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“And what did that mean for you and your officers?”
“Well, it complicated the situation and made it a lot more dangerous. Marino is always armed, and so are his bodyguards. We had our vests on as per protocol, but we weren’t prepared for a large-scale conflict. We didn’t have enough men or enough equipment, but we knew if we waited for backup, we’d lose our chance. The warrant only allowed us to search the shipping container, so once Marino removed the cargo from the dock we wouldn’t be able to make an arrest.”
“So, you went in underprepared and at the risk of your own life?” the prosecutor said. I kept a blank face, but I wanted to scoff.
Obviously, he was trying to obtain sympathy from the judge, making Jameson out to be a selfless hero, a sensible but also very predictable move. Judge Cardinal was relatively young, having just turned forty; in other words, he was in middle and high school when police corruption started being publicly aired, meaning he still had respect for the badge, but that respect came with suspicion, which the prosecution was trying to kill.
It wasn’t going to work.
“That is correct.”
“What did you find when you searched the container?”
“We found modern light fixtures, but when we removed the lampshades, we discovered heroin hidden inside. We found five ounces in the first box, but a more thorough search by forensics later found seven more ounces for a total of twelve, just in that one box.”
“And was the arrest carried out?”
“Thankfully, the defendant was cooperative,” Jameson said. “His bodyguards did raise their guns at us, and I thought it might turn into a shootout, but we were able to de-escalate the situation and secure an arrest without injuries to any of the parties. We confiscated Marino’s gun and took him down to the station, where he was booked.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. No further questions, Your Honor.”
The prosecutor sat, and the judge turned to me.
“Defense, your witness.”
I stood up.
Chapter Thirteen
LAUREN
“Lieutenant Jameson, is it standard protocol to utilize drug-sniffing canine units at known drugs busts?” I asked.
“There’s no law that requires it,” Jameson defended.
“But would you call it a matter of common sense?” Jameson glared at me.
“…Yes.”
“Your official police report made no mention of canine units. Can you explain your reasoning for forgoing them when you knew you were looking for illegal substances?”
“Canine units are designed to find drugs, and we already knew they were there,” Jameson said levelly. “We didn’t need the dogs to tell us what we already knew.”
“So you didn’t feel the need to confirm your intel,” I deduced. “That’s a lot of trust to place in an anonymous tip. Wouldn’t that kind of certainty generally be reserved for known, vetted, and experienced informants?”
Jameson grit his teeth.
“Normally, yes, but we felt it was worth the risk.”
“You risked your life without confirmation on the words of an unknown stranger?” I asked.
“As I said, we deemed the risk worth it. We’ve been trying to take Marino down for decades, we had to act decisively.” I nodded.
“Right, of course. Now, you asserted that you were unaware my client would be at the dock, correct?” I said.
“Correct, yes,” Jameson said. I nodded, humming.
“At this time, defense moves to admit video number L2748 into evidence,” I said. Jameson frowned.
