AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No questions at this time, your honor.”
At this point, the judge adjourned court for lunch, and Marcus had barely said a word since his opening. Certainly nothing that would help his client. Paxson had taken Marcus completely out of the trial. He had spent the morning intentionally putting the jury to sleep with boring testimony on the facts. Facts Marcus couldn’t dispute. Paxson had the jury thinking solely about the murder.
23
“Call your next witness,” the judge said, reconvening the afternoon session.
When Paxson called Simon Temple, Abril’s neighbor, to the stand, Marcus began to get an idea of what he was doing.
“Mr. Temple,” Paxson began. “You live in the North Avenue Condominiums in the building adjacent to the victim?”
“That’s correct.”
“Did you know Ms. Arrington?”
“No, sir. I’d seen her in the complex, going in and out of her building, but I didn’t know her.”
“Can you tell me where you were, and what you saw on the night of the murder?”
“I had just come from the store and was taking my stuff in the house. I was heading back to the car to get the rest of the stuff and close the trunk, when I saw somebody running out of the building.”
Paxson stood in front of the defense table and looked at Panthea. “Could you tell if it was a man or a woman?”
“No, sir,” Temple answered. He too was looking at Panthea. “I didn’t really look enough to noticed. I was just trying to get my stuff in.”
“What did the person you saw do then?”
“I saw them get in a black Mercedes Benz and drive away.”
“Would you say they were driving fast?”
“Definitely. They were trying to get away from there.”
“Are you sure it was a Mercedes Benz you saw?”
“Yes, sir. I’m sure it was a Mercedes Benz.”
“You weren’t looking close enough to see if it was a man or a woman.” Paxson walked back to the witness box and stood in front of Temple. “How can you be so sure about the car the person leaving the scene was driving?”
“It’s the same model I drive.”
“And what model is that, sir?” Paxson asked and looked at the jury.
“Two thousand and six Mercedes Benz CLK500 Coupe,” Temple said confident and proudly.
“Nice car,” Paxson said and Temple smiled broadly to acknowledge the compliment. “How much one of those run you?”
“A little less than sixty thousand.”
“I know it was dark, Mr. Temple, but could you tell what color the car you saw was?”
“It was black.”
“Not midnight blue?”
“No sir, black. Definitely black.”
Paxson started to walk back to his chair, but turned quickly and faced Temple. “One more question, Mr. Temple. What color is your Mercedes Benz CLK500 Coupe?”
