORNSTEIN: a Q When we recessed yesterday, we were going through a 4 series of letters between yourself and Mr. McGinniss about 5 the extent of artistic freedom and independence that 6 Mr. McGinniss had. At the end of the day, there was one 7 document I was about to ask you about. Do you remember a 8 letter from yourself to Mr. McGinniss dated February 9th, 1983, that covered among other things your desire to see 10 a copy of the book? 11 A I don't recall specifically. We talked about that. 12 Q "Would it refresh your recollection if I showed you a 13 copy? 14 A Yes, it would. to 15 MR. KORNSTEIN: Your Honor, may I approach? 16 THE COURT; You may. 17 THE WITNESS: Yes, I see this. 18 BY MR. KORNSTEIN: 19 Q And is it a copy of a letter that you wrote in your 20 own handwriting? 21 A Yes, it is. Q And you signed it? 22 A I did. 23 24 MR. KORNSTEIN: Your Honor, we would move that 25 into evidence as the next exhibit, I believe 159 would be I 1 the number. 2 : THE CLERK: Correct. ? i 3 THE COURT: All right. 4 MR. BOSTWICK: Your 'Honor, I haven't heard that 5 it was sent to Mr- McGinniss, but I believe that that would 6 probably be elicited upon the next question or another, 7 and based upon that we have no objection. 8 BY MR. KORNSTEIN: 9 Q Did you send it? 10 A Yes, I did. 11 THE COURT: All right. It will be received in 12 evidence as 1-5-9- 13 MR. KORNSTEIN: Your Honor, may we put Page 3 14 from that exhibit on the screen? 15 THE COURT: Yes. 16 BY MR. KORNSTEIN: 17 Q Once again, the underlining is not your handwriting. 18 That was added by someone else afterwards; isn't that 19 correct? 20 A . Yes. 21 Q Would you read the underlined portion on the screen? 22 A I want to see where it stops. I can read this easier 23 here. 24 Q All right. It begins on the — 25 A I see it. It stops at "reasons"? 1 Q Yes. 2 A 2nd it begins at "It wa-s one thing"? 3 Q Yes. 4 A "It was one thing not to have control over the book, 5 slash, /contents/, slash,/you. I granted you that and I 6 have lived with it, .except I asked you to treat Sheree 7 well and Jay well for very different reasons." 8 Q Was it your understanding when you wrote those words 9 that you did not have control over the book? 10 A I did not have control over the words that he wrote, E U yes. I 12 Q Was it your understanding that you had no control 13 over the contents of the book? 14 A With the understanding that it was fair and accurate. 15 Q Wasn't it your understanding at that time -that you 16 had no control over him, Mr. McGinniss, as you wrote there? 17 A With the understanding that it was a nonfiction book 18 and fair and accurate. 19 Q Now, recall yesterday we talked about a letter from 20 Mr. McGinniss to you dated May 4th, 1982, in which he was 21 responding to your coiranent about F. Lee Bailey's associate 22 being aghast at your lack of artistic control? 23 A Yes, I remember that. 24 Q And do you remember Mr. McGinniss' explanation and 25 response to you about how he had complete freedom and I 7 M i independence, and how he would never have started the r 2 project with you without that independence and access? 3 Do yot remember that? i 4 A I remember reading that segment, yes. 5 Q And do you also remember a letter Mr. McGinniss sent ! 6 you on August 6th, 1982, which we talked about yesterday 7 and is in evidence as Exhibit 36-K where he says to you to 8 get across to whoever you're talking to that it is not an 9 authorized version, and that he has been operating with 10 complete freedom and independence. Remember those? 11 A Yes, I do. i 12 Q Now, in your letter of August 22nd to Mr. McGinniss, 13 which we covered at the beginning of this series of i© 14 questions yesterday, which was right after or within a few 15 weeks of the August 6th letter that Mr. McGinniss writes 16 to you, and a few months after the May 4th letter; you i 17 didn't repudiate anything that he had said in those letters 18 about the amount of independence and freedom that he had 19 in writing the book; did you? 20 A I'm not sure the letter was in reference — direct 21 reference to that. i 22 Q Whether it was in reference to it or not, you didn't 23 use the August 22nd letter as an occasion to repudiate 24 anything that Mr. McGinniss had said about those subjects. 25 A I'm not sure. I wasn't answering that subject in that I letter, I don't believe. 1 Q Well, does that mean the answer is no, you didn't 2 discuss that subject in the letter? 3 A I'd have to see the letter again to be sure exactly of 4 every word in the letter, but my impression is that letter 5 was responding to something else. 6 Q Well, do you remember this line from the letter, which 7 is Exhibit 116: "I had made myself a promise not to 8 9 question you on the book"? 10 A Yes, I do remember that. 11 Q In any letter during the 4-year period that you and Mr. McGinniss were corresponding, isn't it a fact that U never once did Mr. McGinniss tell you in so many words that 13 he was going to write a book that portrayed you as 14 I* innocent? 15 A Well, I'm not sure of your characterization "in so 16 many words." 17 Q Did the words say in any letter, "I'm going to write IS a book, that portrays you as innocent"? 19 20 A Those exact words? 21 Q Yes. 22 A No. I 23 Q Now, isn't it also true that none of your letters i 24 over that period of time to Mr. McGinniss ever said, "Joe, 25 you're supposed to show me as innocent in this book"? I I 1 A Well, I didn't think that had to be spoken at that 2 t ime.- 3 MR. KORNSTEIN: Move to strike. 4 THE COURT: The answer is stricken. 5 BY MR. KORNSTEIN: 6 Q Is the answer yes or no? 7 A The .question being, were those exact words in any 8 letter of mine to Joe? 9 Q Yes. 10 A I used many phrases that I felt were indicative of 11 how I felt the book would come out. 12 Q_ Did you ever — Well, withdrawn. 13 Isn't it true that you never used the phrase even 14 approximating saying, "The book you're going to write, Joe, 15 will portray me as innocent"? 16 MR. B0.STV7ICK: I object to the question as 17 being vague and ambiguous.