A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,88

to Clanton because his bed was needed by another juvenile. She telephoned Judge Noose, Jake, and Sheriff Walls. Ozzie was delighted to get the kid back in his jail, and tipped off Dumas Lee at The Ford County Times. When the defendant arrived in the backseat of a patrol car driven by the sheriff himself, Dumas was waiting and clicked away. The following day, a large photo appeared on the front page under the bold headline: “KOFER SUSPECT BACK IN CLANTON JAIL.”

Dumas reported that, according to Lowell Dyer, the district attorney, the defendant had been served with his indictment and they were awaiting a first appearance in court. No trial date had been set. Jake was quoted as offering a “No comment.” Same for Judge Noose. An unnamed source (Jake) told Dumas that it was not at all unusual in serious cases to have the defendant examined at Whitfield. Another anonymous voice predicted a trial by midsummer.

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AT 8:00 A.M. on Saturday, Jake met a group of people at the rear door of the courthouse, which was closed for business. Using a borrowed key, he unlocked it and herded them up a service stairway to the main courtroom where the lights were on and his team was waiting. He seated them, thirteen in all, in the jury box, and then introduced Harry Rex, Lucien Wilbanks, Portia Lang, and Murray Silerberg and one of his assistants. The courtroom was locked and, of course, there were no spectators.

He called thirteen names, thanked them for their time, and passed out thirteen checks of $300 each (another $3,900 from their litigation loan). He explained that mock juries were often used in big civil cases and he hoped the experience would be pleasant. The mock trial would consume most of the day and there would be a nice lunch in just a few hours.

Of the thirteen, seven were women, four were black, and five were under the age of fifty. They were friends and former clients of Jake’s and Harry Rex’s. One of the black ladies was Portia’s aunt.

Lucien assumed his place up on the bench, and for a moment seemed to enjoy being a judge. Harry Rex moved to the defense table. Jake began the trial with a scaled-down version of his opening statement. Everything would be scaled down for the sake of time. They had one day to complete the mock trial. The real one was expected to last for at least three.

On a large screen he showed color photos of Taylor and Sarah Smallwood and their three children, and talked about how close the family was. He showed photos of the crash scene, the demolished car, and the train. A state trooper had returned to the site the following day and taken a series of photos of the warning lights. Jake showed them to the jurors, and several shook their heads in disbelief at the badly maintained system.

Wrapping it up, Jake planted the seed for a big verdict by discussing money. He explained that, unfortunately, in death cases the only measure of damages was money. In other cases, the defendants could be forced to take remedial action. But not here. There was no other way to compensate the Smallwood heirs than with a money verdict.

Harry Rex, for the first and last time in his career in the role of an insurance defense lawyer, went next with his opening statement, and began dramatically with a large color photo of the fourteenth boxcar, the one struck by the Smallwoods. It was fifteen feet high and forty feet long, and it was equipped, like all railroad cars, with a set of reflective strips that when hit with headlights emitted a bright yellow glow that could be seen for three hundred yards. No one would ever know what Taylor Smallwood saw or didn’t see in that final crucial second, but what he should have seen was quite obvious.

As a defense lawyer, Harry Rex was good, sufficiently dubious of the plaintiff’s case, and most of the jurors followed him closely.

The first witness was Hank Grayson, played by Murray Silerberg’s assistant, Nate Feathers. Eight months earlier, Mr. Grayson had been deposed in Jake’s office, and he swore, under oath, that he was about a hundred yards behind the Smallwoods when the crash occurred. For a split second he wasn’t sure what happened and by the time he hit his brakes he almost hit their car, which had gone airborne and spun 180 degrees. The train was