The Reversal (19 page)

She sat down without showing any outward sign of disappointment. It was just one ruling among many others and most had gone the prosecution’s way. This loss was minor at worst.

“Okay,” the judge said. “I think we have covered everything. Anything else from counsel at this time?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Royce said as he stood again. “Defense has a new motion we would like to submit.”

He stepped away from the defense table and brought copies of the new motion first to the judge and then to us, giving Maggie and me individual copies of a one-page motion. Maggie was a fast reader, a skill she had genetically passed on to our daughter, who was reading two books a week on top of her homework.

“This is bullshit,” she whispered before I had even finished reading the title of the document.

But I caught up quickly. Royce was adding a new lawyer to the defense team and the motion was to disqualify Maggie from the prosecution because of a conflict of interest. The new lawyer’s name was David Bell.

Maggie quickly turned around to scan the spectator seats. My eyes followed and there was David Bell, sitting at the end of the second row. I knew him on sight because I had seen him with Maggie in the months after our marriage had ended. One time I had come to her apartment to pick up my daughter and Bell had opened the door.

Maggie turned back and started to stand to address the court but I put my hand on her shoulder and held her in place.

“I’m taking this,” I said.

“No, wait,” she whispered urgently. “Ask for a ten-minute recess. We need to talk about this.”

“Exactly what I was going to do.”

I stood and addressed the judge.

“Your Honor, like you, we just got this. We can take it with us and submit but we would rather argue it right now. If the court could indulge us with a brief recess, I think we would be ready to respond.”

“Fifteen minutes, Mr. Haller? I have another matter holding. I could handle it and come back to you.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.”

This meant we had to leave the table while another prosecutor handled his business before the judge. We pushed our files and Maggie’s laptop to the back of the table to make room, then got up and walked toward the back door of the courtroom. As we passed Bell he raised a hand to get Maggie’s attention but she ignored him and walked by.

“You want to go upstairs?” Maggie asked as we came through the double doors. She was suggesting that we go up to the DA’s office.

“There isn’t time to wait for an elevator.”

“We could take the stairs. It’s only three flights.”

We walked through the door into the building’s enclosed stairwell but then I grabbed her arm.

“This is good enough right here,” I said. “Tell me what we do about Bell.”

“That piece of shit. He’s never defended a criminal case, let alone a murder, in his life.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t have made the same mistake twice.”

She looked pointedly at me.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Never mind, bad joke. Let’s just stay on point.”

She had her arms folded tightly against her chest.

“This is the most underhanded thing I’ve ever seen. Royce wants me off the case so he goes to Bell. And Bell… I can’t believe he would do something like this to me.”

“Yeah, well, he’s probably in it for a dip into the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We probably should have seen something like this coming.”

It was a defense tactic I had used myself before, but not with such obviousness. If you didn’t like the judge or the prosecutor, one way of getting them off the case was to bring someone onto your team who has a conflict of interest with them. Since the defendant is constitutionally guaranteed the defense counsel of his choice, it is usually the judge or prosecutor who must be disqualified from the trial. It was a shrewd move by Royce.

“You see what he’s doing, right?” Maggie said. “He is trying to isolate you. He knows I’m the one person you would trust as second chair and he’s trying to take that away from you. He knows that without me you are going to lose.”

“Thanks for your confidence in me.”

“You know what I mean. You’ve never prosecuted a case. I’m there to help you through it. If he gets me kicked off the table, then who are you going to have? Who would you trust?”

I nodded. She was right.

“Okay, give me the facts. How long were you with Bell?”

“With him? I wasn’t. We went out briefly seven years ago. No more than two months and if he says differently he’s a liar.”

“Is the conflict that you had the relationship or is there something else, something you did or said, something he has knowledge of that creates the conflict?”

“There’s nothing. We went out and it just didn’t take.”

“Who dropped who?”

She paused and looked down at the floor.

“He did.”

I nodded.

“Then there’s the conflict. He can claim you carry a grudge.”

“A woman scorned, is that it? This is such bullshit. You men are—”

“Hold on, Maggie. Hold on. I’m saying that is their argument. I am not agreeing. In fact, I want—”

The door to the stairwell opened and the prosecutor who took our places when we had gotten up for the recess entered and started up the steps. I checked my watch. Only eight minutes had gone by.

“She went back into chambers,” he said as he passed. “You guys are fine.”

“Thanks.”

I waited until I heard his steps on the next landing before continuing in a quiet tone with Maggie.

“Okay, how do I fight this?”

“You tell the judge that this is an obvious attempt to sabotage the prosecution. They’ve hired an attorney for the sole reason that he had a relationship with me, not because of any skill he brings to the table.”

I nodded.

“Okay. What else?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think… it was remote in time, no strong emotional attachment, no effect on professional judgment or conduct.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… and what about Bell? Does he have something or know something I have to watch out for?”

She looked at me like I was some sort of traitor.

“Maggie, I need to know so there’s no surprise on top of the surprise, okay?”

“Fine, there’s nothing. He must really be hard up if he’s taking a fee just to knock me off the case.”

“Don’t worry, two can play this game. Let’s go.”

We went back into the courtroom and as we went through the gate I nodded to the clerk so she could call the judge back from chambers. Instead of going to the prosecution table, I diverted to the defense side where Royce was sitting next to his client. David Bell was now seated at the table on the other side of Jessup. I leaned over Royce’s shoulder and whispered just loud enough that his client would hear.

“Clive, when the judge comes out, I’ll give you the chance to withdraw this motion. If you don’t, number one, I’m going to embarrass you in front of the camera and it will be digitally preserved forever. And number two, the release-and-remuneration offer I made to your client last week is withdrawn. Permanently.”

I watched Jessup’s eyebrows rise a few centimeters. He hadn’t heard anything about an offer involving money and freedom. This was because I hadn’t made one. But now it would be up to Royce to convince his client that he had not withheld anything from him. Good luck with that.

Royce smiled like he was pleased with my comeback. He leaned back casually and tossed his pen on his legal pad. It was a Montblanc with gold trim and that was no way to treat it.

“This is really going to get good, yes, Mick?” he said. “Well, I’ll tell you. I’m not withdrawing the motion and I think if you had made me an offer involving release and remuneration I would’ve remembered it.”

So he had called my bluff. He’d still have to convince his client. I saw the judge step out from the door of her chambers and start up the three steps to the bench. I took one more whispered shot at Royce.

“Whatever you paid Bell you wasted.”

I stepped over to the prosecution table and remained standing. The judge brought the courtroom to order.

“Okay, back on the record in
California versus Jessup.
Mr. Haller, do you want to respond to the defendant’s latest motion or take it on submission.”

“Your Honor, the prosecution wishes to respond right now to… this motion.”

“Go right ahead, then.”

I tried to build a good tone of outrage into my voice.

“Judge, I am as cynical as the next guy but I have to say I am surprised by the defense’s tactics here with this motion. In fact, this isn’t a motion. This is very plainly an attempt to subvert the trial system by denying the People of Cal—”

“Your Honor,” Royce interjected, jumping to his feet, “I strenuously object to the character assassination Mr. Haller is putting on the record and before the media. This is nothing more than grand—”

“Mr. Royce, you will have an opportunity to respond
after
Mr. Haller responds to your motion. Please be seated.”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Royce sat down and I tried to remember where I was.

“Go ahead, Mr. Haller.”

“Yes, Your Honor, as you know, the prosecution turned over all discovery materials to the defense on Tuesday. What you have before you now is a very disingenuous motion spawned by Mr. Royce’s realization of what he will be up against at trial. He thought the state was going to roll over on this case. He now knows that it is not going to do so.”

“But what does this have to do with the motion at hand, Mr. Haller?” the judge asked impatiently.

“Everything,” I said. “You’ve heard of judge shopping? Well, Mr. Royce is prosecutor shopping. He knows through his examination of discovery materials that Margaret McPherson is perhaps the most important part of the prosecution team. Rather than take on the evidence at trial, he is attempting to undercut the prosecution by splintering the team that has assembled that evidence. Here we are, just four weeks before trial and he makes a move against my second chair. He has hired an attorney with little to no experience in criminal defense, not to mention defending a murder case. Why would he do that, Judge, other than for the purpose of concocting this supposed conflict of interest?”

“Your Honor?”

Royce was on his feet again.

“Mr. Royce,” the judge said, “I told you, you will have your chance.”

The warning was very clear in her voice.

“But, Your Honor, I can’t—”

“Sit down.”

Royce sat down and the judge put her attention back on me.

“Judge, this is a cynical move made by a desperate defense. I would hope that you would not allow him to subvert the intentions of the Constitution.”

Like two men on a seesaw, I went down and Royce immediately popped up.

“One moment, Mr. Royce,” the judge said, holding up her hand and signaling him back down to his seat. “I want to talk to Mr. Bell.”

Now it was Bell’s turn to stand up. He was a well-dressed man with sandy hair and a ruddy complexion, but I could see the apprehension in his eyes. Whether he had come to Royce or Royce had come to him, it was clear that he had not anticipated having to stand in front of a judge and explain himself.

“Mr. Bell, I have not had the pleasure of seeing you practice in my courtroom. Do you handle criminal defense, sir?”

“Uh, no, ma’am, not ordinarily. I am a trial attorney and I have been lead counsel in more than thirty trials. I do know my way around a courtroom, Your Honor.”

“Well, good for you. How many of those trials were murder trials?”

I felt total exhilaration as I watched what I had set in motion take on its own momentum. Royce looked mortified as he watched his plan shatter like an expensive vase.

“None of them were murder trials per se. But several were wrongful death cases.”

“Not the same thing. How many criminal trials do you have under your belt, Mr. Bell?”

“Again, Judge, none were criminal cases.”

“What do you bring to the defense of Mr. Jessup?”

“Your Honor, I bring a wealth of trial experience but I don’t think that my résumé is on point here. Mr. Jessup is entitled to counsel of his choice and—”

“What exactly is the conflict you have with Ms. McPherson?”

Bell looked perplexed.

“Did you understand the question?” the judge asked.

“Yes, Your Honor, the conflict is that we had an intimate relationship and now we would be opposing each other at trial.”

“Were you married?”

“No, Your Honor.”

“When was this intimate relationship and how long did it last?”

“It was seven years ago and it lasted about three months.”

“Have you had contact with her since then?”

Bell raised his eyes to the ceiling as if looking for an answer. Maggie leaned over and whispered in my ear.

“No, Your Honor,” Bell said.

I stood up.

“Your Honor, in the interest of full disclosure, Mr. Bell has sent Ms. McPherson a Christmas card for the past seven years. She has not responded likewise.”

There was a murmur of laughter in the courtroom. The judge ignored it and looked down at something in front of her. She looked like she had heard enough.

“Where is the conflict you are worried about, Mr. Bell?”

“Uh, Judge, this is a bit difficult to speak of in open court but I was the one who ended the relationship with Ms. McPherson and my concern is that there could be some lingering animosity there. And that’s the conflict.”

The judge wasn’t buying this and everyone in the courtroom knew it. It was becoming uncomfortable even to watch.

“Ms. McPherson,” the judge said.

Maggie pushed back her chair and stood.

“Do you hold any lingering animosity toward Mr. Bell?”

“No, Your Honor, at least not before today. I moved on to better things.”

I could hear another low rumble from the seats behind me as Maggie’s spear struck home.

“Thank you, Ms. McPherson,” the judge said. “You can sit. And so can you, Mr. Bell.”

Bell thankfully dropped into his chair. The judge leaned forward and spoke matter-of-factly into the bench’s microphone.

“The motion is denied.”