Where to Choose by Penny Mickelbury

Author:Penny Mickelbury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penny Mickelbury
Published: 2016-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Based on her experience in Washington, in New York, in Philadel­phia, cities in which she’d tried cases that had garnered healthy me­dia attention, Carole Ann believed that she knew what to expect from the Los Angeles media when Addie released the details of her involvement in the death of the still-unidentified man. She could not have been more mistaken. Nothing in her experience had pre­pared her for L.A.’s media monster. Not even the media feeding frenzy that surrounded her discovery of Al’s murderer.

It had happened a year ago and it felt like last week. For days on end the major television networks and the major national newspa­pers devoured and regurgitated the details of the fall of the Louisiana congressman and his lawyer brother—the lawyer brother who just happened to be half Black and had been passing for white all of his adult life. Graft, corruption, greed, natural gas and oil de­posits beneath the bayous, environmental racism, and, oh, yes: race. How unusual was it to find half-breeds in Louisiana these days? One of the networks had rushed into production a movie of the week that was more disgusting than the true story. But the media had done the job that needed doing.

No member of Congress wanted to impeach a congressman, even if he was a murderer. Even if he had killed A1 Crandall, a prominent D.C. attorney and husband of another prominent D.C. attorney. No member of the bar wanted to disbar a lawyer, even if he was corrupt. Even if he had set up his own law partner, A1 Crandall, for his brother the congressman. No DA wanted the case. It was too hot. So the reporters stepped in and got the job done. And they had indeed, in the process, made a shining star of the grieving widow, who’d used her skills as a criminal defense attorney to bring the criminals to justice. But she hadn’t really cared about all that; she’d cared only that Al had been avenged.

This time was different. First there were the stories about Carole Ann herself: Her crime in defense of her mother; her bringing to jus­tice her husband’s murderer; her professional success; her personal wealth; her expertise in the martial arts. These stories then spawned untold numbers of side-bar articles: Other instances in which children had defended parents and parents had defended children and one spouse had avenged another; profiles of other suc­cessful Black female criminal defense attorneys, including Addie; profiles of unsuccessful Black female criminal defense attorneys; stories on the martial arts, including interviews with Jean Claude Van Damme and Jackie Chan—L.A., after all, was home to Holly­wood—and other famous and infamous practitioners of the martial arts, and detailing their historically deadly potential.

Grayce reluctantly shared the spotlight. Unwilling, initially, to be the subject or focus of any news item, Grayce allowed Addie to con­vince her to cooperate with just one television interviewer. Who made the mistake of asking, “Why does your daughter, if she’s so rich, allow you to live

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.