A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,169

do you feel, personally, about the death penalty?”

Maylor looked at Jake and looked at Dyer and finally said, “I guess I’m for it, but believing in it is one thing. Being asked to send a guy to the gas chamber is something else. And he’s just a kid.”

Jake’s heart skipped a beat.

“Mr. Dyer?”

Lowell smiled and said, “Thank you, Mr. Maylor. The death penalty, whether you, or I, or we, like it or not, is the law in this state. Do you believe that you can follow the laws of Mississippi?”

“Sure, I suppose so.”

“You seem to be hedging a bit.”

“I’m a little off guard, Mr. Dyer. I’m not prepared to say one way or the other what I might do. But, yes, I will try my best to follow the law.”

“Thank you. And you don’t know anything about this case?”

“Only what I’ve heard this morning. I mean, I remember the newspaper stories when it happened. We get the Tupelo paper and I think it was on the front page, but it died down pretty fast. I haven’t kept up.”

Noose looked at Jake and said, “Mr. Brigance.”

“Mr. Maylor, when you saw the news back in March, did you say to yourself something like, ‘Well, he’s probably guilty’?”

“Sure. Don’t we all do that when someone gets arrested?”

“I’m afraid so. But you understand the presumption of innocence, don’t you?”

“Sure.”

“And so as of right now do you believe that Drew Gamble is innocent until proven guilty?”

“I guess so.”

Jake had more questions, but he knew Maylor would not serve on the jury because of his reticence about capital punishment. Dyer wanted a dozen death penalty supporters and the courtroom was full of them.

Noose said, “Thank you, Mr. Maylor. You are excused for one hour.”

Maylor stood quickly and disappeared. Waiting outside the door with a clerk was Mrs. Reba Dulaney, the organist at the Methodist Church. She was all smiles and seemed to appreciate the importance of the moment. Noose asked a few questions about the notoriety of the case and she claimed to know nothing. Then he asked if she could impose the death penalty.

She was taken aback by the question and blurted, “For that kid out there? I don’t think so.”

Jake was pleased to hear it but knew immediately that she, too, was as close to being on the jury as she would ever get. He asked a few questions but didn’t dig.

Noose thanked her and called for number three, Don Coben, a tough old farmer who claimed to know nothing about the case and believed firmly in the death penalty.

Number four was May Taggart, the first black, and she had misgivings about capital punishment but was convincing in her belief that she could follow the law.

The parade continued with steady efficiency as Noose limited his questions and those from the lawyers. His two concerns were readily obvious—knowledge of the case and reservations about the death penalty. As each juror was excused and asked to leave the jury room, another was pulled from the pool and placed in the jury box in the courtroom. After the first forty, Noose decided to take those on the fifth row. Jake suspected this was because there were several who had misgivings about the death penalty and would be challenged for cause.

In the courtroom, the spectators came and went and killed time. The only person who didn’t move was Drew Gamble, who sat at the defense table with two deputies nearby just in case he decided to make a dash for it.

At 4:45, Noose needed his next round of pills. He told the lawyers that he was determined to pick a jury before dinner and start the testimony first thing in the morning. “Let’s meet at 5:15 sharp in chambers and go through the list.”

Morris Finley commandeered a room in Land Records on the first floor, and the defense team met there. Carla, Harry Rex, and Lucien joined Portia, Jake, and Libby, and they hurriedly went through the names. Lucien didn’t like any of them. Harry Rex said, “Dyer will probably cut all the blacks, don’t you think?”

Jake said, “That’s our assumption. And since there are only eleven blacks in the first five rows, we’re looking at an all-white jury.”

“Can he do that?” Carla asked. “Just on the basis of race?”

“Yes, he certainly can, and he will. Both the victim and the accused are white, so Batson doesn’t apply.”

Because she was married to a criminal defense lawyer, Carla knew that the Batson decision prohibited the exclusion of