Compelling Evidence (36 page)

"IM '0 as one of a number of men seen

over a period of secoil'o," into a local hotel with Talia. The hotel goes unnamea says the witness will appear at trial. Lama's motel clerk.

Jimmy Lama has made good e;,11 He has staked me to an anthill. I finger the edges of this becomes evidence in Talia's case, the jury will all the credence they would give a snake‐oil *1rrr.MTM=,7, Another unidentified source has told Walker Isfrom the firm when Ben Potter discovered I was with his wife. It seems the Greek has finally put together, enough to guess at my reasons for firm, to make this charge, without proof, from anonymity. I look at Coop, my expression one of a child father confessor. Suddenly, I have a burning overwhelming compulsion to unburden myself on shoulder into a friendly ear. ,rit He senses this. His hands are on my shoulders, liff

"I can't hear this," he

says. "Not now." He's not angry. He's protecting me. Whatever i ever I tell him, Nelson can force Coop to i4e.: knows this. In this time of panic, my lawyer's Coop is thinking more like the lawyer than 1. J'@@

"Why don't you pack it in," he says. "If the,4,11 of this, if Nelson gets this into evidence, words ring with finality. "You may go down deal now." : n'at kind of deal can I get with this?" I sweep the tabloid off the table onto the floor with my hand. "Only one thing worse than a tainted defendant," he tells me, ‐is a tainted defendant represented by a fallen lawyer."

Nikki's phone call. She has seen this. I have to talk to Nikki. What can I say?" I ask him. ,Nothing." I just want him to leave, so I can call Nikki. For her to know ;,*Out my affair is one thing. To have her nose rubbed in it, to humiliated in public print, is another. The irony of this is that is the one person I can bare my soul to with impunity,

'[email protected] to wife. But I fear she will not want to hear it. Coop's heading for the door now, repeating his advice that I cut T_ and chiding me a bit. "Common sense," he says, "should ky told you not to take her case, for her own sake, if not for @i, own." is of course right but now I simply want him to leave. will you do9"'he says. AW k J , know. I'll talk to Harry, the court. Assess the damage, him. "I need to think."

there's anything I can do," he says, "within the bounds." got his pipe out@ getting ready to pollute my house. 41; M.,:, him and move him farther toward the door. 4@WT 1W forget to call off your woman, the paralegal," he says 1;ni., the door. "Tell her to forget about the claim check and o store." ure," I tell him. This is the last thing on my mind.

the phone and dial Nikki. Her line is busy. friends 4U141)f to call, the women in her cabal, all picking from my , but never, in his driest 4% Walker may have dreamed of fame T,T,srjtq‐41L did he expect this. We arc in chambers again, Nelson 0 Meeks, Harry and 1, Acosta and the court reporter. Walker I @T 1, the seat of honor, next to his attorney, directly in front of the ‐judge's desk. Acosta is dressing him down, giving him a lesson in gag orders how they operate. While the court's order doesn't directly Walker, he's been subpoenaed by the court to answer certain C7;1(.DDL out of the reach of the jury. The Coconut wants to know I',‐‐ identity of certain of Walker's sources, primarily those touted JQDG*W_‐‐ close to the investigation. The inference here is that these were part of the prosecution team, and hence bound by the gag order. hfi is playing this notoriety for all it is worth. He showed up I walking the gauntlet of cameras in the hallway outside courtroom, a slow procession, as if he were wearing ermine carrying a scepter. Now he confers with his attorney, hand to car, like some syndicate boss in a senate hearing. @The Coconut is beginning to fume with these antics, psychic rising from his ears. I'It's lawyer tells Acosta that Walker is asserting the state's .71r,@ Act, that the information is privileged, that Walker cannot $Wl to disclose the identity of his sources. P is like wavin& a red flag under the nose of a raging Acosta is now looking at Eli's lawyer. "You are treading ice. Continue with this and you may be sharing a cell with your client." He's talking about contempt, the ultimate of any judge. The Shield Act, or so‐called newsman's vile, a single section of the codes. It has been lob i i newspaper publishers, enacted by the politicians by the judiciary, which has shredded it with excepti si court decisions. This is what happens when the legisladw attempts to limit the powers and prerogatives of those black robes, Acosta's mastery of the legal issues here leads me w,that he has actually spent time in the caw reports over end, since Walker's column, sifting the law. He is groundwork for the record, speaking in muted tones line terms that a two‐year‐old might comprehend, with appeal should Walker choose to go to jail rather than

"So that there is no

misunderstanding, Mr. Walker, Act is a qualified privilege only," says Acosm

"Ms where issues of fair trial are involved, as they arme give way. In short, the Shield Act does not apply to sources. Do you understand?"

More conferencing, Walker to his lawyer and bacl

"Your Honor, my client

would like to cooperate, but

"Can't or won't, counsel? Are you telling

me OW.J know the identity of his own sources?"

With Walker I can believe this might be the case. "No, Your Honor. He is constrained by professi This I cannot believe. "He cannot in good conscience reveal the iden',' sources."

Nelson is furning in the comer. From all indi turned his office on its car looking for the culprit. flat‐footed when the motel clerk fingered me late I a file shot on television. News, presumably, the supposed to be watching. I am now left to won the jurors have also seen Eli Walker's column. Ju they shade their eyes am difficult to enforce. It' water turn to steam, you may never know the c the result, in this case a quick conviction. I could give Nelson a little help in his search for, point him in the right direction, but this morning the at me as if I am some lowlife. Acosta too is * be compromised like this. not concerned for my but fearful that this latest fracas may result in a mistrial. Through all of this, the court is looking at ten days of wasted time and money, and the bad press that accompanies it if the case must be dumped. This is to say nothing of the months of preparadon, it is not something that Acosta wants on his judicial r6sum6, not something likely to lead to further elevation. Some judges aw defense oriented, others side with the prosecution. Armando ,Acosta has only one constituency that he strives to attend, himself * He is determined to discover the people responsible for this leak Od to punish them accordingly. "Is that your final answer, Mr. Walker?"

Eli nods. ,You must speak for the record."

"Yes, Your Honor. I have a commitment to my profession," he s. "I cannot tell YOU."

He speaks in a noble tone, like George Washington to his daddy t the cherry tree. am wondering if his lawyer has told Eli that they do not serve in the county jail, even in the relatively tame little room reserve for star boarders. In forty‐eight hours, ethics will a backseat to the DTS, and if I know Eli, and my senses correct, he will feed Lama to the Coconut. ‐Men you leave me no alternative, Mr. Walker. I hereby hold in contempt and order you into the custody of the county for a period of three days, at the end of which time we meet and confer again.

We can all hope that by that time will have come to your senses." r Honor, I would request that my client be allowed to n free, pending appeal of the court's order." ied," says Acosta. will take at )cast three days for his lawyer to get to the courts on an extraordinary writ.

lawyer seeks assurances that Walker will not be kept in er lockup with other prisoners. Acosta assures him, in inimitable fashion, that Eli will not be raped, then nods bailiff, a sign that it is time for Eli to go. bailiff takes him by an arm out into the courtroom and to the courthouse holding cells. Walker's lawyer drifts k into the courtroom and the corridor beyond, to tell the d throngs, the media horde, what their hero has done, to more pressing matters," says Acosta. "What are we t1D do about your witness, Mr. Nelsont' Before Nelson can open his mouth Harry is up friorn the on his feet, moving for a mistrial. We have agreed that should take the lead in this matter, to defuse Acosta' rage at me, and to take the self‐serving edge off my predicament. "Mank you, Mr. Hinds. I'll take your motion under sub Right now I'd like to hear from the DA if you don't mi Harry takes his seat. We are like two bookends on the C couch. "James Preston has clearly identified Mr.

Madriani as several men seen with the defendant checking into the Motel," says Nelson. "So what?" says Harry. Acosta shoots him a look that would stop a char elephant, but not Harry Hinds. He is up again, like some loaded puppet

"T'here's nothing, not a shred of evidence

linking Mr. to the crime. This is gossip‐mongering, pure and si prosecution is in trouble so it's trying to put the passi defendant on trial, to discredit her attorney," he says. That cell," says Acosta,

"the one that Mr. Walker, occupying. I should warn you, Mr. Hinds, it has plenty for two. Now sit down and shut up."

This puts Harry back down on the couch:g Acosta looks at the court reporter. "Strik, ttlatter record. From the part about jail," he says.

The court reporter stares at the Coconut, like

"This i Acosta shoots her

another withering look, and keys punched on the little stenograph, history being re:n m Nelson rips into Harry's argument. "This is In vant evidence," he says. "It is something the jury Something on which the jury should be allowed to conclusions."

He tries to soft‐peddle this to the Coconut, giving that the state will not dwell unduly on my in scre4" c He knows as well as I that a single reference* to seal Talia's fate in the eyes of the jury. It would be as the devil had jumped up to argue her cause. He concedes that I am only one of several men that will identify as having been with the defendant at the they want to expose, he tells the court, is not my own Talia's record of infidelity. "The fact that the defendant was engaged in extracurricular acfivities goes to her state of mind," says Nelson, "her motive for wanting to terminate what was clearly an unsatisfying marriage."

Acosta mulls over this for a moment, weighing the ins and outs of this argument. "Now," he says, "it's your turn." Harry starts to get up. "No, no, not you," he says. "Him." The Coconut injects all the contempt he can into this single personal pronoun, gesturing toward me with the back of his hand. He wants me in sackcloth wd ashes. I am on my feet, stumbling verbally. The hardest thing a lawyer will ever have to do, defend himself

"I apologize to the court," I say, "for this situation that I find myself in." I try to explain that this relationship with my client is something of ancient history, like the Druids at Stonehenge.

The Coconut isn't buying this, or maybe it's just that he doesn't care.

"But you didn't disclose it to the authorities, to the court, did ym, Mr. Madriani?"

"No, Your Honor, I did not."

"Why?" he says. I begin to get into it, going backward, starting with my last versation with Ben at Wong's the night before he died. Nelson cuts me off before I've finished a sentence. Honor, if we're going to do this I want to Mirandize Mr. "Of course," says Acosta. am struck cold by this. Besides the notion that I may have to my soul, acknowledge my affair with Talia, is the obvious that Acosta has taken back this question because he thinks that wering it I may incriminate myself I stand here staring at in stark silence, knowing that the judge who is trying Talia's now believes it possible that I may have helped her in this s is ridiculous," says Harry. , Your Honor, it's not. We have reason to be concerned," Nelson. "Mr. Madriani misled the officers who questioned after the murder. He was asked why he left the Potter, Ilos law firm, whether he'd had disagreements with the . He denied this. Now it begins to look as if he left the because he was discovered having an affair with the victim's This goes to motive," he says. "Oe 322 STWE

1AARTIM "Whose motive? Are we talking about the defendant Nelson looks me in the eye. "Any way you like it," he I cannot hold myself back. "Ben knew it," I say " about Talia. and me, but we talked it through. We 1p, friends, before he died. Why else do you think he reco me to oversee the trust fund at the law school?"

"Mr. Madriani." Acosta is trying to silence me. warned," he says, "not to say another word. Do so at y peril. Do you understandt' Acosta wants to keep me from the record. He nods to Nelson to Mirandize me, but no to have the little card. A half‐dozen lawyers in the rmoom can spout what every flatfoot on the beat knows by heart. wings it, about eighty percent correct, he hits the high right to counsel, to remain silent.

Harry's chewing on my ear to sit down and shut up. me onto the couch.

"If he has the right to remain silent., right to counsel, then I'm his lawyer," he says, "and I'm him not to say another word."

The Coconut looks at Harry, little black beady eyes, him as a troublemaker, "Very well," he says. "What evidence? You've heard the district attorney. Why sh let it in?"

Harry doesn't need a second invitation. There is in posure here than I would have credited. Harry's go' jugular, cutting into Nelson on the damage this rev do with the jury. He's a bundle of rhetorical questions.

"We have an isolated piece of evidence, ' he says. says he saw the defendant with Mr. Madriani at hisi what‐one occasion?"

"rhree:' says Nelson. '7hree times."

"Fine, three, a half‐dozen, twenty. What differe make?"The issue is, What does this testimony prove

"Mat they conspired to murder Ben

Potter?" Harry head. ‐1This is what the DA wants to offer it for. But doesn't prove that fact, and to allow the jury to j conclusion is to allow them to be misled. "No," Harry continues. "1This testimony will pro and one thing only. That Paul Madriani went to a defendant‐fine, three times."

From this, he tells the court, maybe, though it certain, the jury can draw inferences that the two little sack time. Maybe we were busy working on says. He wonders aloud how much this motel clerk can testify to, whether he purports to have been watching through the keyhole.