was one of the lead investigators in the original investigation, and he had threatened her and her daughter in the past. He had gone after Sam Jeffries’s daughter, and it was logical that he’d go after Danni or her daughter.”
“What did you intend to do with him if you caught him?”
“Turn him over to the authorities.”
“You didn’t intend to kill him?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Did you have a gun?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you have a gun?”
“Because I figured Felton would be armed and I didn’t think he would come with me peacefully.”
Tom then had Jack take the jury through the confrontation with Felton from the time he first saw him until he returned to the scene with Danni and was taken into custody by the police.
“Why did you shoot Thomas Felton, Mr. Tobin?”
“I thought he had a gun and I thought he was going to shoot me.”
“Can you describe what you thought you saw?”
“I thought I saw a small pistol but I can’t be sure.”
Tom then handed him State’s Exhibits #5 and #6. “I’ve handed you State’s Exhibits numbers five and six. Did you prepare those documents?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Let’s take them one at a time. Felton asked me to prepare the claims bill because he had heard about them while he was still in prison. This is something we normally do when a prisoner is released, only this one was done a little earlier because of Felton’s insistence.”
“And the twenty-million-dollar figure—where did that come from?”
“It was Felton’s number. I didn’t have a problem with it because it doesn’t really matter what you ask for. It only matters what the legislature decides to give you. He wasn’t going to get anywhere near that amount.”
“And the contingency fee agreement?”
“I prepared that as well at Felton’s insistence. He wanted to compensate me for saving his life. I didn’t want the money. I told him that he should give it to Exoneration. He said they didn’t get him set free, I did. So I prepared the agreement the way he asked with the intention of giving any money that I got to Exoneration.”
“Had you ever prepared a contingency fee agreement for any other prisoner in the past?”
“No.”
“Had you always done this work for free?”
“Yes.”
“I have no further questions.”
“Cross-examination, Mr. Merton?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Tom was satisfied. Jack was Jack. He had answered every question directly and truthfully. He didn’t avoid the hard ones, either. Now it was time to see how good Robert Merton really was.
Merton knew Jack was going to be a tremendous witness. The man was a great lawyer and communicator. He could not afford to play with him on cross. He had to make his points, make them quickly, and get out.
“Mr. Tobin, you would agree that there are many individuals, CEOs of major corporations for instance, who make more than twenty million dollars a year, wouldn’t you?”
“Sure.”
“And yet they still go to work. They still want to make more money, don’t they?”
“Objection, Your Honor. Relevancy.”
“Sustained. Move along, Mr. Merton.”
“Let’s talk about the contingency fee agreement for a minute. You testified that you planned to transfer any money you received to Exoneration, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell Exoneration about that?”
“No.”
“You could have just picked up the phone and called Ben Chapman, couldn’t you?”
“Sure.”
“But you didn’t?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“And you heard Mr. Chapman testify that a contingency fee agreement like this was a violation of Exoneration’s rules and regulations and the bylaws and that you knew it was a violation—is that accurate?”
“I don’t dispute that the agreement might have violated the rules and the bylaws. I just didn’t think about that at the time.”
“So you are telling this jury under oath that a lawyer of your talent and experience never thought of talking to the organization you worked for about an agreement that you had never prepared before?”
“That’s correct.”
“You also testified on direct examination that the agreement was Felton’s idea, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say—‘Jack, I want you to prepare a contingency fee agreement’?”
“No, he said ‘I want to give you a third of what I recover.’”
“Did he say, ‘I want to put that in writing’?”
“No, that was my idea. I didn’t want to leave him the opportunity to change his mind.”
“So the contingency fee agreement was your idea?”
“The actual agreement—yes. The idea of giving money to me was Felton’s.”
“The idea of making it a legal obligation was yours, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And do you agree that the killing of Kathleen Jeffries effectively ended any chance of getting a claims bill passed?”
“Yes.”
“And effectively ended the possibility of your getting any money from this contingency