The Last Chance Lawyer

by William Bernhardt

  “I want to question each and every juror,” he said. “I need to know if they’ve seen this article.”

  Jazlyn shook her head. “The judge instructed them to avoid all media coverage before the trial began.”

  “That doesn’t mean they obeyed. And this isn’t normal media coverage. This story didn’t come out of the courtroom. This is the paper generating its own truth with some anonymous source who’s probably a complete liar.”

  “Even so—”

  “Hell, this headline was so large the jurors could’ve absorbed it before they knew what they were reading.”

  “And if that’s the case,” Jazlyn argued, “who’s going to admit it? It’s like asking a child to admit they took the last cookie. Who would?”

  Judge Le leaned back in her black padded chair. “I have to agree with the prosecutor on this one. I think it’s a waste of time. No one’s going to admit to engaging in juror misconduct.”

  “They might,” he said. “At least let me try.”

  “And even if some do admit it,” Jazlyn said, “what does that get you?”

  “I’ll move to replace them with alternates.”

  “What if the alternates saw the paper? They’re as likely to have a newspaper subscription as anyone else. We could end up replacing more than six jurors, in which case we don’t have enough, in which case it’s a mistrial.” The judge looked at him directly. “Is that what you want?”

  She knew perfectly well he didn’t.

  “Look,” Judge Le said, “I’m not saying your point is frivolous. But this is exactly why I give jurors instructions about avoiding all media coverage—not just about this case. I ordered a complete blackout. Because if you’re listening to the news or reading a blog or newspaper you could be reading about this case before you realize it.”

  “In today’s world?” he said. “Completely avoiding the media is not possible. The latest news could show up in a phone alert. And good luck instructing jurors not to look at their phones. There is no judicial instruction in the world strong enough to wean some people away from their smartphones.”

  “I don’t think we should assume that a mere headline is enough to taint the case,” Judge Le said. “In my experience, most jurors try to do the right thing.”

  “I agree with you. But prejudice is insidious. It can influence people without their knowledge.”

  “Anything can influence people unconsciously,” Jazlyn said. “That’s why we have twelve jurors instead of one.”

  He felt supremely frustrated. Even if he got what he asked for, it wouldn’t be enough.

  “Look,” Judge Le said, “I’ll question the jurors. Even if they didn’t see this in the Herald, they might’ve picked it up elsewhere. But I’ll do the questioning. One juror at a time, in chambers. And I assure you, if I see anything that hints toward bias, I will remove the juror. Quickly and efficiently. And then we’ll get on with this trial.”

  He nodded. It wasn’t perfect, but under the circumstances, it was probably the best he could hope for.

  THREE HOURS LATER, two of the jurors had been replaced by alternates. The judge didn’t discuss it with him, but he assumed someone had been honest enough to admit they’d been exposed to the news and might have trouble putting it out of their mind. Still not perfect, but the best he could hope for under the circumstances.

  He tried to reassure Gabriella. “This is good for us. Really. The more we can fine-tune this jury, the better.”

  “They do not like me,” she said. Her eyes seemed troubled.

  “Why would you think that?”

  “I can tell. I can tell by looking at them.”

  “Don’t jump to any conclusions. The jurors are just taking it seriously.”

  She shook her head. “They assume I am guilty. They have assumed it from the first day.”

  He tried to think of something that might help. “The judicial system is not perfect,” he said. “But I’m going to beat them over the head with reasonable doubt.”

  “It will not be enough.”

  “Well,” he said, squeezing her hand, “we’re not going down without a fight.”

  Chapter 46

  Judge Le rapped her gavel. “Mr. Pike. Please call your next witness.”

  “The defense calls Luis González.” They’d had no small degree of trouble serving Luis, and even then, he wasn’t certain Luis would show. For someone who claimed to be such an honest, respectable, legitimate businessman, he could be seriously elusive and unavailable when a process server wanted to drop a subpoena on him. Jimmy finally managed it, but only because a friend revealed where Luis liked to get chicken and waffles. Even then, given Luis’ income and access to lawyers, he could’ve found a way to make himself unavailable, knowing full well they couldn’t afford to delay the trial while hunting him down.

  But his concerns were for naught. Luis took the stand and was sworn in.

  His first few questions were designed to establish what Luis did for a living. Unsurprisingly, he talked about imports and exports and presented himself as a perfectly honest business executive. Most of what he said dovetailed with the story Emilio had given the jury. He thought he detected some skepticism crossing the jurors’ faces when Luis refused to acknowledge any involvement with illegal drugs. Possibly Emilio had not made as good an impression on the witness stand as he thought.

  “Were you surprised when the charges against Emilio were dropped?”

  After a brief pause, Luis answered. “Everyone said the case against him was bullet-proof.”

  “You thought he would be convicted?”

  “I thought it was possible.”

  “Which means you thought he committed the murder.”

  “I’m not saying that. I don’t know what happened. But I know that if the cops want to put someone away, they can usually do it.”

  “You must’ve been disappointed.”

  His brow creased. “I don’t follow you, man.”

  “Didn’t you like being the head of the organization?” Rather than calling it a business, he called it an organization, which he suspected many jurors would translate to “gang.”

  “I won’t lie about it. There’s nothing like being the captain of the ship.”

  “And you changed the direction of the company under your administration, right?” He could see the wheels turning behind Luis’ eyes, as the man debated how much he could admit. “Change” suggested Emilio was doing something different before.

  “I’m only interested in legal business activities. I want to create a business that can employ people from my neighborhood for a good long time. I want people to respect us. That’s why we made all those donations to the park. I want people to see that we’re not a blotch on society. We can be good citizens, good role models. I wanted to improve the reputation of the Hispanic community.”

  “Were you concerned that Emilio might...revert the company if he regained control?”

  A long pause followed. “I can’t predict the future. No telling what someone else might do.”

  “What I’m hearing in that response is, yes, you were afraid Emilio would want to get back into drug pushing.”

  Jazlyn rose to her feet. “Objection. The witness never said anything about distributing drugs.”

  The judge’s head pivoted a bit. “Sustained.” Then under her breath, “I guess.”

  “Would it be fair to say you were concerned about the direction the company might take if Emilio regained the reins?”

  Another long pause, but he finally answered. “Yes.”

  “You liked being, what was your word, the captain? And you didn’t want to relinquish command.”

  “I felt like I was doin’ good work.”

  “Did you tell Emilio that?”

  “No point. Most of the men were still loyal to him. If I tried a hostile takeover, they’d boot me out on my—” He stopped. “I’d be ousted.”

  Nice save.

  “It was not a publicly held compa
ny,” Luis continued. “Still isn’t. It’s not like I own stock. I couldn’t prevent Emilio from doing whatever he wanted.”

  He was reminded that Luis did have a degree in finance. “So if free, Emilio would’ve seized control of the company again, right?”

  “He’d already started. Second he got out a prison.”

  “And that would’ve continued, but for the murder at the Trademark.”

  “I guess that’s true.”

  “You know that’s true. The shootout was the best thing that ever happened to you.”

  “Don’t pin that on me. I didn’t want anybody to get hurt.”

  “But you did want Emilio out of the picture. Which basically meant he either had to be behind bars, or he had to be dead. And that shootout could have accomplished either one.”

  “I’m telling you, I had nothing to do with that.”

  “And yet someone set up the meeting. Someone who had access to both Emilio and Sanchez.”

  “It wasn’t me.”

  “But you’re the one who benefits. What is it they say? Follow the money?”

  “I got no money out of this. I barely pay myself a decent salary. I’m trying to build a business.”

  “And Emilio could have taken that away in a heartbeat.” He returned to his table. Maria handed him a photograph, pre-marked as a defense exhibit. “You’ve probably heard about the Trademark security camera. We have some footage taken before the shootout.”

  “And I’m not in it. Because I wasn’t there.”

  “Could you identify the figure in the upper right-hand corner of this still taken from the video?” He passed it to the bailiff, who brought it to the witness.

  Luis moved the photograph back and forth, as if he were having trouble focusing. “This is a pretty sketch photo.”

  “Do your best. Take your time.”

  “I’m just not sure...”

  “Come on, Luis. That’s Everett Jefferson, isn’t it?”

  Luis slowly nodded. “It might be.”

  “He’s your personal assistant, isn’t he? I saw him when I visited your office.”

  Luis frowned. “Maybe.”

  “Was Everett at the shootout?”

  “You’d have to ask him, man.”

  “You don’t know?”

  Luis hesitated before answering. “I don’t know.”

  “You two are pretty close, aren’t you? He’s one of the few people in that office who’s loyal to you, rather than Emilio, right? I can’t imagine the two of you never talked about the shootout.”

  “He was in a bad situation a while back and I saved him from it. I think he’s grateful.”

  “So if you needed an emissary, someone to arrange a meeting or to make sure Emilio showed up without getting your own hands dirty, you’d send Everett.”

  “I never said that.”

  “And he’d do it, because as you said, he’s grateful to you. He might even do it without being asked.”

  Another long pause. “I can’t speak for another man. Talk to him.”

  “What happens now that Emilio is free, due to his convenient immunity agreement?”

  “My understanding is that the agreement forbids him from returning to his old business activities. He’s getting outta town.”

  “Leaving you in charge. The whole situation couldn’t have worked out better for you...if you’d planned it.” He looked up. “No more questions, your honor.”

  Chapter 47

  Dan found a private corner in the courtroom hallway to huddle with his team—avoiding the consultation room. They had fifteen minutes, which wasn’t nearly long enough.

  “How do you think that went?”

  Maria appeared upbeat. “I think it went as well as you could possibly hope. Luis didn’t confess to anything. But you established a strong motive. Maybe the strongest yet.”

  Jimmy piped in. “Looks to me like we’ve given the jury three strong alternate suspects. Maybe four. If they buy any one of those, they have to acquit.”

  “That’s a big if. If they think we’re just stirring up dirt, or trashing innocent citizens, they might resent it. It might make them want to convict Gabriella even more.”

  Jimmy shook his head. “No one thinks Luis is a completely innocent citizen.”

  “He handled himself well, given the circumstances.”

  “He’s a former gang member. And some people will never believe he’s come clean.”

  Garrett agreed. “I’m afraid that’s true.” He stopped a moment. “Are we all comfortable with this business of making the jurors suspect innocent citizens?”

  “That’s our job.”

  “Our job is to give Gabriella a reasonable defense, and you have. But I worry about standing up there and accusing other people of being murderers. You know how much media coverage this case is getting?”

  “I saw the headline in the Herald this morning.”

  “It’s not just the newspapers. It’s all over. Social media is blanketed with it. Every fifth post in my Facebook news feed this morning was about the case. I spotted at least three different Reddit groups discussing it, and when I plugged key terms into Google Alerts, I found thirteen different Internet bulletin boards discussing the case. Most of them thought Gabriella was guilty. Called us sleazy lawyers trying to put criminals back on the street.”

  Jimmy frowned. “Internet trolls. Losers. I don’t care what they think. Do you, Dan?”

  He replied. “I didn’t get into criminal defense because I thought I would win popularity contests. I can take the heat.” He placed a hand on Garrett’s shoulder. “I get what you’re saying. I don’t like it either. But I’m not letting any stone go unturned. We must get Gabriella off.”

  Garrett’s voice dropped lower than a whisper. “What if she’s guilty?”

  “She’s not.”

  Maria stepped in. “We assume she’s not. We assume that about all our clients. We are required to do so.”

  “Plus,” he added, “she told me she didn’t do it.”

  “Oh,” Garrett said. “Well, that proves it.”

  “Do you have a problem with the way I’m handling this case?”

  Garrett shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never been involved with a case that got this much heat.”

  “Take a few minutes,” Maria said. “Go for a walk. Have a Monster energy drink. Sometimes I start to feel despondent when I’ve been in the courtroom too long. Clear your head, then come back. We need to be able to count on you.”

  Garrett nodded. “You can count on me.”

  Maria checked her watch. “We’re almost out of time. What else do you need, Dan?”

  “We haven’t even talked about the main issue. We have two choices. We can rest our case, and I spend my closing reminding the jury of all the other possible suspects.” He drew in his breath. “Or we put Gabriella on the stand.”

  “I don’t want to do that,” Jimmy said. “I don’t think she’ll hold up.”

  “She might be tougher than you realize.”

  “Does that mean you want to put her on the stand?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. She’s got a lot of skeletons in her closet.”

  “Then why would we do it?”

  “Because if we don’t, the jury will always wonder why we didn’t.”

  “And no matter how many suspects we throw at them,” Maria said, “we have no way to answer Ramon Alvarez, who talked about her coming home covered in blood and saying she’d taken care of everything.”

  He nodded. “The only witness who can address that is Gabriella. And if we leave that thread hanging...” He shook his head. “I just don’t know.”

  Maria looked him in the eyes. “It’s your call, Dan.”

  “It shouldn’t be. You’re the master strategist. What do you think?”

  She swallowed. He could tell she didn’t want to answer.

  “Honestly. Tell me what you think.”

  She took a deep breath, then spoke. “I’ve
been watching the jurors the whole time, while you’ve been working. I’ve been watching their faces.”

  “And?”

  “I think if you don’t put Gabriella on the stand, we lose. And we may lose anyway. But if they don’t hear a denial from her own lips...we’re sunk.”

  He nodded. “Kind of what I thought too. Thanks for being honest.”

  “That’s what friends are for.”

  Chapter 48

  “Your honor, we call the defendant, Gabriella Valdez, to the witness stand.”

  The jurors’ surprise was palpable. Several eyebrows rose. And a few people smiled. This was what they wanted—to hear what the defendant had to say for herself.

  He just hoped it didn’t destroy her.

  Gabriella had taken the news that she was going on the stand better than he expected. In fact, if he wasn’t mistaken, she was pleased. Perhaps she welcomed a chance to tell her own story. He had cautioned her about everything that would likely come out, that she should expect an absolutely cutthroat, razor-sharp, no-holds-barred cross-examination. But that did not deter her.

  He started slowly, asking her simple questions. He let her give a great deal of her personal backstory, starting with how she came to the United States from El Salvador, the struggles she had here, jumping from one poor job to the next, one low-rent shack to the next. Initially, she didn’t know the language and she had no education. But she finally managed to establish herself, find a passable place to live, obtain US citizenship, and help others in the community. He hoped the jury would see that working for Emilio part-time was a small compromise that could have been much worse. Instead of being completely consumed by gangs and criminal activities, she ran the occasional errand to make ends meet.

  “How did you meet Esperanza?”

  Gabriella’s demeanor changed when she started talking about the young girl. She told the whole story of how she was initially reunited with Esperanza’s mother, her distant relative. Her eyes darkened and her voice halted when she recounted the death of Esperanza’s parents, the traffic accident, and the effect on the girl who lost both parents in one night at such a tender age. Some children might have been devastated, might’ve been scarred to such a degree they would never recover. Esperanza took it hard, but in time, she displayed an amazing resilience. She was strong, smart, stable. A worthy addition to the community.