Judge Foster nodded his head, and then banged the gavel. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we’re going to take a short break. About 10 minutes. Ms. Todd, I would like for you to remain seated. Mr. Augusto, Ms. Collins, why don’t you come on back to my chambers.”
Jonathan and I followed Judge Foster into the chambers.
“Okay, counselor, what’s on your mind?” Judge Foster asked Jonathan.
“I can’t possibly cross-examine that girl. If I do, the jury is going to think that I’m some monster.”
“Well, you’re going to have to cross-examine her if you want to have any chance at all of winning for your client,” Judge Foster said. “I really don’t understand why it is that you decided to call a recess just to tell me that you’re going to have a hard time cross-examining a witness.”
“I guess what I’m saying is that I need to confer with my client about this case. I need to talk to him tonight, and, it’s 4 o’clock in the afternoon right now, I think that we can probably quit for the day. Maybe, tomorrow, I can cross-examine her? We can recall her tomorrow, can’t we?”
“If that’s what you want to do,” Judge Murphy said. “I’ll go and tell the jury that we’re recessing for the evening and we will be back tomorrow at 9 AM sharp.”
“Thank you,” Jonathan said to Judge Murphy.
All of us left the chambers, and the judge took the bench. When the jury came back, Judge Murphy informed the jury that they were free to go. “Be back tomorrow morning right at 9,” he admonished. “And, Ms. Todd, you are excused for now. However, tomorrow, you will take the stand again when we get started. You will remain under oath. Thank you very much, and I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
Angela looked at me with a bewildered expression on her beautiful face. “I don’t understand?” she said.
“You’re excused for now,” I said. “But the first thing tomorrow, I’m going to call you again to testify.”
“Okay,” she said. Her brow furrowed and she was extremely hesitant about getting out of her seat. She looked around the courtroom and then tentatively stood up. “What just happened?” she asked me as she walked past the plaintiff’s table.
“I’ll tell you later,” I said.
Angela left the courtroom and I packed up my evidence.
We were done for the day.
But why?
Chapter 38
Jonathan
Jonathan Augusto left the courtroom feeling shaken. He really wasn’t used to actually trying cases. That much was evident. His MO was always, always, to intimidate the other side into dropping the case. By any means possible. That was how he operated. That was what he was paid the big bucks for. And that was the way that he had assumed he was going to go about this case, too. When Carl hired him, he hired him with the full knowledge that he was going to do what it took to make sure that the case was dismissed with prejudice.
When he explained to Carl that he was going to have to try this case legitimately, he was surprised that Carl kept him on. But he did. “You’re a ruthless person outside the courtroom. I expect you to be just as ruthless inside it.” That’s what he said. He expected him to bellow and holler and object to every single utterance that came out of Avery Collins’ mouth. He expected him to lie and get witnesses to lie and encourage everybody to commit perjury on Carl’s behalf.
And it worked, in a way. Jacqueline Price lied under oath in her deposition, because Carl threatened her that if she didn’t lie, she was going to go to prison for her role in Carl’s ring. And that was no lie. Jacqueline had to play dumb. She had to pretend that she had no clue on what was happening. Because she played along, Jonathan was able to get the prosecutors to agree that they were not going to prosecute her.
And, of course, he lied between his teeth in his opening statement. He damn well knew that Carl’s parties were sex trafficking parties. Hell, he had even been to a party a time or two and was able to partake in the lovely ladies himself. He knew that the girls were underaged. Everybody knew that the girls were underaged. That was the whole point of being a part of Carl’s ring. It was the excitement of having sex with very young girls. Carl would never have been able to charge as much money as he did if the girls were all 21 and over. What fun is that? You can get that anywhere. But Carl supplied girls who couldn’t be gotten anywhere, not legally, and he provided the protection of the Russian mob behind it. Nobody was going to prosecute him or any of the guys who came to these parties, either, because Carl just had too many friends in high places.
But, when that young girl took the stand and Jonathan got a look at her…it wasn’t good. She looked so young, so small, even though she was a tall one, almost 5’9”. But she looked frail. And devastated. The fact that her life was probably ruined showed on her face and in her body language.
And her testimony…he didn’t know how he was supposed to counteract that. He saw the jury. He saw the way that they looked at Jacqueline. Every single one of them had pity in their eyes. Even some of the hardened ones, the ones that he thought would be good for him, they just weren’t. Angela was everybody’s daughter, sister, and friend in their eyes. And Jonathan was going to have to try as he might to trip her up, and all the other girls that Avery Collins had lined up to testify, four of them in all. But if the other girls were going to be as affecting as Angela, Jonathan had a feeling that Carl was going to be in for a rude awakening. Avery was only asking for $500 million, most of which was punitive damages, although she was also asking for compensatory damages for pain and suffering and emotional distress. This was going to be spread out between 100 victims.
He was just going to have to lay it on the line with Carl. He doubted that the jury was going to stop at $500 million. Not when Carl was worth 30 times that. Avery had the information about Carl’s net worth, because Carl provided it to her when Avery subpoenaed him. She was going to be able to show the jury that Carl could afford to pay any judgment, and that he had made well over $500 million off his girls over the years. He typically had 100 clients on his list, with more on a waiting list, and each client paid $50,000 per month. That meant that he was bringing in $5 million a month, $60 million a year, and he had been at this for the past 20 years. That jury was going to do the math and they might ding him for a billion or more.
He could see it happening.
“Hey Carl,” he said when he video-called him, knowing that it was well past 3 in the morning there. It couldn’t be helped.
Carl’s face was sleepy and irritated. “Yeah? Why are you calling me so late?”
“It’s not late here. It’s only past 6. Listen, I don’t know about going forward with this case. That Angela Todd, you didn’t see her on the stand. Everybody in the jury box looked like they were going to cry. I don’t have a good feeling about this, not at all. Listen, Avery Collins, she’s only asking for $500 million. You make that much money in your sleep. Why don’t we just settle with her, get this case off the front page so that you can live your life again, and call it a day?”
“No. We talked about this. I don’t settle cases. Not cases like this. There’s no proof that anything untoward happened at my house. None at all. Except for the testimony of a bunch of bitches who have dollar signs in their eyes. You got this. All you got to do is make those whores look like the lying bitches they are. You rip them up, limb from limb. You eat them up and spit out their skinny bones. Stay the course, and we’re going to win this thing.”
Jonathan was sorry that he had video-called Carl, because he knew that his facial expression was one of disbelief. This guy was delusional. “You’re not listening to me. You could be on the hook for a billion dollars when all of this is said and done. I think you should settle.”
“No settlement. None. Now, I have to get to bed. I have a lot of work to do in the morning.”
At that, Carl cut off the call.
Jonathan had a bad feeling about all of this.
But he had his marching orders. He had to try to nail those girls
to the wall.
And he was going to do it.
He just hoped that it didn’t backfire on him.
Chapter 39
Avery
The next day, Angela got back on the stand, and Jonathan was loaded for bear. “Ms. Todd, you testified that you had to have sex with various men while you were in the employ of my client, Carl Williams, isn’t that right?”
“Right.”
“But nobody ever saw you actually having sex with these men, did they?”
“No, I mean, the men saw me, obviously. And when I did three ways, those other girls who were involved, they saw me.”
“But those other girls that you were doing three-ways with, they are also a part of this lawsuit, aren’t they?”
“Yes, of course they are.”
“So, they’re motivated to lie as well, aren’t they? They want money too, don’t they?”
“I’m not lying. Nobody is going to lie about what happened at that house.”
“But isn’t it true that your attorney actually hasn’t called any of the men, the clients, to testify?”
“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask her.”
“I can assure you that none of the men who took part in these parties are on her witness list. They wouldn’t be motivated to lie, so they would tell the truth, wouldn’t you agree?”
Angela shook her head. “They would be really motivated to lie, because if they told the truth, they would be arrested.”
I had to smile. She was a smart cookie, that one.
“Now, you admitted on the stand that you weren’t a virgin when you arrived at Carl’s house, isn’t that right?”
I was immediately on my feet. “Objection, relevance.”
“Sustained. Move along, counselor.”
“Now, you stated on direct that you sneaked out of a foster home. Did you actually ever talk to your foster family after that?”
“Yes, I did.”
“And what did you say to them?”
“I told them that I was staying with a friend and not to worry.”
“Oh, so you lied to them, did you?”
“I guess so.”
“And lying comes easy to you, doesn’t it?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“It doesn’t? Yet you just said that you told your foster family, as easy as you please, that you were staying with a friend, when, in truth, you were staying with Mr. Williams. That lie came easily enough to you. This lie is coming just as easy, isn’t it?”
“But I’m not lying. I promise you, I’m telling the God’s honest truth.”
“And why didn’t you go to the police when Jacqueline told you what it was you had to do with these men?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to stay there. I didn’t want to have to leave. I had no place to go. I-” She hung her head. “I should have called the police. I should have. But I didn’t. I’m sorry.”
“Right. Didn’t your parents ever tell you that you are supposed to call the police when you see somebody doing something wrong?”
“No. My parents never taught me nothing like that. My mom was a drug addict and my father was in prison, where he died. I’ve been in and out of foster families my entire life. Nobody ever taught me right from wrong.”
“Aha! So, you admit that you don’t know right from wrong, then?”
“Well, no, I’m not admitting that, but I’m just saying that nobody close to me ever taught me about that.”
“And nobody ever taught you that lying is wrong, either, did they?”
“Well, no, but I know that lying is wrong.”
“You must not know that lying is wrong, because here you are, lying on the stand.”
“I’m not lying.” Angela was clearly getting frustrated. “I’m not lying. There’s going to be three other girls who are all going to say the same type of thing that I’m saying. All of them. There are a lot more girls who can testify to the same thing, but they won’t be, because most of them are pretty messed up about the whole thing. But I’m not lying. They won’t be lying, either.”
“Do you have money to live on, Ms. Todd?”
“No, I don’t. Not right now. I’m living in that group home, and I’m being taken care of there, but once I get out of there, I don’t know how I’m going to make ends meet.”
“But don’t you agree that a big windfall in this case will help you out immensely?”
“I don’t understand.”
“I mean, if you get, say, a million dollars from this case, you’ll be set for life, won’t you be? You’re not going to have to worry about a thing. But if you don’t get this money, you’ll be struggling your whole life, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I guess. But that’s not why-”
“I have nothing further.”
Angela looked at the judge with a dazed look in her eyes.
“Ms. Todd, you are excused.”
“Thanks,” she said.
Chapter 40
For the next three days, I called my witnesses to testify. Dakota Murphy, Cameron Hayes and Naomi King all testified similarly to Angela. Their stories were not exactly identical, but only because they all had different stories on how they came to meet Carl in the first place. Naomi talked about how she was introduced into the circle by her cousin, who already was in the circle. Dakota talked about how her mother was friends with Carl, and that she suggested that Dakota work for him - she had a similar story to Emma, Harrison’s daughter, who also was sold into prostitution by her own money-hungry mother. Cameron talked about how she ran away from her abusive home and was found by a Russian by the name of Oleg Karinsky, and Oleg brought her in.
Their stories were different on how they found the place, but, once they got there, their stories were remarkably similar. They each told the court about how they hung back for a month or more, while Jacqueline groomed them for bigger and better things, even though they weren’t aware that this was what was happening. They each told the court about how they were asked to leave, but given a chance to stay only if they would start providing sexual favors to the men at the parties. They each told the court about how they reluctantly started doing that, because they didn’t know what else they could do.
And Jonathan tried, with each girl, to show that they were lying. But I could almost tell that his heart wasn’t in it. How could it be? Jonathan knew the score. I knew that he knew. By the end of the girls’ testimonies, I could tell that he was phoning it in, exhausted by having to use the same tactics to try to trip up four virtually identical tales of being trafficked to the rich and famous.
And each girl testified that they did not provide a fake ID to anyone.
Finally, after six days of grueling testimony, and Jonathan not even trying to put on his own evidence to refute it, it was time for closing arguments. Jonathan didn’t have his own evidence. He couldn’t call any of the men to say that the girls were all lying bitches, because none of them were willing to testify. And Carl wasn’t willing to testify, either, although I did have his videotaped deposition where he lied the entire time. I elected not to show the jury that, and Jonathan didn’t, either, so the whole thing just died on the vine.
I went first with my closing argument.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” I began. “Let me remind you about what Mr. Augusto, the attorney for the defendant, told you in his opening statement. He told you that there was no proof that anything illegal was happening at Carl Williams’ home. That the most that happened was that the men kissed some underaged girls, and that this isn’t illegal. Well, now, you heard the testimony of four of the young ladies who were a part of this sex trafficking ring. You heard them. You got a look at them. Did they look like ladies who were motivated by money?
And I want you to consider just a few aspects of this case. I want to highlight them, if you will. First, the accountant for Carl Williams admitted on the stand that Carl has 100 men pay him $50,000 every month for his party services,” I said, putting air quotes around t
he words “party services.” “Come on, now, $50,000 a month for the chance to kiss an underage girl? Really? Do you believe that for two seconds? I mean, it doesn’t cost $50,000 a month to belong to the most elite golf club or country club in the world. Yet, these men, these wealthy and powerful men, were willing to shell that money out for some chaste kisses and some walks in the moonlight?”
I shook my head. “No. That’s not right, and you know it’s not right. In what world would that happen? Not in this one, and you know it. You know that these men wouldn’t pay that much money unless it was for the chance to get something that they can’t just get anywhere. And that means that these men were paying for the chance to have sex with beautiful underaged women, as many beautiful underaged women as they wanted. You heard the girls testify to just that.
Plus, the accountant, Mr. Steven Barnes, he testified that the girls were all paid $1000 per party. That was Mr. Barnes’ testimony. Now, is Carl Williams going to pay his girls $1,000 a party just so that they can flirt with the men and give them some kisses and a chance to play chicken with them in the pool? Is that what you are to believe about this case?”
I knew that I had the jury right at that moment. I could see it in their faces.
“No. Ladies and gentlemen, you are smart. You are too smart to believe the nonsense that the defense counsel wants you to believe. You have common sense, same as anybody else, and your common sense is telling you that Carl Williams was sex trafficking underaged girls. Plain and simple. And let me remind you that punitive damages are available for this case. Punitive damages are damages which are designed to punish a defendant. To tell the defendant that his behavior is not acceptable in any way, shape or form. To tell the defendant that his behavior will not be tolerated in society. I urge you to punish this man, because this is the only way that Mr. Williams will be brought to justice for what he has done. I ask for compensatory damages for the entire class of girls, 100 in all, of $20 million. This for their pain, suffering and emotional distress. And another $480 million in punitive damages. Remember, Carl Williams was grossing $60 million a year off of these women, and he’s been doing it for the past 20 years. Send him a message by stripping him of almost all of what he’s grossed with these young ladies over the years. That would be his just desserts. Thank you very much.”
Justice Delayed: Southern California Legal Thriller #2 Page 19
