Dr. Reichstad stood up and in a commanding voice declared, “This interpretation is clearly a hoax. Besides, Your Honor, I can clearly think of a way that this is really describing Jesus as the ‘honorable counselor’ who was buried. So this changes nothing.”
“Oh, there may be a hoax, Your Honor,” Will countered, “but it does not lie with us. Dr. Giovanni is here to testify that the only reference in the Bible to an ‘honorable counselor,’ is a reference to Joseph of Arimathea in the Gospel of Mark, chapter fifteen, verse forty-three. Another translation of the two Greek words in 7QC for ‘honorable counselor’ would be ‘prominent member of the council.’ It would be an utter absurdity to contend that Jesus was a member of the same religious council that condemned him to death!”
Sherman again rose to his feet, arguing that if this evidence of 7QC was going to come into the case, then Dr. Reichstad should be able to introduce the evidence of the discovery of the corpse of Jesus in the tomb at Stephen’s Gate over the weekend, exactly where 7QB said it was.
But Will was unflustered.
“Your Honor, Dr. Giovanni and I were present at that excavation. She was a witness to an inscription on a stone ossuary. That is a bone box the Jewish people would use a year or more after the initial burial. They would return and deposit the bones in that box for permanent burial.
“There was an ossuary in that tomb. And this is the inscription that was clearly written on its front, in both Aramaic and Greek:
Joseph of Arimathea
honorable counselor
and
disciple of the risen Lord Jesus
“Your Honor, this tomb by Stephen’s Gate that Dr. Reichstad has excavated is the second tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and clearly contains his corpse. The bone box proves that. And all the fragments, when read logically and together, show that. The first tomb of Joseph was the one that was used for the burial of Jesus, and it is empty.”
“We found proof of the crown of thorns next to the corpse!” Reichstad shot out.
“Of course,” Will replied. “Joseph of Arimathea took possession of the body of Jesus after the crucifixion and made all the burial arrangements. It is logical that he also came into possession of the crown of thorns. And his friends obviously buried it with Joseph when he died, in honor of his loyalty to Jesus.”
“This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen,” the judge shot out. “I am not going to turn this courtroom into a theological or archaeological discussion of last week’s news. By the way,” and with that the judge pulled out three newspapers and fanned them out for all to see, “three national newspapers all reported yesterday, on page one, the ‘discovery of the corpse of Jesus of Nazareth.’ Now we are going to have to deal with the issue of that publicity possibly tainting the jury. But before I rule, I think I am going to have to listen to Dr. Giovanni’s testimony on all of these issues, in the exclusion of the jury.”
As Will looked out into the courtroom to summon Dr. Giovanni to the witness stand, he noticed Jack Hornby sitting attentively.
But now, Jack had moved forward to the front row of benches, right behind Will Chambers’ defense table.
72
AFTER DR. GIOVANNI’S TESTIMONY, Judge Kaye took a ten-minute break to consider his rulings. Giovanni had conducted herself brilliantly. The judge had been impressed with her credentials and her candor. She had described her evaluation of Dr. Reichstad’s faulty methodology in making conclusive findings on 7QA under circumstances where it was, or should have been, clear to him that crucial parts of the fragment had recently been torn away. She also had showed how the configuration of the sentences in 7QA alone, while it made grammatical sense, was nevertheless questionable. She had reasoned that the obvious missing fragment had the potential of radically altering the complete meaning of those sentences.
Then Giovanni had described her observations at the excavation at Stephen’s Gate. But Judge Kaye had asked one question that bothered Will.
The judge had asked, “Can you, Dr. Giovanni, still give us your opinions as they stood prior to seeing the 7QC fragment, and prior to seeing the burial site at Jerusalem? Are you able to do that?”
After a moment of reflection, Dr. Giovanni had indicated that she could still give her opinions as they had stood a week ago—if the Court were to instruct her to disregard and not mention the more recent developments.
After ten minutes exactly, Judge Kaye stepped back into the courtroom.
“Here is my ruling. No one is more keenly aware than I am of the importance of getting to the truth in any case—it is essential to the pursuit of justice.
“However, in this case I believe that Dr. Reichstad would be unfairly prejudiced for the defense if, at this late hour of the case, evidence of 7QC or evidence relating to the inscription on the ossuary box in that tomb were presented.
“But I also am ruling that Dr. Reichstad may not introduce evidence of his discovery of the corpse in that tomb in Jerusalem over the weekend. And the jury will be questioned on whether they were exposed to any prejudicial publicity or news reports about that discovery.”
Will was stunned. Without Angus MacCameron to testify, and without being able to present all of the recent facts they had uncovered, it appeared that he had almost no chance of winning the lawsuit.
“Are you ready, Mr. Chambers,” the judge asked, “to present Dr. Giovanni’s testimony to the jury, consistent with the ruling that I have just made?”
But before Will could answer, he noticed that the judge’s attention had been diverted by something going on at the back of the room. Will turned around.
There was Tiny Heftland, grinning as if he had just won the lottery. He was holding the door open with one hand and making a flourish with the other, like an impresario introducing the next act at a variety show.
Entering behind Tiny was an elderly man who looked like an Arab, dressed in a flowing white robe and carrying a tall, carved staff. A young boy was holding his hand and looking around wide-eyed as they walked into the courtroom.
“This trial is quickly becoming a three-ring circus,” the judge remarked. “Mr. Chambers, can you explain this?”
“Your Honor, I will need a few minutes to confer with my investigator.”
“Granted. I will be right here waiting for you.”
Will walked up to Tiny and the elderly man.
“I struck gold, chief,” Tiny said. “Will, meet Mr. Muhammad el Juma and his son Ahmed. The reason we couldn’t locate him? Turns out that when he discovered that Tony Azid had been killed for the fragment—well, he took the money that Azid had paid him for it, and bought a little place in Bethlehem, and changed his name.
“Now, you might ask, how did Muhammad the desert king find out that Azid was murdered? Because he is the one who found the body! He had delivered the whole fragment, complete, to Azid, and Azid paid him like six or seven thousand dollars for it and says, if he resells it to a guy he is thinking about, he will give Muhammad a percentage. Azid confides that he is going to tear the piece into two or three parts in an effort to bump the price up.”
“Did Azid say who he had in mind?”
“Yep, chief,” Tiny replied excitedly. “Our own Dr. Hunter. So Muhammad packs up his tent and slips away into the night. But a week later, he decides to return to cousin Tony’s shop to see how things are going with their mutual investment, and to see if Hunter is going to get the British Museum to pay out a bundle. As Muhammad is walking up to the shop, he sees this big blond dude walk out of the shop in a hurry, I mean the guy is leaving there in a sweat. Muhammad goes in and discovers that poor Azid had been done in. He gets the police. But the Palestinian police have jurisdiction, and they blow the investigation and call it a suicide.”
“How about the blond guy?” Will asked.
“Oh, that’s just perfect,” Tiny continued. “Get this. When the Israeli police and I locate Muhammad they have him do a photo identification of some suspects. Guess who he ID’s as the guy leav
ing the shop? A guy named Bruda Weilder. He was suspected of an arson and murder in Tel Aviv a few years back. Unfortunately they couldn’t make it stick. He is also listed by Interpol as a suspect in crimes in Austria and West Germany. But the best thing is this: Weilder was—at the time of Azid’s death—the personal bodyguard for Warren Mullburn. The Israelis tell me that now with Muhammad’s testimony, they are going to reopen the Azid and the Hunter matters and charge this thug with double murder. They’ve already started to look for him.”
Will turned and strode up to the front. “Your Honor, I would like to move that the court permit me to amend my witness list to add Mr. Muhammad el Juma. The relevance of his testimony—and the great lengths we went to, to try and locate him—will be spelled out in the preliminary testimony I would like to present, in the exclusion of the jury, from Mr. William Tinney Heftland, aka ‘Tiny’ Heftland.”
Over Sherman’s loud objections Judge Kaye permitted Tiny to testify for almost an hour regarding his search for Muhammad, how they had finally located him, and how the evidence he had would link 7QA, 7QB, and 7QC all together. Tiny explained how the Bedouin tribesman could also connect the death of Azid with Hunter’s death, and lastly, could connect Mullburn’s bodyguard to the deaths, during the same week that Reichstad—a beneficiary of Mullburn’s financial support—had admitted coming into possession of 7QA.
Judge Kaye asked Tiny as many questions as Sherman and Will Chambers did. Sherman ferociously attacked Tiny’s credibility by showing that he was a paid investigator for Will. That he was biased, that he had been unsuccessful in his prior federal and police employment. But Judge Kaye wasn’t buying it.
When Tiny’s testimony was finished, Judge Kaye leaned back in his chair. He would not, he said, retire to deliberate this one. He already knew how he was going to rule.
This was it. Will could feel it. He knew this was one of those moments that could turn a mere courtroom contest into a triumph of justice.
Judge Kaye leaned forward on his arms, which were crossed in front of him.
“Here is my ruling. Muhammad el Juma’s testimony will be allowed. In order to be fair to Mr. Sherman’s side, the new witness is to be made available to Mr. Sherman for a deposition this afternoon, if Mr. Sherman so desires. That way, Mr. Sherman, there will be no unfair surprises. You may ask him anything you want before we resume in the presence of jury tomorrow. Mr. Chambers, do you have an interpreter?”
Will looked back at Tiny, who nodded and pointed to a woman who had been standing next to the Bedouin and his son.
“All right. Then we will adjourn for the day. We will start right at nine o’clock in the morning, with the jury present, first with the testimony of Muhammad el Juma. After that, Mr. Chambers, you can recall Dr. Giovanni and present her testimony to the jury, and then that of the two Israeli police officers.”
There was arguing somewhere in the courtroom. Suddenly, Will realized that it was coming from the opposing counsel’s table. Dr. Reichstad was frantically yelling something at Sherman, and J-Fox Sherman was yelling back.
Judge Kaye gave them both a bewildered look.
“Do you have a problem that concerns this court, or may I adjourn this case for the day?” the judge asked.
After Sherman and Reichstad had conferred in only slightly quieter tones, Sherman walked slowly up to the podium.
“I have a motion, your honor.”
“What kind of motion?”
“It is a motion that I feel I must make to accommodate my client, though I do so with great reluctance.”
“What kind of motion? Spell it out!”
“We are moving for a voluntary dismissal of this lawsuit—which is the plaintiff’s right, Your Honor.”
“In the middle of a jury trial? Now you decide to dismiss your case?”
“Well, Your Honor, perhaps my client can explain…”
Reichstad hurried up to the podium.
“Your Honor. You said, yourself, that you have read the headlines. You know by now that I have achieved something far beyond what anyone has ever achieved in my field—I have located and revealed the body of Jesus of Nazareth. At this point I don’t need the decision of a jury to vindicate me. The world has vindicated me. History will vindicate me. Besides, MacCameron wouldn’t be able to pay me whatever the jury might award anyway. I am trying to be a gentleman about this…”
“Gentleman?” Will shot back. “Your Honor, we object. We don’t want a dismissal. We want justice. We want Angus MacCameron’s reputation restored after the plaintiff has so wantonly smeared and defamed it in this courtroom.”
“Mr. Chambers, I don’t think I have any choice. I must permit plaintiff to voluntarily withdraw his lawsuit, even at this late hour.”
“Then I want compensation for my client—and my attorney’s fees to be paid by Dr. Reichstad and Mr. Sherman!” Will countered.
“On the basis of what?” Sherman shot back.
“On the basis of Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and the ruling by the Court of Appeals of the D.C. Circuit in Taragan vs. Eli Lilly and Company,” Will replied.
Sherman was speechless.
“How soon can you file a written request for me to consider, Mr. Chambers?”
“Within twenty-four hours.”
“Mr. Sherman,” the judge continued, “within forty-eight hours after you receive Mr. Chamber’s written request for attorney’s fees and other compensation for his client, you are to file your written response and any arguments you have as to why I should deny Mr. Chamber’s request. I will then try to get my written decision out as rapidly as I can. This case is dismissed. Court adjourned. Clerk, discharge the jury. Tell them they can go home. Someone else, I guess, is going to have to solve the mystery of the ages—it’s not going to be them.”
73
THE FOLLOWING DAY, WILL, AS PROMISED, filed with the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, Judge Jeremiah Kaye presiding, a written request for Dr. Reichstad or his attorneys or both, to pay two separate sums of money.
First, Will demanded payment for his attorney’s fees and the total costs of the defense of the case. After he had added up his hourly fees as well as those of Jacki Johnson—hundreds of those hours not yet billed to his stricken client—together with the costs of international travel, depositions, expert fees, long-distance charges, express deliveries, hotel rooms, and thousands of photocopies of documents, he came up with a substantial figure. He was asking that Reichstad and his lawyers pay MacCameron the sum of $596,843.74 for the legal fees and costs incurred by the defense in the case.
The second sum that Will demanded gave him particular pleasure. Although he wondered whether Judge Kaye would award a single penny for this category—because of its unusual nature—he put it in anyway. Will asked that the Court order Reichstad and his lawyers to pay the sum of $500,000 for the “inconvenience and stress caused to Reverend Angus MacCameron, and the defamation to his reputation.”
The argument that Will made on this latter point was simple and logical: Reichstad and his swarm of legal sharks had done irrevocable damage to MacCameron’s integrity and reputation in presenting their side of the case. By then prematurely dismissing their lawsuit before the defense had had its chance to vindicate MacCameron, they left, as Will put it in his brief to the Court, “an indelible stain on Reverend MacCameron’s good name; they drew, for all the world to see, a grotesque caricature of my client, forever recorded in a court record; then promptly dismissed their lawsuit, thereby wrenching the pen out of our hands, and preventing us from ever adequately correcting their ugly and false picture of Reverend MacCameron.”
A copy of Will’s brief to the court and request for compensation was taken by courier to the offices of Kennelworth, Sherman, Abrams & Cantwell.
There was a time, not so long ago in the past, where Will Chambers would have personally delivered the papers to J-Fox Sherman himself just for the pleasure of seeing his expression. Just to tell him, eye t
o eye, that now the shoe was on the other foot; that now Sherman and his client were the ones who had to worry about whether they might soon be reaping the bitter harvest they had planted themselves. There was a time when Will would have done exactly that.
But that time was not now. Will was no longer that man—nor, it seemed, was he interested in taking that same road.
After the courier had picked up the written arguments to the judge, Will returned calls from a few new clients. In between those calls he connected with Fiona, who was still in London. He was saddened that the news about MacCameron had not changed. She said that the doctors had told her to “brace for the worst.” Will asked her some questions, but mostly listened.
Fiona asked about the trial, and Will explained the strange turn of events—the eerie excavation at St. Stephen’s Gate, and Dr. Giovanni’s conclusion that the corpse found there was definitely that of Joseph of Arimathea; how Tiny had located Muhammad el Juma, and how Reichstad had withdrawn his own lawsuit rather than permit the truth to come out. And Will also explained to Fiona how, in a rare reversal, Reichstad, the complainant in a libel and defamation case, was now facing their demand for attorney’s fees and compensation for damage to Angus’s good name.
“Da would be so proud of you!” Fiona said. “How I wish he could have been there.”
Will told her that Angus MacCameron was very fortunate to have a daughter like her. Fiona said this was a very lonely time for her, and could he please call her again that evening. She would be by her father’s side in the hospital throughout the night and into the morning.
Will went out for some supper, then returned to work afterwards. As he locked up his Corvette in front of the old red-brick building that housed his office, the bells of St. Andrew’s Church began ringing.
As the tolling of the great bells filled the air, Will froze in his tracks, next to his car. He looked over at the church, and its towering steeple. Then he quickly walked over to the entrance. He laid hold of one of the iron handles and swung open one of the thick doors.
The Resurrection File Page 43