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“Mornin’,” said the witness.
While criminal defendants have the right to wear civilian clothes for court appearances, inmates do not, so it came as no surprise to Jack that Paxton’s testimony began with an explanation of the orange jumpsuit and an acknowledgment that he was a convicted felon. With that baggage out of the way, the prosecutor let Shaky Nichols’s former bodyguard tell his story. There was one important detail, however, that Jack was determined to keep out. It came up about twenty minutes into the testimony.
“What did Mr. Nichols tell you to do with Mr. McCormick’s body?” asked the prosecutor.
“He wanted me to get rid of it.”
“Did he give you any instructions?”
“Yeah. He was real specific-like.”
“What did he say, specifically?”
“He said put the body in the boat and head out to this spot in Biscayne Bay where there’s a bunch of old concrete pilings sticking out of the water.”
“Isola di Lolando?”
“I don’t know what it’s called. Mr. Nichols gave me the GPS coordinates, and I went there.”
“Did you do that?”
“Yeah.”
“What did he tell you to do once you got there?”
“He said when it was low tide, I should chain the body to one of the pilings.”
“Did you do that?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he tell you to do anything to the body before you chained it to the piling?”
“Yeah. He gave me a black marker pen and told me to write a message on the stomach.”
“What message did he tell you to write?”
“Goodbye girl.”
“Did you write the message?”
“Yeah, I did.”
The prosecutor stepped away from the lectern, as if he needed more room to set up his big question.
“So Mr. Nichols gave you these detailed instructions: take the body out to the bay, wait for low tide, chain it to a piling, write the message ‘goodbye girl’ in black marker pen. Did Mr. Nichols tell youwhyhe wanted you to do all these things?”
Jack rose. “Your Honor, I’m concerned the question will elicit inadmissible evidence. May we have a sidebar?”
The judge waved the lawyers forward. They gathered at the side of the bench farthest away from the jury so that they could confer without being overheard. Jack explained his objection.
“Judge, when I deposed Mr. Paxton, he testified that he had no idea why Mr. Nichols told him to do those things and that all he could say was what Mr. Nichols told him.”
The prosecutor interjected. “If Mr. Swyteck is making a hearsay objection, it’s frivolous. Mr. Nichols is a defendant in this case. Any incriminating statements he made to Mr. Paxton are admissible as evidence.”
Jack pushed back. “If Mr. Nichols had incriminatedhimselfwithhis own statement, I would not be making this objection. But the testimony here will be that Mr. Nichols told Mr. Paxton that the whole plan was cooked up by my client—that ‘it was all her idea.’”
The judge seemed to get it, and Jack continued to press his point.
