“Unless you bought it at Walmart?”
Danni did not answer the question.
“That’s a question, Ms. Jansen.”
“I did not buy the gun at Walmart or Kmart or anywhere else.”
“You were a homicide detective for twenty years, is that correct?”
“No, I was a homicide detective for approximately fifteen of my twenty years on the force.”
“You interviewed witnesses, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And you were constantly required to evaluate who was a credible witness and who wasn’t, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve always heard it said that the worst witnesses are criminals who have their own self-serving reasons for offering their testimony: rats, prison snitches—those type of people. Do you agree?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Now, what you did—breaking into Thomas Felton’s apartment without probable cause—was criminal, wasn’t it?”
“That’s for the State to decide.”
“Breaking and entering is a crime, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“You broke and entered into Chief Jeffries’s house this morning, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a crime, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“You are a criminal?”
“Yes.”
“So now in evaluating your testimony as a criminal, our next step is to determine if you have any self-serving motive. Do you?”
“No.”
“You’re just here as a citizen, a criminal citizen, finally deciding to straighten up and do the right thing, is that what you’re telling us?”
“I wouldn’t put it quite that way. I don’t have an agenda though.”
“Aren’t you having a love affair with Jack Tobin?”
The room erupted with that question. Judge Holbrook stood up as he banged his gavel. “I will have order in this courtroom.”
The gallery settled down.
“Would you like me to repeat the question, Ms. Jansen?”
“No. I am not having a love affair with Jack Tobin.”
“Have you ever had a love affair with him?”
Danni hesitated again. It was not going well. “Yes, we did have a brief affair two years ago.”
“Two years ago? He shot Felton and ran to your house. You went to the crime scene with him. He went back to your house the same night. His best friend showed up at your house and you now come in here and tell this incredible story—two years ago?”
Tom was on his feet. Merton had asked the questions in machine-gun fashion. “Objection, Your Honor; he’s badgering the witness. He’s asking compound questions.”
“Sustained. Mr. Merton, ask one question at a time.”
“I’ll withdraw that question, Your Honor.
“Didn’t Henry Wilson tell you that Jack Tobin still loved you?”
“No.”
“Ms. Jansen, can you look at this jury and tell them that you do not love that man?” He pointed at Jack, causing Danni to look at Jack.
“Object,” Jack said to Tom.
“I can’t,” Tom replied. “I have no grounds.”
“Object anyway.”
“Can’t do it, Jack. It’s too late for that.”
It had taken Danni so much to get to this place. So many walls had to come down. She had to admit that what she did ten years ago had led to everything that had followed, including the death of Kathleen Jeffries. It wasn’t Jack who got Tom Felton released, it was her. She also had to finally see that Sam was on a warped quest to avenge the murder of his wife and daughter. And last but not least, when she had to decide to put her life on the line, she had to come to grips with her feelings about Jack Tobin. Now that the walls were down, she couldn’t put them back up again.
The silence had been deafening. There was almost no need to answer the question anymore, but Merton felt it needed repeating.
“Can you look at this jury, Ms. Jansen, and tell them you are not in love with Jack Tobin?”
“No, I can’t.”
“I have no further questions, Your Honor.”
“Redirect?” the judge asked Tom.
Tom started to stand. Jack grabbed his arm. “No,” he said. “Let her go.”
“No, Your Honor.”
“The witness may leave the stand. Ms. Jansen, I am ordering you not to leave the jurisdiction, do you understand?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Even though her answer to the last question had cemented his conviction, Jack wanted to go to her as she walked out of the courtroom. If he had one last moment of freedom, he wanted to hold her and thank her and tell her that he loved her too.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
At eight o’clock on Tuesday morning, Danni heard somebody knocking on her door. She didn’t want to talk to anybody. The evening before had been excruciating. She couldn’t turn on the television without hearing her name. Hannah had called from Europe because she was worried about her. She had to assure her daughter that she was fine. Now somebody was at the door—at eight o’clock! She’d had just about enough.
She opened the door ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind. There stood Ron and Henry. Ron had a big paper bag in his hand.
“We’ve got some bagels,” he said.
“And cream cheese,” Henry added, producing his own small paper bag. “Thought maybe you could supply the coffee.”
Danni just looked at them and shook her head.
“It’s hot out here,” Ron said.
“All right, come on in.” They followed her into the kitchen and sat at the table while she started the coffee.
“Don’t just sit there,” she said to Ron. “Here’s the toaster. Start making the bagels. Henry, you can set the table.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Henry said.
When the coffee and bagels were done, they sat down to eat.
“So what’s new?” Ron asked as he spread cream cheese on his bagel.
Danni looked at Henry. Henry looked at Ron.
“What?” Ron said. Henry just started laughing, which made Ron start laughing, which finally made Danni start laughing. It was totally unexpected, totally the opposite of how she was feeling, but it felt so good—for all of them. For the longest time they couldn’t stop.
“What are we laughing at?” Ron asked, still unable to control himself.
“I don’t know,” Henry said, which made them start laughing all over again. Finally, they were laughed out.
“I needed that,” Danni said. “I didn’t know I needed it but I did.”
“We just wanted you to know you’re not alone,” Ron said. “We’re with you all the way.”
“Thanks, guys. It’s been a rough couple of days.”
“You were awesome, Danni,” Henry said.
“Yeah. Awesome. I think I got Jack convicted single-handedly.”
“Don’t say that. You did everything you could possibly do.”
“It wasn’t enough.”
“It’s not over. We have closing arguments today. Tom Wylie is a great lawyer.”
“Nice try, guys, but I think Jack and I are both going to jail.”
“Tom told me to tell you he’s got your back no matter what happens,” Henry said. “He would have come today but he’s still got the closing to worry about before he can relax.”
“They haven’t arrested me yet although I’m in a prison of sorts. I can’t go out in this town anymore.”
“Sure you can,” Ron said. “You can come to The Swamp and hang out with me and Henry. We’ll be the oldest people in the place because none of my regular customers are showing up either.”
“I don’t blame them for feeling the way they do, Ron,” Danni said. “They want to believe Sam so bad. His tragedies are everyone’s tragedies. It’s like we’re all in collusion with Sam. Deep down, we all know he’s lost it but we don’t care.”
�
�You cared. You came out of it,” Ron said. “And you were closer to Sam than anybody.”
“I was also very close to Jack, as you may have heard—the proverbial fallen woman. And Henry nudged me a little bit.”
“All we need is one,” Henry said. “One holdout on that jury.”
Chapter Seventy
Tom finally got a day that matched his mood—dark, overcast, stormy. The wind blowing hard. He was deep in the clouds himself. Merton had outfoxed them completely. Jack had not made good strategic decisions, although Tom couldn’t blame Jack too much. The man had a woman who not only broke the law to save him but came into court and testified about it under oath. Tom could understand why Jack wanted to stand behind her and her testimony. His Kate would have done the same thing, he was sure. Women like those two were rare indeed.
Those reflections didn’t help him as he headed to court on this blustery morning. This trial had drilled home for him once and for all that in the criminal justice system, strategy trumps truth. It was the way of the world these days. He was about to make his closing argument and he had no strategy. All he had was truth.
Jack was waiting when he arrived in the courtroom. He looked relaxed and fresh.
“I’m ready,” he said. “It’s going to be a good day.”
“Am I missing something?” Tom asked.
“I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”
“You’re awfully cheerful.”
“All I can tell you, Tom, is that I believe in people and nobody has failed me yet.”
Tom thought Jack had finally lost it. The man was delusional—speaking in riddles. There were no other people. Or were there?
Just then Merton arrived, resplendent in a blue suit and a flowery red tie. He, too, looked relaxed and confident.
The bailiffs were busy ushering the gallery in. When they were all set, promptly at nine o’clock Judge Holbrook entered the courtroom. Everybody rose.
“Be seated,” he said. Then he addressed the lawyers. “Do we have anything to discuss before we bring the jurors in?”
Both of the lawyers said no. After Danni’s testimony the day before, Tom had rested. Merton had no rebuttal. Tom had made a halfhearted oral motion for acquittal, and Judge Holbrook had denied it on the spot. Then they had briefly discussed the jury instructions.
The stage was set this morning for closing arguments.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the judge said to the jurors when they were seated, “the lawyers are going to make their closing arguments now. I want to remind you again that what they say is not evidence. You must use your own recollection of the testimony you heard from the witness stand in making your decision. When the lawyers are finished, I will give you the applicable law and you will apply the facts that you determine to the applicable law in making your decision.
“The prosecution will go first because the State has the burden of proof. Then the defense will have an opportunity to speak to you, followed by a brief rebuttal by the prosecution.
“Mr. Merton, are you ready to proceed?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Robert Merton strode to his place next to the podium. He had no notes with him. He was confident that he could hit all the high points from memory.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. First, I would like to thank you for your attention during this trial. I know that you have been separated from your families for the better part of a week, and I assure you I will be as quick as I possibly can. This trial is almost over but before it is over, you as jurors must do your job. It’s not an easy job deciding the guilt or innocence of a person, but it is an obligation you have agreed to undertake. I am confident that you will make the tough decisions that are needed.
“I told you when this trial began that the State would prove that Jack Tobin had intentionally planned and carried out the murder of Thomas Felton. The evidence is undisputed that the defendant shot Felton and that Felton died from that gunshot wound. It is also undisputed that Felton signed a contingency fee agreement with the defendant to pay him one-third of whatever he received from the Florida legislature. The defendant was going to file a claims bill with the state requesting twenty million dollars. The organization the defendant worked for had no knowledge of the contingency fee agreement and, in fact, the agreement was a violation of the organization’s own rules and bylaws. The defendant himself testified that when Felton killed Kathleen Jeffries, the claims bill and his contingency fee died with her. The defendant lost a potential fee of seven million dollars—certainly enough motive for murder.
“What other facts support this murder by the defendant?” Merton took the opportunity to point his finger right at Jack. “Do you remember the telephone calls? Both made by the defendant, one, two days before the murder, setting up the meeting, the other, minutes before the murder, making sure Felton had shown up. You also remember Chief Jeffries testifying that he believed that the defendant, after he shot Felton, planned on planting a gun on Felton but was thwarted in this plan when he heard Chief Jeffries coming on the scene. Chief Jeffries told you he believed that the defendant had tossed the gun he was going to plant in the woods as he ran to Danni Jansen’s house. And you heard Danni Jansen, before she changed her testimony, tell you that the very night of the murder, she saw the defendant, Jack Tobin, coming from the woods exactly where Chief Jeffries believed Tobin would have thrown the gun.
“Motive and opportunity, ladies and gentlemen. It’s all there and it’s undisputed. Mr. Tobin had an explanation for everything but his explanations didn’t ring true. For instance, he said that the contingency fee agreement was Felton’s idea, but then he admitted that Felton didn’t know what a contingency fee agreement was. It was Tobin’s idea to lock him in legally. Then you heard Tobin tell you that he was going to give any money he received to Exoneration. Unfortunately, he never told anyone at Exoneration about that. And, unfortunately for him, Ben Chapman, the CEO of Exoneration, testified that such agreements are not allowed by the organization and Jack Tobin knew that.
“You know, I expected a unique defense from these two talented lawyers. I just didn’t know how diabolical it was going to be. The defense let me put on my case and then developed a story to refute it using one of the prosecution’s own witnesses and a former police officer—Danni Jansen. They believed they could pull this off. They still believe it. But you must not let them. You must see Danni Jansen’s testimony for what it is—a pack of lies.
“First, she told you that for the first time ever she was revealing that she had planted the bowie knife at the scene where Vanessa Brock and Pedro Diaz were murdered. When I asked why now, she said because she didn’t want an innocent man to go to jail. I asked her if she had any interest other than that and she said no. We know that was a lie. Jack Tobin was her lover and is still her lover. She had an agenda and she lied about it. But that was just the beginning of her lies. In her first break-in, she stole a knife; in her second supposed break-in, she stole a gun—all in the interests of justice, not for her lover. You remember the revolver—no prints, nothing to connect it to Felton at all. You remember her admitting she could have bought it at Walmart or Kmart, or at a gun show. Well, I submit to you that she didn’t buy it anywhere. I submit to you that this was the gun Tobin had planned to plant on Felton’s body. This vile woman was in on this deal all along. Where did Tobin run when he shot Felton and heard Chief Jeffries coming onto the scene? To Danni Jansen’s house. Who showed up with Tobin at the scene with the story of the self-defense shooting? His lover, Danni Jansen!
“Not only did she do everything to vindicate her lover, she also did everything she could to implicate Chief Jeffries in criminal activity—a man who had lost both his wife and his daughter at Felton’s hand.
“You don’t need to ask this woman if she has no shame. She doesn’t.”
Merton was like a preacher, his voice rising with every accusation. He was definitely on a roll when suddenly—
“Stop! No more! Do not
say another word!”
Merton heard the shouts. He turned to look at the same time everybody else did, including Judge Holbrook, who was almost as indignant as Robert Merton that somebody had the gall to disrupt the proceedings in his courtroom.
Sam Jeffries walked down the middle aisle of the courtroom and inside the bar. He stopped right next to where Jack was sitting.
“Chief Jeffries, what is the meaning of this?” Judge Holbrook demanded.
“I have known Danni Jansen for over twenty years, Your Honor. She has dedicated her life to the city of Oakville. She was an outstanding homicide detective. I will not have you, sir,” he pointed at Merton, “calling her a vile woman.”
“Chief, I appreciate your feelings toward this woman but this is not the time or the place,” Judge Holbrook said, seeing that the man was extremely distraught. The bailiffs were ready to move in at the slightest gesture from the judge.
“It’s the perfect place, Your Honor, because Danni Jansen was telling the truth. She found that gun in my house. I took that gun from the crime scene. I took it because I wanted to frame Jack Tobin.”
Bedlam broke out in the courtroom. People were in shock and they were talking about it. Judge Holbrook’s prior admonitions were a distant memory now. He had lost control of his courtroom, but he wasn’t giving up. He stood up, banging his gavel. “Order in the court! Order in the court!” When that didn’t work, he changed his tune. “Clear the courtroom! Clear the courtroom!”
The bailiffs, the only people who were listening, began to clear the courtroom. Members of the press didn’t need to be encouraged. They were running to get their story out. Everybody else needed a little urging. As the courtroom started to empty, order began to return.
Jack whispered in Tom’s ear, “As soon as everybody is out, stand up and make a motion for dismissal.”
“Okay,” Tom said, still a little bewildered himself.
“Sam,” Jack said. Sam Jeffries looked down to his right where Jack sat. “Don’t say another word. You will only incriminate yourself more. Let Merton decide if he’s going to dismiss the case. You’ve said enough.”
The Lawyer's Lawyer Page 33
