Capitol offence bk-17

by William Bernhardt

  Guillerman moved into the center of the courtroom, taking their attention with him. "This is the honest truth-I've gotten murder convictions on a lot less than that. There's not much doubt about what happened in that hotel room, and I notice that the defense hasn't tried very hard to convince anyone differently. Did we believe for one second that Detective Sentz would harm himself? No. Is there any indication of a third party? No. So why isn't this trial over already?

  "There is only one reason. Because they have asserted the defense of temporary insanity. This is called an affirmative defense, meaning that the burden of proof is shifted. They must prove the truth of their defense. As the judge will later instruct you, if they do not, the defense must fail, and you must find the defendant just as responsible for his own actions as you would anyone else."

  He took a few more steps backward, bringing himself up beside the defendant's table. "So what actual evidence of temporary insanity do we have?" He gestured toward Dennis. "What proof did you receive that this man was insane? We know he was angry, yes. Obsessed, certainly. We know he had a serious temper and was given to bouts of violence, not only with his wife but with others. He was given medication that might help suppress his violent impulses. But insanity? Where was the proof of that? The entire process of getting the gun, tracking down his intended victim, stalking him at the hotel-none of that sounds like the irrational act of a crazy man. It sounds like the cold, calculating, deliberate act of a man determined to take a life."

  Guillerman glanced at Dennis, forcing the jury to do the same, then he moved on. "Excluding the psychiatric evidence, which I will talk about in a moment, the only real proof you have of anything remotely resembling mental illness is his blackout. He says he blacked out and now, conveniently, he doesn't remember what happened. Please remember that he never once, in the entire time he was on the witness stand, denied that he killed Detective Sentz. He just says he doesn't remember. What does that tell you?

  "Did he really black out? Or was he faking? What you should be asking yourself is this: Is this one act, this one fainting spell, quite possibly feigned, enough to demonstrate that he was mentally ill? Or was it perhaps induced by the revulsion and horror a rational mind experienced after he completed the murderous act? Was the blackout the result of a brain desperately trying to erase the memory of what it had done?"

  Guillerman returned to the jury box. "That leaves us with only one final element that bears on the defendant's excuse. The paid psychiatric witness. The man who himself called temporary insanity a merciful device invented to absolve the guilty. The man who only saw Dennis Thomas once between his wife's death and the murder but still wants to be considered an expert. The man who didn't see sufficient danger signs to take any action, but now wants to tell us that the defendant was temporarily insane. How seriously can you take this man?

  "He says Dennis Thomas was under a lot of stress. Well, who isn't? All I can say to that is, with something like six million Americans taking Prozac every day, I seriously hope you do not turn stress into a license to kill. He says that the defendant was disturbed by the loss of his wife and I do not doubt it. Even though it is apparent that the marriage had problems, problems that the defendant has tried to withhold from the jury, I do not doubt that it was hard to lose a spouse, particularly in that way. But there is no good way. Death is a part of life, and each and every day many loving people lose their partners. I hope that you will not allow this to stand as a justification for anyone to vent their rage by taking the life of another human being."

  Guillerman moved closer, leaning against the rail. "Here is what we know for certain about this witness. He has received a fortune for his role in this case, somewhere in the range of ten thousand dollars. How many psychiatrists would sell their souls for ten thousand dollars? Sadly, I suspect there are more than a few. He told us that Dennis Thomas had a violent temper, that he had actually struck his wife on at least one occasion. That they were having marital troubles and Dennis was upset about it. That he blamed Detective Sentz and was obsessed with him. That after his wife's death his temper grew to such proportion that the doctor prescribed a temper-reducing medication."

  He held up a finger. "But here is the most important thing we learned from Dr. Estevez. We learned that he doesn't believe temporary insanity actually exists. In his own words, taken straight from his book, which he did not disavow on the stand, he said that temporary insanity was 'defined into existence.' That means it doesn't really exist. That means no one had even used the term until lawyers invented it to get their clients off the hook. To prevent them from taking responsibility for their actions. Or to put it charitably, to give juries an excuse to ignore the law."

  Guillerman leaned even closer, burning into their eyes, not allowing them to escape his gaze. "These are the two questions you must ask yourself." His voice began to rise. "Do you believe that the defendant was temporarily insane? Seriously? And even if you do, is this a case where it is appropriate to set aside the law and give mercy to a murderer?

  "The defendant's lawyer is basically asking you to ignore your head and listen to your heart. But is your heart really saying to let the murderer off? Mine isn't. I have a heart a big as anyone's, but my heart goes out to Christopher Sentz, who gave the best years of his life to this community and got thanked with a bullet to the forehead. Our police officers are the thin blue line!"

  Ben drew in his breath. Here we go…

  "They are all that stands between us and chaos. Crime rampant in the streets. Is this how we want to reward our protectors? By allowing them to be murdered without consequence?" His voice continued to climb. He was in full dramatic dudgeon now, and the jury seemed rapt with attention. "God help us, I hope not. My heart does not go out to the slayers of men who put their lives on the line for us every day. My heart goes out to his wife, now a widow, and his two lovely daughters, now fatherless. My heart does not go out to a man who, for whatever reason, deliberately decided to take another man's life. And it never will!"

  Guillerman drew himself up, folded his hands, and added calmly, "You swore an oath when you took a seat on this jury. You swore to apply the law. Nothing else. To apply the law. Please honor that oath."

  And with those words, DA Guillerman concluded.

  Ben knew he could never match Guillerman in terms of oratory. He just wasn't that slick, not even after spending time in the U.S. Senate. Guillerman was probably better than Ben would ever be. And he lacked the weapons in his arsenal to counter his content. In terms of dramatic potency, he simply had nothing to compete with the slaying of a public servant, husband, and father. Bottom line, Guillerman had the better case. If Ben was going to salvage this, he was going to have to take a different approach. Disarm the jury. Find another way to win.

  "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Mr. Guillerman is right. He's absolutely right. You probably didn't expect to hear me say that. But it's true. He's right."

  Out the corner of his eye, Ben saw his cohorts back at the table looking concerned. Dennis was no doubt wondering if Ben was throwing in the towel. Christina knew this wasn't the closing she'd heard him practicing earlier in the day. Well, that was a fundamental part of criminal law-sometimes you had to make adjustments along the way.

  "In the main, Mr. Guillerman has not misrepresented the facts. Shaded them in a dramatic manner, perhaps, but he has not misrepresented them. Dennis did in fact follow Detective Sentz. He did in fact go to that hotel room. And he did have a gun. He told you all this. He admitted it. So there's absolutely no reason whatsoever why you should not find him guilty as charged."

  Ben turned and started back to the table. Several of the jurors appeared confused, concerned. There was a definite stir in the gallery.

  Just as he reached the table, Ben stopped. "Unless, of course, you are concerned about justice." He turned slowly to once again face the jury. "Because surely, even in this day and age, there must be some room for justice in what we almost mockingly call the criminal just
ice system." He took a step closer. "As I listened to the words of the district attorney, I heard no consideration of justice whatsoever. In fact, I heard him explicitly ask you to disregard justice. And I think that is very sad."

  Ben continued to approach, gazing at the jury levelly. "Mr. Guillerman wants to suggest that a blackout could be faked, but I think you know better. The doctors testified that he was out for more than two hours and they were unable to wake him. No one is that good a faker. Dennis Thomas blacked out. So that leads to another question: why? Dr. Estevez explained it. He said that with Detective Sentz's death, Dennis's dissociative state burst like a popped balloon. The brain literally shut itself down to heal. What contrary evidence have you heard? None. What other evidence have you had to explain the blackout? None. The only explanation that has any evidence in support is that Dennis was gripped by temporary insanity. We have presented our evidence and the prosecution has not refuted it. We have also shown the numerous flaws in their supposedly airtight case. Does this give you sufficient cause for doubt?" Ben paused, letting the jury be reminded of the importance of that word. "Absolutely. An alternate explanation for what happened, never refuted by the prosecution, is always grounds for reasonable doubt. And a man acting while temporarily insane must be acquitted. Like it or not. That's the law."

  Ben moved forward, casting a quick glance back at his table. He could see that Christina was still confused. But she wasn't frowning.

  He could definitely see concern in Dennis's eyes, though. Worry. He hoped the jury couldn't see it, too.

  "The district attorney wants you to believe that this case is a referendum on Detective Sentz. To the extent that he is interested in justice at all, he wants justice for Sentz, his representative of the thin blue line. But Detective Sentz is not the one on trial today. Neither is the police department. Dennis Thomas is on trial. This is a referendum on him. You will decide his future."

  Ben moved to the side, inviting the jury to give the defendant another look. "Mr. Guillerman has repeatedly attempted to demonize this man. It's not good enough for him to simply say his trauma after the loss of his wife led him to take an extreme action. He wants you to believe he's evil. He wants you to believe he has an explosive temper, based on the scantiest of evidence. He wants you to believe he's dangerous. He wants you to believe he's a wife beater, based on one minor incident, one Dennis readily admitted. He wants to transform a man suffering from the worst sort of grief imaginable into Hannibal Lecter, a cold-hearted, scheming, calculating killer."

  Ben gestured back toward his client. "This man is a literature professor. He specializes in the classics. The Iliad. The Odyssey. His students like him, because he goes the extra mile to help them with their problems. He was a loving husband and his wife returned his love. Yes, he has problems, as do we all. But he is a good person, and that did not change in the least until he was hurled into a maelstrom of the most nightmarish events. Days on end of frustration and fear, unable to find his wife, unable to obtain the slightest cooperation from the 'thin blue line.' I don't know whether you think the police are to blame for what they did-or did not do-but this is a fact: their failure to act when they could have acted resulted in the death of Joslyn Thomas. How would you feel about that if it were your spouse in the car? Or your mother? Or you?"

  Enough of this. Ben moved to the side, blocking off their view of the defendant, closing in to make his final points. "Yes, Dennis reacted to his wife's death in an extreme fashion. Regardless of what you think happened in that hotel room, it is clear that he did things he should not have done. But that in and of itself proves that his brain was not functioning in a normal manner. He was behaving extraordinarily-like he had never acted before. That is not a strike against him, as my opponent would suggest. That is perhaps your greatest evidence that Dennis was acting under the influence of an altered mental state. That most delicate of balances had been utterly skewered."

  Ben paused, giving the jury a chance to register all he had said. "I also have sympathy for Detective Sentz. I'm sure we all do. But that is simply not the subject of this trial. That is a side matter the DA has introduced to distract you from your task at hand. This case is about Dennis Thomas. It is possible to have sympathy for both men-indeed, I don't see how we cannot. But Dennis Thomas is the one on trial. One man has died already. Do we need another? Haven't we had enough death result from this tragic, almost Shakespearean series of events? Isn't this exactly when we as a society should have the courage to resist the temptation to pursue revenge and retribution? The Bible says, 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.' Mr. Guillerman thinks the fact that temporary insanity allows a jury to grant mercy is a bad thing. I think it's perhaps the one final element that allows us to retain some semblance of justice in the criminal justice system."

  Ben folded his hands, signaling the jury that he was coming to a close. "Like Mr. Guillerman, I urge you to fulfill your oath. You agreed that you would listen to the judge's instructions and would apply them to this case. The judge will read those instructions to you in a few minutes and you will be able to take a copy back with you to the deliberation room. All of them are important, but two are paramount. One that says that in order to convict, you must find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If you find the degree of proof is anything less than that, you must acquit Dennis. It is not a choice. If you believe the case against him has not been proved, if doubts still linger in your mind, you must set this good man free and let him get on with his life. And if you believe that he was temporarily insane, you also must acquit him."

  Ben moved in closer. "Let's be honest here. Dennis is not a criminal. These circumstances will never be repeated. He is no danger to society. Hasn't there been enough death already?"

  Ben held up his hands like trays on opposite ends of a scale. "Justice? Mercy? Or retribution. The choice is yours."

  Ben gazed at them one final time, making eye contact with each. Then he took his seat at the table.

  The judge read his instructions to the jury, then cautioned them about what they could and could not do in the course of deliberation. Less than half an hour later, they were dismissed. The bailiff led them back to the main deliberation room, where they would remain for the foreseeable future.

  After the court session was adjourned and the spectators were leaving, Christina tapped Ben on the sleeve. "Just so you know, I thought your closing was brilliant."

  He smiled a little. "Persuasive?"

  She did not answer immediately. "Brilliant."

  Dennis swiveled around in his chair. His eyes seemed dark, tired. The strain of the trial was definitely showing on him. Probably on all of them.

  "But was it enough?" Dennis asked, keeping his voice low so no one would hear. "Will they believe it?"

  Ben did not immediately answer.

  "I was watching their eyes, but I couldn't tell what they were thinking."

  "We'll talk about it when we get out of here."

  Dennis appeared surprised. "We're leaving? Going back to the office?"

  Ben began packing up his trial materials. "I think we should all go home. I have a feeling the jury is going to be out for a good long time."

  35

  Loving did a double take. "Mike?"

  "Yeah. You're sure Ben isn't lurking around somewhere?"

  "He's busy with the trial. What are you doing here?"

  "Keep your voice down." Mike glanced up the hill. It was a steep slope they had just rolled down, but there were still men in the driveway waiting for Dr. Sentz to return with the mysterious goods. "We don't want to tip off those smugglers upstairs."

  "Do you know what's goin' on? What they're doin'?"

  "Don't you?"

  "Well…"

  "Then why are you here?"

  "I'm tryin' to find out who killed Christopher Sentz."

  "I thought that was obvious."

  "Ben doesn't think so."

  "What else is new? Ben thinks all his cl
ients are pure as driven snow. Even the cop killers."

  "Yeah, but I'm beginnin' to think he may be right this time. Something weird was goin' on at that hotel."

  Mike cocked his head slightly. "And you think that has something to do with the smuggling ring?"

  "I know Peter Shaw is one of the goons up in that driveway. And he was also at the hotel that day."

  "Then the foxes were guarding the henhouse." Mike paused a moment. "You know, that would explain a few questions I've had."

  "Why are you tracking smugglers, anyway? Isn't homicide your beat?"

  "There was a homicide. A man who died in the most grotesque manner."

  "Some kinda mutilation?"

  "Worse. Intense radiation poisoning. What the docs call ARS-acute radiation syndrome. Burns all over the body, even more serious internal damage. Organs baked from the inside out. Immune system shutdown. GI tract disintegrated. Stomach lining aspirated. Stress on the body triggers a cardiac arrest in the most painful-"

  "I get the idea."

  "That's what started my investigation."

  Loving remembered the radiation warnings he had seen on the hospital doors in the oncology wing. "There's something inside the hospital? Something dangerous?"

  "Very dangerous. And valuable. If you're a terrorist."

  Loving glanced up the side of the hill, making sure they weren't doing anything to attract the attention of the men waiting for Dr. Sentz to come out with the contraband. "Can you clue me in?"

  "Ever heard of cesium?"

  "Can't say that I have."

  "It's one of several radioactive materials used by hospitals today for radiation therapy. That's one of many purposes. It's also used in the oil industry to create a more effective drilling fluid. Scientists use it in atomic clocks. Photoelectric cells. But cancer treatment hospitals are the primary users in the United States."