Colonial Defense Attorney by John Bowers

Author:John Bowers [Bowers, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faster Than Light Press
Published: 2019-06-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Monday, January 18, 0449 (CC)

71st Floor, Federation Building – Lucaston, Alpha Centauri 2

The courtroom was practically empty. It was one of those cases the public didn’t notice, weren’t even aware of—a simple bank robbery. Aside from the judge, his staff, and officers of the court, only half a dozen people sat in the gallery, mostly old people and court junkies who came for the entertainment. Not a holocam in sight.

That was fine by Victoria, but she was mildly disappointed on another matter. Federation judges were assigned to trials by rotation, and there had been one chance in five of drawing Hildegard van Wert. Even though she and Victoria didn’t like each other, van Wert was known to be sympathetic to defendants, and the Saulsburys needed that advantage. But the odds won out and the judge assigned to the case was van Wert’s opposite, a hardliner known for handing down maximum sentences. His name was Eldon Stuart, a dark, leathery, white-haired man of sixty who looked more like a barber than a jurist.

Victoria said nothing to her clients, but realized she would now have to work twice as hard to get them a light sentence. Stuart was unlikely to be swayed by the self-defense strategy, so she would need to come up with something dramatic to turn the tide. She had two days, three at most, to figure out how to do that.

Court came to order exactly on time and Stuart took the bench. The case was called, the charges read, and Stuart made a few introductory remarks about a bench trial versus a jury trial. He didn’t need to hear opening statements, he said, as he had read the pretrial briefs from both parties, then told Brian Godney to call his first witness.

Godney was in top form, crisp and confident. He lifted his chin and made the call.

If Victoria had been prosecuting the case, she would have called the early witnesses sequentially in terms of how the crime was committed. She would have called bank employees to establish that a robbery had indeed taken place, and only then the arresting officer.

But Godney had his own priorities, which sometimes made him unpredictable.

“The Federation calls Nick Walker to the stand.”

*

Witnesses were sequestered outside the courtroom so they couldn’t hear what was said and tailor their testimony to match. Those who hadn’t testified were held in a lounge with coffee and refreshments available; after they testified, they weren’t allowed to return to the lounge, thereby preventing them from telling others what had been asked and answered. Anyone subject to recall had to wait in the hallway, where a U.F. Marshal stood guard and monitored conversation.

Nick Walker was happy enough to go first. He wanted to get his part out of the way so he could sit in the gallery and watch the rest of the trial. Still on light duty, he had nothing scheduled for the day except his testimony.

He entered the courtroom minus his gunbelt and strode through the wing gate toward the witness box.

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