Honor?”
“If she crosses herself during your opening statement, I’m sending her out.”
86
WE BEGAN UNPICKING our jury.
The process is called voir dire, which is French for “speak the truth,” which doesn’t always happen in courts of law. That’s why lawyers get to question the venire, the panel of prospective jurors, and root around for fissures of trouble.
Much of the ground had been covered in a three-page juror questionnaire approved by the judge. Now Radavich and I had the chance to talk to them directly.
There were a couple of jurors I knew I had to get rid of—a retired television technician who looked and sounded like he’d convict Mother Teresa for stealing sheets, and a woman from Whittier who seemed entirely too anxious to be seated, and kept looking at Eric the way a coyote eyes an unattended chihuahua.
That’s not a good look to be getting so early in the game.
Radavich, of course, started tossing off jurors, too. And the first juror he excused was one I really wanted.
Part of trial work is trusting your instincts, and a thought jumped out at me.
I leaned over and whispered to Sister Mary, and she quickly got up and left the room.
Radavich and Judge Hughes looked at me like I was some sort of sneak.
Which, of course, I am.
And on we went.
By noon, Radavich had eliminated eight jurors, and I’d knocked out ten, two for cause.
You’re never fully happy with a jury. There are always one or two wild cards.
But it turns out I had a card of my own yet to play.
87
WE BROKE FOR lunch and I huddled with Sister Mary over pan-fried noodles in Little Tokyo. Sister Mary gave me a report on what I’d tasked her to do. It made me extremely happy.
Which is why I was smiling when we got back to court at two.
This time I was the one who asked for a meeting in the judge’s chambers.
“I’m going to ask for a Wheeler hearing,” I said. Wheeler is the Supreme Court case that says you can’t systematically exclude certain groups from a jury.
Radavich practically jumped out of his suit. Which is a picture I do not want in my mind. “What a load of—”
“Now, now,” I said.
“What group has he been excusing?” Judge Hughes said.
“Catholics,” I said.
“That’s a damn lie,” Radavich said.
“I think it was three Catholics and four of the Protestant side of the fence,” I said.
“I don’t recall us asking for religious affiliation,” the judge said.
“You didn’t. I did.”
Judge Hughes and Radavich just looked at me. It was Radavich’s mouth that twitched.
“Explain yourself,” Judge Hughes said.
“Very simply, my investigator stood in the hallway and, as each excused juror came out, she greeted them and thanked them for their service, and engaged in a bit of conversation, during which time the juror, of their own free will, revealed his or her religious affiliation. Sister Mary is quite ready to take the stand and testify to that.”
The judge’s chambers became as silent as a country graveyard. Radavich, I was sure, was going to have a minor stroke. Instead, he said, “And just how was I supposed to know what church they went to?”
“Are you working with a jury consultant?” I said.
“That’s privileged information.”
“There is no such privilege,” I said. “I am prepared to prove that Mr. Radavich has systematically excluded religious people, because he is prejudiced against my investigator.”
“You’re trying to say that because you have a nun working for you, Mr. Radavich is trying to exclude Catholics?”
“It’s worth looking into, isn’t it?”
Judge Hughes said, “Tom, can you provide a justification for every one of your challenges?”
“Of course I can.”
The judge sighed. “Then you better do it. I’ll give you until tomorrow. And now I get to tell the jury that they won’t be hearing any evidence today. You know how happy that’s going to make them? You know how happy that makes me? Make it good, Tom, or I’m going to be even more upset.”
The look Radavich gave me, the one framed with red cheeks, made my day. I’d sent him reeling right off the bat. It’s always fun when you can do that.
88
BUT YOU PUNCH a good fighter, it sometimes wakes him up.
The next morning, Tuesday, we started with the Wheeler motion, and Tom Radavich was the “Three C” prosecutor—cool, clear, convincing. The judge accepted his reasons for kicking off the jurors he did, and the trial began.
Radavich delivered a perfect opening statement, too.
I had to follow with my own Three C’s, what I try to establish