The Price of Justice (14 page)

C
HAPTER

25

T
he three weeks had gone by quickly, and now Dani and Melanie, along with Tommy, were back in court, ready for Win Melton’s new trial. Kathleen had done her work and advised Dani what characteristics to look for in a juror. She was in the courtroom as well, ready to apply the second stage of her services. Unlike the short skirt and cleavage-revealing blouse she’d worn when they’d first met, now she was dressed like Dani, in a conservative dark suit and neutral-colored blouse. Rows of seats in the gallery were filled with prospective jurors, most looking glum at the prospect ahead of them.

The door to the courtroom opened, and Ed Whiting strode in, flanked by a younger man and woman, both carrying heavy litigation bags. He saw Dani and smiled, then walked over to her after he got settled at the prosecutor’s table. “I suppose you think this trial is a formality,” he said after shaking her hand.

“I never take a jury for granted.”

“That’s wise. As far as I’m concerned, Winston Melton is still guilty, and I aim to prove it.”

Okay, thought Dani. The boxers are in their corners, and the bell is about to ring.

After Judge Hinchey took his seat at the bench, he gave general instructions to all the jurors, then asked them as a group some preliminary questions: Did anyone have a medical, personal, or financial problem that would make it difficult for them to serve? Did any of them know the defendant, the lawyers, or the potential witnesses? Were all of them at least eighteen, US citizens, and able to read and understand the English language? When he concluded, a few jurors were excused and left the courtroom. The bailiff then called fourteen names and instructed each to take a seat in the jury box.

“Your turn, Ms. Trumball,” the judge said.

Dani walked over to the jury box and smiled warmly at the men and women sitting there, making eye contact with each one as she glanced down the row. Even the best case could be lost with a problematic jury. It was important that they like her. Otherwise, they could take it out on her client. She needed to draw each person out and get them talking so she could get a sense of them, not just rely on their answers to questions but to dig underneath and figure out their true feelings.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. You already know that I represent Winston Melton, and that he is on trial for the murder and rape of a seventeen-year-old girl. You also know that he was previously convicted of this crime seven years ago. I feel privileged to represent him now to help right the grievous wrong that was done to him. In this part of the trial, we need to learn about your feelings or opinions about the issues that will come up in this case. We promise to be honest with you, and we ask that you be honest with us.”

After asking each of the prospective jurors about their backgrounds and experience, she began with the questions prepared by Kathleen: How would your friends describe you? What period of time would you most like to go back to? How competitive are you? Are you a leader or a follower? What makes you stressed? Are you a party person, or do you prefer to stay home? Has a boyfriend or girlfriend ever broken up with you? Do you like to blog? What do you blog about? Questions and more questions in that vein, all designed to illuminate the type of juror they had and, by extension, how they would react to the evidence. Dani knew Kathleen was making notes and would plug the answers into a grid that would pinpoint the ideal jurors for Melton’s retrial.

Finished with Kathleen’s questions, Dani said, “One of the most important issues in this case is the role of a confession. Do you tend to believe someone wouldn’t confess unless they were guilty?” One by one, the jurors answered. Now, Dani knew Kathleen wouldn’t just record their answers. She would watch each juror’s face and body language. When Dani finished, Ed Whiting stood and moved over to the jury box. He, too, had a lengthy list of questions. Dani then conferred with Kathleen, and they agreed on which jurors to challenge and which to accept. Then the process started again with fourteen more prospective jurors, over and over. At the end of the first day, they’d sat eight jurors. By three o’clock on the second day, they had their jury—seven men and five women, with one of each as alternates. None on the jury were wealthy, but a few were successful in business or a profession. Three had teenage daughters. Dani was most concerned about those jurors.

The trial would start tomorrow and with it, a media circus. The retrial of Winston Melton, grandson of a man whose name was known by young and old, would be televised in its entirety. It was a first for Dani, and she wasn’t happy about it.

“Mr. Whiting, Mr. Whiting, have a moment?” called out one of the newscasters the next morning. At least ten television crews were present outside the courthouse, Dani calculated, and an untold number of print journalists. The national broadcast networks and cable-news networks, along with local Florida stations, were all there. Dani, Melanie, and Tommy tried to sneak past the horde, but one well-dressed woman spotted them and ran over to them.

“Ms. Trumball, do you really think Winston Melton is innocent?”

“Of course, I do. HIPP only represents people we believe were wrongly convicted.”

“It all comes down to the other confession, doesn’t it?”

Dani looked the woman over. She couldn’t have been more than thirty, no doubt a go-getter anxious for a scoop. “Sorry, I never discuss trial strategy.” She smiled politely, then quickly walked away before anyone else could ask a question. Once inside the courthouse, the HIPP team passed through security, then made their way to the courtroom. One television crew was setting up in the rear. They would provide the feed to their counterparts outside. As she walked past them, Dani noted that “Court TV” was stamped on the side of large boxes that had held their equipment.

Dani and Melanie got settled at the defense table, while Tommy took a seat behind them. Seated next to Tommy were Win’s parents and his grandmother. As the courtroom gradually filled up with news reporters and spectators, the volume of noise increased, making it difficult for Dani and Melanie to converse. Finally finished with his speeches to the cameras, Whiting entered the courtroom soon after, again trailed by the junior attorneys lugging his files. He sat down at the prosecution table, looked over at Dani, and nodded.

At nine thirty promptly, the door at the front of the courtroom opened, and the bailiff entered. “Quiet down, folks,” he called out in a loud voice. “The judge will be entering soon, and there must be absolute silence or he’ll throw you out. Everyone got that?”

A few spectators murmured, “Yes,” and others nodded their heads.

Through that same door, Winston Melton, dressed in a navy suit bought off the rack and a blue-striped tie, entered the courtroom, escorted by a guard, and was seated at the defense table between Dani and Melanie. Dani had insisted that he couldn’t wear a custom-tailored suit. Doing so would only widen the divide between him and the jurors. Moments later, the bailiff called out, “All rise,” and Judge Hinchey took his seat on the bench.

“Any motions before I bring in the jury?” the judge asked.

Whiting had already renewed his objection to introducing the video deposition of Earl Sanders, and once again he’d been overruled. Both attorneys answered, “No,” and the judge turned to the bailiff. “Bring them on in, Walt.”

A few minutes passed, and then fourteen men and women streamed into the courtroom and took their seats in the jury box. A silver-haired man whom Dani knew was a podiatrist settled himself into the foreman’s seat. She felt a sense of relief that it wasn’t one of the mothers with a teenage daughter.

Judge Hinchey spoke to the jury about how the trial would proceed and about their responsibilities as jurors. When finished, he looked at Whiting. “Counselor, opening statement?”

Whiting walked over to the jury box. “Ladies and gentlemen, you have a very important task ahead of you. A teenage girl, on the brink of womanhood, with all of life ahead of her, was brutally raped and murdered, and left behind in a wooded area in back of her high school to rot away. You will hear evidence that the last person seen with her was Winston Melton, the defendant. You will learn that they had a previous relationship but were no longer seeing each other. And you will hear that a strand of Mr. Melton’s hair was found at the site of the murder. Winston Melton and Carly Sobol were the only two people known to be in those woods.

“Now, the defense attorney will tell you that someone else confessed to murdering Ms. Sobol. And I must admit that he makes a pretty good alternative. Earl Sanders was recently executed for murdering another young woman. If you believe him, he murdered altogether eleven women.
If
you
believe
him
,” Whiting repeated, enunciating each word slowly, with his voice raised.

“I don’t believe him, though, and when you hear all the evidence, you won’t either. Here’s why. There is no evidence that Earl Sanders was behind Palm Beach High School on the night Carly Sobol was murdered. There is no DNA that places him there, no strands of hair, no footprints, nothing. You’ll hear the defendant’s best friend say he saw Earl Sanders at the high school that night, but you’ll learn that this is the first time he’s claiming that. Not seven years ago when Carly was found murdered. Not when the defendant was arrested. And not at the defendant’s first trial.

“So why would Mr. Sanders confess to murdering Carly Sobol? When he did so, he was weeks away from his own execution. He had nothing to lose by confessing. Did he want to play games with the judicial system? Maybe. Did someone pay him to confess in order to clear the defendant? Maybe. You don’t need to know why. All you need to know is that the evidence places the defendant at the murder scene, not Earl Sanders. And when you’ve heard all of the evidence, I know you will want justice for Carly Sobol and peace of mind for her family. And to achieve that, you will find Winston Melton guilty of her rape and murder. Thank you.”

Dani took a deep breath before standing. Whiting’s opening was strong. She needed to match it. So much of a trial was theater—and who gave the best performance often trumped the facts and the law. This trial was Win’s last shot at freedom. And it rode on her ability to sell his innocence.

“Ladies and gentleman, my esteemed colleague is correct. You do have a very important task ahead of you. You are charged with listening carefully to all of the evidence presented and deciding what is the truth. You will hear Winston Melton swear under oath that he did not rape or murder his former girlfriend, Carly Sobol. He will explain that he had no reason to do such a heinous act. It was he who broke off their relationship the previous summer. It was Carly who wanted to get back together. It won’t be just Mr. Melton who tells you that. All of Carly’s friends will say the same thing. He will admit that he walked behind the high school into the woods with Ms. Sobol the night she was murdered, and he will tell you he walked out alone, leaving her alive but disappointed that he’d rejected her again.

“You will see a videotape of Earl Sanders, who has since been executed for a similar crime, confessing to the rape and murder of Ms. Sobol. He will provide details of the crime that were not released by the police. And then he will describe, in detail, nine other murders he committed of young women. You will hear testimony from the police who investigated those other murders that, once again, Mr. Sanders knew details of those crimes that were not released to the public.

“Now, Mr. Whiting would like you to believe that the only witness to place Mr. Sanders at the high school is unreliable because he was Mr. Melton’s best friend. But you will hear testimony from people unrelated to Mr. Melton or his family that Earl Sanders, who moved around a great deal, was in the Palm Beach area during the time that Ms. Sobol was murdered.

“You’ve been told by the prosecution not to worry about a motive for Mr. Sanders’s confession. But motive is the key to unlocking the truth in this case. As you listen to the testimony, and try to figure out the truth, think about who had a motive to murder Ms. Sobol. Someone whom she’d previously been intimate with, and whom she wanted back, or someone who had killed over and over again? When you’ve heard all the evidence, the answer will be clear. Mr. Melton is innocent. Thank you.”

As she returned to the defense table, Dani kept her eye on Win. She’d spent hours drilling into him the importance of looking calm but not smug. She allowed herself a small smile when she saw him sitting upright, intent on the jury, without a trace of a smirk on his face.

“Your first witness,” Judge Hinchey said to Whiting.

The rest of the morning continued with routine prosecution witnesses—the first police on the scene, the lead detective investigating the murder, the medical examiner, and the forensic expert. Their testimony went in largely unopposed by Dani until the last witness, Gordon Bunting, the Palm Beach County forensic expert. Under direct examination, he’d testified that the DNA on the only strand of hair found at the scene matched Winston Melton, and that no semen was found in the victim, indicating that the rapist had come prepared with a condom. He also testified that no DNA matching Earl Sanders was found at the site of the murder, nor were any footprints found belonging to Sanders.