“I disagree, Your Honor. What’s happening here is pretty clear.”
“Maybe to you, Counselor,” the judge replied, “but not to me. Your motion is denied. I will, however, agree to sequester the jury because once this trial starts there is going to be all sorts of stuff on the airwaves and in print. Now we need to discuss logistics.”
It was the ruling both Tom and Jack had expected, but one never gets used to injustice. Tom needed a minute to collect himself, so he sat down and let Merton take the lead.
“Your Honor, I have my list of witnesses and evidence, which I am giving to the defendant’s counsel this morning in open court. I believe these documents satisfy the state’s obligation under Rule 3.220 of the Criminal Rules of Procedure. Having said that, Your Honor, we are ready to proceed to trial at your earliest convenience. This is a case that needs to be disposed of as soon as possible, respecting the rights of all parties, of course.”
“Have there been any plea bargain discussions?” the judge asked.
“No, sir,” Merton replied, “nor will there be.”
That got the judge’s attention. He looked at Merton as if to say, Are you sure you want to do this? You can offer this guy a year, maybe two, save a lot of face and guarantee your reelection.
Jack leaned over and whispered in Tom’s ear, “Cocky bastard, isn’t he?”
“He sure is but we wouldn’t have it any other way, would we?”
“Nope. Makes our decision a lot easier.”
“Changed your mind on Sam yet?” Tom asked.
“Not yet.”
“Mr. Wylie, how do you feel about a trial date?” the judge asked.
“Your Honor, I obviously have not looked at the State’s disclosures yet. My client is not opposed to setting an early trial date, say three weeks from today, with the caveat that if we decide we need to do further discovery after reading the State’s disclosures, we can get a new trial date.”
“What do you think, Mr. Merton?”
“That’s fine with me, Your Honor, so long as we set a deadline as to when Mr. Wylie will make his decision.”
“That sounds fair. How much time do you think you need to make your decision, Mr. Wylie?”
“Ten days, Your Honor.”
“How about June sixth?”
“That’s fine, Your Honor,” Tom said.
“That’s agreeable to the State, Your Honor,” Merton said.
The reporters in the front rows were feverishly writing down the dates in their notebooks.
“Okay, if no request is made for a continuance on or before June sixth, we will have a pre-trial on June ninth and the trial will be set for Monday, June sixteenth. Mr. Tobin, if no continuance is granted, you will turn yourself over to the custody of the Oakville Police Department on the morning of June sixteenth at seven a.m. Is that understood?”
Jack stood to address the judge. “Yes, Your Honor.”
“Okay, gentlemen, if there is nothing further, this hearing is adjourned.” The judge stood up and walked out of the courtroom as the press moved in unison toward the lawyers and Jack.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Tom said.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
For the next ten days Tom and Jack pored over the State’s disclosures and its case, taking everything apart piece by piece, making sure they weren’t missing anything before finally agreeing to the early trial date.
They met every morning in Jack’s condo. Tom would bring the bagels and Jack would make the coffee. Henry was there for breakfast and he’d usually hang around for a while to see if they needed him to do anything. If not, he’d leave them alone.
“Let’s go over the obvious first,” Jack said after the seventh day when they had been through just about everything. “They’re going to use the two cops to establish that I said I was going to kill Felton. We can deal with them. Then they put Jeffries on and he goes through how he found the body, that there was no gun, and that Danni and I both told him that I shot Felton. Jeffries then talks about motive—he brings in the claims bill and the contingency fee agreement and makes the argument that I killed Felton because he screwed up my payday. Merton has got to ask him then why I didn’t plant the gun if I planned this all along, and that’s when he comes up with his theory that I was going to plant the gun but he, Jeffries, thwarted that plan by arriving on the scene so quickly. We don’t know