Conclusive Evidence by Al Macy

Author:Al Macy [Macy, Al]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Jen and I once again found ourselves in Humboldt’s largest courtroom, Courtroom 4. The public interest in Isabel Sheridan’s trial for grand theft was as great as for Carly’s trial, and the spectator area was standing room only. I had rapidly become Humboldt’s most famous lawyer, with people recognizing me on the street and potential clients climbing into our office over the transom.

The murmuring crowd contained a few paparazzi, as rare as desert antelopes in the redwood forest. Photos weren’t allowed in the courtroom, but I thought maybe they were covertly snapping shots of the beautiful politician. Certainly, they would alert their cohorts outside the courthouse as soon as Sheridan was about to leave.

Our judge was the florid Tipp Theodore, known by his inevitable nickname, Tipsy Ted. Ted was a man with a constant hangover. I was convinced he self-medicated with hair of the dog during recesses. His nose looked like a Ballpark Frank that had plumped until it burst, and his eyebrows suggested he had some Sasquatch in his gene pool.

I pitied him, actually. I rarely drank hard liquor because the next day always came packaged with a twelve-hour hangover, during which I was useless. I’d learned my lesson when I’d defended a drug user—a case in which Finn was the prosecutor, in fact. I’d had too many drinks with an old law school friend the night before, and the resultant hangover took a wrecking ball to my closing arguments. Finn took full advantage of my impairment, but I managed to squeak by with an acquittal. Never again.

Isabel Sheridan’s misdeeds had been uncovered during the interminable period of forensic accounting that followed Hellton’s bankruptcy. Her fingerprints were all over the fraudulent transactions, and her younger colleague had long since fled the country, continuing her guerrilla hacktivism from an undisclosed location.

The prosecution made the mistake of vilifying our client. Did they not envision the outcome that Jen and I hoped for? They also put the jury to sleep by slogging through the complicated accounting wizardry that had uncovered the deeds of the activists.

They recounted the nefarious techniques Ms. Sheridan and her “gang” had used to escape detection: moving from place to place, wardriving, illegally piggybacking on the networks of unsuspecting homeowners.

Tipsy Ted sent some suspicious looks my way, definitely suspecting our strategy. As long as we were careful, we’d escape any sanctions.

Our expert accountant testified that every penny of the money fraudulently withdrawn from the company, including interest, was transferred by Sheridan’s outlaw group to the charities representing interests most harmed by Hellton Developers. In addition, Ms. Sheridan had, before her crime was discovered, contributed to the Hellton liquidation fund in the amount of $70,000. She did that anonymously, but we were able to show that the contribution came from her account. Bottom line, she didn’t keep any money from the embezzlement, and she used her own funds to help those who’d lost their investments in Hellton.

We put our client on the stand, where she shone. Would Carly do

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