Pursuit of Happiness by Carsen Taite

Author:Carsen Taite [Taite, Carsen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635550436
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2018-11-25T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

Stevie stood up at counsel table and motioned to the prosecutor, Emily Watkins. “Your Honor, the government has provided me with discovery, but it’s too heavily redacted to be helpful, and some of it’s missing entirely. I can’t possibly prepare for trial if I don’t have access to the exact same material the government has reviewed.”

She’d expected more from Emily, but when she’d confronted her, Emily had thrown up her hands and said she had no control over the decision to redact the documents. When Stevie protested, Emily spouted the government’s usual line about not sharing the full contents of the classified documents with anyone who didn’t have the proper clearance. Stevie was used to this in terrorism cases, but this wasn’t that. In fact, nothing she’d been able to glean so far pointed to her client, Barkley, having shared any issues of national security, only embarrassing bumbling in the way the FBI had handled the reports of foreign hacking. It would help if Barkley would talk to her and tell her what was in the documents, but while he’d started to indulge her attempts at small talk, when it came to the case, he was still in his I can’t talk about it because everyone’s listening mode, which left her no choice but to file the pending motion to compel the government to disclose the full contents of the documents.

Judge Solomon turned to Emily. “Ms. Watkins, what’s your response?”

Emily cast her a woeful look and rose to address the judge. “It’s the government’s response that we cannot share the redacted portions with anyone who doesn’t possess the requisite clearance to view them. These documents have been classified as top secret. As for the omitted documents, we’re still in the process of decrypting some of the files that were seized from Ms. Palmer’s client. She’s welcome to ask him to assist us, which could speed the process along.”

Stevie shook her head. “And let you use his assistance as an admission of guilt? I don’t think so. If they are truly government documents and they are supposed to bolster the government claims against my client, then you should be able to hand them over in a format that I can read. How will the jury assess the veracity of the documents if they can’t read them either?”

Solomon nodded. “She has a point, Ms. Watkins. I’m inclined to view the contents of the documents you do have in camera in order to make an informed ruling.” He looked down his nose. “Unless you’re going to contend that I don’t have the right to view them?”

Stevie watched while Emily squirmed, knowing that Emily’s bosses probably did expect her to withhold the information from everyone, no exceptions, but she had the good sense not to tank her case by denying the judge.

“Of course, Your Honor. We will have them delivered to you this afternoon. As for the files that are being decrypted, I’m going to need a bit more time.”

Stevie considered protesting, but decided against it for now.

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