A Conflict of Interest by Adam Mitzner

Author:Adam Mitzner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Securities Fraud, New York (State), Philosophy, Stockbrokers, Legal, Fiction, Defense (Criminal Procedure), New York, Suspense, Legal Stories, General, Suspense Fiction, Stockbrokers - New York (State) - New York
ISBN: 9781439157510
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2011-05-16T18:30:00+00:00

Part 4

34

Judge Sullivan would have made a fine dictator. Everything in her courtroom runs on time. The trial of the United States of America versus Michael Louis Ohlig is no exception; it starts right on schedule.

There are probably sixty spectators in the gallery, a number I expect to be cut in half by tomorrow, but doubled on the day of the verdict. There are the usual court watchers, retirees mainly, who have decided that showing up to court every day is as entertaining as catching a movie, or at least that it’s free. I also spot three court sketch artists. They work on spec, hoping to sell their work to the news outlets, or even to the lawyers as a piece of vanity art. Many of the rest I assume are reporters.

Aside from his wife, Ohlig is without any supporters in the audience. Some of that stands to reason, considering Ohlig’s friends live in Florida and I’ve instructed his business colleagues to stay far away, or else risk the possibility they’ll be easy targets for the FBI to question. Allison Shaw wanted to be here, but I put the kibosh on that one, fearing that the jurors might reach the same first impression about the nature of her relationship with Ohlig that I had.

Pamela Ohlig sits dutifully in the gallery’s front row. Per my instructions, she’s wearing nothing that costs more than $500. Ohlig, too, is conservatively dressed—dark suit, blue shirt, dark tie. As I asked, he’s left the Patek Philippe at home.

For my part, I’m wearing both the tie Elizabeth gave me for my birthday and the cufflinks from Abby. Elizabeth said “nice cufflinks” when she saw me for the first time today, and I told her that “I found them on eBay.”

Judge Sullivan conducts the voir dire, the fancy Latin term which literally means to tell the truth. Etymology aside, in practice voir dire has very little to do with truth; it is the process by which lawyers exclude jurors that they think will decide against them. In some courts, the lawyers are permitted to question potential jurors, but for efficiency’s sake, Judge Sullivan does all the questioning herself.

The judge did permit the lawyers to submit questions to her in advance. We were sure that some of those we proposed Judge Sullivan wouldn’t ask because she’d deem them to be too inflammatory, like “Do you know of instances where the police have framed innocent people?” Others she’ll ask, but they won’t provide us any more information than we can tell by looking at the people who answer them.

The jury consultant we’ve hired, a woman named Leslie Newman, charges more per hour than I do. She’s done focus groups, polling, and psychological profiles in an effort to ascertain the type of person most likely to acquit Michael Ohlig. After all that work—and about $200,000 in fees—she’s concluded our optimal juror is a non-college-educated man, preferably under fifty years of age.

Her argument was one I’d heard before and, truth be

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