Marc Kadella Legal Mysteries Vol 1-6 (Marc Kadella Series)

by Dennis Carstens

  “He’s your witness,” Carr reminded her.

  “When did they come in to sign the new Will and postnuptial agreement?” Heather said deciding to move forward.

  “The very next day, January fifth.”

  Heather asked for and obtained permission to approach the witness. She took several documents with her and one-by-one she had Cooper identify State’s Exhibits One through Six. They were the Last Will and Testament of William Sutherland, the postnuptial agreement and pages of Cooper’s appointment’s calendar to confirm the dates.

  When all of those were entered into evidence and given to the jury to pass around, Heather had one more to deal with.

  “Mr. Cooper, I’m showing a document marked for identification as State’s Exhibit Eight, do you recognize it?”

  “Yes,” Cooper answered.

  “Tell the jury, please, what it is.”

  “It is a signed, sworn affidavit I signed claiming Mackenzie Sutherland knew nothing about the new Will her husband executed in my office on January fifth last year.”

  “The new Will is State’s Exhibit One you are referring to?” Heather asked.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Were you lying when you signed this affidavit, State’s Exhibit Eight or were you lying today when you testified that she knew all about it, including what was in the new Will, State’s Exhibit One?” Heather asked, being very clear to identify the documents for the trial transcript and record.

  Cooper hesitated for a moment as if thinking about his answer. He looked at Mackenzie who stared back, her eyebrows slightly raised. Finally, Cooper admitted he lied when he signed the affidavit.

  “Why?” Heather asked.

  “To help her,” Cooper said weakly shrugging his shoulders. “I believed she had nothing to do with William’s death and I didn’t want to see her get in trouble.”

  Heather, like a kid looking at a “Do Not Touch” sign, had all she could do not to ask the next obvious question: “Why would you think that?” No matter how she phrased it, she could not imagine an answer that would help her case.

  “I have no further questions,” she said instead, her better judgment winning out. She took the affidavit from Cooper, walked it over to the jury box, gave it to the foreman and returned to her seat.

  “We’ll break for lunch now,” Carr said. “You may examine the witness at one o’clock.”

  FORTY-EIGHT

  “Mr. Cooper, where were you when the police picked you up for questioning?” Marc asked beginning his cross-exam.

  “Objection, relevance and beyond the scope of the direct-exam,” Heather said.

  “Bear with me, your Honor. It goes to credibility,” Marc said in response. “And is the state claiming he was never questioned by the police?”

  Heather stood silently not responding to Marc’s question.

  “Overruled,” Carr said.

  “I’m not sure what you mean?” Cooper nervously said.

  “Were you at home, the office, on the street?”

  “In the parking ramp attached to my building.”

  “What time was it?”

  “Just before eight o’clock.”

  “In the morning?”

  “Yes.”

  “You were arriving at your office for work?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Were they waiting for you or did they follow you in?”

  “Your Honor,” Heather said.

  “Come up,” Carr said and gestured to the lawyers.

  When the three of them reached the bench Heather sarcastically asked, “Are you gonna ask him if he stopped to pick up his dry cleaning on the way?”

  “That’s enough,” Carr admonished her. “Where are you going with this?” Carr asked Marc.

  “I want the jury to see the complete picture of what they did to coerce him into changing his story,” Marc told him.

  “We did no…”

  “Stop,” Carr told her. “Okay, I’ll allow it.”

  Back at their tables, Marc continued by repeating the question.

  “They were waiting for me,” Cooper admitted. “Detectives Coolidge and Finney.”

  “Did they put handcuffs on you and arrest you?” Marc asked.

  “No.”

  “But they made it clear you were not free to leave. That you had to come with them, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, they did.”

  “Were you intimidated by them?”

  Cooper’s eyes nervously shifted about and he lowered his head a little before admitting he was.

  “Were you allowed to make a phone call?”

  “I called my office to tell my secretary I’d be late.”

  “Did the detectives ask you any questions on the ride to the police department?”

  “No, they barely spoke to me.”

  “Did they read you your Miranda rights?”

  “Yes, when we got to the police department.”

  “Did you ask for a lawyer?”

  “I mentioned it. I sort of asked if they thought I needed one.”

  “What did they say?” Marc asked.

  “If I wanted one I could call one. It was up to me. I decided not to.”

  “When you got to the police department was Heather Anderson there?” Marc was doing a little fishing. He did not know the answer but he had a pretty good idea, based on past experience. He figured she was there and he wanted the jury to see how all of this went down to know it was a set-up.

  “Yes, she was.”

  “At eight o’clock in the morning she was waiting for you at the police department and not her office. Is that what happened?”

  “Yes.”

  “When you got there, the three of them, Heather Anderson, Detective Coolidge and Detective Finney took you into a small, windowless room with a cheap table and a few chairs around it, didn’t they?”

  “Um, no, there was a window.”

  “With bars on it?”

  “Yes.”

  “There was also a mirror on one wall and a cage to lock people into, wasn’t there?”

  “Yes.”

  “And they sat you down at the table opposite that cage then left you in there looking at it, didn’t they?”

  By now, everyone in the courtroom, especially Cooper Thomas, was wondering how Marc could possibly know this.

  “No, not right away,” Cooper said. “They started talking to me first, for a while.”

  “They talked to you about your life, didn’t they?”

  “Well, yes.”

  “Your marriage?”

  “Yes.”

  “Your children?”

  “Yes.”

  “Your nice home on Sunfish Lake?”

  “Yes.”

  “Your income from your law firm?”

  “Yes,” he answered becoming quieter with each question.

  “And they told you there was a very good chance that you would lose all of this if you didn’t cooperate with them, didn’t they?”

  “Objection,” Heather jumped up and said.

  “Overruled,” Carr said before she even had a chance to say what her objection was. Clearly Carr wanted to know what happened in the interrogation room.

  “Yes,” Cooper said with more enthusiasm.

  “And they also told you that you could be disbarred and even go to prison, didn’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “Was that when they left the room? All three of them?”

  “Um, yeah, I think it was,” Cooper said.

  “How long were they gone?”

  “Twenty to thirty minutes. I’m not sure. It seemed a lot longer. It seemed like a couple of hours.”

  “So, let me be sure I understand you. After telling you they were going to destroy your life, possibly get you disbarred and put you in jail, they left you alone in a room looking at a cage to think it over. Is that correct?”

  “Objection,” Heather said trying not to yell.

  “Overruled,” Carr sai
d.

  “Asked and answered,” Heather insisted.

  “Overruled,” Carr said again more firmly.

  “Yes, I guess they did.”

  “You were pretty scared sitting in that room, staring at that cage, thinking about the life you had worked so hard for being taken away, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, I certainly was.”

  “What time was it when they came back into the interrogation room?”

  “Around 9:15, I think, 9:20.”

  “Had you agreed to help them before they came back into the room?”

  “No.”

  “It wasn’t until they had told you, several more times, all of the bad things that would happen to you if you didn’t cooperate with them and then you agreed to change your story, isn’t that true?”

  “Yes,” Cooper agreed.

  “Did they tell you that you had to wear a wire and try to get Mrs. Sutherland to confess to murdering her husband?” Marc asked, again doing a little fishing.

  “Yes, they made me wear a wire, not to get her to confess to murder, they didn’t believe she would. They just wanted me to get her to admit she knew about William changing his Will before he did it.”

  “When did you do this?”

  “Later that same day. I called Mackenzie, Mrs. Sutherland, and went to her house.”

  “Were the police listening and recording the conversation?”

  “Yes, they were.”

  “Did you listen to the recording afterward?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Was it accurate?”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “Did you try to get Mrs. Sutherland to make the admissions the police wanted?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Did she admit that she knew about the Will before William had you write it?”

  “No, she didn’t.”

  “In fact, she absolutely denied any such knowledge, didn’t she?” Marc asked.

  “Yes, she did.”

  “And the police recorded her denials?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you signal to her in any way that you were wearing a wire for the police?” Marc asked even though it was a very risky question. If Cooper answered yes, this entire line of questions would have just blown up in Marc’s face. He basically had to risk it to remove any doubts anyone might have about Cooper doing that.

  “No, I did not.”

  “As far as you know, she had no idea and today is the first she has heard of this, isn’t that true?”

  “As far as I know, yes.”

  “One last question, Mr. Cooper. Isn’t it true that if Mackenzie Sutherland is found guilty in this trial, Adam, Hailey and Page Sutherland will inherit millions of dollars?”

  “Objection, beyond the scope of direct,” Heather said.

  “I’ll allow it, if you know, Mr. Cooper,” Carr said.

  “Yes, I believe they will.”

  “I have no further questions at this time. I reserve the right to recall, your Honor,” Marc said.

  “Do you wish to redirect, Ms. Anderson?”

  “Yes, your Honor.”

  “We’ll take a short break first.” Carr said.

  During the break Heather and Danica put their heads together and decided what to do on redirect. Marc had scored some very significant points especially about coercing Cooper’s cooperation. The two women decided to ask just a couple of questions to soften the damage.

  “Mr. Thomas, was your cooperation with the police in any way dishonest?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “You did so because you committed perjury when you signed the affidavit, did you not?”

  “Objection. Leading and that is not a determination for the witness to make,” Marc said.

  “Sustained as to leading. He’s a lawyer and an officer of the court. Overruled as to whether or not he believed he committed perjury.”

  “Yes, that was the reason.”

  “I have nothing further,” Heather said.

  “Mr. Kadella?”

  “I have nothing for recross, your Honor. However, I move the court to dismiss this witness’s entire testimony as obviously coerced and unreliable.”

  “Denied,” Carr quickly ruled. “The jury can decide for itself how much weight to give to the witness’s testimony. You may call your next witness, Ms. Anderson.”

  “The prosecution rests, your Honor.”

  “Mr. Kadella?”

  “Move to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that the state has failed to meet its burden, your Honor.”

  “Denied. The defense will begin its case at 9:00 A.M. tomorrow.”

  While they waited for the courtroom to clear, Butch Koll came through the gate and pulled up a chair next to Marc.

  “How did you know? How did you know what went on in that interrogation room?” he whispered.

  “Because I’ve been in that very same room. I have a pretty good idea what they did to him. It’s what I would have done too; find a way to scare the hell out of someone.”

  Andy, Butch’s partner, had joined them by now and said, “It was pretty interesting to watch.”

  Marc shrugged his shoulders looked at the empty jury box, turned back and said, “We’ll see if it does any good.”

  “Can I talk to you for a minute in here?” Mackenzie asked Marc nodding her head toward the conference room door.

  “Sure,” he answered.

  The two of them went into the small room, each took a seat at the table and Marc looked at Mackenzie waiting for her to start.

  “When are we going to talk about me testifying?” she asked.

  “We already have, several times.”

  “No decision was made,” she pointed out.

  “With what we have done and coming up, I think I can make a good case for reasonable doubt. I don’t think you can add anything by getting on that witness stand and…”

  “I want the jury to hear me deny that I did this. And I think they want to hear me say it.”

  “If that was all there was to it, I’d agree. But it’s not. You get on that witness stand and Heather Anderson will come at you like a heat-seeking missile. She’ll make you look like a scheming, conniving serial killer who seduced rich, older men and poisoned them for their money. She’ll do it and I can’t stop her.”

  “She’s going to try that in her closing argument anyway.”

  “Yes, she will,” Marc agreed. “But I can punch enough holes in it to create reasonable doubt. If she is able to use your words, the things she’ll get you to admit on cross-exam will be much more powerful. Right now all she has is the testimony of others. There’s a big difference.”

  “I hate what people are saying about me. I stopped reading the newspaper or watching TV news. I want to publicly deny it.”

  “I’m trying to keep you out of prison. I can’t worry about what people think. Besides, you’ll be surprised how quickly that dies down. One of the Kardashians will get married or divorced or have a baby and everyone will move on.”

  This last statement made Mackenzie laugh, a rare occurrence lately.

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  “We’ll see, but I’ll only let you testify if I think it is absolutely necessary. And right now the risk is not worth it.”

  FORTY-NINE

  For the fifth or sixth time, Marc looked over his shoulder at the back of the courtroom. He had talked to Maddy last night and she had made arrangements with Adam Sutherland to bring him to court this morning. It was 8:55 and so far, no sign of either of them. Marc had his computer tech standing by in the hallway to testify in case Maddy didn’t get Adam to the court on time. He was on the verge of sending Butch into the hallway to try to call her again when, much to his relief, Maddy came through the door.

  “Hi, everyone,” she said when she got to Marc’s table. “He’s in the hall. Pissed off, but here. Sorry I didn’t call. I forgot to charge my phone. Sorry.”

  “Go babysit him until he’s called. I
t should only be a few more minutes,” Marc told her.

  “Is the defense ready to proceed?” Carr asked looking at Marc.

  “We are, your Honor,” Marc stood and said.

  “You may call your first witness.”

  “The defense calls Adam Sutherland.”

  A moment later, one of the court deputies held open the door to the hall and Adam, followed by Maddy, entered the courtroom. He sullenly walked up the center aisle, through the gate and to the witness stand.

  Despite being almost forty-years-old, an age by which most people have become grown-ups, Adam retained the air of a petulant, sulky, teenager. And he dressed the part as well.

  This supposed adult showed up for court wearing sneakers, tattered jeans an untucked, unbuttoned plaid shirt and blue T-shirt. His disheveled hair added perfectly to the image of someone who just got out of bed, put on whatever happened to be lying on the floor and came to court. Marc could not have been happier. Let the jury’s first impression be an accurate one.

  Adam was sworn in, took the stand and stated his name for the record.

  “Mr. Sutherland, where are you currently employed?” Marc began.

  “I’m, ah, between jobs.”

  “What and when was your last job?”

  “Objection, compound question,” Heather said.

  “Overruled, you will answer,” Carr said.

  “I do, ah, computer consulting. I’m an independent computer tech,” Adam said.

  “How much money did you make as a computer consultant tech last year?”

  “I haven’t done my taxes yet, I’m not sure.”

  “Best guess. Give me a ballpark approximation,” Marc said.

  “Oh, I can’t really say.”

  “Fifty thousand?”

  “Ah, no, not that much,” he reluctantly admitted.

  “More than one hundred dollars?”

  “Yeah, sure, probably,” Adam said nervously shifting in his chair.

  Marc looked at Carr and asked, “Permission to treat as hostile, your Honor?”

  “Granted,” Carr answered.

  “Let’s be honest with the jury, Mr. Sutherland,” Marc said turning more serious. “Isn’t it true you do not have one legitimate source of income as a computer tech consultant?”

  “Well, I ah…”

  “Yes or no,” Marc said.