Justice Returns by William Bernhardt

Author:William Bernhardt [Bernhardt, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kindle Press
Published: 2017-10-23T23:00:00+00:00

***

During the break, before Thrillkill called his next witness, Christina left to make a phone call home. I didn’t know how long that might take, but a few minutes later, I was pleased to see her slide into the chair beside me. I probably shouldn’t admit it, because I’m a hard-as-nails trial attorney and all, but I always felt a wave of comfort when she sat beside me, in court or anywhere else. Knowing someone had my back was a relatively new sensation for me. Which is why my ongoing attitude was always “anything Christina needs, Christina gets.” When it comes to making decisions, she frequently tells me that I’m the boss, but I’ve never been stupid enough to believe it.

“Everything good at home?” I whispered.

“Seems to be. Julia has the girls under control.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“She does have mommy experience.”

“Ish.”

“She’s actually very capable.”

“Good.”

Thrillkill called Officer Takei to the stand. He was the bombshell witness at the preliminary hearing. His testimony would have a huge impact on the jury, but at least this time I wouldn’t be caught by surprise. I had my panoply of excuses and hoped that, even if the jury didn’t really buy them, they wouldn’t laugh right in my face.

The judge swore Takei in. Thrillkill took him through the preliminaries and established who he was and what he did on the day of the shooting. He did not waste much time getting to Oz’s apartment.

“Have you seen these before?” Thrillkill handed him a sheaf of documents that had been premarked as “Prosecution Exhibit 17.”

“Yes.”

“Where did you see them?”

“In the defendant’s apartment.”

“Objection.” I rose to my feet. “It wasn’t only the defendant’s apartment. Several people shared the space and had access.”

“Nonetheless,” Thrillkill said, “it was the defendant’s apartment.”

“That many other people had access to.”

“And now, Counsel,” the judge said curtly, “I believe you’re arguing, not objecting. Overruled.”

But I made my point with the jury, just the same. I wanted them remembering, throughout this testimony, that Oz was not the only person who could’ve placed suspicious items on the premises. Just in case they took the phrase “reasonable doubt” seriously.

Thrillkill continued. “Did you find these documents in the apartment where the defendant ate and lived and slept?”

“Yes. On the desk.”

“Could you describe them for the jury, please?”

“Many appear to relate to an organization called PACT.”

“And what is PACT?”

“It’s an organization of people sympathetic to Middle Eastern causes and the rights of Middle Eastern people.”

“A militant organization?”

“Objection,” I said. “Outside the witness’s expertise.”

The judge shrugged. “He can answer, if he knows.”

Takei nodded. “PACT has been associated with several violent crimes in the past.”

Thrillkill continued. “What do these PACT documents say?”

“Some are general business documents. Some are written in a kind of code. I can’t read it. And some specifically reference Agent Nazir.”

“Let’s talk about those. What do they say about Nazir?”

“The documents indicate that PACT considered him a threat. One of them specifically says that, and here I’m quoting, ‘He must be stopped.’”

Thrillkill paused for a moment, letting that sink into the jurors’ heads.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.