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“Understood. Mr. Swyteck, while I don’t like the idea of forcing you to proceed before you and your client are ready, I can’t in good conscience make Mr. Nichols wait a year to be heard. Ms. Ellis, call your first witness.”
Jack didn’t like to attribute ill motives to any jurist, but it seemed that Judge Stevens had yet to get over Governor Swyteck’s appointment of those three other judges to the Florida Supreme Court.
“The plaintiff calls Imani Nichols,” announced opposing counsel.
It was not the norm for a plaintiff to call the defendant as the first witness, but it was a clever tactical move in this case. Jack was a latecomer, and his opposing counsel wanted to land a few punches before Jack could come fully up to speed and prepare his client for everything that was coming. Imani raised her right hand, swore the familiar oath, and took her place on the witness stand.
“Ms. Nichols,” the questioning began, but Imani stopped her.
“I prefer Imani.”
“All right. Imani it is,” said Ellis, and then she took a step closer to the witness. “This case isn’t about free speech, is it, Imani.”
It wasn’t really a question, which prompted an objection from Jack.
“Overruled,” said the judge. “There’s no jury in this case, so as a word of caution to all counsel, please keep your objections to a minimum. The witness may answer.”
“I don’t know how to answer that question,” said Imani. “I’m not a lawyer.”
“I’ll go about it a different way,” said Ellis. “Your ‘go pirate’ campaignisn’t about free speech at all. It’s really just a petty and personal vendetta against your ex-husband.”
“Judge, I have to object,” said Jack, rising.
“Sustained. Ms. Ellis, when I instructed counsel to keep objections to a minimum, I wasn’t inviting you to argue with the witness. Let’s stick to the facts.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” said Ellis. “Ms. Imani—”
“Just Imani.”
“Imani,” she said, losing patience. “Isn’t it a fact that you were a founding member of an organization called MAP?”
“I was.”
“What does ‘MAP’ stand for?”
“Musicians Against Piracy.”
“What was the core mission of MAP?”
Imani looked at the judge and answered. “The idea was to educate the public about piracy. Specifically, the way it hurts artists, especially new artists, who already get the short end of the stick in their contracts with record labels.”
With the court’s permission, Ellis projected an exhibit on the big screen on the wall, which could be seen by everyone in the courtroom.
“Imani, this is a copy of an interview you did forRolling Stonemagazine two years ago. I call your attention to the language highlighted in yellow. You said: ‘The real mission of MAP was to make life miserable for pirates.’ Those were your words, correct?”
“I suppose so. I really don’t know what I meant by that.”
“Let’s get specific. You were a co-founder of MAP, along with a young rapper who called himself Amongus Sicario, right?”
“Yes.”
“You go on to say in theRolling Stoneinterview that the two of you were sick and tired of having your music ripped off by piracy, right?”
Imani checked the exhibit. “It says that.”
“You were so sick and tired of piracy that you actually engaged in criminal conduct to stop it.”
The judge overruled Jack’s objection. All Jack could do was watch ashis opposing counsel led the witness into territory unknown to Imani’s new lawyer.
