Double Jeopardy (Mike DaleyRosie Fernandez Legal Thriller Book 14) by Sheldon Siegel

Author:Sheldon Siegel [Siegel, Sheldon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-10-11T16:00:00+00:00

29

“THAT ISN’T GOING TO WORK FOR ME”

Lenny’s answer was succinct. “No.”

“It’s a good deal,” I said. “We won’t get anything better.”

“That isn’t going to work for me.”

“With credit for time served and good behavior, you’ll be out of here in six years. You’ll still be a young man.”

“And an admitted killer. No deal, Mike.”

“I’ll let the D.A. know.”

Lenny was agitated as he sat on the opposite side of the table in the drab consultation room in County Jail #5 in San Bruno the following morning, a Saturday. He was trying to process the reality that we were starting trial in two days. In addition to discussing legal strategies, I needed to manage his expectations and emotions.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Terrific.”

His orange jumpsuit was stained with perspiration. “You’re sweating.”

“It’s hot in here.”

No, it isn’t. “Did they give you a mask?”

“No.”

“I’ll make sure that you get one. Do you have any symptoms?”

“I’m fine, Mike.”

He looked as if he’d lost weight. “Are you eating and sleeping?”

“Some.”

I took a deep breath of the stale air that smelled of Clorox. “I found Patty Dawson. She seems willing to testify about Marcus Strong.”

His expression brightened. “That’s good, right?”

Hopefully. “Yes.”

“Does she know who gave Annie the pills?”

“No.”

His optimism disappeared. “What is she going to say?”

“That Strong was a bad guy who was beating Annie and giving her drugs. She’ll confirm that drug dealing was rampant on U.N. Plaza.”

“Will she name other names?”

I sighed. “Not yet. She told me that Joe Davis was selling drugs on U.N. Plaza. So was Brian Holton. She isn’t willing to testify about them—yet.”

“Not good enough.”

“It’s the best that I can do for now. I’ll put Davis and Holton on the stand and go after them.”

“You expect them to confess?”

Doubtful. “If I can muddy the waters enough, I can get at least one juror to reasonable doubt, and we’ll get a hung jury. Best case, I’ll convince all twelve jurors to acquit, and you can go home.”

“Or back to U.N. Plaza.”

“We’ll find you a place to live, Lenny.”

He remained skeptical. “Bottom line, you don’t have any hard evidence that somebody else gave Annie the tainted pills, do you?”

No. “There were prints and traces of DNA on the bottle and DNA on Annie’s panties that didn’t match yours.”

“Have you been able to match them to somebody else?”

“No.”

“You aren’t making me feel more confident.”

“The evidence is what it is, Lenny. We’ll start our defense with testimony from a medical expert who will say that Annie had an existing heart condition that could have caused her death.”

“The Chief Medical Examiner is going to say that she OD’d.”

True. “Our expert is very good.”

“From what I’ve heard, the M.E. is good, too.”

She is. “We don’t need to prove that she’s wrong. We only need to create enough doubt to get one juror to reasonable doubt. Patty Dawson will testify that Strong was beating Annie and giving her drugs. Then I’ll put Davis and Holton on the stand and accuse them of giving Annie the spiked pills.”

“You think any of this will work?”

“Hard to say.

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.