Witnesses Testify for Money, Explained：wheels start rolling

What's really going on

This is the machinery of a conviction laid bare. A crucial witness, by one account, saw nothing at all — until, as the story goes, 'wheels started rolling in his head about money,' and he became willing to say whatever the side with money wanted said. Another witness sells himself as unusually reliable: 'I'm a salesman... you develop something like total recall,' then admits on tape, 'I didn't see no bullet. I didn't see no gunfire.' The police are frank that the case needed bodies in the courtroom: 'We had to rely on witnesses.' And the closing argument, the prosecutor's 'thin blue line' speech, is powerful enough that even the judge, who insists he shows no emotion on the bench, allows that it 'did get to me emotionally.' Testimony, money, and the pull of a good line — the chapter shows a verdict assembled from all three.

Theme

このチャプターで学べること

• 'Rely on' means to depend fully on someone.
• The thin blue line frames police as order's last barrier.
• 'Total recall' describes a perfect memory.
• Reward money can quietly buy a testimony.

発音のポイント

• enough money — The gh in enough is silent and links into money.
• did go — Stress did to mean he actually went ahead.
• total recall — The t in total is often flapped, sounding like a d.
• didn't see — The t in didn't often drops before see.