Hayward Tries to Secure Daniel's Testimony

Arnold Hayward’s attempt to secure Daniel Carty’s testimony becomes a measure of how far the legal struggle extends beyond proving Fonny’s innocence. Daniel could corroborate that Tish and Fonny were together with him on Bank Street, but the District Attorney’s Office has taken him into custody, and Hayward’s access to him is uncertain. The effort yields no reliable path to the witness: Daniel is beaten, afraid, and ultimately transferred upstate, while the family must plan around testimony it cannot obtain.

The Need for Daniel’s Testimony

The defense depends on more than Tish and Fonny’s account of the night in question. Arnold Hayward explains that their testimony counts for nothing in the case, while Daniel Carty was with them in the Bank Street room and could support their account. Yet Daniel is being held incommunicado, and Hayward has not been allowed to see him. The prosecution’s control of a potential defense witness turns a factual question into a contest over access and power.

This obstruction shapes the family’s understanding of what legal progress can mean. Tish resents having to explain Fonny’s condition to Hayward, but recognizes that the lawyer needs to know how prison is affecting him in order to work on the case. Sharon Rivers asks when Fonny can be brought home; Hayward says the greatest difficulty has been Victoria Rogers’s refusal to reconsider her testimony, followed by her disappearance. Finding her would require special investigators and money. Daniel’s testimony is therefore one part of a case in which each possible route toward the truth carries practical barriers and expense.

Hayward’s Visit and Daniel’s Condition

As the case proceeds, Hayward manages to see Daniel, but the visit brings new uncertainty rather than a dependable witness. Daniel has been beaten and booked on a narcotics charge. Hayward cannot arrange for his release; he says he would have to become Daniel’s lawyer to visit him. He raises that possibility, but Daniel is evasive and frightened. Hayward also suspects Daniel has been drugged, and cannot tell whether it would be safe to put him on the witness stand.

The attempted visit thus reveals both Daniel’s vulnerability and the limits of Hayward’s intervention. Representation might give the lawyer a way to reach him, but Daniel’s fear makes even that prospect uncertain. Hayward must weigh the value of Daniel’s evidence against the possibility that he has been rendered unable to testify reliably. The defense needs his account, but cannot treat his appearance in court as a simple or settled solution.

A Case of Access, Time, and Cost

Hayward describes the case in terms that sharply separate truth from outcome: what matters, he tells Tish, is who wins. He says he believes Fonny is innocent and identifies Officer Bell as a racist and a liar, while judging the District Attorney’s Office even worse. In his account, the prosecution is using Daniel’s record to pressure him to change his testimony. Hayward also suspects, without claiming proof, that the same forces may explain Victoria Rogers’s disappearance. The distinction between established fact and suspicion matters: Daniel’s custody and beating are reported as facts, while the proposed connection between his treatment and Victoria’s disappearance remains Hayward’s inference.

The effort to locate or reach witnesses also requires money. When Hayward says special investigators will be needed to find Victoria Rogers, Sharon Rivers immediately recognizes the financial consequence. The legal case enters the household not only as fear about Fonny but as a demand for resources and decisions about what the family can afford. In this way, the attempt to secure Daniel is part of a larger struggle over who can be found, visited, believed, and represented.

Time intensifies that struggle. Tish imagines Fonny serving time in prison as their child’s birth approaches, with roughly six months remaining. The interval between the present and the trial is not neutral waiting: Fonny endures confinement, Daniel remains inaccessible, and the family’s options depend on a system that moves at its own pace. Hayward’s efforts take place under that pressure, with each delay carrying consequences for both the defense and the family’s life outside prison.

Transfer and Consequences

Daniel is eventually transferred to a prison upstate. None of the family can see him, even if they knew where to look; Hayward is checking on the transfer and remains involved in the case. His earlier access to Daniel has not secured a usable statement or assured testimony. The witness’s location has changed, but the central problem persists: the defense still cannot count on hearing from him.

At the same time, Victoria Rogers’s disappearance deprives the prosecution of its principal witness, prompting the family to see a slim opening in the case. They expect the prosecution to ask for more time and plan to seek dismissal of the charge, while preparing to settle for bail if the state agrees and they can raise the money. Daniel’s testimony effort therefore ends not in a courtroom resolution but in a precarious strategic position: one key witness is absent from the prosecution, another remains beyond the defense’s reach, and the family must continue acting amid uncertainty.