Department of Water and Power

The Department of Water and Power appears briefly in the courtroom proceedings as an institutional source of testimony about street lighting. Its stated role is evidentiary: the prosecutor cites its testimony while defending the court’s decision to curtail further questions during the defendant’s self-represented trial.

Courtroom Testimony

During questioning about lights at the store, the prosecutor objects that the relevant facts have already been established. He says the Department of Water and Power testified that the street lights were burning. He distinguishes this from the burglar alarm company’s testimony about the lights in the store window, and also refers to a report from the United States Weather Bureau.

Evidentiary Function

The department’s testimony concerns street illumination, not whether the store-window lights were on. In the prosecutor’s account, these separate sources collectively make the witness’s further answers superfluous. The distinction matters: the department is not presented as the source for every lighting-related fact, but as one part of the prosecution’s evidentiary case.

Narrative Significance

The department is given no broader institutional profile; its significance lies in how its testimony is used in court. The prosecutor invokes it to characterize continued questioning as unreasonable, and the court agrees before reminding the defendant that he chose to represent himself and must follow trial procedure. The brief reference therefore places the department inside a procedural contest over what has already been proved and who may continue to question a witness.