The Trial by Lindsey Phillip Dew

Author:Lindsey Phillip Dew [0-87747-874-0]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-87579-157-9
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2017-07-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The pretrial hearing on Friday morning was devoid of drama. Ralph Hersh, the attorney for Bryan Sanchez, woke me up at 5:30 that morning to tell me that he was in town and wanted to hold a strategy meeting. Hersh irritated me. This was only the second time he had even seen his client. The first time he’d flown up he had brushed aside any efforts of mine to plan a combined strategy. He was willing to take advantage of my detective work and let me handle the whole case, while he sat back and collected his fat fee. In my opinion, Hersh simply wasn’t acting in his client’s best interests. Had I been Sanchez’s attorney, I would have hit up Kurt for immunity for my client in return for his testimony against Montague. Had Kurt been aware that Sanchez was not involved in the murders, he probably would have welcomed giving Sanchez immunity from prosecution, saving the case and his own political hide. Though it were true that Sanchez would almost certainly be acquitted in the trial anyway, to the public it would appear that Sanchez was a murderer who escaped punishment by a formality of law. The shadow of murder would follow him for the rest of his life. If I were in Sanchez’s position, I would admit my complicity in the robbery and clear my name of the stain of murder. In the process, I would help put away a dangerous criminal and thus pay back in part my debt to society.

Hersh came to my house, and I fixed us breakfast rather than wake Carol. We discussed the case, and he was satisfied with the way things were going. At nine, we went to the courthouse and met our clients. A few reporters were there, who were upset to learn that they wouldn’t be allowed in the courtroom during the hearing.

Sister Cannest was the first witness called. She wasn’t good for much except to establish the time of arrest. Karen was sworn in next but burst into tears when she was asked the first question. We managed to calm her down a little, but shortly after she began her story, she started crying again. I let her take her seat.

Bobby was impressive. He was white-faced and obviously frightened, but in a steady voice he told the entire story. Kurt had not cross-examined Sister Cannest, but he attacked Bobby.

“Tell me, Robert,” Kurt said, “isn’t it true that you disliked Officer Frost before you even met him?”

“What do you mean?”

“I understand that you’d heard about Frost before you ever met him. Officer Frost had allegedly bothered a few of your friends, and you didn’t care for the fellow. Isn’t that true?”

Bobby nodded. “Yes sir, you see …”

“A yes is sufficient. Isn’t it possible that you allowed your negative feelings toward Officer Frost to color your recollections of the evening of the arrest in order to get Officer Frost in trouble?”

“No sir.”

“No? But you admit that you had developed a prejudicial attitude against Officer Frost before you met him.

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