she would not have felt the ‘pain and
suffering’ supposed to have been
inflicted on her?”
“That is true,” the physician
acknowledged.
A forensic chemist testified that the
blood on Cooley’s clothes was the
same type as Ella Mae’s, and different
from Spade’s. Lambros scored a minor
point when the witness acknowledged
that there was no blood on the cowboy
boots Cooley was wearing when
arrested.
A woman bank official was called
to tell how, shortly after Spade filed
his divorce action, the Cooleys called
her to the ranch to have 11 property
deeds, four of them estimated as worth
$80,000 each, changed from joint
tenancy to Spade’s sole ownership. Ella
Mae had signed quit-claims, wearing
dark glasses and saying little.
District Attorney Nelson then called
Anita Aros, a one-time violinist with
Spade’s band. The petite 28-year-old
brunette testified that Spade had twice
proposed marriage to her shortly before
his wife’s death, but she had not taken
him seriously.
“Mr. Cooley told me he was going to
get a divorce because there was another
man in Ella Mae’s life,” she told the
court. “He said he wanted to get it over
with as soon as possible, and maybe
go to Las Vegas or Reno. He asked me
if I’d marry him. I laughed and said,
‘Sure. When?’ I thought he was kidding.
“When he asked me again later, I said
‘Sure,’ again – but I didn’t really mean
it. I still thought it was just a joke.”
The witness also said that Spade once
phoned her and put his two children
on the line. Melody told her that Spade
said he and Anita were going to be
married. Anita denied that Cooley had
forced the children to say they wanted
her for their mother instead of Ella
Mae.
Mrs. Cooley’s sister testified that five
days before her death Ella Mae had
told her on the phone that she was in
fear for her life and wanted “a place to
hide out.” The sister described Spade
as a violent man whose harassment had
put Ella Mae in hospital with a nervous
breakdown.
Similar testimony was given by Mrs.Cooley’s attorney. “She feared he would
kill her, himself and the children if she
tried to leave him – that he would kill
the kids if she tried to take them away,”
said the woman lawyer.
“Couldn’t this have been fantasy?”
the defence attorney asked.
“No, she was terrified of him. Ella
Mae told me she had been beaten
throughout her marriage, and that
it had become worse in the past five
years.” The witness added that she
would feel her own life was in danger if
Cooley was acquitted.
“You hate Spade Cooley, don’t you?”
Lambros shouted.
“No, Mr. Lambros,” the witness
replied. “I hate all wife-beaters as a
class. Actually, I feel sorry for Mr.
Cooley.”
The district attorney next called two
medical lab technicians who’d had
business dealings with Cooley. It was
quickly evident that they were among
those who Spade had suspected or
accused of having relations with his
wife, and another was his good friend
and TV star Roy Rogers, but they all
denied ever having an affair with Ella
Mae, or ever going to a motel with her.
The district attorney then played
tape-recordings of three phone
conversations between the Cooleys
and William Lewis, a Hollywood
private detective specialising in divorce
cases. Lewis took the stand to identify
the tapes. He said he was hired by
Spade Cooley on several occasions to
investigate Ella Mae’s doings and try to
catch her in an affair. The tapes were
recorded on April 2nd and 3rd – one of
them two hours after Mrs. Cooley died.
The phone conversations dealt
with her alleged infidelities, whichViolinist Anita Aros. Spade
proposed to her twice shortly
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