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Judge Kleindienst gave me a stern look. “Sustained, but this is a warning, Miss Ducate, to stop holding up proceedings.”
“Yes, Your Honor. Thank you, Your Honor.” I sat back down in my seat and gave a reassuring smile to Jacob Baker who was chewing his nails beside me.
“Get your hands out of your mouth and stop fidgeting,” I instructed him sharply. Jacob immediately obeyed, tucking his hands beneath his legs so he wouldn’t be tempted to mess with them again.
Nolan Rigby, the District Attorney, was cross-examining my witness, the arresting officer, Fred Dooley. Jeremy had been right; Sheila hadn’t done anything but sit there and write notes throughout the trial. She had barely even looked at me.
I had already torn the witness a new asshole by punching holes in his less than credible story by bringing up his history with my client. When I mentioned the time they had gone on a bender ending in a threesome with his now-wife and Jacob’s first drug arrest, he had looked as if he wanted to arrest me. But I was saving my pièce de résistance for when I redirected the witness when Nolan was finished. I could barely contain myself.
“I’d like to redirect, Your Honor,” I said after Nolan sat down. I picked up the small recording device on the edge of the table and held it up for the judge to see. “I’d like to enter this audio recording into evidence.”
I walked toward the police officer sweating bullets on the witness stand. He could see things were about to go very badly for him. “It’s amazing, Officer Dooley, how easy it is to forget we live in a digital society. Virtually everything we do is recorded and available for the whole world to see. Were you aware that you were being recorded on November 18th when you arrested Mr. Baker for possession?”
Officer Dooley’s face went pale. “That’s against the law. He can’t—”
“I assure you he can, and he did. It’s within his rights to record his interactions with you. And it’s a good thing he did because this is what happened.”
I pressed play. The audio quality wasn’t the best, but Officer Dooley’s aggressive, angry tone was clear. The courtroom was quiet as we all listened to Officer Dooley verbally berating Jacob Baker and telling him he was under arrest. When the recording was finished, I turned it off and leveled Officer Dooley with a firm look. “Officer Dooley, after listening to that, can you tell me the one important thing you forgot to do?”
Fred Dooley’s fleshy face turned an alarming shade of crimson. He wouldn’t meet my eyes, his thin lips twisted up in anger and embarrassment. He didn’t answer.
I leaned a hip against the witness stand. “Officer Dooley, the court is waiting for your answer.” I was relishing this. It was like being on stage and preparing for the climactic scene. I could almost imagine the music reaching a crescendo. Here it comes…
Officer Dooley muttered something under his breath. I tilted my head towards him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear that. Can you speak louder for everyone to hear?”
“I didn’t read him his Miranda Rights,” he practically shouted.
“And did you not have Mr. Baker in custody for almost twelve hours?”
“Yes,” Fred Dooley answered petulantly.
“And did you not place him in an interrogation room and ask him about the alleged crime?”
Officer Dooley looked positively apoplectic. “Yes.”
I stepped away from the witness stand and turned to the judge. “Your Honor I move to dismiss all charges against my client. He was held by the Southport police department in excess of thirteen hours. He was booked and interrogated without once being read his rights. Any information garnered during those interviews is inadmissible. And given the evidence I have already shown that indicates a serious breakdown in the chain of custody, the evidence, primarily the drugs found at the scene, are inadmissible as well. This is a clear case of police bias given Officer Dooley’s colorful history with Mr. Baker.”
Nolan Rigby got to his feet and began to argue, but Judge Kleindienst cut him off almost immediately. The older woman excused the very mortified Officer Fred Dooley from the stand and then announced that she had no choice but to dismiss all charges against Jacob Baker. She then proceeded to strongly chastise Nolan and the entire Southport police department.
It was a beautiful moment. Like something out of a movie. Only the protagonist was an obnoxious drug pusher who probably didn’t deserve the second chance he had been handed.
But as far as the first trials went, you couldn’t get much better.
After the judge left and we were all free to leave, I turned to Jacob who was all but blubbering his gratitude. I could see his parents at the back starting to make their way over. I wanted to say my piece to him before they swooped in.
