least look at the file. Once I did and saw the injustice that had occurred, I couldn’t let it go.”
“For what it’s worth, Danni, I agreed with him,” Henry added, seeing that Jack might need a lifeline.
“It’s not worth anything, Henry, and that’s not a personal statement aimed at you. It’s not worth anything because the man is guilty and he needs to stay guilty until he’s dead.”
“I won’t say this in court because I don’t have to and because I don’t have the evidence to prove it, but from where I’m sitting, that man, Thomas Felton, was set up,” Jack said.
“Jack, do you know what this community went through ten years ago? Do you have any idea what Sam Jeffries went through personally? What Hannah and I went through? You can’t unleash this vicious killer on this community again. You just can’t do it.”
“Danni, it’s not about me. I’m just a lawyer. The law gives Mr. Felton the right to counsel when he’s about to be put to death. If it weren’t me, it would be somebody else. And I hate to say this because I do understand what this community has been through, certainly not as much as those who lived here, but I didn’t plant a knife in the bushes and claim it was the murder weapon.”
“You’re not just some lawyer, Jack, and you know it. And don’t try and hide behind the law. You have a choice. I’m asking you—don’t take this case.”
“It’s too late, Danni. It really doesn’t matter who is representing Felton at this point. The cat is out of the bag. This judge or an appellate court is going to have to deal with the facts whether I’m presenting them or somebody else is.
“Part of me wants to do what you ask simply because you are the person making the request, but I can’t.”
“You mean you won’t.”
“If I had known how personal this situation was to you and Hannah, I probably would not have even looked into the matter. However, I took on this responsibility. I can’t shrink from it at this late stage.”
Danni stood there ramrod straight in silence, her arms locked across her chest for what seemed like an eternity. Jack wanted to bridge the gulf between them but he didn’t know how.
“Damn you, Jack,” she finally said as she headed for the door. “And Judge Holbrook is not going to give you a new trial. You can bank on that.”
Then she was gone.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Danni was right about Judge Holbrook. Even though Jack was successful in getting all his evidence in at the evidentiary hearing, including the coroner’s reports, the judge denied his motion for a new trial.
Mitch Jurgensen had someone from the coroner’s office, a doctor named Jessel, testify that many of the reports ten years ago had typographical errors in them because the equipment was out of date and the staff was overworked.
Jessel’s testimony gave the judge something to hang his hat on. He also threw in the fact that Jack’s evidence was not newly discovered evidence since the public defender who had represented Felton at trial could have figured out exactly what Jack had figured out simply by reading the autopsy report.
Jack did have the opportunity to meet Sam Jeffries again since he subpoenaed him to the hearing. The two men had not spoken since the Julian Reardon incident.
“I testified that the bowie knife I found was the murder weapon because I believed it was the murder weapon,” Sam told Jack under oath in Judge Holbrook’s courtroom.
“Weren’t you aware that the entry wounds on both victims were only one-quarter inch wide?”
“No. I was aware the victims were both killed because they had been stabbed. I found this bowie knife right outside the victims’ apartment complex. We later tied the prints found on that knife to your client. This bowie knife or one identical to it was used in a prior attack by the serial killer. That was the basis for my testimony.”
“Did you ever speak to the coroner?”
“No.”
“Did you attend the autopsy?”
“No.”
“Do you know anybody who did?”
“No.”
Jack had half expected Judge Holbrook to deny his motion even though the evidence was overwhelmingly in his client’s favor, so he had prepared in advance an appeal brief to file with the Florida Supreme Court. First, however, he needed his client’s approval.
Thomas Felton was remarkably composed when Jack gave him the news. He now had less than four weeks to live.
“The evidence was all right there for the judge. I got