The Attorney (27 page)

"I don't know. A few seconds," he says.

"Did you touch it? Pick it up?"

"No. It was evidence. You don't touch evidence at a scene," he says.

Must have seen this on Columbo.

"So where was it when you saw it?"

"You were there," he says. "You know where it was."

"I want you to tell the jury."

"It was in a bag. A paper bag." He looks at the jury as he says this.

"So, in a dark parking lot, in the span of a few seconds, looking at a cigar stub at the bottom of a paper bag, you could tell with certainty the kind of cigar it was?"

"Objection," says Ryan. "Counsel misstates the evidence. The witness never testified as to the kind of cigar it was. He merely said it looked like the cigar that the defendant gave him at Mr. Madrianis office."

"Let me restate the question. Do you know what kind of cigar was in the paper bag that night?"

"It looked the same," says Brower.

"That's not what I'm asking you. Do you know what kind of cigar was in that bag?" He flexes the muscles in his face, rubber mask, looks at Ryan, back at me. "The kind you smoke?" He looks at the jury, but they don't laugh.

"Was it a Panatella? A Corona? Maybe a Petit Corona? Or was it a Double Corona?"

"I don't know. As I said, I'm not an expert."

"Isn't it a fact, Mr. Brower, that you can't say with certainty what kind of cigar it was you saw that night in the evidence bag?

Nor can you tell us what kind of cigar Mr. Hale gave you in my office?"

"They looked similar, that's all I'm sayin'." In terms of evidence, that's all he has to say to hurt us. A non expert telling what it looked like to him.

"Answer the question," I tell him.

"What was the question?" he says.

"Can you tell us precisely the type or kind of cigar it was in the evidence bag outside the victims office?"

"No."

"Can you tell us precisely the kind of cigar Mr. Hale gave you in my office?"

"No."

"So the cigar stub you saw that night at the scene could have been an entirely different kind of cigar than the one the defendant, Mr. Hale, gave you at my office that morning, isn't that a fact?"

"It's possible," he says.

"Now that we've explored your knowledge of cigars, let me turn your attention to the press release, the one you saw at my office that morning. Did you actually read the press release?"

"Most of it. I scanned it," he says. As if his mind were a vacuum, picking up only the bad parts about my client. The problem here is that Ryan and Brower have now put into play questions of molestation and incest. Poisoned the jury. When they filed in this morning, none of them was willing to look at Jonah. Ryan has left me a hill of rehabilitation to climb that doesn't even deal with the murder. Suade's allegations against Jonah, the charges in the press release, would not even be admissible except that the state's theory is that they go to motivation, part of the reason he killed her, and on that score they are deadly.

"Besides the portions that dealt with my client, Mr. Hale, what else did the press release say?" I ask.

He looks at the ceiling, checks Ryan as if he's looking for signal from a third-base coach. A few more seconds pass, some heavy thinking, world-class recollecting going on. "Can't remember," he says.

"Didn't it talk about the county?" I ask.

"Oh, yeah. That's right."

"And what did it say about the county?"

"I'm not sure. It was rambling," he says.

"It seemed pretty clear yesterday when you were talking about unfounded allegations concerning my client."

"Objection." Ryan from the table. "Counsel's characterizing the evidence."

"This evidence requires some characterization," I tell him.

"Sustained. Mr. Madriani ..." Peltro looks at me and shakes his head.

"How is it you could remember the charges about my client from the press release, but nothing else?"

"I don't know. What stuck in my head," says Brower.

"Let me ask you a question concerning the charges regarding Mr. Hale as contained in that release. As far as you know, those were unfounded allegations, weren't they?" Ryan's on his feet objecting. "How would the witness know that? Beyond the scope," he says.

"The witness is a law enforcement officer, works in Children's Protective Services. If there was anything there, I would think he would know."

"The witness can answer if he knows," says Peltro.

I look at Brower.

"What charges are you talking about?" He raises his eyebrows, wants me to say them again in front of the jury: the words incest and molestation.

"The charges made in Zolanda Suade's press release regarding Mr. Hale.

There's no evidence whatever that my client ever committed any of those acts to your knowledge, is there?"

"I never investigated them," he says. "I wouldn't know."

"Isn't it a fact that if your department had evidence regarding the commission of those acts by my client, he would have been arrested?"

"He was arrested," says Brower.

"When?"

"It's how he got here," he says.

"Your Honor?" I look up at the judge.

"Mr. Brower, answer the question."

"What was the question?" he says.

"Isn't it a fact that if the county had evidence regarding the acts stated in that press release regarding my client, they would have rather arrested Mr. Hale?"

"I assume so," he says.

"And was he ever arrested on those charges?"

"Not that I know of."

"And if he had been arrested, you would have known, wouldn't you?"

"I might have," he says.

"You expect the jury to believe that you would have attended the meeting in my office, read those charges in the press release, and never checked after that time as to whether Mr. Hale had been arrested or investigated concerning any of those charges?" Brower doesn't answer, looks at me, thinks for a moment. "I get busy," he says.

"Was he arrested on those charges?" I ask him.

"Asked and answered," says Ryan.

"The witness hasn't answered the question. Your Honor."

"Overruled. Answer the question," says Peltro.

"I think I checked. He was never arrested."

"Was he ever even investigated on those charges?"

"Investigations are confidential," says Brower. He pounces on this one, happy with the answer because it leaves Jonah twisting in the wind.

"Are you telling us there was an investigation?"

"I'm telling you I can't comment. They're confidential." I look up at the judge.

"You can comment in this court," says Peltro.

"Your Honor, there are state statutes," says Brower.

"I'm aware," says the judge. "Answer the question."

"There were no open or pending investigations," he says.

"Any closed investigations?" I ask.

"There was a record of the daughter's charges. It was looked at, but no evidence," he says.

"Now let's go back to where we started," I tell him. "The rest of the press release. The portions that didn't involve my client.

Those portions talked about the county, didn't they? About a scandal in the county?"

"Something about the county," he says.

"That's all you can remember?"

"Right now. Yeah."

"Let me refresh your memory. If I were to show you a copy of that press release, would you be likely to remember what you read that day in my office?"

"I might." Harry's fishing in the box, comes up with copies of the release, one for the judge and Ryan, one for me, and another for the witness.

The bailiff passes them around.

"I want you to look at that, read it carefully, and tell me if that was the document you saw that morning in my office, the so-called Suade press release." He studies it, his gaze periodically lifting off the page to check on me, see what I'm doing--as if maybe I'm sneaking up on him, getting ready to nail him with a sap from the blind side.

He flips the page, reads the second, and finishes.

"Is that the document you saw in my office that morning?"

"Looks like it," he says.

"The one we've been calling the Suade press release?"

"Yeah."

"Now do you remember seeing the items in the release concerning the county?"

"Sure."

"Would you say they're true?"

"No."

"Do you know anything about a scandal in the county? One regarding child-custody proceedings?"

"No."

"How would you characterize these allegations regarding the county?"

"Objection, Your Honor." Ryan sees where I'm going.

Discredit one part of the release, and undercut it all. The rantings of an unstable woman.

"The witness has already stated that he doesn't know of any scandal in the county. How he might characterize the contents of the press release is irrelevant."

"Mr. Ryans the one who brought up the subject of the release," I tell the court. "He seemed to think it was quite relevant when he was using it to slander my client."

"It goes to motivation," says Ryan.

"Right. And that's the only reason you brought it up."

"Precisely," says Ryan.

Peltro's on the gavel. "Gentlemen, if you have anything to say, you direct it to me. I don't want to hear another word." He thinks for a moment.

"I'm gonna overrule the objection. For the moment." Peltro says it as if he might take it back in the next breath. The judge has a problem: trying to give the defendant a fair trial. There was no way to keep the contents of the press release, the charges against Jonah, away from the jury. Ryan is right. Even if they aren't true, they go to the very core of motivation. The fact is that they are also highly prejudicial, the kind of charges likely to inflame a jury, cause them to convict the defendant of murder, because they think he might be a molester.

Peltro is busy trying to level the field. "I'm gonna give you some latitude, Mr. Madriani. Try not to abuse it," he says. He motions me on with the gavel in his hand.

"Mr. Brower. Would you say that the contents of Ms. Suade's press release are truthful and accurate?"

"How would I know?"

"You just testified that you're unaware of any scandals in the county, and yet her press release is filled with allegations of scandal.

Would you say that those are accurate?"

"Not to my knowledge they're not."

"And you say you're unaware of any investigations ever being launched by your department against my client?"

"Right."

"And no charges were ever brought against him in connection with any of the allegations contained in that press release, correct?"

"Yes."

"So would you say those parts of the press release were truthful or accurate?"

"No."

"Have you ever heard rumors or talk regarding scandals in the county?"

"Your Honor." Ryan is pleading with the judge.

Peltro waves him off.

"There're always rumors and talk," says Brower.

"But have you ever heard anything specific?" Now I've got him in a minefield. Brower knows the state attorney general is investigating his own department for alleged abuse by investigators. Its been in the papers.

He's looking at Ryan, and not getting any help. Prosecutor with his head down, looking at the tabletop.

"You mean scandals involving child custody?" says Brower.

"I think that's what the press release is talking about." I look at him.

He knows where I'm headed if he doesn't give me the right answer.

"No. I don't know of anything. No rumors," he says.

"So in your opinion, given your knowledge, your experience working in the county, would you say this press release is inaccurate, filled with information that is untrue?"

"Probably," he says.

"Probably?"

"Yes," says Brower.

"In fact. Investigator Brower, are you able to point to a single piece of information in this release, a single item, whether it relates to the county, or to my client, that is accurate?" He looks at the document, takes it in both hands. Flips the page and studies it for a second.

Finally he shakes his head. "Maybe the victim's phone number," he says,

"at the top of the page. But I couldn't swear to it." to Jonah it's a high point, major victory, the admission by Brower that he's not a child molester.

"Ryan can still argue it in closing," I tell him, "and it's just as devastating, maybe worse." We're huddled in the conference room, a tiny closet just off the holding cells outside Peltro's courtroom. Two guards are getting ready to take Jonah back to his cell for the night.

"I don't understand," says Jonah. "How could it be worse? He said it wasn't true." Harry's leaning, his back against the closed door, looking sour.

"Because if it's false," says Harry, "Ryan may argue that the charge is even more infuriating. Don't you understand? The only real issue, in the end," he says, "as far as the cops are concerned is what wound you up.

What sent you over to Suade's to kill her. And that they've got in spades. He's gonna argue that you were enraged by the lies. That you killed her because of it. And that ain't justifiable homicide," says Harry.

It slowly begins to dawn on Jonah. We've spent the entire day talking about crimes that didn't take place. Trying to extract the poison, that even in death, Suade has been able to inject into the minds of the jury.

chapter twenty-TWO.

"what did you THINK YOU were Doing?" susan's at the table, the dining nook in her kitchen, standing, not sitting, glaring at me over the top of the morning paper.

I'm in my bathrobe, cup of coffee in front of me, an hour from court.

"I was defending my client," I tell her.

"I'm up to my hips in auditors. Investigators crawling all over my office and you're giving Brower a pistol to play Russian roulette with my head," she says.

"What are you saying?"

"Asking him what he knows about scandals in the county in open court.

What was going through your mind?"

"I couched it very carefully. Brower knew what I was talking about. Made it very clear I was talking about Suade's press release."