Roman's Vow (Riley's Pride #4) - Sandra R Neeley Page 0,76
Roman answered, looking at the man who’d fought for Talie like she was his own family.
Patrick set his briefcase on the table where’d he’d be sitting, then he walked around the railing and took a seat beside Roman. “If they release her, and let me just say, I’m fairly confident they will, she will not be able to just have her cuffs removed and walk out of here with you. She’ll have to be taken back to jail where she’ll be out processed. Once all the red tape is finished, that’s where you’ll pick her up from.”
“How long will that take?” Roman asked.
“Normally it could take up to 72 hours,” Ms. Autry answered.
“But, I’m going to petition for a quick release and tell them they’ve already stolen months of her life and she’s traumatized from her incarceration. Hopefully I can sway the judge to insist they push her release and make it effective immediately. This is the first case of the morning. If we can get this done fairly quickly, there’s a chance she could be out tonight, or tomorrow worst case,” Patrick said.
“I don’t want her there another night,” Roman said.
“Me, neither. But even in this, we have to follow the system. They have been holding the wrong person, so therein lies our leverage. We’re going to do all we can to get her out today. Let’s just hope the judge is willing to see things our way and not make us sit for all the testimony that he could possibly demand.”
“I’m praying,” Roman said.
“I’m not usually a praying man, but so am I. What they’ve done here is a travesty. She could sue the entire damn police force and those that kept her incarcerated,” Patrick said.
“They followed protocol, I thought. That’s why we couldn’t get any leeway before,” Roman said.
“True, but the tests I had performed… they very clearly support Talie’s description of the events of that day. Her DNA is on the victim’s face and in his mouth. Her bloodied fingerprints were on his nose where she pinched it closed to try to perform CPR. The blood on her clothing according to multiple experts we’ve consulted is consistent with her attempting to save him. The fingerprints she left on the knife were in a position indicating she’d picked it up and held it like one would to cut a piece of meat with. The wounds on the victim were obviously inflicted in a downward motion with the blade extending from the bottom of the fist gripping it.
Further, we had the stolen goods reexamined and Talie gave us imprints of not only her fingers but her entire hands while wearing the gloves. The unidentified smudges that were found on the stolen items are consistent with the plastic from the gloves she said she used to wear when cleaning the house, but they were clearly worn by a much larger person. Talie’s hands would have left smaller imprints.
So, what I’m telling you is that further investigation could have been and should have been done. There’s no reason the detectives involved should have just considered it an open and shut case,” Patrick finished passionately.
Roman nodded vigorously. “So what you’re telling me is that even if these two witnesses hadn’t come forward, we’d still be getting Talie out.”
“I believe so. It would have been a long drawn out affair, but, we’d have prevailed. Fortunately though, they did come forward and I believe she’s going home in the next few hours rather than much further down the line.”
Roman smiled. He reached out and pulled Patrick into a hug, startling him into laughter. Roman patted him on the back roughly. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Thank you, Roman. It’s not often I get to represent the right side and feel good about it. This time I get to walk away knowing there are no gray areas. We are going to do good here today.”
“I have to thank you as well,” Ms. Autry said. “It would have taken me years to achieve what you did in a matter of months.”
“It’s nothing more than having my reputation established and the firm behind me. People jump when I wave my name around,” Patrick said.
A shuffling sound could be heard entering the courtroom and both men turned to see what it was.
Patrick had no idea, Roman and Ms. Autry knew instantly. Roman got to his feet and watched the old man coming toward him.
“I’m here,” he said gruffly.
“Yes, sir. I see that. Thank you, sir,” Roman said.