Until Proven Guilty

by Rachel Sinclair

  “Yes.”

  “And Naomi actually got full custody of your five children?”

  “Yes.” He sighed. “Where is this going?”

  Harper ignored his question and kept on going. “You don’t have a good relationship with your children now, do you?”

  He looked over at the judge, as if he expected Judge Watkins to save him. “I don’t, no.”

  “And isn’t it true that you feel that you lost your relationship with your children because you divorced their mother and only got to see them on a part-time basis?”

  “I don’t know why I don’t have a good relationship with my children,” he said. “I just know that they don’t like me very much.”

  Harper nodded her head. “But you divorcing their mother when they were young children, and her getting full custody of them, with only weekend visits for you, certainly didn’t help your relationship with your kids. Is that safe to say?”

  “I guess,” he said.

  “And isn’t it true that you blame Dr. Dunham for all of that – the divorce, the estrangement from your kids. All of it?”

  “I don’t know. I guess.” He wasn’t going to give Harper a straight answer on that, but I knew the truth. I got ahold of the file and the depositions that were given in the lawsuit that Dr. Dunham had filed against Robert when he found out that Robert had influenced Earl Dunham, the Dunham family patriarch, to cut Dr. Dunham out of the will. The depositions clearly indicated that Robert Dunham hated Dr. Dunham because he blamed Dr. Dunham for the disintegration of his family and his relationship with his kids.

  That was just one of the reasons why Robert Dunham had Dr. Dunham killed. My research came across an even more compelling reason for this, and Harper was going to examine Robert Dunham about all of it.

  “You guess.” Harper nodded her head. “Mr. Dunham, isn’t it true that Dr. Dunham filed a lawsuit against you just last year when he found out that you were the reason why he was cheated out of his inheritance?”

  His face got red. “Yes. He did.”

  “And isn’t it true that the reason why Dr. Dunham filed a lawsuit against you was because you were instrumental in making sure that Mr. Earl Dunham, your grandfather, cut Dr. Dunham out of his will?”

  “I guess.”

  “You don’t know? Mr. Dunham, were you or were you not the defendant in the case of Dr. Tracy Dunham v. Robert Dunham, a case that was filed in this circuit just last year?”

  “I was the defendant in that case, yes.”

  “And isn’t it true that the basis for that case against you was that you influenced Earl Dunham while he was not in control of his mental faculties, and in the late stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, to cut Tracy Dunham out of Earl’s will by telling Earl that Tracy was disloyal to Earl? In fact, you told Earl that Tracy was plotting to kill him, isn’t that true?”

  “That’s what Tracy claimed I did, yes. But, as you know, that case was never settled or resolved, so nothing was ever proved.”

  Harper nodded. “No, that case was never resolved, but only because Tracy died before it could be resolved, isn’t that true?”

  “What are you getting at?” Robert asked.

  “Nothing. I’m just pointing out that the case was never resolved because Tracy died before it could be resolved. That’s all.” She looked back at me, and raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes. That’s true. Tracy died before that case could be resolved. That’s true.”

  “Mr. Dunham, isn’t it true that you actually received an inheritance of $100 million from Earl Dunham?”

  “Yes, that’s true.”

  “And isn’t it true that quite a bit of that inheritance has gone to settle a series of lawsuits filed against you by 25 different women?”

  He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Yes, I had to settle some extremely baseless claims from a bunch of women who were out to get me. Yes, that’s true. Not one of those claims had any basis in fact, not one.”

  “Yet, you settled all of them, one by one, and you paid a great deal of your wealth to these women? You paid some $50 million to these women altogether, isn’t that right?”

  “Yes, that’s true,” he said. “But that wasn’t all my wealth.”

  “No, it wasn’t, was it? Actually, your main source of wealth over the years has come from your shares in a pharmaceutical company called Osiris, isn’t that correct?”

  “That’s right.”

  “And you actually own 75% of this business, isn’t that right?”

  “Right.”

  “And this company annually has sales of $500 million, isn’t that right?”

  “Give or take,” Robert said.

  “And isn’t it true that some 80% of Osiris’ annual pharmaceutical sales are in the realm of opioids?”

  “Yes, that’s true,” Robert said. “Around that.”

  “80% of Osiris sales are in opioids. That’s what, $400 million a year in opioid sales?”

  “Yes, that sounds about right,” Robert said.

  “A lot of money, wouldn’t you say?”

  “I guess.”

  “And if somebody, say, was to come up with a way of treating pain that does not involve opioids, it would seriously cut into Osiris’ profits, wouldn’t that be right?”

  “I guess. But nobody is doing that type of thing, so that point is moot, isn’t it?”

  Harper nodded. “Oh, but somebody was doing that type of thing, wasn’t he? Dr. Dunham was developing a method of pain management that did not involve opioids, and he was getting a lot of attention for this method, wasn’t he?”

  Robert shrugged, trying hard to look nonchalant. “I really don’t know. He was my brother, but we weren’t close, so I really don’t know what he was doing in his practice.”

  “You didn’t know? Is that your testimony?” Harper asked him.

  “Yes, that’s my testimony.”

  “Really.” Harper nodded her head. “You didn’t know. You own 75% of a pharmaceutical company and you really weren’t hearing about your brother’s advancement in the treatment of pain management?”

  “That’s what I said,” Robert said defensively.

  “Your brother was approached by national magazines such as Time and was approached by national television shows like The Doctors and you, a man who has a large stake in a pharmaceutical company that focuses on opioids, never heard that Dr. Dunham was on the verge of nationalizing a new technique that was going to cut into the opioid business considerably?”

  “That’s right, I didn’t know.”

  Harper nodded her head. “So, then, is it fair to say that you are not up on the new advancements in pain management?”

  “Of course I’m in the loop on pain management advances, but only on the pharmaceutical side.”

  “So, you only focus on pharmaceuticals, then, not on other types of pain management?”

  “That’s right, I don’t focus on advancements that do not focus on pharmaceuticals.”

  Harper knew that he looked foolish when he was giving his testimony. It was common sense that somebody who had a large stake in a pharmaceutical company was obviously going to stay current on all advances in the field, not just the advancements that had to do directly with new drugs.

  She decided to pivot to a different topic.

  “Mr. Dunham, isn’t it true that your company, Osiris, was entertaining an offer to sell to merge with another pharmaceutical company, Sisto?”

  “Yes, that is true.”

  “And Sisto is a multi-billion dollar company, is it not?”

  “Yes, that’s true. It is.”

  “In fact, Sisto does $3 billion sales annually, according to the most recent company reports, isn’t that true?”

  “Yes, that’s true.”

  “And if Osiris was to merge with this company, that would mean that you, as the 75% stockholder of Osiris, would have stood to make millions?” Harper asked.

  “Right. I would have made millions.”

 
; “And the merger is still in the works, isn’t it?” Harper asked.

  “It still is, yes.”

  “But isn’t it true that Sisto was actually going to back out of the merger deal with Osiris because it was concerned that Osiris was too focused on opioids in its portfolio?”

  “Well, there was a concern about that, but we were able to show Sisto that our opioid lines were robust and would continue to be so into the future, so we were able to address their concerns about that.”

  “But isn’t it true that Dr. Dunham’s pain management procedure seriously threatened your company’s bottom line?”

  “Again, I didn’t know that my brother was working on a pain management procedure that didn’t deal with drugs, so I have no idea how I’m supposed to answer that question.”

  At that, Harper decided to bring out the smoking gun. It was a document that I had found in the merger file that was a matter of public record. It was a letter that Robert Dunham had written to Eugene McConnell, who was the point man of the merger between Osiris and Sisto. It was something that was going to definitively prove that Robert knew damned well that Tracy was a threat.

  “I would like you to read a letter that you wrote to Eugene McConnell,” Harper said. “I have marked this as Exhibit A. Would you please read the highlighted portion of this letter?”

  Robert took the letter and looked at it, and I saw his face get whiter and whiter as he read every word. “I don’t know this letter, I’ve never seen it before,” he said.

  “Oh?” Harper said. “You mean, this isn’t your signature down at the bottom of this letter, then?”

  “Well-“ He looked doubtful. He knew that he had signed this letter and he was afraid that Harper had the goods to prove it. She already told me that if she needed to call a handwriting expert to authenticate his signature, she was going to do it. In fact, a handwriting expert was on our list of potential witnesses.

  Robert didn’t know that Harper had a handwriting expert on tap, but he had to know that this was a distinct possibility.

  “Yes, or no? Is this or this not your signature there at the bottom of this letter?” Harper asked him.

  He stared at the letter some more, shaking his head the entire time. “Yes,” he finally said. “Yes. This is my signature at the bottom.”

  “So, are you in the habit of signing letters about which you don’t know the content and had not reviewed?”

  He was faced with the prospect of either looking like a sloppy person or a liar if he tried to answer Harper’s question in the affirmative. Neither of these prospects was going to look good for him, but to admit that he signed this letter without reviewing it or okaying its contents looked like the only prospect for him at that moment.

  “Yes,” he finally said. “I guess I didn’t review this letter before I signed it. I guess I didn’t know what the contents of this letter was when I signed it.”

  “Oh? Is that what you want the jury to believe?”

  “Yes, that’s what I want the jury to know. I’m not proud of this, but sometimes I get so many papers crossing my desk, I’ll just sign my name without even knowing what I’m signing. It happens sometimes. I’m a very busy guy.”

  “In this case, there was a lot at stake, wasn’t there? Specifically, what was at stake was a merger that was going to net you millions and was going to make your company potentially billions a year. So, you’re going to tell the court that, with all those millions and billions on the line, you’re going to sign a letter to the merger point man, Eugene McConnell, without reviewing said letter. That’s what you’re going to let the court believe?” Harper asked.

  “I’m a busy guy,” Robert said, in a rather pathetic voice.

  “I get that.” Harper nodded. “So you’ve said. Anyhow, I would like for you to read the highlighted portion of this letter to the court.”

  At that, Kevin got to his feet. “Objection, hearsay,” he said.

  “Your honor, this is a letter that this man wrote,” Harper said. “It’s his own words. Therefore, it falls under the prior inconsistent statement exclusion to the hearsay rule.”

  “But the witness just spent a lot of time stating that this wasn’t actually his statement,” Kevin said. “He was adamant that he never actually read this letter.”

  “Counselor,” Judge Watkins said, addressing Harper. “What say you about that? The witness did deny reading this letter before signing it.”

  “This was a signed letter, and he admitted that he signed it. Your honor, Mr. Williams’ objection is frivolous and I think that he knows it. The witness can claim all he wants that he has no idea about the contents of this letter and that he didn’t read it before he signed it, but his signature is proof of the letter’s authenticity and veracity.”

  Judge Watkins nodded his head. “Objection overruled. Mr. Dunham, you must answer the question.”

  Harper nodded and pointed to the phrase in the letter that she wanted Robert to read. “Please read the highlighted portion of this letter,” she said.

  Robert took a deep breath, and pretended that he was seeing the letter for the first time, ever. He read slowly and painfully, his face scrunched up in a what the hell is this letter? way.

  “Mr. McConnell,” he said with a clear of his throat as he read the letter. “While I understand your concern that my brother, Dr. Dunham, is working on a procedure that will greatly lessen the value of Osiris, Inc., in that Dr. Dunham is working on a pain management technique that has the potential to reduce the usage of opioids in this country, I can assure you that this will not be a problem in the future.”

  He handed the letter back to Harper. “I don’t know who wrote those words,” he said. “I really don’t.”

  Harper nodded, ignoring his protestations. “This letter indicates that you did, in fact, know that your brother was working on a procedure that had the potential to kill your company’s bottom line, isn’t that right?”

  “That’s what that letter seems to indicate, but I don’t know who wrote these words. It looks like somebody is trying to frame me for something.” He shook his head. “I’m going to find out who wrote this letter and fire that person immediately.”

  “What did you mean when you said that Dr. Dunham was not going to be a problem in the future? What did that mean?”

  “I don’t know. I told you, I didn’t write those words. I don’t know.”

  “Isn’t it true that you wrote Sisto with those words, that Dr. Dunham and his technique was not going to be a problem in the future because you knew that you were going to kill Dr. Dunham, thus eliminating the problem?”

  “No. I didn’t write those words, but I don’t read them in that way.”

  “What way do you read them, then?”

  He took a deep breath. “The person who wrote this letter was probably thinking that my brother’s technique was going to fail, that’s all.”

  Harper nodded her head. The guy was a terrible liar and a terrible actor. His face was red and he was visibly shaking. I knew that Harper got him by making him read that part of the letter. She was going to keep him squirming and on the hook, like a worm on a fishing hook, writhing around.

  “So, you knew that Dr. Dunham was a threat to your bottom line,” Harper announced, not allowing him to interject. “Mr. Dunham, isn’t it true that you gave Sharita Vance $50,000 to deliver an Oxycontin to Dr. Dunham?”

  He shifted uncomfortably. He wasn’t in the courtroom when Sharita gave her testimony, so he didn’t know what her answer was to this particular question. He had to have known that the proof of this transaction was out there, though. He had to know that if he answered “no,” that Harper was going to be able to trap him in the lie.

  He apparently decided that lying about this transaction was too risky. “Yes, that’s true,” he finally said. “I did pay her money to deliver Oxycontin to my brother.”

  “Not just money, but $50,000,” Harper said dramatically. “That’s a pretty penny, isn’t it?”


  He sighed. “Yes, I guess that it is.”

  “And why did you pay her that kind of money to give drugs to your brother?”

  He apparently came up with a wild story right on the spot. “Well, my brother, he called me up that night, desperate. I knew that he was getting drugs on the street, heroin, and I was so worried about it. So worried about it. I did my research, and I knew that these street drugs are dangerous. Very dangerous. Those heroin dealers, they cut their heroin with rat poison and Fentanyl and all kinds of dangerous things. Well, I was scared that he was getting his drugs on the street, and I knew that Ms. Vance used to give him Oxycontin on a weekly basis. I wanted her to give him Oxycontin again, because I didn’t want him using heroin. But she didn’t want to go and deliver him Oxycontin. She refused. She said that she had a falling-out with my brother and she didn’t want to go. Well, I was desperate for her to deliver those drugs to him, so I paid her that money so that she could do that.”

  He was admitting to a crime, just as Sharita had admitted to a crime – delivering drugs to somebody was a crime. At least it was in a case like this, where the person delivering the drugs knew that they were going to be used for an illegal purpose, which was what was happening here. Both Sharita and Robert were admitting that the Oxycontin was being delivered to Dr. Dunham with the knowledge that he was going to consume them himself.

  Yet, it seemed that admitting to their role in distributing illicit substances to Dr. Dunham was a lesser issue than admitting that they delivered a lethal dose of heroin to the man. They both seemed to take that calculated risk.

  “Really,” Harper said to Robert. “And you couldn’t just go ahead and deliver the Oxycontin yourself to him?” She knew the answer to this. She knew that Robert could have never delivered Oxycontin to Dr. Dunham at any time, simply because the two men were not speaking. Harper was going to trap him into admitting that Dr. Dunham never desperately called Robert that night, let alone that Robert was terrified that Dr. Dunham was getting his drugs from a dangerous place.

  “No,” he said. “I couldn’t.”

  “And the reason why you couldn’t was because you and Dr. Dunham weren’t speaking, isn’t it?”