by Denise Irwin
Leona giggled, “That’s what I’m trying to do. Husband, I miss you.”
“I miss you too. I’ll talk to you either later this evening or tomorrow.”
Sam’s lunch arrived as he hung up the phone.
The jurors were in their seats when Smyth entered the room with Joe Schuman. As Schuman made his way to the witness stand, Smyth asked the jurors how lunch was today. The jurors acknowledged lunch was fine.
“Well, then, if there are no complaints about lunch,” a few jury members chortled. “This is the last witness for the day and the last witness I’ve subpoenaed for this case. This is FBI Director Joseph Shuman of the Boston Office. Director Schuman is not only Agent Henson’s boss; he is also the person who asked Agent Henson to investigate this case.”
Smyth faced the jury, “As in all the previous testimonies you’ve heard, I will ask Director Schuman several questions after which, you may ask him questions yourself to clarify any questions you may have.”
Smyth then turned his attention to the director. “Director Schuman, were you the person who assigned Agent Henson to handle this investigation?”
“Yes sir, I was.”
“Were there other agents available that you could have assigned the investigation to?”
“There were; however, Agent Henson had completed a money laundering case in Las Vegas this past spring with a successful result. That made her the most experienced agent on my team for this investigation.”
“Did Agent Henson work with an FBI partner in the Las Vegas investigation?”
“No, we hired a consultant to work with her.”
“Are you at liberty to give us the name of that consultant?”
“Yes, he’s a Private Investigator from Baltimore, Maryland. His name is Sam Marksman.”
“May I have the name of the agent that was assigned to work with Agent Henson in Atlantic City?”
Schuman squirmed in his chair, he stammered a bit, and then hesitated before responding. “I was directed to have Cassie work with an Agent by the name of Bruce Grossman.” Schuman’s face turned a sickly pale gray.
“Director, you just referred to Bruce Grossman as an agent, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. At the time I believed he was an agent.”
“Director Schuman, did you check into Grossman’s credentials?” Smyth turned slightly toward the jury so that he would be able to see their reaction to the answer.
“Mr. Smyth, he was referred by the Assistant FBI Director in Washington, DC. If Grossman’s credentials should have been checked, the DC office should have checked them.”
“Who made that call to your office recommending Grossman?”
“Mr. Smyth, I just told you, the call came from the Assistant Director.”
“Speaking hypothetically, is there a possibility that the person you spoke with wasn’t the Assistant Director? Did the two of you speak more than once?”
“No, we only spoke once. There was no reason to question the authenticity of Grossman’s credentials.”
“Director, were you aware that Henson and Grossman would be working out of his house?”
“Yes sir, I was. Grossman suggested his residence wouldn’t draw suspicion since he grew up in the house.”
“Director, were you aware that a communication room had not been set up in Grossman’s home.”
“No. I assumed that it had been set up by another office.”
“So, you allowed an agent from your team to work with an agent you’d never heard of, in his private residence, without a communication room.”
“Mr. Smyth, I will spend the rest of my life regretting that I did not do my job correctly.”
“Director Schuman, while that may be true, you did not answer my question.”
“Yes Mr. Smyth, I put my agent’s life at risk.” Shuman hung his head looking at his folded hands in his lap.
Smyth addressed the jury. “Is there anyone who would like to pose a question to Director Schuman?” When no one raised a hand, Smyth turned to Schuman and told him, “Director Schuman, thank you for your testimony. You may leave the jury room.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to propose that rather than deliberate this afternoon, you come back and deliberate in the morning. Are there any objections to that thought?”
When no one objected, he released the jury for the day.
On Wednesday morning, Smyth gathered the jurors into the jury room. Smyth appointed Juror One as the jury foreman.
Smyth gave them their instructions, “Juror One will review the charges, and you are encouraged to discuss your thoughts on each charge. The foreman will then ask each member to vote for or against indicting the defendant. There is a copy of the testimony for each juror; however, if you need to speak to me, Juror One will pass a note through the slot in the door to me. Are there any questions?”
Juror Six raised her hand. “Must there be a total consensus between us?”
“When the votes are read by Juror One, the majority ruling will take precedence. If there’s a tie in votes for and against indictments, I want to be called into the room, to assist the discussion.”
Smyth left the jury room and sat in the outer chamber to prepare for his next case. He checked his watch. The time was 9:30. If the deliberation weren’t complete by 11:30, he would order lunch for them.
Sam rose early, and after a light breakfast, took a walk along Atlantic City’s boardwalk. He had to laugh when he saw a number of people swimming in the ocean, since it was November, which meant that the water had to be cold. He’d brought a book with him so, he grabbed a cup of coffee and sat on a bench facing the ocean and read his book.
Beth, Mr. Brown’s secretary, called Leona and asked her to come to his office. Leona responded that she was on her way. Before leaving her office, Leona took one last look around her office where she’d worked hard for this firm. She knew Brown was going to lay her off. The box containing her personal items was gone from the desk drawer. Beth probably had the box in her office. At this point, Leona believed Beth had gone through the box to make sure Leona wasn’t sneaking away with the firm’s office supplies. After letting out a sad sigh, she took the elevator up to his office.
Cassie doubled over with laughter, “Paul, do you understand the concept of the card game? I can’t believe I’ve beaten you every game.”
“Agent Henson, cards are not my forte, do you play chess?”
“Yes I do.”
“After lunch, I’ll check and see if there’s a chess board available.”
In the Jury Chamber, Juror One took the lead, “If no one objects, can we go through the charges and testimony starting with the first charge AUSA Smyth presented. The charge is for Money Laundering.”
The jurors nodded that was the best place to start. “Does anyone want to start the discussion?”
Juror Two raised his hand. “I find that what the defendant said about the money in his basement interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone with that amount of money in the house.”
Juror Five spoke to that comment after she found the copies of the defendant’s bank statements from the stack of paper evidence. “When I look at his bank statements, he always makes cash deposits. In today’s world, most transactions are made electronically, so in my mind, we don’t know where that cash came from.”
Juror Six commented, “The defendant said he didn’t trust banks.”
Juror Sixteen retorted with, “In her testimony, Agent Henson said she saw crates marked as fresh vegetables on the kitchen floor of the casino, near the end of her shift. He may have been skimming money from those crates.”
Juror Nine weighed in with, “Why would he have a bomb set up in his basement that if activated it would blow up all his money?”
Juror Three answered the question, “If that money in his basement belonged to someone else, the bomb would destroy the evidence.”
Juror Nine asked, “Are you thinking that money belonged to the mob?”
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Juror Three responded with, “That’s just a suggestion, but ask yourself this, would anyone of us be able to put our hands on that much cash. I certainly don’t have that much cash in my basement.”
The room went silent as each juror pondered that thought in his or her head. Juror One asked, “Is there anyone who would care to elaborate on the money laundering charge?”
When no one put a hand up, he asked the jurors, “Do we want to move on to the next charge, or would you like to vote on the first charge?”
Juror Fifteen told him, “I’m ready to vote now then move to the next charge.”
When all the remaining jurors nodded their heads in agreement, Juror One handed out ballots. When he collected the executed ballots, he asked the jurors, “Do you want me to count the results now or wait and read all the charges when we’re done?”
Juror Six was the first to speak, “I can only speak for myself, but I think I’d like to hear the count now.”
Juror Nine said, “I agree with Juror Six.”
Juror One asked, “If everyone’s in agreement, I’ll count them now.” When the jurors acknowledged they agreed, Juror One took the ballots and one by one read them aloud.
There were sixteen ballots to indict. Not one jury member had voted against an indictment.
Juror One stood and presented the second charge for Making a Bomb. Many of the jurors laughed. “What’s so funny?”
Juror Two responded first. “We just discussed the money laundering charge that included the defendant’s bomb in the basement. Additionally, Grossman acknowledged he’d made the bomb during his testimony I say we go straight for a vote unless someone needs to discuss an aspect of that charge.”
Juror Nine agreed, along with Juror Sixteen and Juror Eight.
“Okay, if everyone is in agreement that we have enough evidence without additional discussion, we can do that. By a show of hands, do you agree to move forward with the vote?”
Everyone in the room raised a hand. Juror One handed out the ballots and when he counted them, all sixteen jury members voted for indictment.
Juror One announced, “Let’s discuss the charge of Attempted Murder on an FBI Agent. Would anyone like to discuss this charge?”
Several jurors mumbled that they did not need to discuss the charge.
“By a show of hands, do we vote on this charge without discussing it?”
Every juror in the room raised a hand. When Juror counted the votes, all sixteen jurors voted for indictment.
Juror One announced, “Let’s move on to the last charge of Impersonating a Federal Law Enforcement Officer.”
Juror Two raised his hand and told the other jurors, “In my opinion, this is a no brainer. However, I sure as hell hope somebody’s looking into Director Schuman.”
Juror Six was about to speak, when Juror One, indicated he needed to interject, “Juror Two, we need to stay focused on the charge at hand. Our comments should remain within the realm of the defendant. Juror Six, I cut you off, so please say what you wanted to tell the other jurors.”
“Thank you, but I think I’ll refrain. I was going to agree with Juror Two.”
Juror One looked around the table, “Does anyone want to add comments to this charge?” No one spoke, so he moved on, “Is there anyone not ready to cast a vote?”
The jurors shook their heads, no. “Okay, this is the last ballot for today.”
With the sixteen ballots in his hand, he read them aloud, and for the last charge, all the jurors voted for indictment.
“Before I give our ballots to Mr. Smyth, earlier this morning when he appointed me as foreman, he said it was important that I ask if anyone felt pressured to cast a vote either for or against indictment. I’m going to record that information. I’ll go first. Juror One was not pressured.”
Juror One went through the remaining jurors, two through sixteen and none of jurors felt pressured by anyone to cast their vote for indictment. “I’ll give these to AUSA Smyth.”
When Juror One returned to the jury room, Smyth was with him.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for taking on the responsibility of serving on the Grand Jury. You are excused from this case.”
As the jury filed out of the room, Smyth heard them as they thanked one another for being cooperative. He heard several of the men suggest getting together for a beer. He chuckled to himself as he listened because as soon as he finished making a couple of phone calls, that’s exactly what he planned to do.
Leona sat quietly in Mr. Brown’s outer office with his secretary, Beth. After waiting for thirty minutes Leona asked, “Should I leave and come back later when Mr. Brown’s available?”
“Leona, I’m sorry that you’ve been waiting this long. Just before you arrived an angry client came into the office demanding to see Herman.”
“Beth, then I should go back to my office and wait.”
“No, Herman said you needed to wait for him here.”
“Yes ma’am.” Was he afraid she would trash her office or take the time to steal the office supplies?
Smyth’s first call was to Judge Schofield’s chambers. When his secretary answered the phone, Smyth asked her, “Amy, is the Judge available?”
“No Phil, he’s not. He’s in the courtroom. Is there something I can help with?”
“The Grand Jury voted unanimously to indict on all charges in the Grossman case. I wanted to ask him how fast we can get this set for trial.”
“I’ve got his schedule in front of me. How many days do you need?”
“Maybe four with cross by the defense.”
“Let’s see. I have Tuesday, November 27 through 30. Do you want me to pencil you in?”
“I’d rather you used ink.”
Amy laughed, “Okay counselor, you’re in ink. I’ll notify the Clerk’s Office to send out notices to you and the defense attorney, Antonio LoVerde. Should I include the witness summons?”
“Amy, you aren’t paid enough. Please, if it’s not a problem. I think the girls in the Clerk’s Office are nicer to you than they are with me.”
“Ah, it’s just one of benefits of being a judge’s secretary. They think I’m scary.”
After Smyth gave the names of the witnesses he needed to summon to court, his next call was to Frankel. “Mr. Frankel’s Office, how may I help you?”
“Karen, it’s Phil Smyth, is Adam available?”
“Oh yes, he is. He even took his lunch in his office, so he wouldn’t miss your call. Hold on just a sec while I let him know you’re on the line.”
“Thanks Karen.”
Adam had been sitting on pins and needles waiting Smyth’s call. “Phil, how’d it go?”
“Unanimous vote on all charges, court date is set for Tuesday, November 27. Amy’s sending out the witnesses’ summonses today.”
“That’s incredible, unanimous on all charges? What did you offer them?”
“You know better than to ask what I offered them; the only thing that was offered were the standard daily pay rate and a free lunch. Grossman made a great witness and suspect for the jurors to hate.”
“I’m glad to hear that; are you planning to grab a beer on the way home?”
“Yeah, I think I’m going to head for that little pub around the corner. The invitation is there if you want to join me.”
“I’ll be there. I want to hear all the dip, so I’m ready for tomorrow.”
Sam was tired of reading on the bench, so he grabbed his car from the casino’s parking lot and headed to the little pub around the corner from the courthouse for a beer and burger.
Herman Brown’s client finally left and he called Leona into his office. “Please take a seat Ms. Parker.” Leona wanted to tell him, I’m no longer Ms. Parker, I am Mrs. Marksman; instead, she took the seat across his desk and smiled at him.
“I apologize for keeping you waiting for so long. As you are aware, Mr. Bouchard is no longer associated with the firm. There was a difficult and lengthy discussion
before the partners made the decision to let him go. Unfortunately, we are not financially able to replace his position at this time, so unfortunately we will no longer require your services. Please don’t think your services weren’t exemplary; Brown and Brown values each employee with our firm. We will prepare a letter of recommendation for any job you apply to for employment. I understand that you have used all of your vacation, so unfortunately you will be leaving today without additional funds. You are of course eligible for unemployment benefits. The firm makes its payments in a timely schedule to guarantee that those funds are available in these unfortunate instances. Do you have any questions?”
Leona wanted to scream at him, what about my fucking compensation, but Brown had made himself clear that she would not receive any compensation.
“No sir, I believe that you said everything I needed to hear.”
“Beth has your personal belongings packed in a box. You may retrieve them as you leave.” Brown lowered his gazed to examine paperwork on his desk.
Without saying another word to this monster, she left his office closing the door behind her. Beth had the box on her desk. She started to say something to Leona, but Leona grabbed her box and left without acknowledging Herman’s secretary.
Leona took the elevator down to the floor she used to work on. When the elevator doors opened, she walked to Shelly’s desk. Without looking up, Shelly asked, “Is it lunch time already?”
“No, it’s not. Do you want to have dinner with me tonight?”
Shelly looked up and saw the box, “Sure, I’ll call you when I’m ready to leave the office and we’ll pick a place to meet.”
Cassie could not hold back her laughter, “Where did you learn to play chess; ‘cause you suck at it.”
“I’m letting you win.”
“Yeah right, you are.”