Opinion ID: 198913
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: McCarthy's Late-Night Arrival in Mexico

Text: 28 Hughes objects to the prosecutor's statement that Hughes said [to Sawicke] he was busy that weekend, and he couldn't pick up [Brian McCarthy] until at least ten o'clock.... This is the reason. He wants it dark. Darkness is the ancient ally of criminals. Hughes insists that the prosecutor's attempt to show that he was not actually busy on that date was misleading because the undisputed evidence indicated that he would have been busy but for the failure of certain equipment to be delivered to the Chrysler plant in Toluca. Moreover, the attribution, he wants it dark, was particularly misleading because it was McCarthy who selected the evening flight time. We find no error. 29 Sandy Sawicke, McCarthy's secretary, testified that in a telephone conversation with Hughes, he said that he had a very busy schedule that weekend and McCarthy should not arrive before 10:00 Sunday night. Although McCarthy had previously suggested that he take an evening flight, the 10:00 p.m. arrival time was scheduled at the behest of Hughes, not McCarthy. Furthermore, the evidence established that Hughes was not particularly busy that Sunday, as he had claimed he would be. Although there was some indication that Hughes's work plans may have been disrupted by a delayed shipment of ASI equipment to the Chrysler plant, the jury was entitled to infer that Hughes's busy schedule was a pretext to justify McCarthy's late arrival. From the evidence that Hughes wanted McCarthy to arrive late, and that Hughes's Sig Sauer was the likely murder weapon, a reasonable juror could also have inferred that Hughes wanted it dark during the drive to San Luis Potosi so that he could kill McCarthy undetected.