A Time to Stand

by Robert Whitlow

  “My family and I appreciate all you’re doing,” Luke replied.

  They continued toward the courthouse. Before they entered, a deputy with the sheriff’s department came out and stopped them.

  “This way,” he said.

  Adisa and Reggie left Deshaun Hamlin’s hospital room.

  “It doesn’t get any easier,” Adisa said after visiting the comatose young man for the third time. “Initially, I was glad to see him alive. Now it’s depressing to think this might be the only existence he ever has.”

  “That’s one reason I talk normally to him. It’s a way to build my faith that someday he’ll respond. And Dr. Steiner told the family yesterday that surgery is looming on the horizon.”

  Adisa’s stomach turned over at the stress related to Deshaun’s condition.

  “When can I see you again?” Reggie asked when they reached the hospital elevator.

  “I’m here every day,” Adisa replied, sounding more casual about seeing the minister than she felt. She’d found herself thinking a lot about Reggie while she sat in Aunt Josie’s hospital room.

  “I’m leading the worship service at the church tonight,” he said. “Would you like to come? I won’t make you sit on the front row or call on you to pray in front of everyone.”

  “I’d like that,” Adisa replied with a smile. “And praying in public isn’t a problem for me. As a lawyer, I’ve had to open my mouth in environments a lot more hostile than a church service.”

  “Great. We begin at 7:00 p.m.”

  After Reggie left, Adisa peeked into Aunt Josie’s room. The older woman’s power nap was over, and she was sitting up straighter in her bed than Adisa had seen before.

  “Did someone help you sit up?” Adisa asked.

  “No, I did it myself,” Aunt Josie answered. “Where’s Pastor Reggie?”

  “He left after we prayed with Deshaun.”

  “Any change?”

  “Dr. Steiner, the neurosurgeon, says the swelling in Deshaun’s brain is slowly going down, which means the possibility for surgery to remove the bullet is increasing. If he survives the surgery, the future is completely unknown.”

  Aunt Josie pointed up with her increasingly strong right hand. “And we know who holds the future,” the older woman said.

  Adisa left the hospital for the courthouse. She’d called Jasper Baldwin’s office and told him she wanted to talk to him about the case against Officer Nelson. To her surprise, the DA agreed to meet with her.

  “I mentioned your name to our receptionist and found out how extensive your family’s contacts are in Nash County,” Baldwin said.

  That comment made Adisa realize that the DA viewed her as a person with political influence. She didn’t try to convince him otherwise.

  “You’ll be glad to know that I’m presenting the case against Officer Nelson to the grand jury this afternoon,” the DA continued. “Why don’t you swing by at one thirty so we can chat for a few minutes?”

  “That would be great.”

  On the way, she made up her mind what she wanted to do. If Jasper Baldwin was open to the possibility of her serving as special prosecutor, Adisa would turn down the job offer from Theo Grayson. However, even if the DA told her he wasn’t going to bring in a special prosecutor, Adisa would still turn down Grayson’s offer and pray for something else to open up. Putting herself in the position of trying to exonerate the man who had wrongfully sent Deshaun Hamlin into the dark abyss of a gunshot-induced coma wasn’t something she could do under any circumstances.

  There weren’t any parking spaces near the courthouse, and Adisa had to walk three blocks. She encountered a group of about twenty people, all white, gathered in support of the police officer. Several held signs. Adisa didn’t make eye contact as she passed by and climbed the broad steps leading to the main courthouse entrance.

  Inside, she came face-to-face with a large group of at least 150 people, mostly blacks with a smattering of whites. They were milling around the hallway in front of the clerk’s office. The size of the second group explained the parking problem she’d encountered. A middle-aged black man Adisa didn’t recognize seemed to be leading the group. He was confronting a pair of white deputies who were blocking the stairwell to the second floor. The black man was yelling and pointing his finger at one of the deputies.

  “Are you going to use that gun to shoot me like Nelson did Deshaun? These people have a right to be heard!”

  Adisa edged closer.

  “I don’t have a gun!” the man continued, holding up his hands. “But I have a voice! We all have a voice!”

  Several others in the group shouted out in agreement. The deputy didn’t respond, but stayed in place with his arms folded across his chest.

  “Adisa!” she heard someone call out.

  Theo Grayson had entered through a side door of the courthouse and was motioning to her from a spot near the small conference room.

  “That’s the cop’s lawyer!” a female voice in the crowd called out when Grayson appeared.

  Most of the group turned toward Grayson as Adisa quickly made her way forward. By the time she reached him, two men were haranguing the older lawyer in profanity-laced language.

  “Excuse me,” Grayson said as he attempted to move toward the staircase.

  Someone pushed him and he lost his balance, crashing into Adisa, who was barely able to keep him from falling down.

  “Get out of the way!” she said when she regained her footing. “He has a right to be here!”

  A woman standing near Adisa faced her with a hate-filled glare. “What are you doing here?”

  A deputy appeared and quickly opened a way for them by holding his nightstick in front of the group. Foul language pelted them like golf ball–size hail as they made their way to the stairs. Once they were on the steps, Adisa glanced back and saw a group of six law enforcement officers, some from the city and others from the sheriff’s department, begin to herd the crowd toward the front door of the courthouse. One of the deputies who’d been stationed at the bottom of the stairs accompanied Adisa and Grayson.

  As Adisa climbed the stairs, words from the crowd followed her to the top of the landing. Hearing her name, she jerked her head around but couldn’t identify anyone she knew. She and Grayson walked a short distance down a hallway. It grew quieter. Grayson was wearing a blue suit and yellow bow tie that seemed comically out of place in the chaos they’d just escaped. The older lawyer’s hair was mussed, and he looked disheveled. Adisa felt embarrassed by what they’d experienced.

  “Sorry I got you in the middle of that,” he said to Adisa.

  “I’m the one who feels like I should apologize.”

  “We took Officer Nelson up the same elevator we use to transport prisoners to the courtroom,” the deputy said. “That way, we avoided the mob.”

  “What are you doing here?” Grayson asked Adisa.

  “I have an appointment with Jasper Baldwin.”

  “Me, too,” Grayson replied. “At one o’clock, and I’m running late.”

  Grayson ran his fingers through his hair, which only made it worse. Adisa resisted the urge to help the older lawyer with his grooming needs. They continued down the hallway to a door with opaque white window glass and the words “Nash County District Attorney” stenciled on it in black letters. Grayson opened the door for Adisa.

  Luke and Jane sat close to each other in the waiting area of the district attorney’s office. The receptionist studiously avoided looking at them. Luke wasn’t sure what Jane was thinking. He was trying not to think. The door to his right opened, and Theo Grayson entered, accompanied by the sheriff’s deputy who’d brought them up in the secure elevator and a young black woman who looked vaguely familiar. Grayson saw them and extended his hand.

  “Luke, Jane,” Grayson said. “This is Adisa Johnson, a lawyer who grew up in Campbellton but now lives in Atlanta.”

  Luke nodded without saying anything. It felt like the walls of the DA’s office h
ad giant ears, and anything he said would be public record. The black attorney sat as far away from Luke and Jane as the small reception area would allow. She crossed her legs and began to look at her cell phone. Luke ignored her.

  “What are you going to say to the DA?” Jane asked Grayson in a whisper.

  “I’m going to strongly suggest that he delay any action until the police department has time to complete a thorough investigation of the incident. It’s the fairest course of action consistent with due process of law for everyone involved.”

  “Do you think he’ll listen to you?” Luke asked. “Chief Lockhart couldn’t make any headway with him.”

  “This will be lawyer to lawyer,” Grayson replied. “And at least he’s giving me a chance to present an argument. He didn’t have to agree to that. My hope is that he’ll be willing to talk to you off the record with me in the room.”

  “Me?” Luke’s face paled. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  “Would it have done any good if I had?” Grayson responded. “You would have just worried and driven yourself crazy. If Baldwin agrees, I want you to tell him what happened just like you did at my office. I’ll make sure you stay on track.”

  Luke glanced at Jane, whose eyes were big as saucers.

  “Before I meet with him, you need to sign an agreement authorizing me to act as your attorney,” Grayson said, taking a single sheet of paper from his briefcase and handing it to Luke, who quickly read it.

  “You’re going to represent me for one dollar?” Luke asked in shock.

  “That’s temporary,” Grayson replied. “After we get through today, we’ll see where we are and what it’s going to cost to move forward. I didn’t want you unrepresented and at risk.”

  “Thank you,” Jane said, surprised and pleased at Theo Grayson’s generous offer.

  Luke scribbled his signature on the line above his name.

  “Mr. Baldwin will see you now,” the receptionist said to Grayson.

  Grayson left. Luke glanced at Jane, who’d closed her eyes and bowed her head. He knew she was praying. Luke offered up a silent petition for help but wasn’t sure his words made it past his skull. When he glanced again at the black woman lawyer, he caught her staring at Jane. The lawyer quickly looked away and began talking to the receptionist.

  “Your turn,” Grayson said to Adisa when he returned to the reception area after fifteen minutes in Jasper Baldwin’s office. “His office is the first door to the right.”

  Adisa’s posture was excellent, but she tried to stand even straighter. She knocked on the doorframe of the DA’s office, which also had a door with the opaque white glass in the top half and “Jasper Baldwin, District Attorney” stenciled on it in black letters.

  “Come in,” the DA said, motioning for her to have a seat. “Did you get reacquainted with Sofia?”

  “Yes, her older sister and I graduated from high school the same year.”

  “And you’re related to Malcomb Adams, Val Adams, Larry Graham, and Roberta Kendrick?”

  “And all their uncles, aunts, children, cousins, and grandchildren. I don’t know how many relatives I have in Nash County, but it’s a lot.”

  Baldwin nodded. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’d like to follow up on my suggestion to you the other day about bringing a special prosecutor into the case against Officer Nelson.”

  “We don’t know yet what the grand jury is going to do.”

  Adisa gave the DA a wry smile. “I worked on the major felony team in Cobb County for over two years. Is there any real doubt in your mind?”

  “Okay,” Baldwin replied. “Make your pitch.”

  Adisa handed the DA a copy of her résumé and quickly outlined her experience as a prosecutor and as a defense lawyer for Leroy Larimore in the recent pro bono case. Baldwin’s face remained inscrutable as she talked.

  “If you call the attorneys I worked with at the DA’s office in Cobb County, I believe they’ll give me a good reference,” Adisa said. “The partner who supervised my work at Dixon and White will do the same. But the most important fact is that I was raised in Campbellton and care about what happens here.”

  “And who’s going to pay you to serve as a special prosecutor?” Baldwin asked. “I have no money budgeted for this type of position.”

  Adisa was ready for the question. “I’d do it pro bono.”

  Baldwin let out a loud guffaw.

  “I’m totally serious,” Adisa said. “I’d consider it more of a public service than the case I recently handled in Atlanta.”

  Baldwin put his fingers together in front of his chest. “That’s putting your money, or the lack thereof, behind your convictions,” he said thoughtfully. “Tell me what you know about the facts of the shooting.”

  “Nothing except what I read in the newspaper and heard from people in the black community.”

  “The evidence is strong,” Baldwin said. “The proof is coming together nicely, and I intend to show the citizens of Nash County that justice will be color-blind as long as I’m their district attorney.”

  “That’s commendable,” Adisa said.

  The DA eyed Adisa for several seconds with a look she couldn’t interpret. She prayed. Baldwin cleared his throat.

  “Your offer is intriguing, but the people elected me district attorney, and they expect me to at least supervise a case of this magnitude.”

  “I’d be acting on your behalf and under your supervision.”

  Baldwin paused again.

  “Would you at least consider it?” Adisa pressed harder.

  “You’ve really caught me off guard,” Baldwin replied. “But I’ll check out your references and get back to you.”

  “That’s all I ask.”

  NINETEEN

  “LET’S GO DOWN the hallway to a place where we can talk in private,” Grayson said to Luke and Jane.

  They followed the lawyer to a room beside an old-fashioned ceramic water fountain.

  “I didn’t get anywhere with Baldwin,” Grayson said after he closed the door. “He’s going to present the case to the grand jury later this afternoon.”

  “I feel betrayed,” Luke said, shaking his head. “One day I’m working as hard as I can to bring good cases to the DA so he can put criminals behind bars. A few weeks later, he’s coming after me for doing my job.”

  Jane grabbed Luke’s hand and squeezed it.

  “Your world has turned upside down,” the lawyer agreed. “I want to see it put right, but that’s going to take time and effort.”

  “I’ve been thinking again about the grand jury,” Luke replied slowly. “It made a huge difference when Kip Abernathy spoke up for himself ten years ago. That was way before I came to town, but Kip called me the other day and told me how it turned out. He ran over a kid on a bicycle and killed him. They were going to charge him with negligent homicide until Kip explained what happened. He walked out of the grand jury room and went straight back to work for the sheriff’s department.”

  “I know,” Grayson replied. “But that was under the old law when a law enforcement officer could testify before a grand jury without having to answer any questions.”

  “You keep bringing that up, but I’m not convinced it makes that much difference.”

  “It does because now the DA will have a chance to cross-examine you under oath.”

  “I don’t have anything to hide!” Luke burst out. “I’ll tell what happened. There’s nothing fancy to it.”

  “Do you know all the questions the DA might ask you?” Jane asked anxiously. “What if he gets you upset or confused?”

  Luke shot a scowl in the direction of his wife. “Whose side are you on?” he asked.

  “We’re both on your side,” Grayson replied before Jane could say anything. “And I can’t make you do or keep you from doing anything. My job is to give you the best advice I can. Let me put it to you straight. I don’t think whether or not you testify today is going to change the outcome.”

/>   “What do you mean?”

  Grayson gave both of them a somber look. “Your account of what happened that night on East Nixon Street might win at trial, but it won’t keep you from being indicted. When presenting a case to a grand jury, the DA doesn’t have to prove you’re guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, only that there’s probable cause a crime occurred. Even if most of the grand jurors have questions or qualms, they can indict and let a regular jury hear all the evidence and decide whether you’re guilty or not guilty.”

  Luke knew this in his head, but it was maddening to be caught in the web of legal technicalities. He felt his face redden.

  “Honey,” Jane said, “I believe we should listen to Mr. Grayson and follow his advice.”

  “All right,” Luke said, biting off his words. “Then what are we doing here? We could be at home waiting for a phone call. I feel like I put Jane in danger bringing her to the courthouse.”

  “As I said, I wanted you here in case Baldwin was willing to meet with us. It was a long shot, but a good defense isn’t limited to one cannon blast. It’s a lot of little skirmishes.”

  “What’s next?” Luke asked.

  “Stay here. If the grand jury indicts you, I don’t want you to have to spend a night or two in jail.”

  Luke heard Jane gasp. They’d carefully avoided using the word “jail” in their conversations.

  “I’ll let the bailiff on duty know you’re in here so no one will disturb you,” Grayson continued.

  “I feel like I’m already locked up,” Luke muttered.

  As she left the DA’s office, Adisa saw Theo Grayson exit a conference room.

  “Are we enemies or friends?” the older lawyer asked her.

  “Friends,” Adisa replied.

  It was impossible not to like Mr. Grayson.

  “Can you tell me what happened with Baldwin?” Grayson asked.

  “I asked him to bring me in as a special prosecutor. He’s considering it.”

  “And you’re also considering my offer?”

  “Not really,” Adisa said bluntly. “As much as I’d like to work with your firm, I can’t go down that road if it involves representing Officer Nelson.”