The case

I knew the day was going to be a long one. The rain was pelting down on my car's windshield. "Nothing can make me escape the drone of a lawyer's life," I thought sarcastically. "Life brings with it something new everyday!"; if I ever get my hands on the idiot who said this, I'll pulverize him with my bare hands.
It all starts off with a client entering your office door, then its nothing but hell after that. With appeals after appeals, tones of paper work to be read, and even more to be written. Whoever said a lawyer's life was interesting? With your monthly salary depending solely on the number of hours you bill your client; trial dates after trial dates, depositions after depositions, testimonies and what not.

The office loomed around the corner of the road. Somehow my usual alacrity wasn't there today. I went up the escalator and walked up the aisle to my office. My secretary was there already as usual. She always had this contagious ethereal happiness, which made your day seem a bit better. The tea was set on my table, black, as I preferred it. I looked at the message box only to see a load of new messages. I picked them up and sat down on my chair browsing through them.

I finished going through them and settled down reading the Gazette when he came up the aisle.

The look on his face, his hairstyle, that disgusting look in his eyes, made him look like a complete pervert. It looked like he had spent the night on the streets. His hands were in his pockets and he walked up stiff and erect.
"Are you Micky Graham?" he asked me. His foul breath could be smelt across the table.
"Yes I am." I asked raising my eye brows questioningly.
"Mr. Kingsley got me out on bail and he referred me to your office. Hasn't he told you?" he asked.
I was stunned hearing my partner's name. How the heck could my partner have got this man out on bail? And how dare he tries to circumvent his problems by deviating them to me.
"Please sit down," I said. "Let me have a chat with him."

I was seething when I walked into his office. Seeing me, he smiled and asked me to sit down. I refused.
"Cool down Mickey," he exclaimed.
"Your audacity just pisses me off. How dare you send down one of your clients to me? And that too a guy like that," I shouted.
"Sit down Mickey let me explain his case to you, then maybe you'll understand... He was arrested for raping a girl and allegedly killing her..."
"So..." I said interrupting him.
"Will you shut up and listen!" he sternly said.
After a nod from my head he continued. "The autopsy report on the body says that she had been killed around 3 p.m. in the afternoon. And an eyewitness says he saw the guy raping her at 8 p.m. in the evening. The eyewitness was a cop."
"Gross.." I said squirming.
"I know. That's precisely why I sent him down to you," he said laughing.
When he saw the anger returning in my face he stopped the jokes and seriously said "Mickey you know I just made partner a week ago. A case like this will crush me. I just hope that you can understand my problem. You were my mentor when I joined and helped me all the while, and I'm really, really thankful for that. Would it be possible for you to help me this one more time? Just this once please..." he groveled.
He could see that I was contemplating.
"I mean..just look at him. That very look sickens me. You can make out a pervert like him just by that smell. PLEASE.. just take him and do what you please..okay?" he begged.
I agreed after much thinking over; and said that I would do it just this one time and would not tolerate anymore such nonsense. My mind was still in ambivalence when I left the room.

A case had arrived at the doorstep. It was definitely going to be hell pulling through, especially with that man. I walked in to my office and saw him resting his head on my table. I gently rapped on the table to wake him up.
"Before I promise to take your case, you have to promise me that whatever you tell me is nothing but the truth, otherwise I will not be able to help you in court. Do you understand?" I asked him.
He nodded his head in reply.
"This is a very difficult case and I might add that I don't like it at all. For that matter neither do I like you. So don't try to pull some funny stuff..alright.." I said.
He nodded again.
"Have I made myself clear to you?" I repeated myself.
"Crystal clear, Sir," he replied.
Then I made him narrate for my chronicle.

She stayed in the Hilbury apartments down Varsity St. He had spotted her a long time ago and had fallen in love. He had asked her many times to go out with him. But she had refused. He was so amorous towards her that he couldn't control it anymore. He decided that he was going finish it that day and that was that. He went to her apartment and broke open the door only to find her lying motionless. He tried to revive her but found out that he was a bit too late. And then he thought ...she was dead... so what the hell...He stripped himself off his shorts..
The police officer ran up the staircase, he pointed the pistol at him. He was still on top of the body. He was promptly made to dress and handcuffed. The cop had presumably been there after receiving complaints from the neighbours about the overwhelming stink.

This was all that he told me and that was all that I had written down on my legal pad. "Is this all you want to tell me or is there more?" I asked him.
"No Sir, that's all," he replied.
"I'm going to ask you again. Is all that you said true?" I asked.
"Yes Sir," he replied. "I don't know why you have to keep asking me. I didn't kill that woman."
"I'll let the court decide that," I replied.
"If you doubt my credibility, how will I know that you will try everything in your hands to acquit me?" he asked.
"You won't get to know. But if I must tell you, I have never lost a case and I don't let my clients down. Give me a reason why I should start now?" I replied.

He didn't reply. So I gave him a few more words of reassurement and sent him off and asked him to drop by tomorrow.

A buzz on the intercom to Kingsley got me the date of the trial. It wasn't very far of. But I thought I had enough time to assemble everything, with some work already done by Kingsley.

A placed a call to the judge. His name was Greg White. He was good one but I had my doubts about his clemency towards my client after he had a look at the defendant. With work at hand I asked him a date in his calendar for deposing the cop and the doctor who had performed the autopsy.

The name of the cop was Bob Thompson. I had my secretary to do some background work on him. It turned out that he was a dipsomaniac and he was 'forced to stay off duty' [suspended in short] a several times. I thought that this was enough to freeze him.
I assembled a couple of my paralegals, a few secretaries and a video cameraman. Kingsley also volunteered to come. It was conveniently conducted at the cop's place.
Arriving there, it was pretty evident the District Attorney Mr. Aaron had done his homework. The way he circumvented all questions posed to him signified that. The ordeal passed quite slowly. It took a full 2 hours; for a simple depose it was a long one.

The trial date was set two days from now.

"All rise!"..the usher said. "You may be seated now," he said after 'His Honour' had taken his seat.
"The court is now in session. The State versus Jerry Morocco, Mr. Aaron would you proceed please," the judge said matter-of-factly.

He got up and buttoning his suit said, "The State calls Mr. Bob Thompson as its first witness."
He came up and took his seat on the witness chair. The jury had their eyes pinned on him.
"Would you state your name for the record please."
"Bob J. Thompson"
"How long have you been working as a police officer Mr. Bob?"
"Fifteen years, sir."
"And how many times have you testified in court on behalf of your department."
"Sixteen times, Sir"
"And of these, how many times have the defendants been convicted?"
"Almost all. I would say 14 times."
"Thank you. Can you tell us in brief what happened on the day of 6/7/02?"
"I got a radio call to attend to a possible homicide on Varsity St. Since I was in the vicinity I volunteered to go check it out. I reached there and saw a light in the room of the apartment I was to go check out. The curtain was drawn and the shadow of a man moving inside. I drew out my pistol and ran up to apprehend the man. I reached there to find the man still on top of the woman. He didn't resist while I handcuffed him nor did he say anything."
"Thank you Mr. Bob," the DA said. "I tender the witness."

"Any cross examinations Mr. Graham," the judge asked.
"Only a few questions, Your Honour," I said.
"Mr. Bob, in your services as a police officer have you ever been suspended from duty."
All could notice his discomfort, while he shifted his weight on the chair.
"Yes, Sir."
"Can you tell this court why?"
"I had a problem with alcohol, I was admitted to a rehab a couple of times. But after that it was all over. I never touched a drink, at least not on duty. And I definitely didn't drink on that day; if that's what you are getting at."
"I never asked you a question such as that. But since you brought it up anyway, did you have drink on that day?"
"No, of course not, I just told you so."
"Mr. Bob I need not remind you, you are under an oath."
"I am well aware of that... How dare you accuse me of lying?"
"Mr. Bob, what if I told you that I have witnesses stating that they saw you drinking a couple of hours before you made the arrest."

"Objection, trying to lead the witness," yelled the DA jumping from his seat.
"Overruled?. I want to see where this goes," the judge said silencing him. "Please reply to the question Mr. Bob."

"That is not possible..." his hesitation was apparent.
"I have information here saying that you bought a six pack from a supermarket. You finished a can right there and two more in your car...and who knows when you finished the rest of it.."
"But I ..I didn?t.."
"You are under the oath, Mr. Bob," I almost shouted.
The nod from his head told us all that was needed to know.
"No more questions your Honour. I'm finished," I said decisively settling down behind the defendant's bench.
The man was sitting there beaming at me. Giving me one of his perverted smiles again. It wanted to puke right there in front of him. He tapped me on my shoulder making me cringe.

The DA beat around the bush with a few more witnesses: a useless maneuver. And then finally the 'State rested' at the end of the day.

The next day I started off with the doctor. I ascertained with him that the woman had been killed sometime in the afternoon. Then I brought in the salesperson working in the supermarket and made her say she had indeed seen Bob drink a can off the six-pack in front of her.

There that was that. I had no more witnesses at the moment to present neither did the State. The court was adjourned for a five-minute break.

I met up with my client in the green room. Kingsley was present there. The pervert came up to me and said, "You were really good today, man," again smiling. "Okay.. when do I get to testify?" he asked.
"What?.. Excuse me ..What did you say?" I asked pretending not to have heard.
"When am I going to testify?"
"Who told anything about you testifying?"
"No.. don't tell me that you are not going let me testify.." he shouted.
"You listen to me you bloody pervert. You are not going to testify." I said trying my best to remain calm.
"If I don't testify how are the jury going to be absolutely sure that i didn't kill that woman?"

In a fit of anger I caught one side of the table and threw it to the side. I charged and held him by his collar. I lifted him off his feet and hit him against the wall. I held him there and told him, "From the beginning I didn't like you. None on the jury like you either. If you don't shut up now I will jeopardize your acquittal... if you don't do it yourself by testifying. Do you want to spend the rest of your miserable life in jail?"
I looked menacing enough for him to shrink back in fear. Kingsley started saying something, one look silenced him.

I got the first chance to give the closing argument. Kingsley kept placing his hand on me to calm me down. I went up in front of the jury not sure what to say especially after that altercation. I cleared my throat and looked straight at my client.

"I move day in and day out of courthouses and courtrooms, defending the scum of the earth. It is not every time that a client tells me the truth. And especially this time I am convinced that I am representing a liar." I could see the horror in his face.
"For the time being, let us assume that he has not killed the woman... What kind of a man could rape a dead woman? Isn't this possibly the worst thing you have heard?
All this just leads us to abhor this man. You people don't like him? I definitely don't like him. Then why is here? Shouldn't he be condemned already? ... Shouldn't we have sent him on the way to prison?

But lets us just pause for a second. If we look back at this case: Our DA's defense was based almost entirely on the credibility of a man who has a problem with alcohol. An alcoholic admitted a couple of times to a rehab, which apparently hasn't done much good. Can we base an entire case...a man's life on a person who has lost his sense equilibrium, who has become amoral because of his drink?
Putting it in short, the DA didn't have much of a case at all.

This judicial system has been founded, you as the jury have been anointed for preserving one basic fundamental human right 'Innocent until proven guilty!'. You have been given the power to judge the fate of a man, not with your personal opinion but with the evidence that has been presented in front of you.
Has it been proven beyond all doubt that the man murdered that woman? Judge yourself, ladies and gentlemen....Be wise... Be fair."

Finishing with a flourish, I went and sat down behind the bench. The DA stood up and said something that I didn't pay much attention to. To all respects this case was over to me. I didn't care if I won or not. I preferred that I didn't.


"Has the jury reached a verdict," His Honour asked after the court was in session after the recess.
"Yes, Sir," the jury foreperson said.
"Can we have the verdict please?"

Jerry Morocco threw his hands up in jubilation. "Oh darn! My client has won," I thought. He hugged me and profusely thanked me. I didn't even respond.

Kingsley insisted on a celebration party. "My treat!" he said. My client declined the invitation. I went, against my wishes.

I returned back home late in the night. There was complete silence in the house. All the lights were switched off. I guessed that she must be asleep on the couch waiting for me. I entered the house and quietly switched on the night lamp. She wasn't on the couch. I went up to the bedroom and slowly opened the door. I put the lights on.

There she lay on the bed. Her throat slit, blood dripping from the blood soaked bed. There was blood everywhere. My wife lay with her hands sprawled asunder. Between the thumb and forefinger of one hand she held a paper the size of an A4 sheet. I went up closer, to take a better look.
It was her autopsy report.