August 3rd:
"Damn, this almost looks like one of our shows," Ashley muttered, as he scanned the crowded room. "Nobody's gonna be able to move if this keeps up."
"No shit, dude," Wiley agreed, "I'm guessing that they're maybe half a dozen people from violating the fire codes as we speak."
It seemed as though the court officers agreed with his assessment, as they chose that moment to close the doors, resulting in shouts of protest from the people still in the hallway who had been hoping to lay claim to a spot in the packed courtroom. The few journalists who had been granted entrance stood at the back of the room with notepads and cameras in hand, counting themselves fortunate to have firsthand access to whatever drama the day held in store.
Their expectations weren't unjustified, as the previous two weeks had provided them with numerous headlines and "breaking news", due mostly to the antics of Harris and his attorney, Jeanette Hardesty, who had already come very close to receiving contempt citations from the judge on several occasions during the proceedings. And as she turned in her seat to see the media representatives whispering among themselves, or absent-mindedly reaching for the phones that they had been required to leave with the court secretary, Briar chuckled under her breath, and remarked to her companions, "What do you bet they're hoping for a repeat of Friday? They had a field day with that one, it even made it onto the 'Weekend Express' on HLN."
"Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing a repeat of that myself," Wiley responded. "Prune-faced old bat's been asking for it from the minute this thing started. Maybe now she'll take a minute to switch on her brain before she starts running her mouth."
"Don't hold your breath, buddy," a familiar gruff voice interjected. They glanced around to see that Irv Weintraub had managed to find a seat in the row behind them, and had obviously heard Wiley's comment. "I've seen more than my share of lawyers in my time, and as far as I've been able to figure, there's three basic kinds. You got the newbies that are still tryin' to get a handle on things, so you can cut them a little slack when they say somethin' stupid. Then you got the ones that actually have some respect for themselves and their job, and actually try to do it as well as they can."
He then flicked his hand in the direction of the defense table, and added, "Then you got the ones like Hardesty, that'll basically take on any client just to make themselves a buck, and to try to convince everybody else how much smarter they are than anyone else in the room. I'd be willing to bet money that the only thing she mighta learned was to keep her scrawny ass a little further back from the witness stand before she starts pokin' the beehive with a stick."
Briar made a rude noise, and said, "If she has even that much sense. You'd think she might have gotten a clue when the media practically crucified her for the way she treated Dolly on the stand. I heard that she has one of the uniforms walking her to and from her car every day, because she actually got some pretty nasty threats over it."
Almost as if their words had summoned her, Jeanette Hardesty stepped through a door at the right of the judge's bench, which they had learned led to a private room where attorneys and other professionals could confer with their clients. A buzz arose in the room when she came into view, as those who hadn't been present on the previous Friday got their first glimpse of her face, which displayed a swollen, vividly bruised eye, and visible stitches in her lower lip.
A sardonic grin crossed the retired detective's face, and he leaned forward, muttering to Ashley, "Hell, that's almost as good as what you did to Keith's mouth."
"Maybe better," Ashley retorted. "I cheated and used a tree branch, that little lady the other day was totally bare-knuckled."
"Doesn't it just figure, the interesting stuff always happens when I'm not here," Cody sighed. "They said on the news that somebody attacked her, but what exactly happened?"
"Do you remember the Latino family I introduced you to when Lieutenant Sanger put together that meeting at the community center? The Maldonado's?" Briar queried. "They lost three family members to that piece of trash; Diego Maldonado's mother and his uncle in that fire, and his cousin several months before that. Friday was the day that they were here to testify, and Witchy-Poo over there was being her usual charming self, acting like everyone was lying about everything except their own names, and she wasn't sure about that."
"The bitch actually had little Esperanza in tears when she was on the stand, badgering the poor kid to the point that the judge called her back into chambers and apparently ripped her a new asshole," Ashley chimed in.
"Yeah, so the family was already pretty pissed off about that by the time Belinda Hermosillo got up there," Briar continued. "She's Diego's cousin, it was her dad who was killed when the house was set on fire, and her sister's body has never been found. Anyway, like I said, they were already pretty steamed, and when Hardesty actually had the nerve to suggest that Belinda's father had killed his sister for some reason, and accidentally killed himself when he couldn't escape the fire, she blew a fuse!"
"That's kinda like saying that Bill Gates is 'getting by'," Weintraub guffawed. "She flew up outta that witness box like it had an ejection seat, and had Nurse Ratchet over there down on the floor before the uniforms could even think about moving, pounding away at her like it was an MMA match, and yelling the whole time. And I don't understand Spanish for squat, but I'm willing to bet that most of it was curse words. Even if you don't speak the language, you can usually tell by the tone."
Their conversation abruptly broke off when another door opened, and two Los Angeles County deputies led Keith Harris into the room. On the first day of the trial, he had petitioned to be allowed to wear his own clothes, instead of standard prison garb, and the judge had agreed to that. He had also asked that he be permitted into the courtroom without his customary restraints, but Judge Pearce had flatly refused to entertain that idea. So each day, he entered the courtroom in one of his trademark tailored suits and a set of transport shackles, which were only removed after the deputies had fastened him into a pair of ankle cuffs that had been installed under the defense table, and one hand was always secured to a wrist shackle attached to a short length of chain bolted to the tabletop.
No one had been terribly surprised when Jeanette Hardesty had protested the decision, arguing that seeing her client in restraints during the proceedings might cause the jury to develop "undue prejudice" against him. She loudly proclaimed that he had the same right to remain unrestrained during the proceedings as any other defendant, and not be forced to "appear to be dangerous".
Judge Marvin Pearce had listened to her argument, and had then given a blunt response: "Ms. Hardesty, I have been on the bench for nearly twenty-six years, and I have to say that this is easily the most ridiculous reasoning I've heard in that time. Your client was willing to push one person over a cliff and attempt to shoot another, in full view of no less than fifteen armed law-enforcement officers, and you seriously think I'm going to risk having him unrestrained in my courtroom? That is not going to happen. He can either be shackled, or he can watch the proceedings through closed circuit TV from the jail, those are your options, and the matter is not up for negotiation. I obviously can't speak for your feelings on the matter, but I much prefer for you client to 'appear to be dangerous', than for another innocent person to appear to be dead."
Once the deputies had stepped away from him, Harris turned in his chair, obviously planning to engage in another staring contest with Ashley and Briar, which had become a daily ritual between them. But instead of the standard sneer they had become accustomed to, everyone was surprised when his eyes widened in alarm and he abruptly turned away to face the bench, completely ignoring Jeanette Hardesty when she spoke to him. Ashley turned his head to look, an instantly understood the reaction. "Martin and Lee are here today," he whispered to his companions. "And Tyler actually came with them. I guess it must be his day to testify."
This assumption was supported when Cody spotted the Donnelly brothers and their parents in the crowd, both boys looking nervous, but determined. The reporters were busily scribbling on the notepads that they were forced to utilize, as recording devices were prohibited in the courtroom, along with cellphones and videocameras. And only representatives of two national publications carried digital cameras with them, as their editors had possessed the foresight to obtain permits exempting them from the ban before Judge Pearce had issued his edict forbidding them.
The bailiff stepped forward and issued her customary demand for everyone to stand as Judge Pearce entered the room and took his position on the bench. She then hurried over to whisper something that put a frown on his face, and had him summon Danny Belmont and his colleague to the bench. After a brief, whispered conversation, they moved to take positions on either side of the main entrance, and Pearce finally addressed the crowd. "You may be seated," he said, scanning the gathering as if searching for something before he continued.
"Before I start this session, I feel that I need to address the media personnel present in the courtroom today, particularly those who have been allowed to bring cameras into the proceedings. It has been brought to my attention that we will be having testimony by juveniles again today, and I want to remind you that the same rules are in place that I established last week. There are to be no photos taken of these children, and the officers will examine the images on your cameras whenever you attempt to leave the room, for any reason."
He fixed his gaze firmly on the journalists with the cameras, and his tone was measured and cold as he declared, "Anyone who is found to be in violation of this order may be subject to a contempt charge, and will definitely be banned from the courthouse for the duration of the trial. And I don't mean just this room, I mean the building entire. Do I make myself clear?"
They quickly affirmed their agreement with the ruling, and he settled into his chair, informing the prosecutor, Gordon Kopinski, that he could call his first witness. Kopinski rose to his feet, called Michael Donnelly to the stand, and began questioning the boy, starting with his account of the night Marlena Whitman had been killed. After thoroughly covering everything he had seen and heard that night, the veteran attorney began quizzing him about the boys discovery of Dolly Lowell in Harris' basement, gently yet skillfully leading him through the events of the day, until he was sure that he had elicited all of the information that the boy could provide.
Once he had finished, Jeannette Hardesty stood and walked, slowly and deliberately, toward the witness stand, her manner reminiscent of a cat stalking a mouse. She began by asking him to explain once more how he had discovered Deirdre Whitman on her parent's front lawn, and as he did so, her strategy became clear. She seldom allowed him to give a complete answer without interrupting him with another question, firing them off in rapid succession in a blatant attempt to confuse and fluster the teen. Fortunately, she was only partly successful, getting him a bit mixed up on which question to answer at which time, but not upsetting him as she obviously hoped to. At one point in the questioning, she offered the boy a snide smile, and said, "Mr. Donnelly, it seems to me that our time here might be more productive if you could manage to pay attention to what I'm saying, and simply answer my questions as I ask them, instead of letting your mind wander to whatever it is that teenagers find interesting these days."
This resulted in Judge Pearce having to bang his gavel several times, and shout for order as the entire room erupted in spontaneous applause when Mike Donnelly simply flipped his hair out of his eyes, fixed the woman with an irritated stare, and retorted, "Well, it kinda occurs to me that I might have a little more luck with that if you were more interested in hearing my answers than the sound of your own voice. Too bad you don't come with a mute button."
She gaped at him for several seconds, her mouth working like a landed fish before she managed to sputter, "And it's too bad that no one seems to have taught you basic manners, young man. I would think at your age that you would understand the concept of respecting your elders."
"My dad says that you don't give people respect, they have to earn it," the boy calmly replied. "And so far, you pretty much suck at that. So just because I understand it, doesn't mean you can make me do it."
Pearce rapped his gavel once again, to get their attention, before announcing, "While I don't care for your phraseology, Mr. Donnelly, I do agree with your basic point. Therefore, counsel is to refrain from interrupting the witnesses while they are attempting to answer your questions. I'm out of patience with your conduct in this courtroom, and if you give me cause to admonish you one more time, you may as well contact anyone who might be interested and let them know that you'll be spending the night in jail. Do you finally understand me, Ms. Hardesty?"
She scowled as she agreed to the conditions, but still did her best to twist the boy's words, trying to find inconsistencies that didn't exist, before finally giving up and dismissing him from the stand. She then tried a similar tactic on his brother, Seth, with an equal lack of success, which dragged his testimony out for so long that the judge declared a recess for lunch before he had finished.
They all left the building and walked to a Mexican restaurant less than a block from the courthouse, accompanied by the Donnelly's, Kimble's, and Irv Weintraub, who even Briar had developed a surprising tolerance for in the previous months. They crowded around a large table and placed their orders, talking among themselves as they waited for the food to arrive.
"You did pretty good back there, dude," Cody said, giving Mike a clap on the shoulder. "Nice way to stick up for yourself."
"Hey, it's not like she can actually do anything to me," the other boy replied. "What's she gonna do, take away my birthday?"
"What I don't understand is why she does that stuff?" Tyler remarked. "She acts like she thinks we're all making stuff up. I mean, the cops were actually there, they saw the same stuff we did, she should know better!"
"Well, to be fair, kid, part of it is actually her job," Weintraub explained. "A lawyer is hired to try to make things go in their client's favor, whether it should or not. That's what they get paid the big bucks for. But I've been in court on a couple of other cases she's worked on, and most of it is just her. That's who she is. Didja know that she ran for DA about five years ago, and wound up having to pull out when somebody posted recordings of her making nasty cracks about how the city should deal with homeless people?"
"But he killed people!" the boy exclaimed, unable to contain his frustration. "And he can't just say that it was because they were 'bad people', or whatever, since he killed those people at the movie studio, and even other cops, and he tried to kill you guys. So even if she's stupid enough to agree with him that it was okay to do those things to the drug dealers and the street people, there's no way she could explain away blowing up a whole freakin' restaurant, is there? Doesn't she get it?"
"I don't know if we'll ever get the answer to that, Ty," Briar informed him. "There's no way to know what's going on in her head, so it's kind of hard to tell if she actually believes him, or if she's just that determined to win. But if she doesn't 'get it', as you said, I'm not sure that there's any way to get the point across to her."
Once they had finished their meal, they hurried back to the courthouse, not wanting to risk making Seth late, since he still had to finish his testimony. He returned to the witness stand, and managed to retain his composure, even though Hardesty appeared to have completely forgotten Pearce's warning in the intervening hour, and began badgering him, trying to confuse him into changing his story, and even insinuating that the boys had embellished the entire incident when they called 911 from Harris' basement.
This finally exceeded the limits of Pearce's tolerance, and in open court, he ordered the bailiff to take her into custody as soon as court was adjourned, and transport her to the jail for the night. This occasioned another round of applause from the spectators, and it took him several minutes to regain control of the room, but they finally quieted, and Seth was sent back to his seat.
Gordon Kopinski then called Tyler to the stand, and Harris watched intently as the boy gave his testimony, having to pause at two different times to regain his composure, despite the fact that the prosecutor was being quite gentle in his questioning of the teen.
When he had finished, Jeanette Hardesty stood, preparing to leave the defense table, but before she could, Harris clutched her wrist, and even though he kept his voice low, Briar and Ashley heard him say, "Rein it in this time, Jeanette. Do not go after my nephew the way you did his friends."
"Keith, he's not here to do you any favors," she hissed at him. "He's trying to get you locked up for the rest of your life, if not killed. Don't try to tell me how to do my job, I'll do what I think is necessary."
The blank stare he turned toward the attorney caused the hair to go up on the back of Ashley's neck, and Briar clutched at his hand, whispering, "Oh, fuck! That's so not good."
"And so will I, if you insist on ignoring me," Harris warned. "I don't think anyone would appreciate having to start this thing all over again because I had to find a new lawyer."
"Don't be ridiculous, you know good and well that Pearce isn't going to let you fire me this late in the trial!"
"No, probably not," he agreed. Then the courtroom erupted into utter chaos as his free hand shot up with remarkable speed and clamped around her throat. "But I hardly think that you'll be able to represent me if I snap your fool neck, now will you?"
And as the court officers swarmed the defense table, tasers drawn, Ashley turned to glance at Briar, and said, simply, "Well, if I had to make a guess, I'd say that she gets it now."