short and had to raise his chin as if standing in tall water for his mouth to reach the slot in the glass.
“Mr. Brisbane?” he asked, looking expectantly at the men who had just been ushered in.
Gladden walked over and looked down through the opening.
“Krasner?”
“Yes, how are you?”
He reached his hand up through the slot. Gladden shook it reluctantly. He didn’t like being touched by anyone, unless it was a child. He didn’t answer Krasner’s question. It was the wrong thing to ask someone who had spent the night in county jail.
“You talk to the prosecutor yet?” he asked instead.
“Yes, I did. We had quite a conversation. Your bad luck is continuing in that the deputy DA assigned the case is a woman who I have had some dealings with before. She is a ballbuster and the arresting officers have informed her of the, uh, situation as they saw it at the pier.”
“So she’s going to go balls to the wall against me.”
“Right. However, this judge is okay. We’re all right there. He’s the only one in the building, I think, who wasn’t a prosecutor before being elected.”
“Well, hurray for me. Did you get the money?”
“Yes, that happened just as you said. So we’re set. One question, do you want to enter a plea today or continue it?”
“What does it matter?”
“Not a great deal. In arguing for bail it might just move the judge an inch or so our way if, you know, psychologically he knows you’ve already denied the charges and are readying for a fight.”
“Okay, not guilty. Just get me out of here.”
Santa Monica municipal judge Harold Nyberg called the name Harold Brisbane and Gladden went back to the slot. Krasner came back around the tables and stood by the slot so he could confer, if needed, with his client. Krasner announced himself as did deputy district attorney Tamara Feinstock. After Krasner waived a lengthy reading of the charges, he told the judge that his client pleaded not guilty. Judge Nyberg hesitated a moment. It was apparent that entering a plea so early in a case was unusual.
“Are you sure that Mr. Brisbane wishes to enter a plea today?”
“Yes, Your Honor. He wants to move quickly because he is absolutely one hundred percent not guilty of these allegations.”
“I see . . .” The judge hesitated while he read something in front of him. So far, he had not even looked over in Gladden’s direction. “Well, then I take it you do not wish to waive your ten days.”
“A moment, Your Honor,” Krasner said, then he turned to Gladden and whispered. “You have a right to a preliminary hearing on the charges within ten court days. You can waive and he’ll schedule a hearing to then set the prelim. If you don’t waive, he’ll set the prelim now. Ten days from now. If you don’t waive, it’s another sign that you’re going to fight, that you aren’t looking for a handout from the DA. It might help on the bail.”
“Don’t waive.”
Krasner turned back to the judge.
“Thank you, Your Honor. We don’t waive. My client does not believe these charges will survive a preliminary hearing and, therefore, urges the court to schedule it as soon as possible so he can put this—”
“Mr. Krasner, Ms. Feinstock may not object to your added comments, but I do. This is an arraignment court. You’re not arguing your case here.”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
The judge turned and studied a calendar hanging on the far wall, above one of the clerk’s desks. He chose the date ten court days away and ordered a preliminary hearing in Division 110. Krasner opened an appointment book and wrote it down. Gladden saw the prosecutor doing the same. She was young but unattractive. So far, she had said nothing during the three-minute hearing.
“Okay,” the judge said. “Anything on bail?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Feinstock said, standing for the first time. “The people urge the court to depart from the bail schedule and set an amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
Judge Nyberg looked up from his papers at Feinstock and then over at Gladden for the first time. It was as if he was trying to determine upon physical inspection of the defendant why he was worth such a high bail for what seemed like so lowly a set of charges.
“Why is that, Ms. Feinstock?” he asked. “I don’t have anything before me that suggests a deviation.”
“We believe the defendant is a flight risk, Your Honor. He refused to provide the arresting