by Rich Foster
*
March arrived. The weather softened into endless drizzle. The last vestiges of snow melted away. It was mud season. People slogged through it. They set their hopes upon the future, looking forward to spring when drier weather would begin; forgetting that with warm weather came deer flies and mosquitoes.
Jury selection for the trial began on the twenty-fifth of March. Samuel Stein made Robert passably presentable with a haircut and a new suit. Between a mixture of prescribed medications and cajoling by Stein, his client held onto a margin of sobriety. Free from the odor of alcohol.
Stein’s biggest problem was the deadness in Goodman’s eyes. They were not eyes that elicited sympathy. Unable to alter them, he hoped to turn it an advantage, claiming his client was still emotionally devastated from his loss.
The week before the trial commenced, Travis Parks checked the schedule for the three judges who served the District Court. Judges were assigned cases as they commenced. The rotation list was tentative; subject to change in trial dates.
Parks urged one of his clients, who he planned to take to trial, into unexpectedly plea-bargaining out. The next day he requested a last minute postponement in another case. This caused the rotation to shift twice.
To Robert’s disadvantage Judge Adam Kellner got the case. The judge had seen Goodman up on several drunk and disorderly charges besides one DUI. Twice he gave him thirty days in jail. When Stein entered the court and saw the judicial change he blamed it on bad luck. “Justice is not always an even thing,” he said to Robert. He erred again when he failed to ask for a change in venue. In a perfect world, Robert’s record would not count against him, but even judges were shaped by their prejudices.
Both attorneys reviewed the jury pool list. It was drawn from the local allotment of registered voters. Parks was seeking registered Republicans. They tended to hold corporations free from liability. People could fend for themselves. As a group they were more religious and conservative. They saw the world in black and white, good and evil, God’s will versus the Devil’s plotting.
Stein sought Democrats who were likely social-welfare leaning liberals. He wanted people who saw alcohol as a medical not a moral problem. He needed people who believed in society as an older “big” brother whose obligation was to right wrongs. To Stein’s mind democrats were just as religious as republicans, but they believed in a more airy-fairy faith. Big business and the power elite were their devils, not Satan.
When it came to gender, Parks wanted men. They were more apt to see Goodman as weak, something most men imagined they would never be. Stein sought out women, especially those who had given birth. Women were forgiving, they were nurturing, and more likely to feel the pain that talk of losing a child would stir.
Social-economic class also shaped their choices. Parks wanted white-collar professionals, while Stein’s ideal choice was working class men, especially those who felt they had “never got a leg up.”
Civil trials required only six jurors. Each attorney had five peremptory challenges. The local population voted overwhelmingly, Republican, which nominally favored the New Life Church. But, women voted more often than men, so it was almost a draw as to advantage.
Judge Kellner ran the voire dire. By a show of hands they answered questions put to them by the judge. Ninety percent had a belief in God or a higher power. Sixty percent said they regularly talked to God and a surprising four in ten said that God answered.
Stein noted those whose hands went up more slowly. Ideological minds could only hurt him. Those jurors, whose hands shot up, were the ones Travis Parks noted.
All but one prospective juror believed our jury system was fair. Eight in ten believed the court system “almost always” returned just verdicts. The other twenty percent thought it, “usually” did.
Samuel was forced to use three of his dismissals without cause early, three men in the first round were, Republican, and the quickest with their answers. God talked to all three of them. They left, happy to so easily escape their civic duty.
Parks used a peremptory on a woman. Stein suspected it was because she was a member of A.A.
Two woman were seated and one man.
Parks dismissed two younger people. He needed jurors who were economically invested in the system. Then Stein dismissed a man who by chance he overheard using the word “nigger” outside the courthouse. Even if the man were an ideal juror, Samuel Stein would have dismissed him. Philosophically and from personal experience he despised bigots.
Stein used his last challenge on a juror who was too well dressed. After that Parks quickly finished and the jury was impaneled.
The panel favored Parks. But it was hard to tell what a jury might do. Judge Kellner ordered the trial to begin at nine A.M. the next morning, then rose and left the courtroom.
Outside in the parking lot, Samuel pulled Robert aside. “Do not drink. Do not go near a bar. They are going to put you on trial! Go visit your daughter.”
“She’s in Beaumont!” he protested.
“It’s an hour’s drive. Go see her! This bus crash was big news, locally. We need to make sure the Clarion covers our suit. I want the paper to read, “Man Sues to Help Crippled Daughter!” Believe me, when a judge tells a juror not to read about a case, it’s akin to telling a moth to stay away from a flame.”
Robert reluctantly promised to go. His medications made the job of driving to Beaumont seem a Herculean task. But, he told himself, if it helped to win his case and punish the church, he would do anything, stay sober, go to Beaumont, or even go to the gates of hell.
He found June in high spirits. Robert was a lousy father, but he was the only one she knew. She was happy to see him. The floor nurse told Robert that her prognosis was promising. Any brain damaged she suffered appeared to be negligible.
Her arm was fine. The casts were gone; but she wore rigid plastic braces on her legs. The bones contained numerous stainless steel screws that held the shattered bones together. Physical therapy was rebuilding the strength she lost lying in bed.
June proudly told him how she had stood, that day, unassisted for ten seconds between the parallel bars. As she talked, Robert felt little connection to his daughter. His children were strangers to him. Her suffering fed his desire for revenge on the church, but it did not move him to try and get close to her. As she talked, the words floated past, as unregistered thoughts.
Ten minutes after he arrived, the administrator for the re-hab hospital hurried in. She told Robert that he would have to leave. Having lost custody, it was necessary for him to contact Miss Goodman’s caseworker before he visited.
Robert’s first impulse was to strike out. The woman never knew how close she came to suffering violence. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he mentally saw himself slamming the bitches face into the wall. Mellowed by tranquilizers, he was able to fight off the urge and remain calm. He said good-bye to June and left without incident.
It was a fortunate end to his visit, for when he came out of the facility a reporter approached him from the Clarion. Lou Harding had come to the re-hab center at Sam Stein’s urging. On the phone Stein pitched the story as a “human interest” feature.
The short piece that ran on page three carried a decent picture of Goodman. The article recounted the tragic accident, posed questions about the safety of the bus, and was sympathetic to Robert and June.
Though pleased when he read the story, Stein knew that public sentiment and the goodwill of the press blew as capriciously as the wind.
Opening arguments began. Samuel Stein laid out their claim. Negligence, by the New Life Redemption church, and their driver Jason Haskell, led to a needless and avoidable accident that claimed the life of his client’s wife and daughter. His other daughter, June, lay crippled in bed, grievously injured. These actions caused Mr. Goodman and his daughter serious financial loss. They further had immeasurable physical and mental suffering. His opening arguments took twenty minutes.
Travis Parks' openi
ng was more succinct. This was a tragic accident, yes. But it was an act of God. The church was certainly not negligent, nor would it be fair to hold the church liable for actions of the Almighty. Furthermore, while not intending to diminish the tragedy of lost life, he questioned the degree of Mr. Goodman’s suffering given his marital and parental record.
The juror’s preferred Travis to Samuel. The one was young, good looking, and dressed in a tailored suit. The other was older, over weight, and clothed off the rack.
Travis knew all trials contained an element of a beauty pageant; even blind people were not immune to being prejudiced by the tenor of a lawyer’s voice. Stein’s voice possessed an irritatingly nasal quality. Parks strove to be mellow and smooth. His every body gesture was a calculated act. He was an actor on a familiar stage.
Samuel Stein thought the case would be a slam-dunk. From the opening, he was outmaneuvered. When he attempted to enter the condition of the bus. Parks objected, on the grounds that the vehicle bore a valid inspection stamp. He argued that evidence must be introduced as foundation.
The objection was upheld. Undeterred, Stein entered the certificate into the record. But, when he attempted to call Walter Swanson to testify about the inspection, the Parks again objected, stating, a valid state inspection certificate has been entered into the record attesting to the condition of the New Life church’s bus. If the plaintiff’s counsel has concerns about the actions of the Motor Vehicle Department, then that should be a separate legal action against the state. Any discussion as to the condition of the bus should be limited to evidence of mechanical failings after the time after the inspection.”
Judge Kellner sustained the objection.
Samuel then attempted to enter the accident report filed by the inspector from the State Highway Patrol. Once again the defense objected.
“No trail of custody was established for the bus, Your Honor. In fact, the wrecking yard where the bus is currently stored is an unsecured facility.”
Stein requested a sidebar with the judge. The lawyers approached the bench, but after some discussion beyond the hearing of the jury, Kellner ruled that the only admissible evidence from the report was the objective fact established at the scene that a brake line had ruptured.
Failing to introduce substantive facts into the record, Stein resorted to pathos. Continuing, he verbally painted a gruesome picture of the accident scene and the devastation that Mr. Goodman’s family suffered. He cited the pain and continued suffering of Robert’s daughter. He pleaded for his client’s loss of conjugal rights, love, affection, and financial assistance. He concluded that justice demanded his client be compensated.
Travis Parks began his defense. He looked at Goodman with an expression that showed sympathy for Robert’s pain but somehow also helped dismiss that pain from the juror’s thoughts.
“My client, The New Life Redemption Church, operated a bus to help those less fortunate get to church.” His voice was strong and firm. It carried well. “That vehicle was duly inspected by an employee of this state, and certified. Who is my client to question the state? Are my clients a mechanics? No they are just working people like you!
The fact that this tragic accident occurred is most regrettable, but though the church may be a house of God, it hardly follows that the Almighty is subject to their control! Is it reasonable, that God fearing, hard working American men and women should be financially enslaved to compensate a man who has suffered a loss, but whose own actions would give the lie to his claims of desolation?
After saying this of the accident, Travis never mentioned it again. His defense then, slowly and methodically, destroyed Robert Goodman.
Samuel tried to object, but Judge Kellner ruled the plaintiff’s actions could be illustrative of his state of mind.
Parks introduced into evidence the front page of the Clarion, which carried a picture of Robert kicking Jason’s body. He rhetorically asked if this were from grief or just behavior typical of Robert Goodman.
Next he called Lisa’s doctor to testify about signs of physical abuse. Under oath the doctor confirmed having observed physical injuries on Lisa Goodman that she stated her husband inflicted.
Moses was called. The defense established that Robert sat in a bar drinking for a week while the bodies of his wife and elder daughter lay unclaimed in the morgue and his other daughter was in intensive care.
Next, the jury listened to testimony from an ICU nurse. She reported that when Mr. Goodman finally came to visit, “He arrived disgustingly drunk.”
The most damning testimony came from the morgue attendant, who paid Robert back for his violence, by retelling in detail Robert’s actions. He especially stressed his comments to “burn them.”
“By this you understood Mr. Goodman to mean his wife and daughter’s remains?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you ever known anyone, no matter how bereaved, to use similar language?”
“No sir!”
“No more questions.”
At that point the judge called a recess for lunch.
Two hours later the attack resumed. Robert’s filing for bankruptcy was introduced as a motive for his litigation.
“Mister Goodman has hopes of regaining his financial health through litigating his wife’s death. While no longer being responsible for is surviving daughter,” Travis claimed.
Samuel objected.
Travis asked for a sidebar.
At the bench, outside of the jury’s hearing Stein argued, “Mr. Goodman’s troubles were a direct result of medical bills and lost earnings pursuant to the accident.”
“Your honor,” Parks countered, “I am about to introduce evidence, that Mr. Goodman does not retain custody of his daughter, thus, her medical bills are not his concern.”
“Your honor, those bills arose as a direct result of the accident. They are the consequence of injuries June Goodman received. They can hardly be used to smear my client!” said with growing frustration.
The sidebar ended and the lawyers returned to their sides.
“Objection sustained! The jury will ignore all testimony regarding Mr. Goodman’s intent in filing this litigation. Let the court stenographer strike it from the record.”
Travis knew it would be struck, while knowing the information was not as easily removed from the juror’s minds.
The final blow came when Travis called the investigating social worker that recommended June be taken into State Custodial Services. Sitting at the plaintiff’s table Robert listened to the litany of his failings. He felt hatred for his fellow man and a strong desire to take a drink.
Final arguments began.
Samuel Stein failed to find eloquence during an impassioned plea. He was sailing on the Titanic, and he knew it. Stein looked forward to abandoning ship.
“An act of God?” he asked, a question that was later used as a caption in the Clarion. “Is the loss of one’s family so easily dismissed? Justice is not about abstract morality but about what is right. Does not the Good Book itself say, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? Does not the Old Testament law lay down the concept of financial compensation for loss? In fact, it names actual amounts for compensation of a life! My client, Mr. Goodman was grievously injured by the grossly negligent actions of the New Life Redemption church. They may claim it was unintentional, but that would not be cause to hold them blameless. Justice demands you compensate Mister Goodman. I implore you to find for the plaintiff.”
He sat down. The eyes of the jury avoided meeting his. Those that drifted toward the plaintiff’s table looked at Robert Goodman with visible distaste.
Travis Parks rose.
“My friends, this case is not to be decided by pleading or begging, but by the law. This was a tragic accident, period. There are those who might wish to blame it on God. So be it, but does that make this church, financially responsible for God’s actions? It is a ridiculous argument.
The facts are these, the bus operated by the New Life R
edemption Church, carried a valid safety inspection certificate. Neither the owners nor the driver are or were mechanics. You cannot find them negligent for something of which they have no knowledge.
“When was the last time you crawled under your car or truck and looked at the brakes? We all live by trust! We exercise it everyday. We trust our cars will work, we trust the chair we sit on will hold us up. But accidents happen, without intent, negligence, or malice being shown. You cannot reasonably find against my client.”
Travis Parks was calm and cool in his delivery. He rested his defense.
Judge Kellner announced a recess until the following morning when he would instruct the jury. That evening, as they departed the courthouse, Samuel tried to be optimistic. But both knew they had lost. The jury despised his Goodman.
That night Robert stopped taking the tranquillizers, Stein had urged on him. Despite a craving for a drink, though, he was determined to wait until the next day, no matter how slim his chance of winning.
The next morning Robert dressed for court. He skipped breakfast. At eight o’clock, with adequate time to get to court, he walked out to his truck. On the seat lay a bottle of Johnnie Walker scotch. He never had enough money to buy Black Label.
He had no idea where it came from. It seemed doubtful Moses would send him a gift. Perhaps it was Stein’s way of letting him down easy.
He eyed the amber liquid. One drink wouldn’t hurt, he thought. He cracked the seal and took a slug. The liquor rolled around in his mouth, he swallowed and savored the burn as it slid down to his belly. He took another sip to wash down the first, and then a final nip for the road.
On the way to town, self-pity rose up in him and he took another drink. A passing patrol car almost caught him, so Robert thought it best to stop. He nursed on the bottle, like a happy baby with a pacifier. With each swig he felt better, until he remembered the time. He was late. In his haste to cap the bottle, it slipped, spilling the precious whiskey in his lap. Disgusted with himself, he chugged what little booze remained. He foolishly imagined he had spilled most of it, but his judgment was distorted. In fact, he had consumed the majority of a fifth. Drunk, Robert pulled out onto the road and continued to court.