Single Jeopardy (20 page)

“
I still say we just go ahead with our plans as if the arrest never happened. I’ll take care of the criminal part, and this present incident should be treated as nothing more than a normal claim to collect on a life insurance policy.”

No matter how much you try to put a client at ease it rarely works. I can tell by doc’s questions that he constantly lives in fear of another arrest and trial..

“
Do you think they’ll go after me for anything else?”

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I’m afraid so. You took the stand in your murder trial and denied committing that crime. This time around, even though it’s only a conspiracy case and they can’t get you for the murder, they’ll probably try to nail you for perjury, because of your prior in-court statements under oath. They’ll want you to have the distinction of being the only person convicted of that crime in this state since Mark Furhman, one of the detectives on the O.J. Simpson case, back in the 1990’s. That, coupled you’re your alleged partition in a conspiracy to defraud the insurance company, could lead to some serious penitentiary time if they can convince a judge to make the sentences run consecutively.”

The State of California has two ways to bring an accused felon to trial. One is by preliminary hearing in a division of the Municipal Court, at which time the prosecution doesn’t have to prove the defendant’s guilt, it only has to show that a crime has been committed and that there is probable cause to connect the accused to the crime. If the prosecution is successful at the ‘prelim,’ which they are ninety-nine percent of the time, the defendant then is bound over for arraignment and trial in the Superior Court.

The other way that the authorities can go is usually reserved for high-profile cases and investigations into alleged misdoings of public officials, is indictment by a Grand Jury. That’s where the district attorney calls witnesses and presents their basic case to a select group of about twenty-three citizens nominated by Superior Court judges. This blue-ribbon panel hears the evidence in secret and then usually rubber-stamps whatever the district attorney requests by returning an indictment. Once an indictment is filed, the prosecutor can skip the preliminary hearing process completely. After indictment, the defendant goes directly to arraignment and trial in the Superior Court.

This is a complete reversal of the reason why grand juries were created. Hundreds of years ago, they were designed to be a protection for the public, by having disinterested people decide whether a person should be brought to trial on baseless, politically motivated serious criminal charges. But now, all a grand jury does is save the district attorney the trouble of putting on a preliminary hearing and giving the defense a chance to see how weak their case is. This way, with a Superior Court felony trial hanging over his or her head, there’s a better chance of coercing the accused into pleading guilty to a lesser crime.

Not having heard anything from the district attorney’s office, I’m pretty sure they’re going for a grand jury indictment. Myra probably would never forgive herself for giving up a chance to prance in front of those bluenoses. My suspicions are confirmed while watching the local evening news. A good-looking airhead reading from the teleprompter drones on.

“
Deputy District attorney Myra Scot announced today that the Los Angeles County Grand Jury has returned indictments against prominent attorney Peter Sharp and doctor Sherman Gault for their alleged conspiracy to commit fraud against the Uniman Insurance Company. They filed a life insurance claim for the death of doctor Gault’s wife… the same wife that doctor Gault was accused of murdering almost ten years ago. This reporter has also learned that the case was brought to the prosecution’s attention again when attorney Sharp offered to show where the deceased was buried. Not too bright a move on his part. We also want you to know the interesting fact that that attorney Sharp and district attorney Scot were married at one time.”

This isn’t too bad. I’m described as being ‘prominent,’ but ‘not too bright.’ I’ve been described worse than that many times. Myra got the worst of it though, because her bad taste in men has now been exposed. I’m sure the public will feel sorry for her. The poor girl is an honest, hard-working public servant and deserves more than to have been married to a crooked lawyer. Hell, I’m even starting to feel a little sorry for her, but she’s bringing it all on herself.

Preparing for this trial should be easy because all we have to do is bring in one person to testify on our behalf: the convalescent home’s attending nurse, who will also establish a chain of custody for the DNA sample. The district attorney will no doubt have done most of our work for us by the time of trial by paying the thousands of dollars required for DNA tests to prove that the person buried was in fact the doctor’s wife.

After the criminal part is done we’ll go on to the civil part. The district attorney’s office will have already been humiliated, so it should be a slam dunk to get a settlement out of the insurance company on two bases: first, they caused our arrests. And if that isn’t enough, they should be liable for acting in bad faith against their own insured’s beneficiaries. This all seems so easy that it bothers me. Nothing this easy has ever dropped into my lap before. Although being arrested was slightly on the inconvenient side, my guardian angel had me bailed out before I saw the inside of a cell, so all in all, the whole experience may prove to have been worth it.

Both the doc and I agree that until this mess is cleared up, Rita and I should cool it. Once a potentially high-profile situation like this develops with elements including a rich doctor, a ‘prominent’ lawyer, a beautiful daughter, millions of dollars in the alleged victim’s insurance, yachts, alleged fraud conspiracy and murder, there’s always someone with a telephoto lens not too far away just waiting for the shot that a tabloid will pay big bucks for and the district attorney will blow up into another legal issue or motive for conspiracy.

Doc has some good news. Judy Marino, his wife’s attending nurse, will be taking the tourist boat over from Catalina Island and bringing the death certificate and DNA sample with her. Doc will be putting her up in the Foghorn Motel around the corner. This is fine; now I’ll have a chance to interview her and prepare her for what will happen in the courtroom when the district attorney puts her an extensive and through cross examination.

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Nurse Judy should make an excellent witness. With the doc and Rita, we’ve all spent several pleasant evenings eating dinner together, courtesy of Suzi. I don’t know where the food comes from, but it’s always delicious. And then that old nagging feeling hits me. There’s something about this nurse: the way she looks, the way she walks, the way she eats. There’s something, but I just can’t put my finger on it. This time the stakes are pretty high. If I can’t figure out my strange feelings about her before the trial, I might wind up in deep doo-doo, so I’ve got to ask some questions. “Miss Marino, have we ever met before?”

“
I don’t think so Mr. Sharp, and I don’t think I’d forget meeting a handsome man like you.” Great. She’s got a good line of bull, too.

Going to trial is always a crapshoot. No matter how slam-dunk you think your case is, there’s always something the other side will come up with to knock your socks off, and if there’s anything I hate, it’s a surprise during trial. As good as this case looks for us to get acquitted, I’d much rather have it dismissed before we get to the Superior Court arraignment.

Forget about avoiding double jeopardy. I don’t even want single jeopardy to attach. There’s only one way to do this, so I pick up the phone and call Myra’s office. When I’m put through to her and she hears my voice, she’s reluctant to talk.

“
Peter, I’m the Deputy assigned to this case and you’re one of the defendants, so I can’t talk to you about anything... not without your lawyer being present.”

“
Yes, I know who you are, and who I am, but this isn’t going to be a conversation about the case.”

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Then why are you calling? I hope it’s not for any misguided social reason.”

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Don’t flatter yourself. The purpose of this call is for you to set up a meeting tomorrow with your boss. I’m going to come in and help you all avoid making fools out of yourselves.”

“
You mean you’re coming in to make a full confession?”

“
Yeah, right. I’m coming in to make a statement to show you all what a wrong track you’re on. Maybe I can show you how to avoid a disaster. And while you’re at it, you might as well have a court reporter there too… and don’t worry, I’ll waive my right to have counsel present.”

*****

Chapter
15

District Attorney Bill Miller is a few minutes late to the meeting. We all wait for him in their conference room on the nineteenth floor of the Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles. Aside from me, there’s Myra, her assistant, the court reporter I requested, Miller’s assistant, and two investigators - the ones who arrested me. They also have a video camera set up to get my statement on tape, so that no one (meaning me, probably) can get away with distorting the facts in any subsequent press conference or court hearing.

Miller comes in and everyone around the table exchanges polite, but insincere greetings. All I get is a nod of recognition. He signals the camera operator and stenographer that the show is about to begin and then he gives me the floor. I’m surprised he doesn’t put a beret on his head and use a megaphone to shout “Action!” Instead, he tries to maintain some small amount of professionalism.

“
Mister Sharp, before you make any statement we want to state for the record that you are presently under indictment for the felony of conspiracy to commit fraud against an insurance company, and that anything you say here can and will be used against you in further proceedings.” I interrupt him.

“
Mister Miller, I’m a licensed attorney in this state and I know my Miranda rights to remain silent and that an attorney can be appointed for me, and for the record, I waive them all here and now.” He looks around the room. The general consensus is that a proper waiver has been given, so he nods for me to continue. I look at the camera and begin. “My name is Peter Sharp, attorney at law, and on this date, having willingly waived my Miranda rights to have legal counsel, I make this statement voluntarily. Concerning the indictments brought against doctor Sherman Gault and myself, I would like to explain why the indictment should be immediately quashed.

“
First of all, doctor Gault never murdered his wife. She’s been alive all these years, suffering from Alzheimer’s in a private convalescent home on Catalina Island. Out of respect for her desire to live out the few remaining years of her life quietly, he never revealed this fact and suffered through an unjust criminal prosecution to protect her privacy. She died last week and was buried there, on the island.” I pause for a second to see the reactions in the room. They range from surprise to disbelief, but everyone there keeps their cool, trying to look like whatever I’m saying doesn’t mean much to them. I go on.

“
We are prepared to document this fact with testimony from the attending nurse, who has brought DNA samples from the deceased. The sample can be compared with previous samples of the doctor’s wife, as well as one from her daughter. The nurse is now in town and has the DNA sample with her. We will make her available to you and your lab techs.

“
Here is a document containing her affidavit and present location. Once you’ve had an opportunity to question our witness and do your own DNA tests, you will see that I’m telling the truth.

“
Now, you have a decision to make. Do you want to take this to trial, and in front of a packed courtroom and media circus have me prove up what I’ve just said, making complete idiots out of all of you, or would you like to do what you should have done already… complete your investigation, verify the truth of everything I’ve just told you today, and quietly dismiss the charges. I have no doubt you’ll be able to concoct some phony reason that still makes you look good, and don’t worry about us. Unlike you, all we care about is truth and justice. We’re not running for office or trying to give our miserable careers a boost, so we’ll keep our mouths shut and let you save face any way you want to.” You can hear a pin if it drops in this room. The silence is deafening.

Miller signals the camera operator and stenographer to stop. Myra doesn’t look at me. No one will look at Miller. He finally gets some words to come out of his mouth.

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Sharp, I don’t believe a word you’ve told us here today, but we’ll waste the taxpayers’ money by checking it out anyway.” What a stupid, stubborn ass this guy is. I can’t help but believe that everyone at this table including my brainwashed ex-wife must see that I’m right and Miller is wrong. He finally finishes up.

“
We’ll look into this matter. One of our lab people will be contacting Miss Marino to make arrangements to pick up the DNA sample and death certificate. If you don’t hear from us in the next two weeks, then we suggest you prepare for trial. Is there anything else?”

I hold up my parking stub “do you validate?” They are not amused. This is a not a good audience for humor. I know what the two weeks he mentions are for, because that’s how long it will take for a complete analysis of the DNA sample to be compared to the sample that was voluntarily given by Rita. The meeting is over. I look around the room but don’t see any eyeballs facing my way.

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Driving my Hummer back to the Marina, I feel a lot better. Not just because I think that our criminal indictments might be quashed, but because I probably stopped Myra from destroying herself any further with another losing case. Somehow I think she appreciates my stepping in like that, even if she couldn’t look at me during the meeting.