Desperate Justice

by Dennis Carstens

  “True enough,” Marc said. “I guess we’ll see what happened. Listen, I’m going to go see Gondeck. He wants to show me something. Court will be a little late today. Get your suit on and hang out. I’ll talk to you more in a little while.”

  Marc had been seated in the waiting room chair for less than thirty seconds when Gondeck came through the security door to get him. They went back to the conference room with the TV set and DVD player and Gondeck ran the disk for Marc.

  When it was finished, Marc was seething to the point where he was afraid to speak. Gondeck patiently waited for him to say something, afraid to start the conversation himself.

  Finally, after two full minutes, Marc said, “Okay,” he started out calmly, “has Judge Rios seen this?”

  “Not yet. I wanted to show you first.”

  “How long have you known about this?”

  Gondeck took a few minutes to explain to Marc how the DVD came into their possession and how it was found. He explained Slocum’s decision to keep it quiet because Slocum believed there was nothing on the disk to get anyone to believe Prentiss was not guilty. And it was not going to be used at trial since it also did not serve as evidence of Prentiss’ guilt.

  At the mention of Craig Slocum’s name, Marc’s back visibly stiffened. He pursed his lips tightly together and narrowed his eyes while watching Gondeck. “Slocum decided this? Who the hell does he think…?”

  “You have every right to be angry,” Gondeck interrupted him as he stood up, walked to the TV stand and pressed the button to eject the disk. “File a complaint against him. Name me if you have to, but even though I told him you should get a copy, I think he’s right. There’s nothing here to exonerate your guy.”

  Marc stood and still mad as hell said, “Let’s find out what Rios thinks,” and headed out to go to the elevators.

  After viewing the disk, Judge Rios said, “Well, it seems to be evidence of motive to go after Leo Balkus for Dolan’s murder though probably not enough for a conviction. As to how this helps your client, Marc, I’m not sure I see it. It seems to give Balkus motive to kill Prentiss but not his wife.”

  “I have a theory about that, your Honor,” Marc answered. “But I have to alter my witness list.”

  “We’d object,” Gondeck said.

  “I am going to subpoena Leo Balkus, but given his reputation, I must insist, or at least strongly request, that this information remains between the three of us, for now.”

  “How am I supposed to prepare a cross-exam of him if I can’t interview him?”

  Before Rios could respond, Marc said, “Let me put him on the stand. Then if you need time to interview him or investigate or whatever you need to prepare a cross of him, I wouldn’t object. But my client is on trial for his life, your Honor. We deserve a little latitude. Especially since they withheld this video that I believe is significant.”

  “How?” Gondeck asked.

  “I don’t have to tell you that,” Marc answered.

  “He’s right, Steve,” Rios said. “I’m going to give him this chance. Do you need a formal order to keep quiet about this?”

  “Steve?” Marc said looking at Gondeck.

  “No, an order won’t be necessary. You have my word,” Gondeck replied.

  “Good enough?” Rios asked Marc.

  “Good enough.”

  “What about today? I have a jury cooling their heels around here. I want to get started in a half hour. You okay with that?”

  Marc nodded.

  “Okay, good. Let’s go then.”

  Before the next witness was put on the stand Marc met with Prentiss in a side conference room. Without saying a word, Marc slapped his copy of the disk on the table in front of Prentiss. He then leaned back in his chair and silently stared at his client.

  Prentiss looked down at the DVD, raised his eyes to Marc, licked his lips and as a slight bead of sweat broke out on his forehead, said, “What is this?”

  “Take a guess.”

  “I’m sure I don’t know,” Prentiss lied.

  “It’s you and the recently deceased Bruce Dolan and you know damn well what’s on it. Why did Leo Balkus kill your wife?”

  “I don’t know that he did,” Prentiss said as he slumped in his chair. “The only thing I can think of that he might have killed Catherine for is to keep me on the bench.”

  “Why did he want to keep you on the bench? I want to hear all of it, now! What was your arrangement with Leo Balkus? What did he have on you and what did you do for him?”

  At that point, knowing the truth might actually help him, Prentiss told his lawyer everything about Leo and the blackmail scheme Leo used to get Prentiss to cooperate.

  “Then why frame you for Catherine’s murder?”

  “I don’t know,” he quietly said as he shook his head. “I really don’t understand this. It makes no sense.”

  “Well, we’re going to…” Marc said then stopped himself. In that split second, he decided he was not going to tell Prentiss about the subpoena of Leo. Better he doesn’t know. “Um, we’re going to keep going,” he continued. “We’ll go back and keep trying to create reasonable doubt and see if we can figure out a way to lay this on Leo or somebody else. But,” Marc said as he leaned on the table and looked directly into Prentiss’ eyes, “this had better be the end of it! Are there any more little surprises like this out there?”

  “No, Marc, please, I swear,” a fully chastened Prentiss pleaded. “There’s nothing else.” A statement Marc did not believe and with good reason. It was not true.

  SEVENTY-SIX

  “The state calls Detective Larry Grimes,” Gondeck called out to have the court deputy bring in his next witness, the lead investigator in the death of Catherine Prentiss. Grimes was led into the courtroom, sworn in and took his seat on the witness stand.

  Like he had done with all of his witnesses, Gondeck spent the first part of Grimes’ testimony going over his professional record. A member of the MPD for fourteen years, he had testified many times and was very familiar with how to do it. Even so, Jennifer Moore had spent almost two hours the previous evening going over his testimony to make sure he was prepared.

  Marc paid very close attention to the details of what Grimes told the jury about his professional résumé. Marc was mostly interested in some details about the detective’s career that Grimes didn’t bother to share with the jury. Details that might prove useful to Marc.

  Grimes wasn’t just the lead investigator in this case. He was the only one assigned to it. He testified that on the night of the crime, he had arrived at the Prentiss house at roughly the same time as the medical examiner and crime scene unit personnel.

  The vast majority of homicides are not solved by Sherlock Holmes type brilliant deductions. They are solved, as Grimes told the jury, because what happened is normally quite obvious. Most murders are committed by a family member, neighbor, acquaintance or someone who knew the victim. It was clear upon first inspection what happened and the subsequent investigation corroborated that first impression with the forensic evidence and witnesses, if there were any, and other things discovered.

  “What other things did you find later?” Gondeck asked.

  “A major piece of evidence that I found was the diary of the victim, Catherine Prentiss. I took the time to read through it entirely.”

  “And what did you find, without going into specifics?”

  “That Mrs. Prentiss was being abused by her husband and was terrified of him.”

  This answer was clearly objectionable. There was nothing that had been placed into evidence to back up this statement. Marc didn’t bother to object because he knew Catherine’s journal would be admitted. This had already been argued and decided and to object to the statement could easily alienate the jury. It would look like Marc was trying to keep something from them that they were going to see anyway.

  “May I approach the witness?” Gondeck asked Rios.

  She answered affirmatively and Gondec
k stood up, picked up a book from his table and walked up to the witness stand. He handed it to Grimes who affirmed it was the book he referred to and Gondeck entered it into evidence. Handwriting experts hired by both the state and the defense had verified the handwriting as being that of Catherine Prentiss. Because of this, Marc had stipulated the diary was written by Catherine which saved the bother of bringing in the handwriting expert to testify. This was quickly explained to the jury.

  “Now, detective, were you told about a possible third person being in the bedroom that night?”

  “Yes, I was told that.”

  “Did you investigate that possibility?”

  “As best as I could,” Grimes answered looking directly at the jury. He then went on to tell the jury what he did about that, which wasn’t much. The forensics clearly pointed at only one person. It was obvious what had happened. Gordon Prentiss went after his wife with a butcher knife and stabbed her in the chest just as she hit him with a vodka bottle. There was nothing to indicate anything else.

  Grimes wrapped up his direct testimony by telling the jury about talking to Catherine’s psychiatrist, Dr. Chase, and Catherine’s best friend. Having been prepared ahead of time, he knew both the doctor and the best friend, Ava Hammond, were going to testify so he carefully avoided making any claims about what they told him which wrapped up his testimony. The simple truth was that this was a fairly straightforward homicide and did not require a lot of investigation.

  At that point, Rios decided to break for lunch and have Marc wait to cross-examine the detective.

  Marc had come across Larry Grimes on two previous cases and secretly despised the man. While seated at the table, Marc started by asking, “When you were sworn in, detective, you swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, isn’t that right detective?”

  “Yes, counselor,” Grimes politely replied.

  “And you did exactly that didn’t you? Tell the whole truth?”

  “Of course.”

  “Well, then there’s probably not much more for us to talk about today.”

  “Mr. Kadella,” Judge Rios said as Gondeck started to stand. “Do you have something?”

  As she said this, Grimes looked up at her and held out his arms and said, “Can I go?”

  “On second thought, your Honor, I might have a question or two. Detective Grimes,” Marc began, “did you tell the jury that you made up your mind within minutes of arriving on the scene what you believed happened?”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Really? It’s not? You testified that most homicides are committed by someone who knows the victim, did you not?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Did you not tell the jury that, in your experience, most homicides are obvious about what happened?”

  “I’m not sure…”

  “I can have the court reporter find your exact statement and read it back if you want.”

  “That won’t be necessary. I probably said that.”

  “So, when I asked you if you told the jury your mind was made up within minutes of arriving at the Prentiss home that night and you answered ‘that’s not true’, was that the whole truth you swore to tell them?” This was a question Marc took a risk with. Grimes could still deny it, which he did in fact do, but it would look a little empty to the jury.

  “You actually didn’t do anything to investigate the possibility of a third person in the bedroom that night did you?”

  “The forensics…”

  “We’re back to that whole truth you swore to tell the jury, detective. I didn’t ask you about the forensics, I asked you to come clean and admit you did nothing to follow up on the third person.”

  “Objection,” Gondeck said starting to rise.

  “Overruled.”

  A clearly exasperated witness took a deep breath and calmly said, “There was no reason to. There was no evidence…”

  “So,” Marc interrupted, “the answer to my question is yes, you did nothing to follow up on the possibility of a third person and you did not tell the whole truth because you did not tell the jury this, isn’t that true?”

  “Yes, all right. You’re right,” a clearly exasperated Grimes admitted.

  “May, I approach, your Honor?”

  “Yes, you may.”

  Marc stood up and picked up copies of the fourteen threat letters that Prentiss had received. He walked up to the jury box and handed them to the detective.

  “Detective Grimes, I am showing copies of letters marked as defense exhibits B through O. These were sent by various people making threats against Judge Prentiss. These letters were given to you as part of your case to investigate, weren’t they?”

  “Yes, I, ah, saw them but…”

  “Thank you, detective,” Marc said cutting him off as he stepped forward to take the letters from the witness. He could have used them to further undermine Grimes’ credibility but the detective already admitted he did nothing to follow up on a possible third person, why give him a chance to explain? Marc could now use this in his closing argument and Grimes would have no opportunity to explain or refute him. Another small piece of reasonable doubt had been established.

  Marc took one step toward the defense table, turned back to Grimes and said, “You didn’t explain to the jury that you were given these letters, did you? Isn’t that another missing piece of the whole truth you swore to tell?”

  “Argumentative,” Gondeck said.

  “Sustained. Move on, Mr. Kadella.”

  Marc put the picture of the stained bedroom carpet showing the outline of possible shoe prints back up on the projector.

  “Detective Grimes, were you given photos of the crime scene?”

  “Yes, I was.”

  “Were you given this one?”

  “I believe so, yes.”

  Marc decided not to go any further with that line of questioning. He had achieved what he could from the photo; an admission by the head of the crime scene unit that the photo might show footprints. There was nothing to be gained by giving Grimes a chance to deny it. Again, save the explanation for his closing argument, leave the picture on the screen and move on.

  Marc returned to his seat and looked over the notes he had made for this witness. Maddy had used her rather obvious charms on a male officer in the personnel department of the MPD. As a result, she had provided Marc with a complete copy of the detective’s true record.

  “Detective Grimes, when you began your testimony on direct examination, you began by going into detail about your service record with the police department didn’t you?”

  “Yes, that’s correct,” Grimes answered, squirming a little in his chair.

  “Isn’t it true you have been suspended twice for drinking on the job?”

  “Objection, irrelevant,” Gondeck said.

  “Overruled. Goes to his credibility, Mr. Gondeck. The witness will answer,” Rios ruled.

  “Yes,” Grimes quietly replied.

  “Did you tell that to the jury?”

  “No.”

  “Isn’t it also true your last partner requested a transfer and a new partner be assigned?” Maddy had found this out on her own.

  “Yes, but I don’t know why. Not every partner works out.”

  “Isn’t it true that you have a letter of reprimand in your personnel file because of poor performance; because of your low case closure rate?”

  “Objection! How does he know that and where did he get it?”

  “That’s irrelevant, your Honor. I’m under no obligation to reveal that.”

  “Overruled,” Rios said.

  “Yes, that’s true,” a visibly seething Grimes answered.

  “And that letter of reprimand clearly states that your supervisor at the time believed your low case closure rate was due to your unprofessional methods?”

  “I don’t recall.”

  “May I approach, you Honor?” Marc said as he again stood and started back toward the witness.
/>
  “You may.”

  “Detective Grimes, I am showing you a document entitled Letter of Reprimand. Do you recognize it?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s the letter from your file isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll ask again, does that letter of reprimand clearly state that your supervisor at the time believed your low case closure rate was due to your unprofessional methods?”

  “Yes, I suppose.”

  “Did you tell the jury that as part of your sworn promise to tell the whole truth?”

  “Objection.”

  “Sustained. Move on, Mr. Kadella.”

  “Isn’t it also true that you accidentally shot another police officer by carelessly discharging your gun?”

  “That was a long time ago,” Grimes almost whispered.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Yes,” Grimes said then under his breath whispered, “goddamn lawyers.”

  “Watch yourself, detective!” Rios quickly chastised him.

  “Are there any other whole truths and nothing but the truth that you kept from this jury?”

  “Objection!”

  “Sustained, Mr. Kadella. Put an end to it.”

  “I have nothing further, your Honor,” Marc announced.

  For the next half hour Gondeck, on redirect, tried desperately, but in vain, to rehabilitate his witness. He did the best he could, but the damage had been done. The bell that Marc had rung showing the jury that the police had done a cursory investigation of the case could not be unrung. He had clearly scored the points he could with the sloppy job this investigator had done.

  On the ride up in the elevator, Jennifer Moore, whose job it had been to prepare Grimes, had difficulty working up the courage to ask a very quiet Steve Gondeck a question. Finally, she said, “Are we losing?”

  Gondeck thought about it for a moment then said, “No. I don’t think so. We still have all of the physical evidence tied to Prentiss, plus the pictures. Relax,” he continued weakly smiling at Moore. “You haven’t practiced law until you screw something up like that. We’ve all done it. Learn by your mistakes.”

  “Thanks, Steve,” Jennifer said with a heavy sigh.