knife, which means he was covered with his own blood as well. There were no signs of forced entry. And despite the fact that there was no motive, no insurance money, nothing to be inherited, no evidence of marital strife, the jury convicted. But it was not because they knew Steele was guilty. It was because there was simply no one else to blame.
“But let’s add to that the facts the jury never heard. First, Matt had a history of breaking into houses. He had been inside the Steele house countless times and knew his way around. Second, he had a history of threatening arguments with Mrs. Steele. In fact, right before the murder they had such an argument, an argument where he threatened to kill her. The jury did not hear about the two witnesses to Matt’s threat against Mrs. Steele. The jury never heard any of this because Mr. Steele’s counsel failed to do an adequate investigation.”
Carver picked up his notes from the counsel table. His flipping through them was the only sound in the room.
“But what is worse, the jury never heard that Matt left Ken Stevens’s house at 8:30, only ten minutes after having a heated argument with Mrs. Steele during which he’d threatened to kill her. He rode his skateboard over to the Steele residence. A trip that would take roughly fifteen minutes. He called his friend Dan Kelly between 8:45 and 8:50 to tell him that there was all kinds of activity over at the Steele house.”
Carver’s voice was rising. “He called his friends to say there were police cars, there were ambulances, there were people all over. He called his friends to tell them that they’d better get over there to check it all out.”
Carver paused again, tossing his notes back on the table. When he spoke, he spoke softly.
“Check out what?”
He took another drink from the glass.
“Check out what?” He repeated. And then added loudly, “At 8:45? At 8:50? There was nothing to see! The 911 call wasn’t even made until 8:52! The cops didn’t get there until after nine! Only minutes before Dan Kelly and Ken Stevens arrived at the scene. But the jury never heard any of that. None of it.”
Carver slapped the podium as he spoke.
“The only way Matt Bishop could have known that there would be police cars and ambulances at the Steele house is if he already knew that Sharon Steele had been attacked. Had the jury heard that, I submit that the outcome at trial would have differed. And I further submit that any reasonable attorney would have uncovered this evidence. In fact, when we took on the case we assigned it to a summer associate, Mr. Olson, who is sitting here at the counsel table.”
Carver motioned to me. I could feel a hundred pairs of eyes settle on my embarrassed face.
“Mr. Olson is not even an attorney,” Carver went on. “And he found all of this out twelve years after the fact. Now, with all due respect to Mr. Andersen, who I see is with us today, if someone who is not even a lawyer can find this evidence years later, surely a reasonably competent attorney not only could have, but should have found it in the days and weeks following the murder.”
I sat there convinced that Carver was right. If a law student could figure it out, surely a real lawyer should have. It was only then that I appreciated the genius of Carver’s strategy.
“I can’t offer the Court an explanation. All I can tell the Court is that the jury didn’t have the information it needed to reach the right decision. And the reason for that is because Mr. Steele had ineffective counsel.”
“Well now,” the Judge interrupted as he leaned forward and rested his arms on the bench. “Maybe we can get some of this sorted out. Mr. Andersen,” Judge Atkinson raised his voice, calling out to Garrett Andersen as though he were further away than everyone else. Andersen stood.
“Since we’ve got you here,” the Judge continued. “I hadn’t intended to turn this into an evidentiary hearing or anything, but I suppose I do have a couple of simple questions, if you’d be so kind.”
“Of course, your honor.” Andersen stepped forward, through the gate and onto the other side of the bar that separated the lawyers from the observers.
“Okay then,” Judge Atkinson continued. “Let the record reflect that Mr. Andersen is a highly respected member of the bar and has impressed this Court