THE LINCOLN LAWYER (2005)

by Michael Connelly

  Corliss made a what-are-you-going-to-do gesture with both hands and a few of the jurors-probably smokers-smiled and nodded.

  "Did you reach a point where you asked Mr. Roulet what got him into jail?" Minton asked.

  "Yes, I did."

  "What did he say?"

  I quickly stood up and objected but just as quickly was overruled.

  "What did he tell you, Mr. Corliss?" Minton prompted.

  "Well, first he asked me why I was there and I told him. So then I asked him why he was in and he said, 'For giving a bitch exactly what she deserved.'"

  "Those were his words?"

  "Yes."

  "Did he elaborate further on what he meant by that?"

  "No, not really. Not on that."

  I leaned forward, waiting for Minton to ask the next obvious question. But he didn't. He moved on.

  "Now, Mr. Corliss, have you been promised anything by me or the district attorney's office in return for your testimony?"

  "Nope. I just thought it was the right thing to do."

  "What is the status of your case?"

  "I still got the charges against me, but it looks like if I complete my program I'll be able to get a break on them. The drugs, at least. I don't know about the burglary yet."

  "But I have made no promise of help in that regard, correct?"

  "No, sir, you haven't."

  "Has anyone else from the district attorney's office made any promises?"

  "No, sir."

  "I have no further questions."

  I sat unmoving and just staring at Corliss. My pose was that of a man who was angry but didn't know exactly what to do about it. Finally, the judge prompted me into action.

  "Mr. Haller, cross-examination?"

  "Yes, Your Honor."

  I stood up, glancing back at the door as if hoping a miracle would walk through it. I then checked the big clock on the back door and saw it was five minutes after ten. I noticed as I turned back to the witness that I had not lost Kurlen. He was still in the back row and he still had the same smirk on his face. I realized that it might have been his natural look.

  I turned to the witness.

  "Mr. Corliss, how old are you?"

  "Forty-three."

  "You go by Dwayne?"

  "That's right."

  "Any other names?"

  "People called me D.J. when I was growing up. Everybody called me that."

  "And where did you grow up?"

  "Mesa, Arizona."

  "Mr. Corliss, how many times have you been arrested before?"

  Minton objected but the judge overruled. I knew she was going to give me a lot of room with this witness since I was the one who had supposedly been sandbagged.

  "How many times have you been arrested before, Mr. Corliss?" I asked again.

  "I think about seven."

  "So you've been in a number of jails in your time, haven't you?"

  "You could say that."

  "All in Los Angeles County?"

  "Mostly. But I got arrested over in Phoenix before, too."

  "So you know how the system works, don't you?"

  "I just try to survive."

  "And sometimes surviving means ratting out your fellow inmates, doesn't it?"

  "Your Honor?" Minton said, standing to object.

  "Take a seat, Mr. Minton," Fullbright said. "I gave you a lot of leeway bringing this witness in. Mr. Haller gets his share of it now. The witness will answer the question."

  The stenographer read the question back to Corliss.

  "I suppose so."

  "How many times have you snitched on another inmate?"

  "I don't know. A few times."

  "How many times have you testified in a court proceeding for the prosecution?"

  "Would that include my own cases?"

  "No, Mr. Corliss. For the prosecution. How many times have you testified against a fellow inmate for the prosecution?"

  "I think this is my fourth time."

  I looked surprised and aghast, although I was neither.

  "So you are a pro, aren't you? You could almost say your occupation is drug-addicted jailhouse snitch."

  "I just tell the truth. If people tell me things that are bad, then I feel obligated to report it."

  "But you try to get people to tell you things, don't you?"

  "No, not really. I guess I'm just a friendly guy."

  "A friendly guy. So what you expect this jury to believe is that a man you didn't know would just come out of the blue and tell you-a perfect stranger-that he gave a bitch exactly what she deserved. Is that correct?"

  "It's what he said."

  "So he just mentioned that to you and then you both just went back to talking about cigarettes after that, is that right?"

  "Not exactly."

  "Not exactly? What do you mean by 'not exactly'?"

  "He also told me he did it before. He said he got away with it before and he would get away with it now. He was bragging about it because with the other time, he said he killed the bitch and got away with it."

  I froze for a moment. I then glanced at Roulet, who sat as still as a statue with surprise on his face, and then back at the witness.

  "You . . ."

  I started and stopped, acting like I was the man in the minefield who had just heard theclick come from beneath my foot. In my peripheral vision I noticed Minton's body posture tightening.

  "Mr. Haller?" the judge prompted.

  I broke my stare from Corliss and looked at the judge.

  "Your Honor, I have no further questions at this time."

  FORTY

  Minton came up from his seat like a boxer coming out of his corner at his bleeding opponent. "Redirect, Mr. Minton?" Fullbright asked.

  But he was already at the lectern.

  "Absolutely, Your Honor."

  He looked at the jury as if to underline the importance of the upcoming exchange and then at Corliss.

  "You said he was bragging, Mr. Corliss. How so?"

  "Well, he told me about this time he actually killed a girl and got away with it."

  I stood up.

  "Your Honor, this has nothing to do with the case at hand and it is rebuttal to no evidence previously offered by the defense. The witness can't -"

  "Your Honor," Minton cut in, "this is information brought forward by defense counsel. The prosecution is entitled to pursue it."

  "I will allow it," Fullbright said.

  I sat down and appeared dejected. Minton plowed ahead. He was going just where I wanted him to go.

  "Mr. Corliss, did Mr. Roulet offer any of the details of this previous incident in which he said he got away with killing a woman?"

  "He called the girl a snake dancer. She danced in some joint where she was like in a snake pit."

  I felt Roulet wrap his fingers around my biceps and squeeze. His hot breath came into my ear.

  "What the fuck is this?" he whispered.

  I turned to him.

  "I don't know. What the hell did you tell this guy?"

  He whispered back through gritted teeth.

  "I didn't tell him anything. This is a setup. You set me up!"

  "Me? What are you talking about? I told you, I couldn't get to this guy in lockdown. If you didn't tell him this shit, then somebody else did. Start thinking. Who?"

  I turned and looked up at Minton standing at the lectern and continuing his questioning of Corliss.

  "Did Mr. Roulet say anything else about the dancer he said he murdered?" he asked.

  "No, that's all he really told me."

  Minton checked his notes to see if there was anything else, then nodded to himself.

  "Nothing further, Your Honor."

  The judge looked at me. I could almost see sympathy on her face.

  "Any recross from the defense with this witness?"

  Before I could answer, there was a noise from the rear of the courtroom and I turned to see Lorna Taylor entering. She hurriedly walked down the
aisle toward the gate.

  "Your Honor, can I have a moment to confer with my staff?"

  "Hurry, Mr. Haller."

  I met Lorna at the gate and took from her a videotape with a single piece of paper wrapped around it with a rubber band. As she had been told to do earlier, she whispered in my ear.

  "This is where I act like I am whispering something very important into your ear," she said. "How is it going?"

  I nodded as I took the rubber band off the tape and looked at the piece of paper.

  "Perfect timing," I whispered back. "I'm good to go."

  "Can I stay and watch?"

  "No, I want you out of here. I don't want anybody talking to you after this goes down."

  I nodded and she nodded and then she left. I went back to the lectern.

  "No recross, Your Honor."

  I sat down and waited. Roulet grabbed my arm.

  "What are you doing?"

  I pushed him away.

  "Stop touching me. We have new information we can't bring up on cross."

  I focused on the judge.

  "Any other witnesses, Mr. Minton?" she asked.

  "No, Your Honor. No further rebuttal."

  The judge nodded.

  "The witness is excused."

  Meehan started crossing the courtroom to Corliss. The judge looked at me and I started to stand.

  "Mr. Haller, surrebuttal?"

  "Yes, Your Honor, the defense would like to call D.J. Corliss back to the stand as surrebuttal."

  Meehan stopped in his tracks and all eyes were on me. I held up the tape and the paper Lorna had brought me.

  "I have new information on Mr. Corliss, Your Honor. I could not have brought it up on cross."

  "Very well. Proceed."

  "Can I have a moment, Judge?"

  "A short one."

  I huddled with Roulet again.

  "Look, I don't know what is going on but it doesn't matter," I whispered.

  "What do you mean it doesn't matter? Are you -"

  "Listen to me. It doesn't matter because I can still destroy him. Doesn't matter if he says you killed twenty women. If he's a liar, he's a liar. If I destroy him, none of it counts. You understand?"

  Roulet nodded and seemed to calm as he considered this.

  "Then destroy him."

  "I will. But I have to know. Is there anything else he knows that could come out? Is there anything I need to stay away from?"

  Roulet whispered slowly, as if explaining something to a child.

  "I don't know because I never talked to him. I'm not that stupid as to have a discussion about cigarettes and murder with a total fucking stranger!"

  "Mr. Haller," the judge prompted.

  I looked up at her.

  "Yes, Your Honor."

  Carrying the tape and the paper that came with it, I stood up to go back to the lectern. On the way I took a quick glance across the gallery and saw that Kurlen was gone. I had no way of knowing how long he had stayed and what he had heard. Lankford was gone as well. Only Sobel remained and she averted her eyes from mine. I turned my attention to Corliss.

  "Mr. Corliss, can you tell the jury exactly where you were when Mr. Roulet supposedly made these revelations to you about murder and assault?"

  "When we were together."

  "Together where, Mr. Corliss?"

  "Well, on the bus ride we didn't talk because we were in different seats. But when we got to the courthouse, we were in the same holding cell with about six other guys and we sat together there and we talked."

  "And those six other men all witnessed you and Mr. Roulet talking, correct?"

  "They woulda had to. They were there."

  "So what you are saying is that if I brought them in here one by one and asked them if they observed you and Mr. Roulet talking, they would confirm that?"

  "Well, they should. But . . ."

  "But what, Mr. Corliss?"

  "It's just that they probably wouldn't talk, that's all."

  "Is it because nobody likes a snitch, Mr. Corliss?"

  Corliss shrugged.

  "I guess so."

  "Okay, so let's make sure we have all of this straight. You didn't talk with Mr. Roulet on the bus but you did talk to him when you were in the holding cell together. Anywhere else?"

  "Yeah, we talked when they moved us on out into the courtroom. They stick you in this glassed-in area and you wait for your case to be called. We talked some in there, too, until his case got called. He went first."

  "This is in the arraignment court where you had your first appearance before a judge?"

  "That's right."

  "So you two were talking in the court and this is where Mr. Roulet would have revealed his part in these crimes you described."

  "That's right."

  "Do you remember specifically what he told you when you were in the courtroom?"

  "No, not really. Not specifics. I think that might have been when he told me about the girl who was a dancer."

  "Okay, Mr. Corliss."

  I held the videotape up, described it as video of Louis Roulet's first appearance, and asked to enter it as a defense exhibit. Minton tried to block it as something I had not produced during discovery, but that was easily and quickly shot down by the judge without my having to argue the point. He then objected again, citing the lack of authentication of the tape.

  "I am just trying to save the court some time," I said. "If needed I can have the man who took the film here in about an hour to authenticate it. But I think that Your Honor will be able to authenticate it herself with just one look."

  "I am going to allow it," the judge said. "Once we see it the prosecution can object again if so inclined."

  The television and video unit I had used previously was rolled into the courtroom and placed at an angle viewable by Corliss, the jury and the judge. Minton had to move to a chair to the side of the jury box to fully see it. The tape was played. It lasted twenty minutes and showed Roulet from the moment he entered the courtroom custody area until he was led out after the bail hearing. At no time did Roulet talk to anyone but me. When the tape was over I left the television in its place in case it was needed again. I addressed Corliss with a tinge of outrage in my voice.

  "Mr. Corliss, did you see a moment anywhere on that tape where you and Mr. Roulet were talking?"

  "Uh, no. I -"

  "Yet, you testified under oath and penalty of perjury that he confessed crimes to you while you were both in the courtroom, didn't you?"

  "I know I said that but I must have been mistaken. He must have told me everything when we were in the holding cell."

  "You lied to the jury, didn't you?"

  "I didn't mean to. That was the way I remembered it but I guess I was wrong. I was coming off a high that morning. Things got confused."

  "It would seem that way. Let me ask you, were things confused when you testified against Frederic Bentley back in nineteen eighty-nine?"

  Corliss knitted his eyebrows together in concentration but didn't answer.

  "You remember Frederic Bentley, don't you?"

  Minton stood.

  "Objection. Nineteen eighty-nine? Where is he going with this?"

  "Your Honor," I said. "This goes to the veracity of the witness. It is certainly at issue here."

  "Connect the dots, Mr. Haller," the judge ordered. "In a hurry."

  "Yes, Your Honor."

  I picked up the piece of paper and used it as a prop during my final questions of Corliss.

  "In nineteen eighty-nine Frederic Bentley was convicted, with your help, of raping a sixteen-year-old girl in her bed in Phoenix. Do you remember this?"

  "Barely," Corliss said. "I've done a lot of drugs since then."