Talon Winter Legal Thrillers Box Set

by Stephen Penner

  “Will called your office,” Curt explained.

  “And Hannah came and told you?” Talon asked.

  Curt shifted his weight. “I may have been over at your office,” he admitted. “Looking for you. I was wondering how your first day in court went.”

  “It went great,” Marshall informed him.

  “Until now maybe,” Talon added. “Did they find the gun?”

  Curt looked down at the papers he brought with him. “I think so.” He handed them to Talon. “But they haven’t charged him with it.”

  Talon took the charging paperwork. “Not yet.” Then, after a few moments’ reading, she added, “But they will. The declaration says they found fingerprints on the gun. They’re waiting for the comparison results.”

  She looked up. “I want those fingerprints. I want Emerson to review them first. If he says they don’t match, and we get that report to the prosecutor before their expert finishes, maybe they’ll think twice about adding the gun charge.”

  “What if they do match?” Curt asked.

  “Then it doesn’t matter,” Marshall said. “They’ll charge him when their expert submits his report.”

  Curt shook his head. “I can get the charging document off the court website, but I can’t get police reports. Only the defense attorney can get those. You’ll have to file a notice of appearance on behalf of your brother, Talon.”

  But Talon balked. “No. I’m too close.” She opened her arms to the courtroom. “And too busy.”

  “I’ll do it,” Marshall volunteered.

  “You?” Talon almost laughed. “You’re an appellate attorney.”

  But Marshall reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a business card. “Hmm, just says ‘Attorney at Law’ on this.” He handed it to Curt. “If you give this to Hannah, can she file the necessary paperwork so you can get access to the fingerprints as my investigator?”

  Curt nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “Good,” Marshall said. “Do it.”

  Curt grinned and looked to Talon for confirmation. She nodded, and he took off for the door.

  Once he’d sprinted out into the hallway, Talon tipped her head toward Marshall. “Thank you.”

  Marshall nodded back. “Of course. Anything for you, Talon.”

  “Even though I wouldn’t throw this case for you?” she asked.

  Marshall smiled. “Especially because you wouldn’t do that.”

  CHAPTER 33

  That old phrase, ‘two rocks, two cops, two days’ didn’t quite pan out. It turned out that ‘one gun’ complicated matters significantly. Alcott ended up calling every last officer who had anything to do with the case, including the one who authorized the tow of the vehicle and the guy who transported the suspected crack cocaine to and from the crime lab for analysis.

  The last two prosecution witnesses were the State’s two experts: the one who tested the suspected crack to confirm it was actual crack, and the one who test-fired the suspected gun to make sure it was really an operable firearm. Neither was actually all that damaging to Talon’s defense. She wasn’t claiming that the crack was really sugar cubes, or the gun was a cigarette lighter.

  But that didn’t mean she couldn’t use them to advance her theory of the case. And have a little fun while doing it.

  First up was Olivia Parker, B.S., M.S., forensic chemist with the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory. She listed her academic degrees, recounted her professional experience, and explained the chemical tests they used to identify various controlled substances: methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine.

  “And were you able to determine whether the substance in state’s exhibit six was a controlled substance?”

  “Yes,” Parker answered. “My tests confirmed that the substance contained in the baggie marked as state’s exhibit six was cocaine.”

  “Crack cocaine?” Alcott just had to ask.

  Parker hesitated, but agreed. “Yes. It was in a form commonly known as crack.”

  “Thank you,” Alcott said. “No further questions.”

  Talon waited for the prosecutor to sit down, then stood up slowly and took a spot a comfortable distance from the witness. No need to be aggressive.

  She pointed to the exhibit still sitting on the ledge in front of Parker. “So that’s actually crack cocaine in that baggie there?”

  Parker looked down for a moment, then up again. “Yes.”

  “So, why isn’t it illegal for you to possess it?”

  Parker’s brows knitted together. “I believe there’s an exception for law enforcement purposes.”

  “Okay, sure,” Talon responded. “That makes sense. So it’s not always illegal to possess it? Like if you’re a cop collecting evidence?”

  “Right,” Parker agreed.

  “Or if you don’t know you’re possessing it, right?” Talon ventured. “Like if someone just dropped it in your purse but you didn’t know it was there?”

  “Uh, I’m not sure,” Parker answered. “I’m not a lawyer.”

  “Or if you borrowed someone’s jacket,” Talon went on, “and you didn’t know they had some crack stashed in the pocket?”

  Alcott finally interrupted. “Objection, Your Honor. Counsel is asking the witness to draw legal conclusions. That’s improper. The Court will instruct the jury on what the law is regarding unlawful possession of a controlled substance.”

  Talon didn’t have a response. Alcott was right. And she’d made her point. She just shrugged at the judge.

  Haroldson frowned at her. He’d been frowning the entire trial. “Objection sustained. The witness is a chemist, not a lawyer. She’s not qualified to give a legal opinion.”

  “Okay,” Talon answered. “What about just a common sense opinion? Like, you can’t be guilty of possessing a controlled substance if you didn’t know you were possessing it?”

  “I will instruct the jury on the law,” Haroldson boomed. “Not this witness, and certainly not you. Is that understood?”

  Talon nodded. She understood. And so, she hoped, did the jury. “No further questions then, Your Honor.”

  Alcott didn’t redirect, so Parker was excused and the prosecution called its last witness. “The State calls Lee Ungermann.”

  Ungermann was a firearms expert, also from the State Patrol Crime Lab. He had a B.S., too, and had been working at the crime lab for over thirty years. A big part of his work was linking fired bullets found at a crime scene with a suspect gun found later, hidden under a bed or in a car trunk. But his testimony today was simpler. He explained how a firearm worked—a controlled explosion of gunpowder forces superheated air down the barrel, pushing the bullet out of the end at a high velocity—then confirming that the gun recovered in this case was operable.

  “Did you test fire the firearm marked as state’s exhibit two?” Alcott asked.

  “Yes,” Ungermann answered.

  “And what was the result?”

  Ungermann turned to the jury and held up the handgun, an exhibit tag dangling from the trigger guard.. “State’s exhibit two is a fully operational firearm.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Ungermann,” Alcott concluded. “No further questions.

  Talon stood up but before she could step around her table, Judge Haroldson addressed her. “Are you planning on the same line of questioning as the last witness, Ms. Winter?”

  Talon buttoned her suit coat and looked up to the judge. “You mean about how it wouldn’t be a crime to possess a firearm if you didn’t know you were possessing it, like if someone else put it under the driver’s seat of a car you borrowed and you didn’t know it was there? Yes, Your Honor, I was planning on asking that line of questioning.”

  Haroldson shook his head. “I’m not going to allow it. For the same reasons I stopped you during the last witness. This witness is a scientific expert, not a legal expert. It isn’t appropriate for him to be asked such questions.”

  Talon nodded. All she really cared about was making sure the jury got her point. And she
felt confident they did. The judge was making sure of it. Still, she didn’t want to just back down.

  “Can I ask him if he’s ever lost something under the driver’s seat of his car and how difficult it was to try to fish it out again?”

  Another couple of chuckles from the jury box, but muted. The judge was in no mood.

  “No, you may not,” he growled.

  “Then I have no questions, Your Honor,” Talon said, and she sat down again.

  Alcott couldn’t do redirect examination if Talon didn’t do any cross, so she was done with Ungermann, and her case.

  “The State rests,” she announced.

  And everyone took a deep breath. The State resting was like halftime, but after playing three full quarters. The State always took longer to put on their evidence—they usually had a lot more than a defendant could muster—and no matter what, trials were tiring events for everyone involved. Usually, when the State rested, the judge would inquire of the defense attorney if she wanted to start fresh the next morning. But Haroldson really didn’t like her.

  “We will reconvene after lunch,” he told the jurors, “for the next phase of the case.”

  He couldn’t tell them ‘for the defense to put on its case’ because he didn’t know for sure Talon would put on any case. She didn’t have to. And Alcott’s accidental burden-shifting in her opening statement had made everyone, or at least the judge, keenly aware of not commenting on a defendant’s right to just sit there, say nothing, and get convicted.

  Once the jurors were out of the room, Haroldson inquired of Talon whether she intended to put on a case. The jurors couldn’t know, but he still needed to. There were scheduling considerations.

  “Yes, Your Honor,” she answered. “But I don’t believe I’ll be able to start this afternoon. Our first witness is Mr. Jamal Jeffries, but he is a prisoner at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla and had to be transported to the Pierce County Jail. As of last night, he hadn’t arrived yet.”

  “I can check,” the bailiff interjected. Then after a moment, “He’s here now. He was booked into the jail this morning at seven-thirty.”

  “Then this afternoon it is,” Haroldson declared.

  “I’ll need to get him civilian clothes from the Department of Assigned Counsel,” Talon protested. Jurors couldn’t see that a witness was in custody either. Especially not a defense witness.

  “Well, then,” Haroldson grinned down at her. “You’d better hurry. Court is adjourned!”

  CHAPTER 34

  There was barely time to contact DAC, get the clothes to the jail, and grab a small bite to eat, before getting back to the courtroom in time for the afternoon session. That meant Talon didn’t have time to prep with Jamal, go over what she was going to ask him, make sure he wasn’t too nervous. It really wasn’t fair to the defense.

  Which is exactly why Haroldson had rushed her.

  When the jurors reentered the courtroom it was to a slightly unusual scene. Instead of Talon standing up and announcing her witness, then the witness entering from the hallway and walking up to the judge to be sworn in, her first witness was already sitting on the witness stand. And instead of two corrections officers trying to look inconspicuous as they guarded the defendant, there were four of them, completely failing to look inconspicuous as they had to guard both Ezekiel Frazier and Jamal Jeffries. The jury couldn’t see either man in shackles, so they had to be placed first, then uncuffed, before the jury came out.

  It was weird. And the jurors looked surprised by it. Uncomfortable.

  Talon wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. She was clearly being treated differently. But then again, they might think there was a good reason for it.

  Once the jurors were seated, Judge Haroldson looked down at Talon. “Does the defense intend to call any witnesses?”

  Pay no attention to the man in the witness chair.

  “Yes, Your Honor,” Talon answered from where she was standing next to her client. “The defense calls Mr. Jamal Jeffries.”

  Haroldson turned to Jeffries. “Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

  “Yes, sir,” Jeffries answered, then he sat down again and waited for Talon to ask him a question.

  He didn’t look great. It had obviously been a long night of driving over the mountains from Walla Walla. He looked tired and his hair was even less kempt than when she’d visited him in prison. The clothes she was able to find—a plaid shirt and tan pants—were a little too big for him, so he seemed to sink into them, leaving his nervous eyes and wild hair to dominate his appearance.

  “Please state your name for the record,” Talon began.

  “Jamal Malcolm Jeffries,” he answered. He was so nervous, his answer almost sounded like a question itself.

  Talon slowed her voice down in an effort to get him to calm down too.

  “Mr. Jeffries,” she began, “are you acquainted with my client, Mr. Frazier?”

  Jamal looked over at Zeke. “Yes. I know Mr. Frazier.”

  “How do you know him?”

  “Uh, we’re friends, I guess,” Jamal answered, almost embarrassed. Grown men could be weird.

  “Friends,” Talon repeated. “And how long have you and Mr. Frazier been friends?”

  Jamal shrugged. “I don’t know. A few years probably. I met him through some other friends and we would just sorta hang out sometimes. I mean, if we ended up at the same place or something. I mean, he’s cool, you know.”

  Talon smiled at that.

  “Are you familiar with the night Mr. Frazier was arrested?” Talon moved along.

  “You mean, was I there?” Jamal clarified. “No, I wasn’t there. I seen him earlier in the day, but we wasn’t hanging out by the time he got pulled over. I heard about it later, though.”

  “Okay, well, don’t tell me anything you heard later,” Talon instructed.” That would be hearsay. But let’s talk about what you guys were doing earlier in the day.”

  Jamal looked away and shifted in his seat. “Uh, okay.”

  Talon had to be careful. What they were doing earlier in the day was smoking crack. Jamal didn’t want to have to say that, and Talon didn’t particularly want the jury to hear it. So she focused on something else.

  “Did you guys end up getting a car to use?”

  Jamal looked back up at her, visibly relieved not to have been asked about drug use. “Yeah. Yeah, we did. An old Cadillac or Lincoln or something. Blue.”

  Talon walked over to the exhibits spread out on the bar in front of the bailiff. The cops had taken a few photos at the scene. They always took photos because they thought they were supposed to. And prosecutors always introduced the photos at trial because it was just one more piece of evidence that might make the jury think they must have a case if they have all those exhibits. She selected one that showed most of the car as it sat on the side of the road after the arrest, and walked over to hand it to Jamal.

  “I’m handing you what’s been marked as exhibit sixteen. Is that the car you guys got earlier that day?”

  Jamal looked at the photo for several seconds. More than Talon would have thought necessary to identify the vehicle. But finally, he looked up again. “Yep. That’s the car.”

  “How do you know?”

  Jamal pointed at the photo. “That’s the car. Blue Lincoln. No hubcaps. It was a nice ride.”

  “Who did you get the car from?”

  Jamal shrugged slightly. “I don’t know the man’s real name, but he went by ‘Bear.’”

  “Bear?” Talon confirmed.

  “Yeah, Bear,” Jamal answered. “He had like a big ol’ tattoo of the Big Dipper on his back or something, and he said the Latin or Indian name for the Big Dipper was Big Bear, so everybody called him Bear.”

  “And were you friends with Bear too?”

  Another shrug. “I don’t know if I’d say we was friends. I knew him, but I’
d just see him around sometimes. I hadn’t seen him in a long time actually, then he was back, and he was hustling, looking to score some money or some—“ He stopped himself. “Well, money, yeah. And anyway, uh, yeah, he had that car and he loaned it to Zeke for some cash and, uh, some other stuff.”

  Talon nodded. If the jury didn’t know they were talking about drugs, they were stupider than she could imagine.

  “So it was just a loaner car?” she clarified.

  “Yeah, Bear was gonna come back in the morning to pick it up,” Jamal explained, “but he didn’t get a chance ‘cause the cops grabbed it.”

  “Right.” Talon nodded. “Did you guys search the car, looking for contraband?”

  “Contraband?” Jamal parroted. “Like drugs and guns and stuff?”

  Talon nodded. “Yes.”

  “Naw.” Jamal shook his head. “We just rode around, ya know. It was nice to have some wheels. We cruised around for a bit. But then I had to go see my girlfriend, so he dropped me off, and that was the last time I seen him.”

  Talon thought for a moment. Jamal had said what she needed him to say, and he’d mostly avoided talking about drug use. Every additional question was an opportunity for him to say something that hurt her case. The only thing that she felt needed a little shoring up was this mysterious Bear character. She didn’t have a real name, but sometimes details could take the place of monikers.

  “Could you describe Bear for the jury, please?” she instructed.

  “Uh, sure.” Jamal thought for a moment. “He was a White dude, with black hair, kinda longish, but not like super long. He was kinda skinny but had muscles on his arms. He had a lot of tats, like that Big Dipper one. And I don’t know, he was pretty cool. Laid back. Like if we didn’t get the car back to him right on time, it wasn’t gonna be a big thing, ya know?”

  Talon didn’t know. “Sure,” she said. Then, “Thank you. No further questions.”

  Alcott didn’t wait for Talon to sit down before trying to get into position to cross examine the witness. As a result they sort of blocked each other’s ability to pass between the tables, until Talon sighed and stepped back, allowing Alcott out. She seemed eager to get at Jamal.