The Hate Crime

by Rachel Sinclair

  “Ms. Whittier found that to be too dangerous, however. She found another illegal way to make money when she became a nurse, and that was stealing prescription drugs for yet another drug dealer in town, named Charlie Williams. Mr. Williams partnered with Ms. Whittier to distribute prescription drugs, such as OxyContin and Percocet, on the black market. She and Mr. Williams worked hand-in-hand for two years. However, at one point, about six months ago, Ms. Whittier informed Mr. Williams that she could no longer steal drugs for him to distribute. She explained to him that she knew that her superiors were catching onto what she was doing, and she didn’t want to end up going to prison. Especially because this entire scheme was Mr. Williams’ idea in the first place.”

  “So, here you have two people who had reason to kill Ms. Whittier. We have Larry Rodriguez, who spent a lot of money on transforming Mr. Page into Ms. Whittier, only to have her not only not give him what he needed, which was secrets about the Sharpelli family, but also refused to work for him. The second person who had clear motive to kill Ms. Whittier was Charlie Williams. Mr. Williams had reason to kill Ms. Whittier, because he had a deal with her to distribute prescription drugs, and she not only told him that she was going to have to stop doing that, but he also suspected that she had enough evidence to finger him to save her own skin, if her employers called the authorities on her.”

  “So you’ll hear testimony from Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Williams. You’ll hear evidence that each one of these men had a reason to kill Ms. Whittier. Each one of these men had a motive that was far above any kind of motive that my client would’ve had to kill her.”

  “And what about the fact that Ms. Whittier’s body was found so close to Mr. Harrison’s apartment? Well, ladies and gentlemen, the fact her body was found close to his apartment does not make it more likely that my client killed her. On the contrary, the fact that her body was found so close to his apartment makes it less likely that he killed her. Think about it – if he killed her, don’t you think that he would try to do something to cover that fact up? The fact that her body was found so close to his apartment screams a set up to me. And, as it happens, each one of these men also had a reason to frame my client.”

  “Mr. Rodriguez had a reason to frame my client, because my client used to work for him a long time ago. My client knew about Mr. Rodriguez’s activities, and Mr. Rodriguez wanted to shut him up. So he framed him for murder, which would make him go away to prison, which would, in turn, serve the purpose of silencing him. Mr. Williams also had a reason to frame my client, because Mr. Williams had a problem with a woman by the name of Heather Morrison. My client has information about Heather Morrison, information that could possibly implicate Ms. Morrison in a crime. Mr. Williams’ motive was simple, because he knew that if my client got convicted for murder, he would turn on Ms. Morrison to save his own skin. This was Mr. Williams’ end game, because he and Ms. Morrison used to be lovers, but things ended acrimoniously. Mr. Williams paid Ms. Morrison’s bond, and her attorney’s fees, when she was accused of murdering her mother several years back. You will hear evidence about these transactions.”

  “So you see, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there were people who had reason to want to see Ms. Whittier dead. The same people also wanted to see my client behind bars. They wanted to have both of them out of the way. These people would have much more motive to have killed Adele Whittier than my client did. And, after you hear the evidence, you will agree that, my client had the less motive to kill Ms. Whittier than did Mr. Williams and Mr. Rodriguez. Once you hear the evidence, you will have no choice but to vote to acquit my client. I ask you for a verdict of not guilty. Thank you very much.”

  Chapter 32

  We finished our opening statements, and the judge announced a 10-minute break. The jury filed out, and I sat down next to Beck. He looked nervous, but not overly so. “So what do you think?” I asked him.

  Beck shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, dog. I think you did an okay job in defending me. I don’t know though. It seems like this can go either way.”

  “Of course it can. Of course the case can go either way. But I think that we’re going to win this.” I often said this to my clients, even when I was not confident. And, truth be told, I wasn’t entirely confident now. I had some pretty good suspects on my list, but that didn’t mean that I was going to be able to break them down and show the jury that they would have had motive to have done this. “If we lose this case, are you still going to go to the authorities about Heather, and try to get a lighter sentence?”

  “Sure, dog. I’ll do anything to make sure that I’m not in the joint for the rest my life.” He closed his eyes. “I’ll do anything.”

  I knew that that was going to be the case. I knew that the prosecutors would shorten his sentence in exchange for information about Heather, even though Heather’s case was unrelated.

  I also knew that Beck was more worried than he let on. If nothing else, it was going to be humiliating for him to have his sex life hashed out in front of the court. He was very secretive about that, obviously. He didn’t want to tell me about it at all, and I was his attorney. To have that fact splashed in front of what he considered to be the world, was going to be embarrassing for him, to say the very least. I wished that there was another way to make sure that the prosecutors came off the hate crime designation, because I wanted to make sure that his hateful past was not a part of this trial. I felt that the best way to make sure that that happened was to show that he had a relationship with the victim, therefore it was not likely that he killed her just because she was transgendered. It was a defense that I felt was a good one, but Beck didn’t think that. So we were at odds about it.

  He crossed his arms in front of him and shook his head. With closed eyes, he said “I hope you know what you’re doing, dog. You’re going to be dragging my name through the mud. It better be worth it. If I lose this case, I ain’t going to prison being known as some kind of namby-pamby faggot. It’s bad enough that my homies are gonna know it after today. But whatever. You’re the lawyer, I’m the client. I’m just the dumb shit who managed to get his ass into such a situation. You’re the guy who’s going to get me out of it. So my life is in your hands. But you know what’s gonna happen if I go down. If I go down, I’m bringing a bunch of people down with me. That’s all you need to know.”

  Chapter 33

  The jury came back in, everybody took their seat, the judge came back, and it was time to get started. “Okay, counselor,” Judge Grant said to Alayna, “Call your first witness.”

  I knew that there were not many witnesses that Alayna could call. She could call in the officers who arrested Beck, but there was only so much that they could say. They certainly could not say that he confessed to them. That horse left the barn when they failed to give him an attorney when he asked for one. Granted, his request for an attorney was ambiguous, but I won the argument, and that was all that mattered.

  Other than that, I knew that Alayna was going to be calling in Quince Newton, the bartender from that night. And she was also going to call in two of Beck’s friends from the outside – Cameron Jackson and Pete Taylor. Ostensibly, those two guys were going to testify to the fact that Beck was having problems with his sexuality, but I thought the real reason why the prosecutor was going to be calling them was because she wanted to psyche Beck out. She knew that I was going to be calling him to the stand, and she wanted to rattle him.

  As I looked at Beck, I realized that was probably a good strategy on her part. I knew that there was one thing about Beck, and that was that he didn’t want people knowing about that side of him. The gay side of him. He certainly didn’t want his friends to know about it, but it was safe to say that they probably would know this after the trial. They might even know it at the moment. Not that Beck knew if they did or not – those two guys had stopped talking to him several months ago.

  Other than that, she was going to call in the medical examiner, and she was going to display
the obligatory blowup pictures of the victim. None of which proved anything. I was going to object to the pictures being displayed, because they weren’t helpful to the jury. They never were. What was proved just by showing them pictures of Adele’s body splayed out on the ground next to a dumpster? The fact that she died? It certainly wasn’t helpful in allowing the jury to determine who killed her. And that was the only reason why we were having a trial. To find out who killed Adele Whittier.

  The first two witnesses that Alayna called were the officers on the scene, and the medical examiner. It went just like I knew that it would. She just asked the officers questions about finding Adele’s body next to the dumpster by Beck’s apartment, and she questioned the officers who were brought Beck in and interrogated him. She couldn’t go very far with that, however. She tried to skirt the line to imply to the jury that Beck had confessed, but I saw Judge Grant giving her the evil eye, so she shut those questions down pretty quick. As for the medical examiner, that was perfunctory, and anti-climatic. The medical examiner simply stated that Adele had been killed by strangulation.

  I leaned back in my chair, waiting for the witnesses that Alayna was going to call who I thought might do some damage to us. Emphasis on the word “might,” because I didn’t think that the people that she was going to call were really going to do much.

  After she called the officers and the medical examiner, the first witness she called to the stand was Quince Newton. He was a bartender at the Zoo Bar, and he was going to testify that he saw Beck and Adele leave the bar together. His testimony was also a wash, as far as I was concerned. So he saw them leave the bar together – so what? What did that prove? I could have just stipulated that Beck and Adele left the bar together. That was a fact, and I wasn’t gonna try to deny it. There was no point in denying it. So, when Quince was done with his testimony, I didn’t have any questions for him.

  Nevertheless, Alayna managed to make his testimony more dramatic than what it really was. “So,” she asked Quince. “You saw them leaving the bar together. Did you ever see Ms. Whittier in the bar after that night?”

  “No. Obviously. She was killed that night, right?”

  Alayna went over to the jury after that question. “I would like the jury to know that Mr. Newton was the last person to see Ms. Whittier alive.” She told the jury that with as dramatic of a voice as possible. I rolled my eyes. Drama queen.

  Then came the two friends of Beck, Cameron Jackson and Pete Taylor. Cameron was first.

  “Mr. Jackson, could you please state your name for the record?”

  “Cameron Jackson.” Cameron was somebody who resembled my client, in a way. He was extremely muscular, and, like my client, he had a lot of tattoos on his skin. Unlike my client, at the moment, Cameron was wearing a short sleeve shirt that showed off both his muscles and his tattoos. Like my client, his head was shaved bald. He had tanned skin, and brown eyes. I looked at some of his tattoos, and I realized that this guy was probably a member of the Aryan Brotherhood as well.

  “Mr. Jackson, did you speak with the defendant on the night of June 5 of this year?”

  “Yeah. I did.”

  “And were you with the defendant, Mr. Harris, and the victim in this case, Ms. Whittier, on that evening?” Alayna asked.

  “I was.”

  “What was your impression about what the relationship was between Mr. Harrison and Ms. Whittier?”

  I got to my feet. “Objection. This question clearly calls for speculation.”

  “With all due respect your honor, I’m simply asking for Mr. Jackson’s overall impression of the relationship between Ms. Whittier and Mr. Harrison.”

  The prosecutor was right about that. But I wanted to throw her slightly off her game. I gave her a free ride on the officers and the medical examiner, and it was time to try to mix it up a bit.

  “Overruled. You may proceed, counselor.”

  Cameron looked confused, although I knew that he was no stranger to court appearances. I had checked on his record before, and he had been in and out of the joint more than Beck had been. “Beck and Adele, they were dating.”

  I looked over at Beck, who was shaking his head. He explained to me that the guys apparently didn’t know that Adele was not biologically a woman. Nevertheless, Beck had insisted to me that he was not dating Adele at the time that she was killed. I was therefore confused about why it was that Cameron was saying these things.

  “You are aware that Ms. Whittier was transgendered?”

  Cameron looked stunned, and then he gave Beck a look of disgust. “Hell, no. Beck, he don’t play that.”

  “When you say that he doesn’t play that, what does that mean?”

  “That means he don’t play that. He don’t get with dudes.”

  “Is that what Beck has told you?”

  “Yeah, that’s what he told me. He don’t get with dudes. And he certainly ain’t getting with a dude who’s not quite a dude.”

  I suddenly knew where the prosecutor was going with this, and it was very clever. She was clearly going to try to show guilt by association. That, because Beck’s best friend was apparently homophobic, at least judging by the look of disgust that was on his face currently, the prosecutor was going to show that Beck probably was homophobic as well. That, combined with the fact that Beck actually had a relationship with William/Adele was clearly how the prosecutor was going to try to show that Beck was very conflicted about his feelings. However, I was not going to let her get away with it. If that was her plan, I was going to put a stop to it. On cross-examination, I knew just what to ask this guy.

  “Is it safe to say that if Mr. Harrison did come out to you and the other friends that you and Mr. Harrison hang out with, that that would not be something that would be accepted?”

  “Oh, hell no. Sorry, ma’am, but that ain’t happening with any of my homies. I would probably beat the crap out of him if I found out that he was messing with dudes.” Then he looked at Alayna quizzically. It was as if it just dawned on him what she was driving at. “Wait, are you saying that Adele wasn’t a woman?” He shook his head. “Man, if she wasn’t a woman, she sure fooled me.”

  “Yes, Mr. Jackson, that’s exactly what I’m saying to you. Ms. Whittier was biologically a male.”

  Cameron looked as if he was very confused, and very disgusted at the same time. Then he started shaking his head. “You’re serious? My homey Beck was dating a woman who wasn’t a woman?”

  “Apparently so. If you tell me that Mr. Harrison and Ms. Whittier were dating, then the answer to your question is yes, Mr. Harrison was dating a woman who was biologically a man.”

  I had no idea why Beck didn’t tell his friends about what was going to be said in court today. It seemed to me that Beck should’ve known that this scenario could occur, and he probably should’ve come clean to Cameron long before he could be blindsided in court for maximum effect. In fact, I had strongly advised him to do just that – tell his friends that the woman that he was dating, although whether or not he was actually dating Adele was still a matter of dispute, was a man.

  Cameron was still on the stand, but he was shaking his head. I wondered what he was thinking. The look on his face told me that he probably was going to stop hanging out with Beck after this, for good. He kept looking at Beck with extremely dirty looks. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I feel like I need to get sick. I mean, you’re trying to tell me that my homey, the guy that I grew up with, the guy that I’ve always been tight with, is a homo? I’m sorry, I have to have a minute with that.”

  Even though Cameron told Alayna that he needed a minute to process the fact that the man he thought he knew was, as he put it, a “homo,” Alayna was not going to give him that minute. “Now, I would like to take you back to the evening of June 5. You were with Ms. Whittier and Mr. Harrison earlier that evening, isn’t that right?”

  Cameron sat silently for a few minutes. It looked like he was still trying to recover from being told that Beck was dating a transg
endered person. He didn’t answer her question. He just stared at the wall. It was clear that he hadn’t heard her question.

  “Mr. Harrison,” Judge Grant said. “Please answer the question.”

  “I’m sorry, what was the question again?”

  “The question was whether or not you were with Ms. Whittier and Mr. Harrison earlier in the evening of June 5 of this year?”

  “Uh, yeah. I was.”

  “What was the nature of the relationship that evening, between Mr. Harrison and Ms. Whittier?”

  “I don’t know, what you mean?”

  “Were they friendly with one another that night, or was there tension between the two of them that night?”

  “Oh yeah, they were fighting. It wasn’t nothing special. Beck was just pissed that he felt that Adele wasn’t being very quiet about her criminal activities. He kind of felt that she was going to end up going down, and taking him down with her.”

  “And what do you mean by that? What do you mean that he was concerned she was gonna bring him down with her?”

  “Just what I said, man. Listen, Beck’s out on parole. He don’t need his girlfriend going around being all open about her drug dealing ways. Beck, he had been to prison, and he had no desire to go back. He said that once was enough.”

  “And why did he feel that Adele’s activities would impact him?”

  “He felt that way, because Adele kept on pushing him to help her. But you know, Beck ain’t doing that. No way is Beck going to be helping her out. Adele, she be working for Charlie Williams. Beck, he be working for one of Charlie’s rivals, Jordan Kennedy. Jordan Kennedy finds out that Beck’s working for somebody else, and Beck ain’t long for this world. So no, he ain’t gonna help Adele out.”