girl was driving him crazy. “Fine, here’s what I’ll tell you. Every judge has a life outside of the courtroom. Each grew up a certain way, had a whole existence before becoming a judge, and there are times when I think that can make a difference in how they rule, even though it’s not supposed to. I don’t really care for Judge Lions myself. I have tried about nine cases in front of him and seven were lost because he either suppressed evidence or ruled some testimony to be stricken for one reason or another. He never did anything illegal in my eyes, but I’ve felt sour about those cases. That comes with the territory. Do I think there are crooked judges out there? Yes. Do I know if Judge Lions is one? No. Writing a paper about judicial ethics is a slippery slope, Piper. You can’t go calling people out and trying to break the next big story. If I were ever to accuse a judge because I thought he was ruling on something based on personal bias and I was wrong, my career would be over. That means all the people I plan to help for the rest of my career are out of luck. In this business you help who you can, and you play by the rules. I know it doesn’t sound like we’re all following our moral compass here, and maybe it’s disheartening for someone starting out, but it’s the truth. I can win a lot of small battles but the odds are I can’t win the war. If you want to continue down this path then you’re going to have to come to terms with that.”
Michael never liked to be the one to break it to people that sometimes there was a whole lot of grey in this profession, not nearly as much black and white as they led you to believe in school.
Piper was unimpressed and annoyed. “That’s kind of bullshit. You’re telling me that if you thought the judge was, let’s say taking money from someone and then making decisions in their favor, you wouldn’t do anything?” Her voice was a few octaves higher then she meant it to be, but it was becoming clear Michael wasn’t going to give up much helpful information without perhaps being argued into doing so.
“That isn’t what I said. If that were the case I would bring any information I had to my superiors and push to have him removed if there was enough evidence.” Defensive tones didn’t sound as good as playful banter.
“Oh sure, and when your boss is on the take too, you find yourself careening off the side of a mountain because someone cut your brake line in an effort to keep you quiet,” she said with true conviction on her face.
“You’ve been watching way too many movies. Are there some rumors and grumbling from prosecutors who feel Judge Lions might be more lenient to the defendants in some cases? Sure. But mostly that’s because, as you never fail to point out, prosecutors have giant egos, and when we are bruised we go looking for a reason for why we lost.” Michael hoped this explanation would be enough to redirect Piper’s focus away from a conspiracy within the judicial system.
“Which group do you think he is more lenient toward? Is there a specific subset of people that he tends to favor?” Piper was not stupid. She saw her window of opportunity closing quickly, and dancing around her questions wouldn’t serve her very well with Michael.
“That’s all you took away from that?” Michael asked, clearly exasperated. “Listen Piper, I don’t know what this is all about, but you are heading down a path with far greater repercussions than you can imagine. I know what it’s like to be starting out and to feel like there has to be more you can do to take the bad guys off the street, but trust me, being a good prosecutor is the best thing I can do. Whether this is a paper or an investigation, leave it alone.” Michael paused and ran his fingers through his hair trying not to get too wound up. “Even as I say it, I know you aren’t listening, so rather than have you go poking around and asking someone else, I’ll tell you that all cases are public records. You can see the players, the verdicts, and the evidence all down at town hall in the records department. Go do the