“You’ve had numerous occasions where you spent time with the defendant outside of school; is that correct, Mrs. Rizzo?”
She nods at Kane. “Yes. She’s a friend of mine. We’ve seen movies together. She’s been over to our family’s house for dinner.”
“And you’ve worked with Ms. Wesley for how long?”
“Since she’s been at the high school—for the last six years.”
Rizzo continues to answer questions, recalling jokes she and Grace have shared, making it almost sound like the funny TV sitcom Will and Grace could be called Rizzo and Grace.
Eventually Kane stops twirling the lasso and drops it around Grace’s neck. He’s finally gotten to the point where he’s going to pass the rope over to Rizzo and allow her to pull it as hard as she can.
“Does Ms. Wesley talk about faith issues on the school campus?”
Everybody can tell they’re best buddies and they know each other well and Rizzo would never ever say anything negative against a kindred soul like Grace. Right?
“All the time,” Rizzo replies.
I’ll take wrong for $600, Alex.
“Everybody knows she’s a Christian,” Rizzo continues. “Truthfully, I don’t think she’d chew a stick of gum without praying first. And if I’m being honest—it makes everyone feel awkward.”
“No further questions, Your Honor.”
I guess Grace’s summer vacation with Rizzo will now be called off.
“Your witness, Mr. Endler.”
I glance at Grace and see a wounded expression. It’s one thing to hear a guy like Kane insulting her character, and it’s another to have the parent of a student go on the stand and reprimand her. But to have a colleague—an admitted friend—simply throw her to the wolves like that? Unbelievable.
I smile and nod as I walk over to the short, curly-haired bulldog on the stand.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Rizzo. Thank you for being here today. I trust you had a good lunch?”
She gets a quizzical sort of expression on her face as she nods and tells me yes. I glance at Judge Stennis, and he’s giving me that Don’t start this right away look.
“I have a question for you. Do you have a favorite place you like to eat? A diner, perhaps? A coffee shop? Somewhere you love to go?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Kane shouts out behind me. “Irrelevant to the case at hand.”
I knew this was coming. “Your Honor,” I say in my own heartfelt tone, “I’m simply asking a question about Mrs. Rizzo’s favorite dining establishments. It does, in fact, pertain to the case at hand, and it’s far too soon for Mr. Kane to object to a simple question like this, knowing he will most certainly be objecting to pretty much every question I ask.”
“Overruled. But get to the point, Mr. Endler.”
“So, Mrs. Rizzo, do you have a place you love to eat out at?”
“Well, I don’t drink overpriced coffee, so it’s definitely not that. I guess it’s the pancake house my husband and I eat at every Sunday.”
“And what is it called?” I ask.
“Flapjacks, on the north side of town.”
“Do you remember when you last went?”
“This past Sunday.”
Rizzo looks a bit amused and confused at the same time.
“What time?”
“Objection, Your Honor. Does this have any relevance to why we’re here, or is Mr. Endler going to just ask about Mrs. Rizzo’s breakfast experiences?”
“Sustained. Mr. Endler, please state your question.”
I wondered how much of a leash the judge would give me. Kane isn’t going to give me any at all.
“Mrs. Rizzo, you obviously know the details about things like that. About the place you like to eat breakfast and the day and the time you usually go. I’m sure you could give all of us many details about this if time and Mr. Kane allowed it. My question for you is this. You stated that Ms. Wesley talks about faith ‘all the time.’ So speaking of details and specifics, can you give an example of Ms. Wesley doing this?”
I can tell this educated professional who is almost twice my age didn’t see this question coming. She thinks for a moment while stillness covers the room.
“Not off the top of my head,” Rizzo says.
I make a loud and obnoxious hmmm sound. “Has Ms. Wesley, as far as you’re aware, ever started her class with a prayer?”
“No.”
“Ever asked anyone in the teachers’ lounge to pray with her?”
“No.”
“Asked you personally to pray with her?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Kane barks behind me. “Cumulative. The question has effectively been asked and answered.”
“Your Honor,” I say, moving toward Judge Stennis. “Mrs. Rizzo’s sworn testimony states that Ms. Wesley talks about her faith ‘all the time.’ Yet she failed to cite a single instance. I’m merely trying to discover some basis for her opinion.”
“Sustained. Mr. Endler, we’re done with this line of questioning.”
Come on.
“Very well, Your Honor. So, Mrs. Rizzo, in the school’s initial inquiry into this matter, you were Ms. Wesley’s representative on behalf of the teachers’ union, were you not?”
“I was.”
“And did you ever consider that your disapproval of Ms. Wesley’s faith might taint your ability to represent her properly?”
“Objection,” Mr. Objector says behind me. “Speculative.”
“Sustained,” Mr. Sustainer says above me.
This doesn’t seem to bother Rizzo. “I have never stated that I ‘disapprove’ of Ms. Wesley’s faith,” she says.
“And yet you’re sitting here testifying for the plaintiff in a case specifically stating that Ms. Wesley’s faith is a problem.”
“Your Honor. Objection once again.”
“Sustained, Mr. Endler.”
I give Stennis a look that probably resembles a kid about to say She started it! when an elderly woman on the jury sneezes. The juror named Dave, who’s a pastor, can’t help but turn to her and say, “God bless you.”
The words echo in the courtroom.
“Careful,” I say, looking over at the guy. “Or you might end up on trial.”
There’s a small round of laughter. The judge looks more tired than annoyed. “Mr. Endler . . .”
I’m done. For the moment.
29
AMY JOTS NOTES in blue ink while Kane examines Principal Ruth Kinney on the stand. The two of them talk like longtime college buddies having a conversation while hanging out on the dock down by the lake.
Witnesses against Ms. Wesley:
* Parent of a child in class at school
* Union representative at school
* Principal at school
It’s like an inverted triangle, with the weight at the top and the bottom slicing a sharp dagger to the heart.
All she needs is a student to testify against her.
Amy is almost certain it will happen. These lawyers surely have their ways.
Kane has spent the last few moments asking Principal Kinney about her time at the school and how she stepped out of a successful corporate career to “give back” to the field she feels indebted to: education. And what better place to do it than high school? Kinney pontificates a bit on helping students be progressive and open-minded these days.
God is so old-school, so Old Testament.
Kane then asks her about Ms. Wesley.
“She has always been a fine example of Martin Luther King High School ideals,” Kinney says without hesitation.
“So was it surprising when you first learned about what happened?”
“Very.”
“How did you hear about the incident in question?”
“My office received a couple of calls from parents about what they had read online. Two parents of different students.”
“Were either of those parents the Thawleys?”
“No,” Kinney says, her jaw
and expression solid as stone and impossible to chip away at.
The principal continues through the step-by-step of what happened.
“Were you surprised when Ms. Wesley refused to admit any wrongdoing?”
Up to this point, the principal has not said a single bad word about her star teacher. There’s no throwing a teacher under the bus. But now a rigid veil of disappointment lowers over Kinney’s face like a disappointed parent’s.
“Frankly, yes, Mr. Kane. I was quite shocked.”
“By what Ms. Wesley said?”
Principal Kinney looks over at Grace.
Amy writes:
Giving a look of YOU LET ME DOWN
“I was stunned that Ms. Wesley allowed that to happen in her classroom. She knows better. I have nothing against what someone believes. I respect that. But I also respect what the walls of a school building mean and the sanctuary inside each and every classroom.”
Preach it, girlfriend.
Amy is glad she’s a writer and not a lawyer. It would be hard to fight her sarcasm and cynicism up there.
Kane places his hands together with the tops of the fingers touching each other. A distinguished look of solemn contemplation.
Kane going with the dignity, wise, a stance like Steven Spielberg standing before a group of film students.
“So, what was the school district’s final determination?” he asks.
“Grace has been suspended, without pay, pending the results of this trial.”
Kane nods at the principal. Pauses and appears to be thinking. “But doesn’t that seem kind of unusual? Leaving it up to a third party to determine if Ms. Wesley should be fired?”
“We’ve decided to accept the court’s interpretation of wrongdoing, either way.”
Kinney has surely been coached on not only what to say but how to say it. Amy writes down some more thoughts.
Respect faith and keep it in its place.
But more than that, respect education.
And over that, beyond everything and anything, respect this court.
Soon Tom is allowed to cross-examine the principal. And soon he finds himself being objected to.
“Every principal I’ve ever known has been the type who felt like they were a bit bigger than their job title allowed, and they loved being able to exert that authority on helpless students and even teachers. Do you feel like it’s your word that goes?”
Kane objects, but Kinney answers anyway. “I respect the position I’m in as well as the rules of this district. We have procedures. The union does not like to be put in a situation like this, and neither do I.”
Tom spends time asking her more questions about her position and her authority and her relationship with Ms. Wesley.
Tom not getting anywhere with questions to Kinney.
But Amy’s attention perks up when Tom changes gears.
“Ms. Kinney, what is the full name of the high school over which you preside?”
“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial High School.”
A name only mentioned a dozen times already.
The lawyer nods and rubs the back of his head. If Kane was the director talking to the students, then Tom surely falls in the latter category.
“I notice the name fails to mention Dr. King’s title as ‘Reverend Doctor.’”
Mr. All-American Tom better watch where he’s headed with this.
It appears as if Principal Kinney thinks the same thing. A grin takes off like a hot-air balloon over her face. “While I realize that Dr. King had ties to the faith community—”
“Very generous of you, given that he was a Baptist minister,” Tom interrupts.
Kinney moves forward in her chair as if to remind everybody of her strength and education and bearing. “It’s his work in the field of civil rights that we prefer to highlight.”
“Back off” is what Kinney just told Tom.
“But that’s the whole point,” Tom says. “You consider his faith and politics to be two separate things. But I don’t believe they are. And Dr. King certainly didn’t.”
The plaintiff’s attorney’s chair slides back with a jolt as the lawyer stands and shouts, “Objection! Speculative. And counsel is testifying!”
Judge Stennis, looking like a tired father dealing with a troubled teenager, gives another “Sustained. The jury is instructed to ignore Mr. Endler’s preceding remarks.”
Amy can’t help but chuckle. Every good point Tom makes is objected to, and most of the objections are sustained. But the lawyer doesn’t seem like he’s going to let this go. Not yet.
“Ms. Kinney. Are you familiar with Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”?”
The principal is still dignified and hasn’t lost the aura of respect and order. Even with a question that one might consider insulting.
“Yes. It’s a seminal piece of civil rights history.” The words are expressed with a note of pride.
“But in that letter, Dr. King makes numerous faith-based references, does he not?”
“Offhand, I don’t recall,” Kinney says.
Or you don’t really want to recall, right?
Tom clears his throat even though Amy bets he doesn’t really need to.
“Allow me to refresh your memory,” Tom says. “Dr. King cites the example of the three youths from the biblical book of Daniel who were tossed into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar when they refused to worship him. Elsewhere Dr. King mentions the apostle Paul and refers to ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ,’ and he even expresses gratitude to God that the dimension of nonviolence entered his struggle. Is this coming back to you now?”
I bet after all those principal visits he surely had as a student, Tom’s gotta love giving it a little to one on a stand years later.
Kinney nods but refuses to make it seem like a big deal. “Yes.”
“And in his speech titled ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,’ he stated that he just wanted to do God’s will. I could go on, but I won’t.”
“Objection. Repetitive.”
Tom looks back at Kane as if to say, Would you just let me ask something?
“Counsel seems to have admitted as much himself. Sustained.”
As Tom goes back to the table, he gives a glance at Grace and then a wink. He looks at a sheet for a moment. “So, Principal Kinney. In your opinion, would Ms. Wesley, had she chosen to do so, have been allowed to present those examples I just mentioned in her class?”
“Objection. Speculative.”
“I’m going to allow it,” Stennis says this time. “Overruled. The witness may answer.”
“Thank you, Your Honor.”
For the first time since being in the seat, Kinney takes a moment to answer. “No. If it were up to me . . . she wouldn’t have been allowed.”
“Why not?” Tom asks.
“Because those examples are too closely associated with faith.”
The lawyer circles closer to Kinney, as if trying to hear her better.
“So in other words, they’re facts, but they’re facts that are too dangerous for discussion?”
“I wouldn’t say dangerous,” the principal says. “The word I’d use would be controversial.”
“Ah,” Tom says. “But aren’t facts just facts? There’s nothing controversial about two plus two equaling four. Or E = MC squared. Or the date man first landed on the moon. So why the controversy regarding these particular facts?”
“I’d say the fact that we’re all here today speaks for itself.”
Kinney’s statement receives some laughter. Tom smiles and nods.
“I’d say you’re right. Thank you for your honesty.”
He’s extremely comfortable in front of everybody. Definitely belongs up there.
“So one last question, Ms. Kinney. In your orientation at the beginning of the semester, your memo to the staff stressed diversity and tolerance, did it not?”
She nods, her lips tightening and her jaw somehow looking even more sharp as
she states a confident yes.
“Would it be fair to say that, except for Christianity, all other forms of diversity are welcome?”
Kane stands and shouts an objection while Tom looks back at him, clearly having known it was coming.
“I’ll withdraw the question. No further questions, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Endler, you seem to have a penchant for injecting commentary where it doesn’t belong,” Judge Stennis tells him as he walks back to his table. “You would do well to avoid further provocation of this court.”
Tom turns and nods before sitting. “I apologize, Your Honor. I will look to curtail it in the future.”
As Tom sits down, Kane raises his hand and says, “Redirect, Your Honor.”
The lawyer heads straight to the principal.
“Ms. Kinney. I understand you attended a service at Ms. Wesley’s church a short while ago. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct. It was an event honoring several students who go to that church for their community service.”
“And who was it that invited you to that service?” Kane asks.
In a confident and casual manner, the woman looks over at the defendant. “Ms. Wesley.”
“I see. And where were you when this invitation was extended?”
Amy can see the smug look starting to spread over Kinney’s face.
“At my office.”
“On school grounds?” Kane asks.
“Yes.”
Several of the jurors move their heads to look at each other.
“During work hours?” Kane asks again, driving the point home.
“Yes.”
Kane gives a masterful grin as he starts to head back to his table, then turns again.
“Oh—and one last question. Is it true that Ms. Wesley accepts donations for a Christian charity right there in her classroom?”
“Yes, she does,” Ms. Kinney says.
Ouch.
“Thank you again. No further questions, Your Honor.”
“You may step down, Ms. Kinney.”
Amy watches the principal rise and walk back to her seat in the courtroom. Every movement and angle of her body and even the way she sits feels rigid. Harsh and cold and impossible to chip away.
“Next witness, Mr. Kane?” the judge asks.
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