James Ross - A Character-Based Collection (Prairie Winds Golf Course)

by James Ross

  Chapter Ninety-Seven

  The trial was expected to last a little over a week. Frankie was successful in having Rico’s confession suppressed as well. Lester J and Bazz had gathered circumstantial evidence which, in his opinion, was weak. The strongest part of the prosecution’s case was going to be the testimony of Rico and Raul. Clearly the case was going to boil down to their word against Shari’s.

  However, Frankie’s plan all along was to keep Shari off the stand. When she was called for the trials of Rico and Raul she pled the Fifth Amendment, didn’t say a word, and was excused. It was evident that Frankie would have to discredit the testimony of Rico and Raul to create reasonable doubt.

  Each day Shari sat prim and proper in the first row. The rings were gone. The makeup was minimal. Frankie wanted her dressed down so she wore Puritanical-looking attire with a high neckline and skirt that fell below her knee. Her hair was natural but worn in a bun. Those that knew her almost puked. It was a far cry from the look she had taken in her romps around town.

  Could it be that Shari was a victim? That was the angle Frankie was going to take. Two American citizens of Hispanic origin, neither born on the mainland, were to be made out as runaways that abandoned their teammates. They had an axe to grind against the privileged.

  Circumstantial evidence was presented and implied that Shari was involved in the murder of Richard W. Richards. Frankie did his best to provide reasonable doubt on cross-examination. Testimony from Rico and Raul was challenged. Both were caught lying and fudging the truth.

  When it was time for the defense to present its case, Shari stayed in the first row. She would not go to the stand. Frankie did not want to subject his client to cross-examination and lose the jury. He appeared before the judge and jury and simply said, “The defense rests its case.” Clearly it was going to be whether or not the jury was going to believe what Rico and Raul said.

  The prosecution had no one to cross-exam. They wrapped up their case.

  Chapter Ninety-Eight

  Now the spotlight was on Frankie Shivetta. It was his turn to be on center stage. The closing arguments were due. His job was to keep Shari Daniels-Donnelly out of prison and far away from the death penalty.

  The courthouse was packed. Many in the public were turned away. Fire marshals told those outside that the maximum capacity had been reached. Newscasters and TV crews from the local media were in attendance and also those representing cable stations, all with cameras rolling.

  Frankie looked very professional, but he didn’t want to overdo it. His mission was to connect with the common man—the members of the jury. They had been watching him in action and were well aware of his strategy. On cross examination, he had ripped Rico and Raul. The evidence that had been presented by the state was flimsy. No gun was produced. No money transfer was documented. No confession from Shari was coerced. No taped admission had been recorded. Any evidence produced was at best circumstantial.

  He began politely. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have a formidable task. From the beginning of this trial you’ve heard from a dozen witnesses and seen maybe twenty pieces of evidence. But let’s not dwell on the result which was the death of Richard W. Richards. Your job is to decide if the burden of proof has been met.”

  “The evidence is what this case is about. Doctors, medical examiners, forensic experts, family members, and jailhouse snitches have been paraded to the witness chair. Did any of them prove without a shadow of doubt that Shari Daniels-Donnelly is guilty? The prosecution wanted to overwhelm you with the horrific facts of this crime. It will be difficult for you to keep an open mind after looking at the shocking images of Richard W. Richards slumped over the wheel and the excessive amount of blood pooled near the body. However that is what you must do.” He walked to the rail, looked at the jurors and paused.

  “You have received directions from the judge. The first one is the presumption of innocence. Your job is to not believe every piece of evidence as truth. You cannot accept every piece of it as fact. You have to look at the evidence dubiously. It is your job to determine if the conclusion that the state has reached is supported by the evidence.”

  Frankie strolled to his table and looked at his notepad. “Let’s say that you believe that the evidence makes sense. That’s the feeling that you have in your head, your gut, and your heart. But then you start thinking rationally and reasonably about it and you tell yourself to hold on a second; that can’t be true. And you question what the prosecution says. Then you’ll have to truthfully admit to yourself that Shari Daniels-Donnelly is innocent. That’s the presumption of innocence.”

  “Now your role in this process becomes more defined. You’ve got a moral responsibility to Shari Daniels-Donnelly to decide if the prosecution has presented evidence that has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that she has committed the crime as charged.” Frankie paused. “And you know exactly what that means. You have that burden placed upon you.”

  Frankie walked closer to the jurors. “This first instruction from the judge is very, very important. You must understand it. The state has presented a case to you that has been built exclusively on circumstantial evidence. It is up to you to decide whether or not the circumstances have led you to decide without a doubt the guilt or innocence of Shari Daniels-Donnelly.”

  He turned and walked to the middle of the courtroom. “The next instruction the judge has given to you revolves around the type of offense that either has or has not been committed. Is it capital murder in the first degree? Is it not guilty? You will have to come to that conclusion based on the facts of the evidence which either do not exist or are largely circumstantial.”

  Shari, sitting at Frankie’s defense table, looked as pure as a virgin on her wedding night. “That instruction is self-explanatory. It is also a burden that you must bear.”

  “The final instruction the judge has given you is to establish the credibility of the evidence. That, too, is a major difference maker. Your gut will play a part in that. Are the jailhouse snitches, Rico Avila, and Raul Mendez telling the truth? Or have they added some untruthful information that may benefit their situations?” Frankie reiterated his point. “This case is based primarily on circumstantial evidence which is flimsy at best. Is the testimony provided by the prosecution’s witnesses credible? Is it believable?” Frankie paused. “You must listen to your inner voice and determine that. That is another burden that you, the members of the jury, must bear.”

  And then Frankie worked the floor for a little over an hour. He attacked the evidence. He criticized the investigation techniques of Detectives Mullen and Basnahan. He critiqued the efforts of District Attorney Joel Sheffield and Prosecutor David Covington.

  Frankie was on a mission to produce reasonable doubt. “On cross examination you heard what Rico Avila had to say. At first he denied ever driving a Honda motorcycle. Upon further questioning, he admitted going to Illinois with Raul Mendez, canvassing a college campus, identifying a motorcycle to use as the getaway vehicle, following the college student home, biding time by getting something to eat, and finally vandalizing his parents’ garage and stealing the vehicle.” Frankie paused to let that information sink in. “Shari Daniels-Donnelly did not provide any money for the purchase of that motorcycle. It was stolen by Rico Avila and Raul Mendez.”

  “Shari Daniels-Donnelly is guilty of being unfaithful to her husband. That crime is adultery and handled in a different venue. According to the testimony of Raul Mendez she cheated with Richard W. Richards and Raul Mendez. That is not first degree murder or murder-for-hire.” Frankie stopped for a moment. “She is not proud of her infidelity. In fact she wanted to hide that information from her husband because of their impending divorce. Shari Daniels-Donnelly gave $15,000 to Raul Mendez in $100 bills and left it for him in the apartment at Cosmo Lofts. She told him to prepay the rent at the Cosmo Lofts apartment complex for a period of one year and to prepay for a storage bin for one year so that she could move some of her personal prope
rty there during the divorce. Raul Mendez placed the storage bin in her name to throw any suspicions away from him and Rico Avila and then used the storage bin as a hiding place for the Honda motorcycle until the two of them could dispose of it.”

  He turned abruptly and looked at the jury. “What did Raul Mendez do with the money? The records show that the entire amount did not go to the managers of the Cosmo Lofts apartment complex. I suggest that it went to Rico Avila to take care of the life of Richard W. Richards. Why? Accordingly to the testimony of Raul Mendez he was upset that the phone calls and text messages disturbed the afternoon trysts that he and the defendant shared. He was mad about that. Was he so mad that he decided to pay to have someone killed? The evidence from the Cosmo Lofts records shows that money paid to them in advance covered six months of the rent. What did Raul Mendez do with the rest of the money? Maybe he took the remaining $7500 and used it to pay for the hit instead of the intended prepaid rent.” Frankie took a deep breath. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury that is something for you to decide.”

  “Because money was being transferred from Tyler Cy’s bank account to Shari’s bank account due to a court order concerning the impending divorce, it is too difficult to determine what the actual intent of the money was. Did Tyler Cy become so incensed after finding out about his wife’s affair that he paid for Rico Avila’s duties in this crime?”

  Gasps went up in the courtroom.

  “To this day, no weapon has been found. On cross examination Rico Avila indicated that under duress and fatigue he admitted to killing Richard W. Richards so he could end the interrogation from Detectives Mullen and Basnahan. That original confession was, according to Rico Avila’s cross examination testimony, not to be used as admissible evidence. Did Rico Avila really shoot Richard W. Richards? Outside of his saying that he shot him, there is no evidence that validates that.”

  Frankie walked to the defense table and took a drink of water.

  “The prosecution wants you to believe that Shari Daniels-Donnelly profited to the tune of $1.5 million dollars due to the death of Richard W. Richards. We learned through testimony that the money actually came from an insurance policy that Shari Daniels-Donnelly did not know existed. It was taken out by Richard W. Richards on the life of Richard W. Richards with the proceeds of the policy paid to Jayla Donnelly, the daughter that he fathered during his union with Shari Daniels-Donnelly.”

  Hushed whispers in the courtroom caused The Honorable Colton Young to bang his gavel and call for order in the court.

  “Why on earth would Shari Daniels-Donnelly want the father of her child executed?”

  More commotion in the courtroom caused Judge Young to silence the crowd.

  “I suggest, based on cross examination testimony from Raul Mendez and Rico Avila, the pair acted together. They admitted that they abandoned their teammates that played on a Caribbean All-Star baseball squad when the team was making a tour of the United States. Cardinal star Basilio Vasquez defected with them. One made it to the big leagues, and we know who that is. The other two struggled.”

  “In an effort to make ends meet, Raul Mendez became a personal trainer and provided massage therapy services to Cardinal ballplayers. Rico Avila, on the other hand, provided a different set of services to Cardinal ballplayers. What sort of services were those? You heard his admission during cross examination. He was the team pimp as well as a bookie. When they went out of town Rico Avila lined up the women. He escorted the escorts; I guess that is the proper way of putting it, to the hotel door. He and Richard W. Richards had a turf war many years ago, not only for a form of prostitution but illegal gambling. They were both hot heads. Rico Avila privately admitted that he would get even one day. Would that be cause for Rico Avila to pull the trigger?”

  The Honorable Colton Young banged the gavel loudly after noise in the courtroom erupted again.

  “So now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the time has come for me to shut up. These are only a few of the situations that could have existed. More will come to my mind later this evening. A few more thoughts will come in future days. Did the state prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Shari Daniels-Donnelly financed the shot that took the life of Richard W. Richards? I think not.”

  Frankie Shivetta walked to a point that was ten feet in front of the jurors. He clasped his hands and stood erect.

  “The state has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt the case against Shari Daniels-Donnelly based on the evidence and testimony that has been presented.” Frankie nodded and peered into the eyes of each juror. “I want to thank you for your attentiveness during this trial. I want to thank you for devoting your time to this process. I do not envy the task that you have at hand.”

  Frankie sighed.

  “You have an enormous responsibility.” Frankie paused again for effect. “I am thankful that it is not my job to do what you have been called to do. If you follow the instructions that Judge Colton Young has issued then it is your moral responsibility to determine that reasonable doubt exists and there is only one verdict that can come to pass: that is a not-guilty verdict for Shari Daniels-Donnelly.”

  With that Frankie walked to the defense table, sat down, poured a glass of water, downed it, and glanced at Shari. For the first time in the entire process she was petrified. Her fate was now in the hands of the jurors.

  Chapter Ninety-Nine

  Shari was escorted to a conference room adjacent to the courtroom. There she was joined by her husband and Frankie Shivetta. It was staid. There was a conference table, chairs on rollers, and a round table with an office lamp, telephone and plastic cups with a pitcher of water sitting on it.

  “What now?”

  “We wait,” Frankie replied.

  “How do you feel about it?” Shari asked as she searched for reassurance.

  “You never can tell what a jury is going to do. In all of my years I try to get these matters solved out of court. I bet I’ve only had a half-dozen trials in the last decade.”

  “What does the prosecutor want now?” Tyler Cy probed.

  “I haven’t talked to him yet,” Frankie replied.

  “Before we went to trial they would have settled out of court,” Tyler Cy said.

  “Yeah, for life in prison!” Shari yelled loud enough for a bystander outside the door to hear. “I didn’t take that deal then and I don’t intend to now either.”

  Frankie understood where the district attorney and lead prosecutor were coming from. It was a capital murder case. “I’m sure they’re not going to sweeten the deal much more than that.”

  “How do you feel about the trial?”

  “I don’t think that they proved their case without a shadow of a doubt. We knew going in that all of the evidence was circumstantial. I tried my best to shoot holes in it.” Frankie got up and poured himself another cup of water. “But like I said, you never know what a jury is going to decide.”

  “Let’s say we don’t get the verdict that we desire,” Tyler Cy surmised. “Are there grounds for an appeal?”

  “Sure. There are several items,” Frankie assured the pair. “We can most definitely do that.”

  “But I’ll be in jail,” Shari barked. “I don’t want that.”

  “How about the jury?” Tyler Cy asked. “Could you get a read on them?”

  “We got a good cross-section of jurors,” Frankie confirmed as he uplifted the spirits in the room. “I was happy about it before trial. We got four women seated. Typically they don’t like to put anyone to death.”

  “Don’t mention that!”

  “One is a commissioned pharmaceutical sales rep. Another works the courtesy counter at Froggie’s Supermarket. The African-American works as a maid in West County. The fourth is a younger high school English teacher.” He addressed Shari. “Do you think your actions or your past ticked any of them off?”

  “I seen the teacher looking at me several times. I think she feels sorry for me.”

  “That’s the stuff we have to
get a read on,” Frankie replied. “Your guess is as good as mine. You know, do they feel sorry for you or do they hate your guts? If they envy you and want to get even because of your station in life then that could work against us.”

  “I seen her good. She doesn’t have the heart to convict me.”

  “Let’s hope that is the case. Of the eight guys one is African-American and one is Hispanic.”

  “I seen them checking me out.”

  “The others complete the pie chart. Two are blue-collar laborers.”

  “They were lookin’ too.”

  “One is white collar, another is self-employed, and two are retired.”

  “The older guy with the grey hair didn’t look like he approved of me too much, but I caught the other one smiling at me.”

  The phone rang. Frankie answered. After an exchange he hung up and turned to Shari and Tyler Cy. “Covington wants to talk. He might have another offer for us.”

  Frankie took a step toward the door.

  “Tell him the only thing I’m interested in is for him to drop charges.”

  Tyler Cy gasped. “But, Shari…”

  “Oh, shut up. It’s my life that is on the line. I’ll make this decision.”

  Chapter One Hundred

  It was morning at Prairie Winds Golf Course. The guys were sitting around shooting the breeze before drawing names and heading out to play. Fred had purchased his usual box of doughnuts. Julie had already served one pot of coffee and the second was being brewed. Captain Jer was hung over from the night before. Instead of starting with beer he had instructed his favorite bartender to start him off with a Bloody Mary. He was on his second. “I can’t believe the verdict.”

  “What did I miss?”

  “Maybe the biggest murder trial in St. Louis in the last century.”

  “Was that Shari’s trial?”

  “Duh. Where have you been?”

  “Well, what happened? What did I miss?”

  Captain Jer picked up his Bloody Mary and finished it in one gulp. “The jury was out for three days and returned a verdict.”