it between the thirty-first of January and March fourteenth, leaving time for our client to appeal to the Supreme Court. We’re under the gun, gentlemen.”
“I don’t—”
Before Jack could finish his sentence, Chapman cut him off. “Before you say no, Jack, I want you to hear me out. This is the case we’ve been looking for. Nothing is more high profile than a serial killer. This is a circumstantial evidence case and, frankly, the evidence isn’t that strong. It’s pretty much all hearsay, or hearsay exceptions. Since the girl who originally identified the weapon is dead, the police officer she identified the weapon to testified in her place. So the weapon from a previous attempted murder was found at the scene, outside of the apartment in the woods, and that was the sole basis for the conviction. This guy was convicted because they were desperate to catch somebody.”
“You’re forgetting a couple of things, Ben.”
“What’s that?”
“Felton’s fingerprints were on the murder weapon and the murders stopped after Felton was arrested and convicted.”
“All I want to do is stop the execution. If Felton stays in prison for the rest of his life, I’m okay with that.”
“What if he gets off?”
“We don’t necessarily want that.”
“You don’t always get what you want, Ben. We could find a technicality that nobody came up with before. If I took Felton’s case, I would be ethically bound to give him the best representation I could muster. I can’t pick and choose how I’m going to represent him. So I have to make a determination at the outset if I want to give my best efforts to represent an alleged serial killer knowing that I might possibly get him off.”
Ben Chapman could see he was losing Jack. It was something he had anticipated. He had to approach the issue from another direction. This was where Henry came into the equation.
“Let’s just take this out of the realm of Mr. Felton for a second and look at the bigger picture. What is our work here? What is our goal? We want to eliminate the death penalty. We know the criminal justice system is flawed. Henry is a concrete example of that. He wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t exposed the flaws in the system, Jack.
“You’re the best lawyer we have. There’s no doubt about that. You’re a lawyer’s lawyer. But frankly, Jack, you cherry-pick your cases. You look to represent only those people you believe are innocent. So, in your cases, you’re not necessarily putting the death penalty on trial. The Felton case is high profile. It’s a circumstantial evidence case. We have the best opportunity we have ever had to expose the death penalty and the flaws in the criminal justice system to the world.”
“To what end though, Ben? I mean, is it better to expose the flaws in our system of justice and let a very dangerous man walk?”
“I’m not talking about letting this guy walk, Jack. I’m after the issue of capital punishment. I don’t need an answer now. Think it over. We can meet tomorrow or possibly the next day, but I need an answer soon.”
When they were outside the offices and headed for the parking lot, Henry finally piped up. “Boy, it’s much colder up here in North Florida,” he said, rubbing his hands up and down his upper arms.
“Yeah,” Jack mumbled. He was still mulling over Chapman’s words in his head. It was chilly, but the sun was shining and the wind wasn’t too bad.
“Now I know why he wanted me here,” Henry said when they were in the car and driving back to the hotel.
“Why is that?”
“He figures I’ll convince you to take the case. I’m his ace in the hole. He brings the two of us up here, goes through that dog and pony show, and leaves me to work on you for the next day or so.”
“And why is he so sure of you? You said he doesn’t even know you.”
“He doesn’t. But he does know that I spent seventeen years on death row. He assumes that I am a staunch opponent of the death penalty because of my own experience.”
“And?” Jack asked.
“You know I am. But I’m not necessarily opposed to some wacko serial killer being fried. I mean, nobody should ever mistake me for being a bleeding heart.”
“I certainly wouldn’t, Henry. Not after Oakville.” Jack was referring to the killing of the man who had been about to shoot him while he was jogging. It was something they had