Until Proven Guilty

by Rachel Sinclair

  “But your honor, I submit that the officers had no reason to even give my client a UA in the first place. They didn’t know that Tracy had died of a drug overdose, and there was nothing in the arrest record that would indicate that my client was showing physical signs that would be consistent with somebody who was high on opiates or any other drug. They didn’t have even a reasonable suspicion that my client was high, let alone probable cause.”

  “Your client consented to the UA,” Judge Watkins said.

  “Yes, again, because she didn’t believe that the officers were going to place her under arrest. She wasn’t driving. She was sitting in her home. They didn’t have probable cause for that UA, either.”

  Judge Watkins finally sighed and shook his head. “Here’s what I’m going to do, counselor. You have a good argument that both the UA and the search of the premises were illegally obtained, even though your client consented to both of them. She wasn’t under arrest during this period of time, and, it was true, that the officers who were on the scene could not have known during that time that Dr. Dunham died of an overdose.

  That said, if the officers had a reasonable belief that Dr. Dunham died of an overdose, and there were exigent circumstances, which there were in this case in that if your client was high at the time that Dr. Dunham died, then obviously they would not be able to establish that fact if they tested her once they discovered, after the toxicology exam, that she was high on opium that night, so that gave them a reason to give her a UA. So, I will let the results of the urinalysis stand.

  Furthermore, once the UA was given and it showed that your client did indeed have opiates in her system, that gave the officers probable cause to place her under arrest, and it gave them probable cause to search her premises for the source of the opium that was found in her system that night. The fact that they did not put her under arrest that night is non-dispositive to my analysis.”

  I sighed. I had a feeling that the judge was going to make this kind of a roundabout argument, so I was prepared for it.

  Kevin was looking at me with a smirk on his face. He really thought that he had me on the ropes. He had to have known that I was counting on that heroin being suppressed.

  I walked out of the courtroom feeling defeated and knowing that there was only one way this case was going to be resolved.

  In a trial. A trial that I could very well lose if I didn’t figure out what the hell was going on.

  Chapter 13

  The next day, I was greeted with a very hostile scene. I walked into the suite, and Pearl, our office manager, stood up. “Damien, what the hell were you thinking?”

  I was confused at first, but then I saw a guy who was sitting in the office suite, looking like he was about ready to kill me. He was tall, and dark headed, and he looked like somebody who was an MMA fighter. When I came in the door, he stood up, his fists clenched.

  I nodded my head at Pearl. Nobody had to tell me who this man was. It was clearly Michael Reynolds.

  “Where is Harper?” was the first thing that came out of my mouth. I suddenly realized that my little plan to file a lawsuit against Michael was probably backfiring on me in a spectacular way.

  “She’s in her office. She came in the door, and she saw this guy sitting there, and the first thing that she did was run into her office. I wouldn’t be surprised if she called the cops on him. In fact, I clearly would’ve called the cops on him by now. I don’t know why he’s in this office, but he said that he was looking for you.”

  I turned to the man who was standing there with his fist clenched. “Michael Reynolds, I presume?” I said, looking at him.

  “You’re damned right, I’m Michael Reynolds,” he said, standing up. He was intimidating in size, but I knew that I could take him if it came to that. I had beat up guys bigger than him in prison.

  I nodded my head. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right with you.”

  I went down the hall and knocked on Harper’s door. I was going to have to come clean on what I was doing. I was prepared for her to read me the riot act and I probably had it coming to me.

  Harper answered the door, and she peeked her head out the doorway, looking one way and then the other, and then grabbed me by my lapel and pulled me into the office. “Get in here.”

  She sat down behind her desk, and I sat down in the chair in front of it. “Harper, I’m so sorry.”

  “What are you sorry about?” Her hands were shaking. “That guy out there, did you see him? Is he still out there?”

  I took a deep breath. How was I going to explain it to her? “Yes, Harper I did see him. And I know who he is. And he’s here because of me, not because of you.”

  Her face got really white, and she stood up, and sat back down. “What do you mean he’s here because of you? How do you even know him?”

  How was I going to tell her this? “Harper, I don’t know if you read in the paper about a woman by the name of Carrie Blackwood. She was a minor pop star back in the early two thousands, I think she had a song on the radio. Anyhow, she committed suicide recently because of a viral video of her and Michael Reynolds that was posted. She was a pediatrician, and she lost her practice because of it.”

  Harper’s face started to regain its color, but her hands were still shaking. “Okay, go on. Tell me more about this Carrie Blackwood, and how it is that you’re involved in the middle of it?”

  I took a deep breath. I had no idea how Harper was going to react to my confession, but I had to hope that maybe she would surprise me. “I might have gone to Carrie’s mother, and talked her into her filing a lawsuit against Michael for wrongful death. Not to mention invasion of privacy.”

  Her eyes got big. And then she did something that was totally unexpected. She got up, walked over to me, stood behind me, and wrapped her arms around me from the back. She squeezed me tightly, and I could feel her head in my shoulders. She was sobbing.

  I gently stood up, and turned around and wrapped my arms around her. “I don’t know how to interpret this reaction.”

  “Damien, I’ve never had somebody do something like this for me,” she said. “I just wish you would’ve told me what you were doing, because then I wouldn’t have had this really bad surprise for me when I walked in the door this morning. But I love you for doing this. And I really do hope that you can get this bastard and make him pay out the nose. I did read about Carrie Blackwood in the papers, and online. It’s kind of a big story, because of the viral video, and the fact that she killed herself. Also because she was a minor pop star. When I found out about that, I was enraged, but I didn’t want to do anything about it. I felt like that was a third rail for me after what happened with my criminal case with him. I knew I couldn’t be objective, and, besides, I felt like I would be setting myself up for another bar complaint if I would’ve pursued him on this. I’m just happy that somebody’s trying to bring him to justice.”

  I felt relieved, to say the very least. I was hoping that she would react like this, but I wasn’t sure. “So, you’re okay with this?”

  “Oh, more than okay with this. You don’t know how okay I am with this. But you need to get rid of him. He’s not supposed to be here anyway, since you’re suing him. You need to go ahead and tell him that he’s going to have to find a lawyer, and that you’ll talk to his lawyer, but not to him.”

  “If he’s not yet represented by counsel, I can go and talk to him now,” I said. “But I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re right, he needs to find a lawyer, and I’ll talk to his lawyer. Unless, of course, he agrees to settle with me for millions of dollars right here and now. That’s how much I’m asking for – $10 million. Most of that is in punitive damages. Now, I know that he doesn’t have that kind of money, but the woman he still married to does.”

  Harper shook her head. “Unfortunately, he’s not married to her anymore. I knew that they were separated, and not living together. I found out that his wife got smart and filed for divorce, and the divorce just came throug
h. Just a couple of days ago. I accessed his divorce judgment online, and he presently doesn’t have a pot to piss in, as your mother might say. Mainly because his wife was able to show to the court that it was more likely than not that he killed her father, so she was able to convince the judge that he wasn’t entitled to a thin dime of her fortune. Not even the amount of money that the two of them had earned during the marriage. So, if you get a judgment against him, unfortunately, it’s not something that he’s going to be able to pay.”

  That was unfortunate. But, then again, it would be worth it if we could drive this guy into the poor house. The punitive damages would be something that he would never be able to get out from under. I knew something about bankruptcy law, and you could not discharge punitive damages in any kind of bankruptcy. In fact, there was a good chance that none of the debt would be dischargeable in bankruptcy, as you generally cannot discharge damages that result from a willful and malicious injury on the part of the defendant.

  That would mean that he wouldn’t be able to rely upon his wealthy wife to pay the judgment, and that the judgment would follow him around for the rest of his life. I would attach anything that he presently owned and anything he might own in the future, garnish his paychecks, freeze his bank accounts, do whatever it took to collect as much money as I could for my client. And that would be a substantial hardship on him.

  “Is it selfish of me that I am kinda happy that he’s divorced from his wealthy wife, and that he received no money out of the divorce? I mean, it would obviously had been better for my client if he would’ve gotten money from his divorce, and then we could’ve taken all of it, but, this way, he can be haunted by any judgment we’re going to get against him. He’s never going to be able to get out from under it. He’s never going to be able to own a house, and future employment opportunities will be limited because he’s going to have a large judgment on his record, and employers don’t look kindly on that. I know that the last position he had was a position that was fairly high up in an advertising agency, and if he wants to get a similar position, he’s going to have a hard time doing that. I’ll freeze his bank accounts. He’s not going to be able to run away from this. If he was still married to his ex-wife, then the judgment would be paid, no matter how big the judgment is, but what fun is that? The only person who would be paying out the nose would have been his wife.”

  Harper grinned. “Yeah, in a way it is selfish of you to be thinking that way. Of course, you want him to be able to pay any judgment, for your client, but I know what you’re saying. It’s much more fun to know that he’ll be twisting in the wind, completely on his own, with this one.” She rubbed her hands together. “Twisting in the wind. I love it.”

  I nodded my head, and left Harper’s office. I could see that Michael Reynolds was still waiting for me, his fists clenched.

  I went over to him. “Mr. Reynolds, I’m so sorry, but I can’t speak with you. I filed a lawsuit against you and you need to find a lawyer.”

  He looked like he was about to deck me. “I’m sorry, but this lawsuit you filed against me is bullcrap. Listen, you think you know what’s going on with this, but you don’t. She tried to tell people that she wasn’t with me consensually, but that’s crazy. Why would I post a video online if it was something that wasn’t consensual? That would open me up to all kinds of criminal liability.”

  I shook my head. “Again, I can’t talk to you about this. Go ahead and hire a lawyer. I’ll call your lawyer, and we can maybe settle this. But I won’t talk to you. Now please leave the premises, or I’ll have to call the police.”

  He pointed his finger at me. “You’re making a mistake. A mistake. She wanted me to post that video online. That was the kind of person she was. She wanted me to.”

  I didn’t say anything to him, but in my head I was thinking about what kind of line he was trying to give me. Why would a pediatrician, whose practice relies upon parents of young children coming to her and trusting her, want something like that to be posted online? That made no sense to me.

  “Again, I don’t want to go through this with you. You need to hire an attorney and then we’ll get the ball rolling.”

  His face got really red. “I can’t afford an attorney. I was calling attorneys today and everybody, but everybody’s, charging out the nose. $300 an hour and up. I’m broke. I can’t afford an attorney.”

  “Not my problem.”

  “What I’m saying is that if I can’t afford an attorney, then I won’t get one. I’m just going to have to represent myself. Which means that you’re going to have to deal with me, and only me.”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Suit yourself. You’ll have a fool for a client, that’s for sure.”

  At that, he stormed out of the office suite, and I felt a sense of relief. I knew that if he didn’t get an attorney, the case against him was going to be easier to win than I thought. If he had the money to hire some hired gun, who was going to bury me with discovery requests, as much as I was going to bury him with discovery requests, then this case would have been a lot of work. But, if he couldn’t afford an attorney, then I was going to bury him with discovery requests, but it wouldn’t be coming my way. Such a unilateral case was going to be easy to win.

  Then again, I didn’t want to jump the gun. That always got me in trouble.

  Chapter 14

  In the afternoon, Harper and I went to see the office manager for Dr. Dunham. Her name was Sally Wallace. She was a petite blonde, with blue eyeshadow and heavy lipstick. She was probably in her late 40s, but was trying to look younger.

  Her eyes lit up when we came in, and Harper nudged me and smiled. Harper was always teasing me about how women reacted to me, not that I ever noticed it.

  “Hello,” she said to us when we came in. “You must be Damien and Harper. I’m Sally, the office manager for Dr. Dunham and Dr. Gregory. Dr. Gregory is now the only doctor in this office.”

  “Dr. Gregory. And what kind of a doctor is Dr. Gregory?” I asked her.

  “Same as Dr. Dunham. Dr. Gregory is a pain management doctor. He’s a little bit different from Dr. Dunham was, however. He’s more conventional. People come to him for management of their pain, and he doesn’t try to recommend that they go through acupuncture or acupressure or yoga or any of that. He doesn’t recommend dietary changes or meditation, and he certainly doesn’t use that specialized technique that Dr. Dunham was using with his patients.”

  We followed her into the conference room, which was in the back of the office suite. The office suite itself was a typical medical suite, but it was a bit more high-end than some. The lobby had marble floors, a large fish tank with saltwater fish in it, and huge jugs that were filled with cucumber and strawberry waters. The conference room was large, with a distressed wood table in the middle, wood paneled walls, and a wall of windows. It was on the 50th floor of a high-rise building downtown, and the view of the city was quite remarkable.

  Harper and I sat down, and Sally poured us both a glass of cucumber water. “Now, what is it that you needed to ask me?” she asked us.

  I didn’t want to beat around the bush. There was no reason to. “Your boss, Dr. Dunham, died of a heroin overdose. Does that surprise you?”

  Sally hesitated. She bit her lower lip. “Does it surprise me? Well, no, in the sense that nothing surprises me anymore. But if you’re asking me if I saw any kind of indication that Dr. Dunham had a problem with drugs, the answer is no. I had no idea that he had a problem. However, if he had a problem with drugs, I wouldn’t have necessarily known it. People get pretty good about hiding such things.”

  “You must see a lot of addicts here in your practice, between Dr. Dunham and Dr. Gregory. Is that safe to say?” I took a sip of my water, which was quite tasty. I’d always kinda liked cucumber water, to tell the truth. Cool and refreshing and so incongruent with the weather outside, that was starting to get bitterly cold.

  “Yes, yes,” Sally said. “Of course we see people who are addicted. But, you
have to understand one thing. A lot of the people who are addicted were coming to Dr. Dunham because they wanted to kick that addiction. Word got around to people all over the country that Dr. Dunham was doing something pretty special for pain management. He had a really thriving practice, much moreso than Dr. Gregory. I mean, Dr. Gregory has a very good practice, but Dr. Gregory is doing what too many other pain management doctors are doing. He just gives out prescriptions for opiates and sends them on their way. Dr. Dunham, on the other hand, was able to charge top dollar for his services. The sad thing was that he was getting ready to export his technique to doctors everywhere around the country. He had a lot of doctors who were interested in that.”

  This was interesting to me, but I couldn’t quite put the puzzle pieces together. “I understand that he was going to be seeking a patent for his technique. By the way, what is his technique?”

  “He was able to do a combination of radio waves and sonar waves to pinpoint the overactive nerves that are the cause of a lot of pain in patients. That gave a lot of relief to patients who were having chronic pain. In fact, I had quite a few people coming in here telling me, for hours, how much they were able to get pain relief from Dr. Dunham. How grateful they were. They would tell me that they had gone to one doctor after another and were never able to get any kind of relief, but they came to Dr. Dunham and he cured them. He cured their pain. And that was any kind of pain, too. Not just the kind of pain that comes from overactive nerves, like fibromyalgia, but also people who had been in car accidents, who had chronic migraines, anybody, really, who had a lot of pain. He was able to help almost everybody, without drugs.”

  I made notes as she spoke. “He helped everybody, without the use of painkilling drugs. Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “Yes. That’s the reason why he had such a loyal following. People knew that they could come to him and get relief from their pain without opioids.”