by J L Walker
Due to the large number of jurors that reported for the selection process, the proceedings lasted several days. After the third strenuous day of intense scrutiny of the potential jurors, Mike and Reesa walked out of the courthouse at 5 p.m. exhausted.
Once Mike was seated in the passenger side of Reesa’s car, he ran his hands threw his hair and shook his head. “I think I get what your profile of the perfect juror is, but I feel your strategy may be, um, just a little flawed. You seem to be focusing entirely on the women jurors. You haven’t posed a single question to a male prospect.”
“My strategy is not flawed. It’s very simple, Mike. I want twelve jurors whose emotions we’ll be able to manipulate throughout the trial.”
He chuckled. “Then I have absolutely no idea why you’re trying to comprise the jury of mostly women. It’s been my experience that they are the most difficult people on earth to try to manipulate emotionally.”
“Very funny, Mike.”
He glanced over at her. “It wasn’t intended to be a joke. I lived with three women for over twenty years of my life. I can attest to the fact that the times they’ve manipulated me emotionally greatly exceeded the times I successfully manipulated them emotionally. Ah, like in the millions – conservatively speaking of course.”
Reesa stared ahead, contemplating his comment. “Where do you want to go eat? I’m anxious to get back to the office and put all our notes on the white board. I can’t tell you how fortunate we are to get a reprieve at this point in the selection process.”
“I agree. It’s a good thing it didn’t get wrapped up today. If we would have progressed along the path we were on, Adele would probably be spending eternity in the shithole.”
“And what, exactly, do you mean by that?” Reesa asked defensively.
Mike slumped his shoulders and pleaded, “Can we please just get something to eat before we discuss this any further? I’m starving and I have no energy left to debunk your game plan right now. I need nourishment.” He sat back in his seat and began rubbing his forehead.
Reesa didn’t want to take the time to eat at a restaurant. She knew it would be a long night and was anxious to get back to the office and defend her tactics. “Do you like Chinese?”
Mike was looking out the window deep in thought as he contemplated prospective jurors and responded without turning his head. “I don’t discriminate. Actually, I think minorities of any race might be beneficial to the jury pool. There were a few on the panel I’d like to question about – ”
Reesa laughed. “Chinese food, you goofball!”
“Sure…sure, that’s fine.” He was out of energy, and still trying to figure out how he was going make Reesa see that her jury selection strategy was haywire without pissing her off.
After they stopped at a quaint Chinese takeout restaurant, they headed straight to the office with two bags of food.
Immediately upon entering her office, Reesa threw her coat on a chair and placed her briefcase on her desk. “It’s going to be a long night,” she commented gruffly, grabbing files out of the briefcase and tossing them on the desk.
Mike retrieved the small white boxes from the brown paper bags and placed them on the desk. After he had opened them, he handed Reesa some chopsticks. “Let’s eat before this stuff gets cold.”
Once they were eating, Mike finally started to relax a bit. “So, what does Jade do when you work this late? I would think being a single mother would be difficult at times like this.”
“Oh, yes, it must appear I neglect her when you think about how much I work. But, I do have some help.” She couldn’t help but smile. “My neighbors, George and Betty, used to watch her when she was younger and I had to work late. They’re like the grandparents she never had. I don’t know what I’d do without them. Jade adores them. Now that she’s older, she still spends at their apartment, but also spends time with her friends in the building, and at home studying or watching TV. George and Betty always keep track of her whereabouts. It really eases my mind to have them so close.”
“That sounds like an ideal situation.”
“It really is.”
Anxious to get started, Reesa ate very little of her food.
She began writing the numbers of the twenty-eight remaining jury candidates on the white board occupying a large portion of one wall of her office, grouping them into two categories – desirable, and not desirable.
Once she had listed her favored twelve, along with two alternates, she sat the dry-erase marker on the metal ledge and looked at Mike. “Okay, these are my preferred jurors. Of course, we may not get all of them. I’m sure we won’t if Mahoney has his way, but if we can at least get half of them, I’ll be pleased.”
Mike had finished eating and was watching her as she scribbled information on the board. He shook his head slowly and took a deep breath. “You have all women in your lineup, Reesa.”
“Of course, they’re the ones who will sympathize with Adele the most. Men have no idea what it’s like to feel subordinate, to be physically weaker, to have to defend themselves against unwanted sexual advances.”
Mike calmly stood up and walked over to the white board. He casually pointed to a prospect in her undesirable column. “I think this guy, Number 23, would make an excellent juror. You’ve placed him on your undesirable list. Why is that?”
Number 23 was Reesa’s least favorite of all the remaining candidates. She knew why she didn’t like him, but she couldn’t express it to Mike. Number 23 reminded her of Bryan. Not only did his physical appearance resemble him, but his demeanor even reminded her of Bryan – the man she hated most in the world – the man who had raped her. Knowing she had to respond to Mike’s question, she scoffed, “He just looks a little scruffy, devious. I just got a bad vibe from him.”
“Reesa, do you even wonder why I spent so much time questioning him?”
“Not really. I thought it was a waste of time to be honest,” she answered firmly.
“He’s a father. I just think you’re grossly missing the mark on your perception of the male jury candidates. You seem to think woman can empathize with Adele’s plight, but I’ve got to tell you that men, okay, most men, have an ingrained, evolutionary predisposition to protect the women in their lives. I am probably one of the least violent men on the plant, but I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty that if someone had raped, or was attempting to rape one of my daughters or my wife—” He shook his head and looked down, unable to speak for a moment, then looked back up at Reesa. He raised his voice and continued. “I would not only hope they’d have had the fortitude to murder the son of a bitch, if they wouldn’t have, I would find the bastard and kill him myself! With my bare hands if need be!”
Reesa stood there in shock. She had never seen Mike get so enraged. As he stood in front of her, his face was red and his fists were clenched. She was speechless.
He stepped over to the whiteboard and picked up the green marker, swiftly and deliberately placing a large M, for Mike, in front of eight of the male prospects in Reesa’s undesirable column. “There. These are my first choice candidates for jury members. Why? Because every one of these men are fathers.”
Reesa reflected back on what she had perceived as Mike’s very unusual line of questioning during the jury selection process earlier that day. Feeling the overwhelming need to defend herself, she blurted, “But…but you don’t even know if they have daughters. You only casually asked if they had children. What if they only have sons? Why didn’t you ask that? The judge was being very lenient with our questions. You should have caught on to that. Why didn’t you ask them specifically if they had daughter if you were so sure about your precious evolutionary protection theory! That’s all I’m saying.”
“Reesa, I couldn’t ask that. Think about it for a moment. Don’t you think Mahoney would have picked up on my strategy? As soon as he caught on that I wanted fathers with daughters on the jury, the prosecution would have challenged them and we’d be screwed. Mahone
y is, himself, a father. You are missing an extremely valuable point here that could potentially cost Adele life in prison.”
Reesa sat down at her desk and put her head in her hands, trying desperately to consider Mike’s emotional articulation of his jury selection scheme. When she finally looked back up at him, her hair was disheveled from running her hands through it in frustration. “Okay, supposing your right, why are you so hell bent on having Number 23 on the jury? I just don’t like him.”
“Because, he has five children. You don’t think at least one of them is female? He could have five daughters for all we know. What do you have against him anyway?”
Still unable to disclose the true reason she didn’t like him, she answered, “I don’t know, he just looked…”
“A little rough? He’s a construction worker! He probably works his ass off providing for his family. We’d be lucky to have him.”
“Are you so convinced you want this man on the jury that you’re willing to use one of our peremptory challenges on other good candidates to potentially get him?”
“Absolutely!” he quickly responded.
“Okay then, write him in the desirable category. You may have convinced me.” She knew this decision could make or break the verdict and desperately hoped he was correct. She believed Mike was the type of man he described, but found it very difficult to comprehend that the majority of men shared his chivalrous attitudes.
After taking a short break, they resumed the burdensome task of handpicking the perfect jury to hear Adele’s case, as well as strategizing on how to prevent the prosecution from using their peremptory challenges to eliminate the first picks in their lineup.
Once they had solidified their list of the top twelve prospects, it was after midnight. They were both staring at the whiteboard with dazed looks on their faces, making sure they hadn’t missed anything.
Mike looked at Reesa. In a fatigued voice, he asked, “Well, what do you think? Have we missed anything?”
She shook her head and moaned. “I’m still uncomfortable with one thing.”
“And what might that be?”
“I don’t want Number 18 on the jury.”
“Why? I thought he was an upstanding guy. Very logical and articulate. He also seemed willing and anxious to serve.”
“I don’t want logical or articulate or anxious to serve. I want emotional.” She turned her head to look at Mike. “Didn’t he say he was an electrical engineer?”
“Yes, I believe he did. What’s wrong with that?”
“They’re the ultimate problem solvers. He’d probably sit in deliberation and convince everyone on the jury that if Victor had actually raped Adele a week before the murder, she would have found someplace else to stay. He’d brainwash them into thinking everyone on the plant has the same reasoning capabilities he has. I want him off the jury at all costs. If we can’t get him eliminated on cause, I’m willing to use a peremptory challenge to make sure he stays off this jury.”
Mike smiled and shook his head in disbelief.
“What?” she asked snickering. “Are you going to buck me on this one, too?”
“No, not at all. I think that was an excellent catch, Miss Collins. I believe we’ve finally agreed on something!”
13
PRE-TRIAL TREPIDATION
Reesa’s head was pounding as she stepped into the elevator at the break of dawn Friday to head up to her office. After reaching the 62nd floor, she exited and started walking down the quiet corridor. She heard footsteps behind her and quickly turned around to see Mike walking toward her with a notepad in his hand.
“Good morning, Reesa.”
She raised her hand to her heart. “Oh, hi, Mike. You startled me. I’m surprised anyone is here this early in the morning. I hope you haven’t been here very long.”
He looked at his watch. “Only about half an hour. I got here about five thirty.”
“One of these days we need to get a life,” she sighed.
“Yeah, this is getting ridiculous.” He held up the notepad in his hands. “Hey, I have some thoughts for our opening statement. Do you have a moment to discuss my ideas?”
“Yes, I’d love to hear your comments. This is at the top of my agenda for the day. Then I’ll have all weekend to fine tune it. Let’s go to my office and brainstorm a little.” She swiftly turned around and started walking toward her office as Mike shuffled closely behind her.
When she reached her office, she immediately sat down at her desk and began rummaging through the clutter in her bottom desk drawer while Mike began spouting off his ideas for the opening statement.
“Damn it!” she said loudly, still sifting through the drawer.
He stopped talking and looked at her. “What are you looking for? Have you heard a word I’ve said?”
Reesa shut her eyes and put her head in her hands. “No, I’m sorry, Mike. I’m looking for some aspirin. I have a splitting headache. I feel like my head is going to cave in.”
“I have some aspirin in my office. Let me grab some and I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Sure, thanks,” she said, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes as Mike scurried out of the office.
He returned a few minutes later with a bottle of extra-strength aspirin and a glass of water. “Here you are. Hopefully this will help.”
Reesa took the bottle from his hand, shook out three pills, and downed them with several gulps of water. When she sat the glass on her desk, she noticed the concerned look on his face. “I hope to God those work,” she said, grimacing from the bitter taste in the back of her mouth.
“I do too. No offense, but you don’t look so hot. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you have a fever or anything? Upset stomach?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s just a headache. I’ll be fine in a few minutes. Let’s discuss your ideas. We really need to get going on this. With the trial commencing Monday, I’m just not sure how we’ll get everything pulled together.”
He leaned in toward her. “Hey, we’ll get it done, okay? I’ll work around the clock if I have to.”
She forced a smile. “I know you will, Mike. Let’s get busy, shall we?”
After listening to Mike’s ideas, she interjected her own thoughts and goals for the opening statement.
A few hours later, Reesa’s assistant stepped into the office. She glanced over to her as she entered the room. “Good morning, Meghan. Did you have any luck yesterday?”
“I was able to get in touch with LeeAnn, but she can’t come until Friday the twenty-fourth. That’s the only time her mother-in-law can stay with the kids. Should I go ahead and make the travel arrangements?”
Reesa glanced at Mike who was waiting for her response. He gave her a quick nod and she replied, “Yes, go ahead and book the trip. Thanks, Meghan. Oh, any luck with the other witnesses?”
Meghan quickly looked through the file in her hand. “Yes, I think I’ve got just about everyone else lined up, but Mrs. DeWald won’t return my calls. Any suggestions?”
“Keep trying. If you haven’t reached her by the end of the day, let me know.”
“Will do.”
“Thanks, Meghan.”
After she left the office, Reesa began tapping her pencil on the desk, deep in thought. “Damn it. We’ll have to rearrange our witness schedule the best we can to accommodate LeeAnn’s testimony.”
“Do you foresee a problem with this? I mean, that would be the end of the second week of the trial.”
“Um, no, not really. I think we’ll be fine. I’m anticipating the trial will last several weeks anyway. I was just hoping to have Adele testify last. Depending on how the trial progresses, we may have to bump her up on the witness list. We’ll just have to figure out a way to make it all work to our advantage.”
“What about Mrs. DeWald? Do you anticipate that to be a problem?”
Reesa shook her head and answered fervently, squinting her eyes as she spoke. “No, I’ll find her myself and drag
her to court by her hair if I have to.”
Mike snickered. “I really doubt that will be necessary. There are other ways to ensure she appears in court. She has been subpoenaed you know.”
Reesa grimaced.
Mike tilted his head to the side. “Are you okay? Headache still bothering you?”
She shut her eyes. “Yes. It just won’t go away.”
“I think I can help if you’d let me.”
“Do you have a gun so you can put me out of my misery? If not, there’s one in my middle drawer,” she replied, attempting to smile.
“Ah, that’s not exactly what I had in mind. I was thinking more along the line of a head and neck massage. I’m actually pretty good at it.”
“I guess I’m willing to try anything at this point. It’s been almost two hours since I took the aspirin and it’s only gotten worse.”
Mike got up from his chair and walked over to her. He stood behind her and raised his hands toward her neck, then paused. He looked down at her and in a quite tone he asked, “Can I touch you?”
She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. “Why are you asking me that?”
“Because you flinch every time I touch you. The last thing I want to do is cause you more stress.”
Flustered, she answered, “Yes…yes, of course you can touch me.”
“I know this is a tall order, but I need you to try to relax. Close your eyes and loosen your shoulders a bit,” he ordered as he began softly pinching various areas of her upper neck. “I can tell you’re still very tense.”
“It’s this case. I won’t be able to relax until it’s over and Adele is acquitted. God help me if she isn’t.”
“You’ve been involved in other difficult cases. It seems this one is causing you more stress for some reason. You can’t keep feeling this stressed out without it eventually affecting your health. Do you do anything relaxing when you get home? A warm bath, meditate, watch TV, anything?”