Single Jeopardy (26 page)

“
Will you please relax? The DNA tests aren’t back from our island trip yet. Maybe they’ll reveal something we can use.” She isn’t impressed with my optimism. A dog-mail tells me that the DNA tests conducted on Catalina Island just came back, and they contain the truth about the entire matter. Suzi’s message tells me that she now knows who the real Robin Gault is, who is guilty or innocent of all the crimes, and who is buried in that grave on Catalina Island.

*****

Chapter
19

The newspaper and television vultures are already congregating at the locked gate that leads down to our dock. From there down is private property and we have a guard posted to inform them that no trespassing will be allowed. I decide to use their presence to our advantage. Jack Bibberman and I walk up to the gate, go through it and try to reach my Hummer. The press mobs us and I stop them cold with “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m now on my way to the district attorney’s office, and we intend to be driving slow enough for you all to have a chance to call your offices and prepare for my press conference. I’ll be making a statement on the steps outside District Attorney Bill Miller’s office building.” We have already made a call to his office and know that he will be in when I arrive.”

The trip to his office looks like a celebrity’s funeral procession My yellow Hummer is in the lead, with news vans following and a news helicopter overhead, no doubt broadcasting a block-by-block description of the trip. Riding in the back seat of the Hummer, I feel like O.J. Simpson during his famous slow-speed freeway chase.

When we reach the civic center office building, Jack drops me off and I strike a pose on the outdoor steps. The news people crowd around like sharks in a feeding frenzy, microphones and cameras ready. I hold up my new cell phone with the ‘speaker’ function on as I dial Miller’s office. “I’m now dialing district attorney Bill Miller’s office to let him know that I have right here in my briefcase, positive proof that the Gaults are not guilty of any crime.” The phone rings and microphones are held up close to it. With the speakerphone function turned on, everyone outside with us can hear the conversation.

“
District attorney’s office.”

“
Hello, this is attorney Peter Sharp. I’m downstairs on the steps outside your office and I would like to come up and see Mister Miller, to give him conclusive evidence that will immediately clear my clients, Doctor Sherman Gault and his daughter Rita. Please tell Mister Miller that I am on a speakerphone and the public is waiting for his response.” There’s a murmur in the crowd as we wait a minute until Miller gets on the phone.

“
Hello Sharp, I know what you’re doing. We’ve got the television on in our office and it’s all being taped.”

“
Good, then you won’t mind if I come up and present you with some evidence.”

“
Yes, I would mind. You are persona non grata in this office. You’ve already had your one bite at the apple when you hoodwinked us into dropping the charges against you and your clients last time. Fool me once, shame on you. But fool me twice, shame on me. No, you cannot come up to this office. We are not interested in anything you have to say and are still investigating your involvement in the conspiracy.” He hangs up and I make sure that their microphones pick up the dial tone that I’m left with. Now it’s my turn again, so I turn to the cameras.

“
That’s it ladies and gentlemen, now you all know that we can clear our clients right now with this evidence [holding up my briefcase] but the district attorney isn’t interested in the truth, he’s only interested in railroading innocent people. That’s the type of person who you’ve elected to office. After my clients have been cleared, keep this in mind, because the next election for District Attorney is rapidly approaching”

Right on cue, Jack pulls up with the Hummer and I get away without disclosing what our positive proof is. I only tell the press that we’d rather try the case in court than on the courthouse steps.

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The doc’s case has been set for trial and we’re getting ready for it. Now that the Island’s DNA results are back and we know that the doc didn’t kill anyone, Myra’s only option now is the destruction of District Attorney Bill Miller. She knows that the doctor won’t be going to jail, so all that’s left for her is revenge against her former boss, so the decision is made to let Myra take the case to trial. If everything goes according to plan, it will be a very short one. I rehearse her on the opening statement that she should treat with as much care as a President’s State of the Union speech. She will memorize it and recite it word for word, so it coincides exactly with the advance copies that will be handed out to the press on the day of trial.

Miller blows a gasket when he hears that Myra will be handling the Gaults’ defense. He files a motion with the court alleging that because she had recently been a deputy district attorney, her working for the defense on the same defendant who she had formerly tried to prosecute constitutes a conflict of interest that prevents her from handling the trial. As planned, Myra argues that this is a completely different case, charging a different crime. I’ve already done my grandstanding. My presence at the motion will only infuriate the prosecution, so we decide I should wait on the boat for everyone to return.

As expected, Myra wins the motion, and she’ll be allowed to take the case to trial. While all this is going on, Maggie’s complaint for sexual harassment is filed and served on Palmer at his penthouse in the Marina City Club. As soon as his lawyers file their answer, they get served with our set of interrogatories, and a week or so later their answers come in. Answering the written questions that are used during pre-trial discovery is an art form, because the answers must be truthful, but be as short as possible and provide little or no information that can help the other side. The trick is to hide your most important questions in what look like harmless ones, so most of the questions looked like we were playing softball: corporate info, dates of incorporation, statistics, company payroll info, and stuff like that.

Because none of the questions look damaging, they are all answered to our satisfaction and turned over to our office staff, which pays great attention to the one question we asked that was answered with the information we needed to make the case. Jack Bibberman is given his assignments and off he goes.

*****

Chapter
20

Kate worked for Palmer in the seafood restaurant as a hostess, handling reservations and seating customers. Her only other job was fending off advances from Vito Renzi, manager of the car-parking valet service. He came into the restaurant to deliver car keys to late diners and get an occasional coffee, and every time he passed by Kate he managed to grope her as she stood behind the reservation counter. Kate complained several times to Palmer, and at first it looked like she’d be an excellent witness to establish a pattern of abuse in the restaurant, but upon further questioning Jack found out that Kate not only lived with Vito for several months, but also stayed over at Palmer’s penthouse on many occasions. That raises the interesting question of whether or not a female who previously had consented to sexual advances can subsequently complain of them as harassment when they are neither consented to nor invited. A similar type of question is raised in some criminal cases when a wife accuses her husband of raping her during the marriage.

Instead of creating new cases for the Appellate Courts to consider, we advise Jack to go on to the next potential witness on the list that we subpoenaed from the restaurant’s payroll service. All persons on the list who hadn’t been paid in more than thirty days were assumed to be no longer working there, and therefore fair game for us to go after for ‘pattern’ evidence of an existing hostile work environment.

While Jack is getting witnesses lined up, I work with Myra, preparing her opening statement on the doc’s case. She finally agrees to let me do most of the writing, as long as she’s the one who gets to stand up and deliver it to the court and jury, humiliate Miller, and get all the press coverage.

In the great majority of criminal cases, time is the defense’s ally. The longer a case gets stretched out, the more chance there is for witnesses to disappear or forget what happened. Quite often victims may lose interest in a case because of the frustration of numerous continuances and delays. In the doc’s case, we want it over as soon as possible. The sooner the criminal matters are forever put to bed, the sooner the insurance money will be forthcoming, and the punitive awards, and the legal fees. No time is waived, so the district attorney is forced to follow California law and bring the defendants to trial within the statutory number of days. They usually expect defendants who are out on bail to ‘waive’ time, but there is no need for that here, because Myra wants to get in there and destroy Miller as soon as possible.

Our witness list is short and they are only expected to be in court for show, so the prosecution will realize that they are available to testify, if necessary. The list includes Nurse Judy, the two attendants who helped dig up Mrs. Gault’s grave over on Catalina Island, Jack Bibberman, our cameraman, and the lab tech who took all the DNA samples. We have several confirmed copies of the required documentation and additional copies can be obtained from the nearby Hall of Records.

As a formality, all of our witnesses are served with the proper legal papers requiring them to appear at trial. Our opening statement is finished and almost committed to memory by Myra. I work with her every evening as she rehearses in front of our mock jury consisting of Suzi, Doc, Rita, Stuart, Jack, the dog and me. The cat usually sleeps through the rehearsals. It’s going so well that one of our jurors can’t stop drooling for her. After a while she really has it down pat.

We’re ready to go to court. Extra copies of our opening statement are printed up for the press and packaged in envelopes, to be handed out on the courthouse steps the morning of the trial. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a trial lawyer’s opening statement being given to the press like this, and it has created media frenzy. All you have to do is wave something in the air that they can’t reach and they go crazy jumping for it.

Calls are coming in every day from the high-powered journalists, begging for an advance peek. All they get is a promise that an interview can be arranged after the trial. Larry King isn’t too happy with our answer, but he has no other choice. The National Enquirer’s phone calls aren’t accepted at all, because even if all you say is “hello” to them, they make up their own stuff and pretend like you said it. We avoid any contact with the press and instead decide to let Miller be the one making statements that he will have to eat.

As the trial date approaches, once again we’re forced to put extra security on the gate leading down to the boats. Some so-called journalists even try to get to us by boat, but we have that covered too. The Marina gave us permission to put up a temporary rope line across, between the rows of boats, so that no one can approach us by water. All the other boaters are being tremendously cooperative. It’s a small boating community, and we all stick together. There’s also no way that those vultures can pull up to the end tie and get off their little boats, because George C.’s boat completely covers that entire dock area, leaving no room for anyone or anything else. I start telling myself that George is helping us out on the case by keeping his boat there.

All of our efforts seem to be working. The news business is run like any other commercial enterprise. When the bean counters see that all their efforts are just wasting time and money, they smarten up and call off their dogs. A few independent paparazzi still hang around with their telephoto lenses, but after the sun goes down, every once in a while we shine the boat’s spotlight towards the parking lot for their night-vision viewing pleasure.

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The day of the trial we hire a huge stretched limo. The world loves a good show, and we intend to give them one. Our driver picks up the witnesses first and then comes to the Marina for Doc, Myra, Jack, Rita and me. Suzi is in her stateroom pouting because she isn’t allowed to bring the dog with her to court. She decides to stay on the boat. We finally convince her that she’ll actually get a better view by staying behind and watching Court TV.

It was no problem getting Miller to stipulate to letting the cameras in there. He’s a big a ham, and the judge appears to be one too. Ever since the O.J. Simpson trial, judges have been aching for the chance to get famous. It helps their image when they decide to run for political office. Without a high-profile case being put on television, a judge can toil away for years in anonymity.

The judge is a white male. No need for them to pick and choose for this case. On high-profile cases like this, the judge might be selected for political correctness. You’ll rarely see a black judge if the defendant is black, or a female judge if it’s a rape case. That’s why they chose an Asian non-athletic judge for the O.J. trial. The defendant was a black athlete, the victims were white and the lawyers were Jewish. What choice did they have other than that barely competent Asian who obviously hadn’t the slightest idea how to control a courtroom?

It’s a good thing the limo is almost thirty feet long, because there are plenty of us. All the way downtown Myra rehearses her opening statement, receiving our ovation when it’s done, just as we pull up at the courthouse.

Jack has the press copies of Myra’s opening statement, but we don’t want them handed out before she gives it, so he keeps them in the limo, with instructions not to hand them out until he receives my call on his cell phone. The news people also know what the drill will be, so they just sit near the limo and wait. It might be an hour, or it might be several days. Everything depends on what happens up in the courtroom.