“You must also ask yourself why would the defendant use a hammer again when he had a loaded gun with him? Why not just shoot Mr. Rogers? Why would he want to implicate himself by using the same methods in both crimes? The Prosecution told you about Mr. Romanov’s M.O. I would argue that the defendant would want to go to extra efforts not to duplicate what he had done before.”
The Prosecution will present a witness who will identify the accused as the man who left a bar with Steve Rogers on the night of his murder. You must ask yourself, “How reliable is this testimony?” “Was there enough lighting in the bar to make a positive identification of someone just because he had a beard and dark hair like the defendant has?”
You are going to hear about forensic evidence that was collected by the crime scene investigator. This evidence consists of photographs, fingerprints, blood and hair samples. The integrity of this type of evidence is open to interpretation and is subjective. We are going to show that the evidence in this case has been compromised and that collection protocols had been broken.
“Ladies and gentlemen: as the judge said: ‘you are the most important people in this trial.’ Can you be positive, beyond reasonable doubt, that the defendant killed a man who he’d considered his best and only friend? Keep an open mind. If convicted of this murder, there’s a strong possibility that Mr. Romanov could get the death penalty. Your decision could very well be a matter of life or death. Yes; the defendant is no boy scout and the Prosecution is probably going to tell you all about his past crimes. But, does the evidence presented in this trial prove that he murdered Steve Rogers? It’s totally up to you to decide. Life or death? Remember, you have to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. Thank you for your attention and for serving on this jury.”
Chapter 6
Clarissa calls her cousin Charlotte and tells her all about what she’s been reading. Charlotte wishes that she worked for the District Attorney’s office because criminal trials seem so much more exciting than civil trials. She works in a law office that handles business law cases. As Clarissa is reading to her the opening and closing statements, her cousin gets really excited about everything. She says that she wishes that she could have been a spectator at that trial. Then, she comes up with a “brilliant idea”. “Clarissa,” she says, “why don’t we take some time off of work and sit in on a real criminal trial? We could both learn a lot. I think that it would be really fun. Don’t you?”
“It really does sound fun,” Clarissa says. “I’m pretty familiar with the Orange County Civic Center. Can you come up to Orange County so I don’t have to drive down to San Diego? All that rush hour traffic makes me nervous.”
Her cousin says that she’ll come up to Orange County. She also says, “First, we’ll both have to ask our bosses if we can take a few days off.”
Clarissa says, “Can’t we just call in sick?”
Charlotte says, “I’m a horrible liar. I don’t want to risk it.”
“Okay,” Clarissa says. “Let me know which days work for you since you’re the one who has a ‘real job’.”
Charlotte says, “We both have ‘real jobs’.”
Clarissa says, “You know what I mean.”
“Oh; I forgot one important thing,” Charlotte says. “First, I have to check the court calendar for the Orange County Superior Court to see what criminal cases look interesting. I’ll let you know the dates. I’d like us to be able to see at least the first day of trial.
Chapter 7
The following Monday, both cousins got time off their jobs and Charlotte found a case that looks interesting. She can only be gone for one day because her boss needs her back as soon as possible to help him prepare an important case. She and her cousin are on their way to the Orange County Superior Courthouse when Clarissa wants to stop at a nearby Starbucks. They arrive there and they both order lattes.
Charlotte says, “God; this coffee is so expensive!” She prefers a coffee house located near her apartment in San Diego.
“Speaking of expensive,” Clarissa says, “It costs me $19.50 to park in the parking structure by the courthouse when I came here last week.”
Her cousin says, “Why don’t we park on the street by some houses that are within walking distance of the courthouse?”
“Sounds good,” Clarissa says. They find a nice looking neighborhood called “Washington Square” which has a lot of houses constructed in the 1940’s. While walking to the courthouse, they admire the houses, many of which have windows that look like portholes. The cousins really love one porthole window that shows a red rose in its stained glass.
They notice blooming camellia and azalea bushes. “This neighborhood is so quiet and peaceful,” Clarissa says, while hearing the robins singing. Just after she’s said that, they both hear a horrible screeching noise. They look at each other thinking, “What the hell?”, and look around and see a huge flock of wild, green parrots.
Charlotte says, “This looks like something out of the Alfred Hitchcock classic, ‘The Birds’.”
Clarissa says, “Let’s get the hell out of here before they crap all over our hair and clothes.”
Charlotte is wearing her favorite outfit that she usually wears whenever she has to go to the courthouse for her job. It’s a black, wraparound dress with a blue jacket and matching blue pumps. Her hair is in a French roll. She definitely does not want to have deal with any poop all over her. “Let’s get away from these crazy parrots,” she tells her cousins, and they practically run to the courthouse in their high heels.
Their feet are killing them by the time they reach the courthouse. “Damn!” Charlotte says. “I’ve just broken the heel of my best shoes!” She takes off her shoe and tries to pound the nails of the heel back into the shoe by hitting her shoe against the curb. She puts her shoe back on and tries to walk. The heel barely holds as she limps along. Clarissa starts laughing and says, “Lookin’ good, Miss Kissable Lips.”
“Shut up!” Charlotte pouts. “Whoops! It looks like you’ve just run your nylons.”
“Damn. How can you manage wearing these every day? Let’s see if we can find some place where I can take them off and throw them away. Let’s go to the Law Library. They have nice, clean restrooms.”
Clarissa tells her cousin, “The Law Library people are really nice and helpful. The building has just been remodeled, so everything is pristine and sanitary, not like the dirty restrooms at the courthouse that have toilet seat covers wadded all over the floor.”
“I’ll definitely pass at the courthouse restaurants.”
Clarissa tells her cousin, “The law library is better—just as long as nobody is taking a sponge bath inside, like the last time I was there.”
“They were doing what?!” Charlotte asks.
“Trust me, Charlotte; it really is a nice place.”
They enter the library and turn left toward the public restrooms. As soon as they walk inside the restroom, they are stunned. The walls have been sprayed with black painted arrows that point to the toilet seat cover dispenser which has what looks like a crack pipe sticking out of it (at least, they think that’s what it is; neither having ever seen one). The toilet seat has the word, “Whour,” (“Whore”?) painted in black also. “Somebody is not a happy camper,” Charlotte says. Both cousins change their minds about using the restroom. Clarissa goes up to the kind librarian to whom she’s talked before and says to him, “Are you aware of what the woman’s public bathroom looks like right now?”
“I’ve just reported it to the police,” he says. “I’d better tape an ‘out of order’ sign on the door to keep people from going inside. I’m so sorry that you nice ladies had to see that.”
Charlotte takes off her shoe with the broken heel and hobbles towards the courthouse. This is so embarrassing, she thinks.
Clarissa and Charlotte make it through the gauntlet of homeless people asking for spare change. One guy asks, “Can I have some money to buy a beer?”
Charlotte tells her cousin,
“Well, at least that guy is telling the truth.” They both think it’s funny.
Clarissa says, “Hey. Look over there. That lady has 2 small dogs in a baby carriage. And she has a sleeping bag next to the stroller. It’s not right. That lady can barely feed and take care of herself; let alone two dogs. This place is depressing.”
Charlotte says, “It is; but don’t you just love all the energy and excitement of being in the heart of the ‘corridors of power?’ This is the center of Orange County’s government. It’s where everything happens.”
Clarissa says, “Including protesters,” as she points to about 50 demonstrators holding signs. “I wonder what their problem is? Let’s get closer and see.”
The protesters are holding signs calling for a ban on nuclear power. They want to see San Onofre permanently shut down.
Charlotte says, “I’d like to see that nuclear plant taken down, too. It’s really scary living so close to it. And they’ve had all those radiation leaks. They say that it’s no danger to the public, but it’s hard to trust what they’re saying!”
Chapter 8
The cousins finally reach the entrance to the courthouse. There is a long line of people waiting to pass through security. Charlotte tells Clarissa that there are always a lot of people on Mondays because many of them are responding to their first day of jury service. Her cousin tells her that maybe they should have come on another day of the week.
Charlotte says, “And miss all this action? I think that it’s all part of the experience. I know it sounds schmaltzy, but it makes me feel patriotic.”
“Well, that’s true.” Clarissa answers. “I guess I should look at it that way.”
After passing through security, they make their way to the elevators. A crowd of people are waiting to go up. The case they’re interested in is on the top floor. When the elevator doors finally open, more and more people try to fit themselves in. Many have rolling luggage racks, like stewardesses use, with boxes piled onto their racks. People try to make room for themselves, squeezing more and more people into the elevator, not realizing that much of the floor space is taken up with boxes. Clarissa thinks, Go away people; we’re already stuffed to the gills in here as it is.
Charlotte thinks, Why did we have to choose a trial that’s on the 11th floor?
After they arrive at the 11th floor, Clarissa tells her cousin, “I’m so glad that we’ll be sitting in on a murder trial. It will help me understand how Dad’s trial would have been conducted.”
“It’s definitely going to be interesting,” her cousin says.
They find the right courtroom and notice lots of people milling around. The courtroom has a sign saying “Closed” on the door. “Well, I guess we can’t go in,” she says. “Maybe it’s going to be closed all day and we’ll miss everything.”
“Relax, Clarissa. We still have 15 minutes before it’s even scheduled to start.”
Clarissa says, “Don’t we have to show some ID and sign some paperwork saying we’re here to see the trial?”
“No. It’s not necessary.”
“So they let just anyone in here?”
“Yes; just as long as they don’t cause any disturbances.”
Clarissa is relieved when the door opens and people with jury badges start going in.
Charlotte whispers to her cousin, “The bailiffs want to be sure all the jurors are here, so they let them enter first.”
Clarissa worries that there won’t be enough room for all the spectators like themselves and is relieved when they find two seats together that are free. She says, “We’d better stake out our claims and take turns going to the restroom so that nobody takes our seats.”
Her cousin whispers, “That won’t be necessary. Stop worrying about everything and try to live in the moment.”
The judge enters the courtroom and all the lawyers stand up. He announces that the court is in session.
“The prosecutor always goes first for opening arguments,” Charlotte whispers to Clarissa.
The attorney greets the jurors and thanks them for being there. Then he starts describing the case. He tells the jury that a man was shot and killed by his wife and their two daughters witnessed the shooting. The wife has cervical cancer. Her reasoning at the time was that since she was going to die from the cancer and her family wouldn’t have been able to make it without her, she’d take her husband and children with her and then commit suicide.
He continues, “During the shooting, one of the daughters ran outside to call 911 and the other daughter wrestled the gun away from her mother. Because the girls were eye-witnesses to the murder, there was no doubt that the defendant had killed their father.”
He tells the jury, “You must ask yourselves many questions: “Was it first degree murder? Was it premeditated? Did the defendant shoot him with ‘malice aforethought’?”
Clarissa thinks, I’m going to have to talk to Charlotte about what those words mean.
After the Prosecutor finished the opening arguments, the lawyer for the defendant takes the stand to present their side of the story. Clarissa feels like telling him, “This better be good, because right now I’m not ‘feeling the love’ towards your client.”
He thanks the jurors for their service and begins to tell the defendant’s side of the story. He explains that the wife had been taking antidepressants and sleeping pills to help her cope with all of the stress she was going through with her cancer. She didn’t like the way they made her feel. The crux of her case was that the pills made her psychotic and that’s why she killed her husband. Charlotte writes a note to Clarissa which says, “That is the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard.” Clarissa nods her head in agreement. Charlotte writes another note, telling her cousin that they’ll talk about it later when they drive back to Clarissa’s house.
By the time the attorney for the Defendant finishes his opening statement, it is close to 3:30. The judge excuses the jurors for the day. Clarissa and Charlotte head out to find their car. Once again, they admire the neighborhood where they’ve left their car.
I’d love to buy one of these houses someday, Charlotte thinks. As they near her car, they see a piece of paper attached to the windshield wiper on the front window. “What the hell?” Charlotte says. “That looks like a parking ticket. I’m not parked illegally. And this isn’t the day the street sweepers come. I saw the signs about the sweepers coming on Tuesday mornings when we were driving here.” As she reads the ticket, she sees that she was supposed to have a permit to park on the street. Only the residents and their visitors could park there. Charlotte says, “Well…I’m starting not to like this neighborhood anymore.”
Chapter 9
The cousins go back to their Nana’s house. They tell their Nana all about their day and what they’ve seen and heard. Their grandmother says to Charlotte, “That’s so unfair that you got the parking ticket. You didn’t know.”
“I only saw the “no parking” sign later.”
Their Nana gives each of them a slice of Knott’s Berry Farm’s boysenberry pie and says, “This will make you feel better.”
“Where’d you get this?” Charlotte asks.
“Clarissa brought it home after work yesterday. Wasn’t that sweet of her?”
“Good for you, Clarissa.”
Their Nana says, “Tell me about the case.” They explain to her all that the attorneys said in their opening arguments.
“I can’t believe it,” their Nana says.
“How could that woman kill her husband in front of her own children? There’s no excuse for it, even if you have cancer. And blaming it all pills? That’s just crazy. Those drugs were prescribed for her to help her handle her stress. Cancer is no excuse for murder. Those poor children!”
“That’s exactly how we feel, Nana.”
Charlotte says that she wishes they could watch the entire trial but her boss wouldn’t let her miss work. Their Nana reminds Clarissa, “You can’t see the entire trial either. Remember we’re going to Cha
rleston on Wednesday to see their Spring Home Tour?”
Clarissa says, “Sorry Nana. I forgot all about it.”
Her grandmother leaves them and goes upstairs to bed. Clarissa and Charlotte sit down in the kitchen to have some tea and talk about the trial.
Clarissa tells her cousin, “I wanted to ask you about some of the things they said in the trial today. I didn’t understand many of the terms the lawyers were throwing around.”
“OK. What confused you?” Charlotte asks.
“Well, I had a problem understanding when the Prosecution used the words ‘premeditated’ and ‘malice-aforethought’. I sort of know what they mean, yet they sound so alike.”
Charlotte laughs and says, “Don’t worry, cuz. Everyone has a hard time with those definitions. It took me a while to understand them myself. I sometimes wish that they’d just speak in regular English instead of all this legalese! Let me see if I can explain them for you. We’ll start with ‘malice-aforethought’. It means that the killer knows full well that what he’s doing puts another person’s life in danger, but does it anyway. His intent is to kill. Are you with me so far?”
“Yes. I think so. In the case today, we saw the prosecution say they will prove that the defendant acted with malice-aforethought because she intended to kill the victim.”
“Yes. You’ve got it.”
“Now for the premeditation part. The term ‘premeditation’ means that the killer deliberately planned out how he will murder his victim. The murderer had some time to think about how the murder would take place and waited for an opportunity to do it. Just remember that and you’ve got it. So there you go. Does that make sense?”
“Yes. Thank you, Charlotte. What would I do without you? This is beginning to get very interesting. Now that I understand a little of what’s going on, the idea of working in the law field sounds pretty interesting!”
The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery Page 11