AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Try not being guilty.
“I could file a motion for dismissal, but it’s unlikely the judge will decide in our favor. As your attorney, Mr. Cohenour, I strongly advise you to consider taking any offer the prosecution makes. You may get a reduction in sentencing if you make a plea bargain.”
“No.”
He slams his hand on the table. This isn’t the first outburst I’ve ignored, but if he tries this in front of the bench, it will get him held in contempt. That’s something I’ve told him before. The judges at his arraignment and at his preliminary hearing fined him when he did the same thing in the courtroom.
“Mr. Cohenour, the preponderance of evidence is not on our side. They have two audio recordings and three videos of you admitting you committed your crimes to an undercover FBI agent. You boasted about it in thinly veiled texts. Your warehouse’s security cameras and agents’ body cameras captured you threatening them and their families during your arrest. You left a paper trail ten miles long since you wrote everything in your notebook. Forensics has already identified your prints and confirmed they are the only ones on your notebook and that the handwriting matches yours. We can take this to trial, and you will lose. I’m good, but I can’t undo what you did to sabotage your own defense. Embezzlement of over a million dollars is grand larceny— a Class B felony —in the state of New York and comes with a mandatory sentence of one to three years. You could face eight-and-a-third to twenty-five years. Which do you prefer? Three or twenty-five?”
“Bah. It won’t come to that.”
I rein in my temper.
“It will.”
“No, it won’t. I want immunity.”
What the ever-loving fuck?
“It’s far too late for that. And you’d have to offer the FBI something in exchange.”
“I know about your client Gabriele Scotto. I know he’s guilty.”
“Do not say another word. I can't defend you or Mr. Scotto if you testify for the prosecution or reveal information that could harm another client.”
“That thug—”
“Enough.”
My voice is strident as I gather my paperwork.
“You will stop, or I will walk out. We will not discuss this further until I’m able to remove myself from Mr. Scotto’s case.”
“But if I don’t tell you what I know, then how will you make my plea agreement to the prosecution?”
“I didn’t say you wouldn’t tell me. I said not to do it while I represent you and Mr. Scotto.”
There’s a throbbing pain behind my left eye. Anything Cohenour tells me would likely come out during discovery for Gabriele’s case, but talk about a fucking conflict of interest. The prosecution for Gabriele’s case would go to town if I was privy to their witness’s statement before them, and I still represented Gabriele. The shitstorm would start with Cohenour’s case and roll over. The Assistant DA for this case isn’t Tyler. It’s a woman with an itchy trigger finger for filing motions that swamp defense teams. Judges hate her, but she always has the law on her side, so there’s little they can do. She’s a pain in the ass, but she’s good. We’ve gone up against each other several times, and our score is tied.
The last thing I want to do is step down from Gabriele’s case, but I can’t walk out on this one since we’re going to trial next week. And even if I heard this asshole’s claims after stepping down from Gabriele’s case, it’s not like I could pass that along to Gabriele’s new attorney. It would violate Cohenour’s attorney-client privileges. This is a fucktastrophe about to happen.
Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me.
I can’t send him to talk to the prosecution not knowing what he’ll tell them and without a lawyer. Let me see if I can probe enough to know if this is even a thing or if he’s bullshitting.
“Mr. Cohenour, if you’ve been aware of Mr. Scotto’s alleged illegal activities, why are you now stepping forward?”
“Because it didn’t matter until now. I don’t want them coming after my family or me.”
“If that’s the case, that still begs the question: why are you now stepping forward? You contradict yourself if protecting your family is your main concern. Don’t you fear testifying will endanger them?”
Does someone in Gabriele’s family already know Cohenour might have evidence against him? Is that why he fears for his family? It seems more like this about himself than anyone else.
“I don’t want to go to prison. I have too much to lose if I do.”
“You’ve lost everything. Your assets are frozen. Your wife filed for divorce. Your investors all pulled out.”
“And I can get it back with an immunity deal.”
