Judge grills Dover official

Just when you think you have seen and heard it all, yet another witness is called to testify and proves you wrong.

Point in case, Alan Bonsell’s testimony evoked a strong response from the judge (page 126-)

the Judge wrote:

THE COURT: All right. Assuming Mr. Gillen has some redirect, I’m going to exercise my prerogative before we break today, because you may have some lengthy redirect, is that a fair statement? MR. GILLEN: I think that I have accumulated a considerable list of questions. THE COURT: I want to exercise my prerogative, and I have some questions before we break today. I would like, Mr. Harvey, if you would hand up to me the witness’s deposition testimony, specifically as it related to the question of the $850.00 check. I believe it’s the deposition as taken by Mr. Rothschild in January of 2005. MR. HARVEY: Yes, Your Honor. My copy is marked up. Do we have an unmarked copy? Or if you want, I could just have it delivered to your chambers in a few minutes. THE COURT: I want it now, if you have it. Hand it up. And can you direct me to the pages, and specifically the pages, Mr. Harvey, that you referred to in your questions? MR. HARVEY: Yes, Your Honor. I read from page 13, line 6, through page 16, line 20. THE COURT: All right. Give me a moment, please. That’s fine. I see where you were. All right. Let me ask you. BY THE COURT: Q. When did you first become aware of the fact that your father was in possession of the $850.00 that was being donated to buy Of Pandas and People? A. Well, Mr. Buckingham gave the check to me to pass to my father. He said this was money that he collected for donations to the book. So I gave it to him. Q. So you were the conduit – A. Yeah. Q. – by which your father received the $850.00? A. Yes.

From the York Daily Record

“You tell me why you didn’t say Mr. Buckingham was involved,” a visibly angry Jones said, staring at Bonsell as he read from his deposition.

Bonsell said he misspoke. And then, “That’s my fault, your honor.”

Bonsell said he didn’t think it mattered because Buckingham had not actually donated any of his money. Rather, the money had been collected from members of his church.

But Jones pointed out that Bonsell had said he had never spoken to anybody else about the donations.

The judge also wanted to know why the money needed to be forwarded to his father, why Buckingham couldn’t have purchased the books himself.

Bonsell stammered.

“I still haven’t heard an answer from you,” Jones said.

“He said he’d take it off the table,” Bonsell said.

“You knew you were under oath?” Jones asked at one point.

Mike Argento, whose excellent articles already have addressed many of the follies reports

Mike Argento wrote:

n the witness stand during Monday’s session of the Dover Panda Trial, Dover Area School Board member Alan Bonsell accused the press of just making things up.

Keeping that in mind, here’s a description of what happened Monday afternoon.

Wearing a nice gray suit, Bonsell answered every question to the best of his ability and was positively forthcoming and when the lawyers pointed out certain inconsistencies in his testimony, he thanked them profusely and offered expansive explanations for why he may have been misunderstood and cleared up any misunderstandings that may have arisen.

OK, all of that was made up.

Except for the part about Bonsell wearing a gray suit.

Actually, at the conclusion of his testimony, he was in serious danger of ruining that suit.