Runaway Heart

by Stephen J. Cannell

  "Uh, Your Honor, if I might get to that in due course."

  "You have some butterflies in there?"

  "Your Honor, I really appreciate your help, but perhaps you might let me put on my opening statement by myself?"

  "Sure. Let's do it then. You're up."

  Herman looked at Susan, who reached over and squeezed his hand.

  He stood and straightened his tie, then moved around in front of the plaintiff's table. Herman looked at the jury while the street people swigged their Evian bottles and leaned forward in expectation.

  "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," Herman began. "I come before you today to tell you about an issue that may very well affect your lives.

  "Most of you have seen butterflies; perhaps some of you, or all of you, even enjoy them. They are beautiful creatures. They decorate our lives, and enhance the God-given wonder of our planet." He let that sink in, pausing for dramatic effect, letting the moment hang there while he put a look of concern on his flushed face.

  "Do you have anything else, or is that it?" Judge King interrupted, rudely stepping on his heartfelt moment.

  "I have more, Your Honor," Herman said, getting pissed.

  "Well, let's go then. Get to it."

  Herman nodded, composed himself, and went on: "Perhaps you think about the beauty of the butterfly, or perhaps many of you might not think of butterflies at all. But in the next few days I am going to ask you to think about them. I'm going to ask you

  to pause in your busy day and look at them, study them. Think about the millions of years of evolution that it took to beautify them and bring them to this place in the history of our planet. I'm going to ask you to wonder about the awesome process of their metamorphosis, from lowly caterpillar to graceful winged beauty. I'll ask you to notice how effortlessly they take flight, how magnificently they flutter, soft as a feather, traveling with powerful determination to distant locations. As a matter of fact, did you know that a butterfly can travel thousands of miles over the span of their short lifetimes? Incredible, isn't it?"

  Judge Melissa King now stifled a yawn and shifted uncomfortably in her swivel chair. The jury shifted their gaze toward her. She had broken his rhythm again.

  Herman needed some drama to get them back. So he strode over and, like David Copperfield, snapped the towel off his case with a flourish, revealing the three beautiful monarchs, which were flying around inside the terrarium as if on cue. The eyes of the jury were riveted as Herman stood aside to afford them a better view. "Behold the plaintiff," he said with a touch too much drama. "In this state alone monarch butterflies travel a distance of two thousand miles each year, down the coast of California to the middle of South America, where they build their homes and raise their families. Amazing isn't it? Amazing and inspiring."

  Herman had planned another Wild Kingdom pause here to allow the jury to study the beautiful species of butterfly, but he didn't want Melissa King to jump in again, so he kept going.

  "Amazing that their little brainstems know exactly where to go, guiding them year after year to the same breeding ground thousands of miles from where they came from. I'm asking you to keep this fact in mind the next time you see one of these breathtaking organisms.

  "Over the course of the next few days I'll be inviting some brilliant doctors and professors from around the country to explain these butterflies to you. Dr. DeVere is going to explain their

  eating patterns and how they breed, reproduce, and migrate. Dr. Masuka is going to explain, and even demonstrate to you, why they are dying in such vast numbers. Professor Viotti is going to explain the evolution of these magnificent creatures take you on a voyage of natural selection and show you the evolutionary steps, millions of years in the making, that created this unbelievable species of butterfly that is now being threatened with destruction by one generation of careless science.

  "In the end you will know more about butterflies than you can imagine, but that is just part of what you will have discovered. Although these magnificent creatures are enchanting, their existence, and, yes, even their ultimate fate, is merely a symptom of a much greater problem. Ladies and gentlemen, I implore you to help me with this problem. The problem lies with a new, dangerous kind of science. Biologically Enhanced Foods." He pronounced the words like a death sentence. "In this case, a strain of corn that produces its own insecticide. In an attempt to quickly make this new, bio-enhanced Frankencorn and rush it, untested, into the market, the defendants have completely overlooked their responsibility to this three-million-year-old species, and in a larger sense, to us, as well."

  "Objection, Your Honor. He's arguing the case. This is supposed to be an opening statement," Joseph Amato said from his seat.

  Judge King smiled. "Objection sustained, Mr. Amato." Then she swiveled in her chair. "Herman, maybe you should control yourself."

  "Yes, I'm afraid I'm very passionate about this. I'm sorry, Your Honor." Herman was once again dismayed. She had called his opponent Mr. Amato, and him Herman, like he was just some sort of courtroom joke. Worse still, he had let the defense break up his opening statement with an objection. Shitty tactics, and he knew better.

  Herman went on. "Dr. Masuka is going to explain to you

  how this biologically enhanced corn is producing a chemical that gets into the corn pollen that blows with the wind. This pollen from the transgenetic corn, or TG corn, then lands in the milkweed that surrounds most cornfields. Milkweed, it turns out, is a staple of the monarch butterfly's diet, so the butterflies are eating this pollen and are dying off by the millions.

  "Dr. Masuka will tell you about GMO crops Genetically Modified Organisms. Right now, GMOs make up over half the U.S. soybean crop and over one third of the U.S. corn crop. Thousands of crops in the U.S. today are transgenetic crops, and that calls into question the safeguards that are being taken not only for butterflies, but also for human beings who ingest these same untested products. Are we safe, or will we follow the path of the tragically beautiful monarch butterfly?

  "Over the course of this trial you will see that the defendants are blatantly disregarding these earth-sharing organisms. You will be asked to remember the cross-breeding of African honeybees, a well-intentioned experiment aimed at producing hives with more honey, but, instead, produced swarms of disastrous killer bees that have overtaken half the American continent. In their rush to try to improve upon God's work, science all too often makes tragic mistakes. We don't seem to be able to learn this lesson. So, while commercial science plays genetic roulette the rest of the life-forms on this planet suffer. Over the course of this trial you will discover that the defendants are failing to do an adequate job of testing these genetically enhanced crops prior to their worldwide distribution. How long will it be before other species suffer and die? How long before we find ourselves in the crosshairs of this new, careless science?

  "Frightening, isn't it?" Herman paused for maximum effect. He had one eye on Judge King, watching her body language, hoping she wouldn't cut him off. She shifted, so he resumed immediately. "Because, like Agent Orange and Gulf War Disease, we have come to learn that the government agencies sworn to protect

  us are often more interested in protecting themselves or the balance sheets of huge corporations and laboratories that contribute to politics and buy influence in Washington."

  "Objection."

  "Sustained."

  "I'm done," Herman said. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is in your hands."

  After a lot of shuffling, and whispering, and passing of notes between attorneys at the defense table, Joseph Amato got to his feet and moved front and center.

  "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," he began. "I'm Joseph Amato, and I represent the government. So, in essence, I represent you. I'm here to explain to you about the great care and diligence that must take place before any new food product, no matter how insignificant, can enter your lives. The monarch butterfly is dying off at alarming rates and we do not contest this fact. But my clients are also n
ot responsible for it. Oh, yes, I suspect a few butterflies have died from eating milkweed with TG corn pollen on it. This is far from the disaster the plaintiff makes it out to be. We will show that many more butterflies are being killed off by insecticide spraying than by GMO food, but the plaintiff will ignore that fact. The plaintiff will give you no figures about butterfly deaths from insecticide spraying, because, of course, that wouldn't help his case. However, I am here to keep him honest, so you will hear from me about the devastation insecticides cause to monarch butterflies.

  "You will also learn about the horrible downstream effect this frivolous lawsuit will have on starving Third World children who, if the plaintiff prevails, will die at an even more alarming rate than the monarch butterfly. Poor children who now directly benefit from these enhanced foods. What does the plaintiff hope to accomplish with his legal action? Well, I'll tell you. He is attempting to shut down this entire new and exciting field of genetic food research.

  "We will show that tomatoes can be designed to contain enhanced vitamin A. Think of it. Super vegetables can be grown and fed to children in Africa, or in the Sudan where babies die by the thousands from vitamin A deficiency. We'll show how, in the future, because of this science it will be possible to make soybeans and vegetables with larger mass and added nutrients and grow more produce per acre and that product will be vitamin-enriched and healthier. One day this science may well save the people of our overpopulated planet from starvation.

  "You will learn that the impact of GMO foods on the monarch, is in fact very small, perhaps even infinitesimal, because this corn pollen that Mr. Strockmire is so concerned about is only produced for a very short time during the growing season less than two weeks. It does not easily blow in the wind, and the monarchs' host plant, the milkweed, is vigorously controlled around cornfields.

  "We will show you that most of the concerns about this new food technology are overblown and misunderstood; that this science is based on the laws of natural selection. We will show you how many plants over time have even developed their own natural resistance to pests. What is being done here, simply put, is to scientifically speed up this natural process of evolution. As the population of the planet grows exponentially and hunger becomes our major world problem, the labs and federal agencies Mr. Strockmire finds so dastardly are in fact attempting to beat the clock and feed the planet. However, you won't hear about any of this from the plaintiff.

  "You will see that the men and women of science, who I will bring before you during this trial, are not monsters. They are not Frankensteins who are cooking up genetic nightmares. Instead, you will see that they are people not unlike yourselves who are concerned with the problems facing our society, concerned with world hunger. In fact, far from heartless monsters, you will see that they are the real heroes in this war against starvation.

  "I beg you, don't listen to fanatics. Don't side with alarmists like Mr. Strockmire and his radical plaintiffs, but be messengers for the future. Be careful, and sure, and apply common sense to your judgment. The children of the world may live or starve by the outcome of your deliberations. Thank you."

  Joseph Amato walked back and sat, elegant, assured, tugging at his French cuffs, diamond studs glittering.

  Herman had left his jewelry case in Washington, so he had been forced to use paper brads from some scripts he'd found at Lipman, Castle amp;c Stein to hold his frayed cuffs together. The little metal tacks glittered dully.

  "Okay, first witness, Herman," Judge King ordered.

  "The plaintiffs call Dr. Deborah DeVere."

  The door opened and Deborah moved into the courtroom. She looked smart and confident as she took the stand and was sworn in.

  "Dr. DeVere," Herman began. "Would you please cite your qualifications for testimony here today?"

  "I graduated from UCLA with honors in undergraduate studies, then completed my master's at the School of Entomology at the University of Virginia. I graduated in the top ten percent of my class, then went on to take my doctorate there and, again, graduated in the top ten percent. I've won several awards in research from Tulane University, where I did some postdoctoral work on arachnid reproduction and earned several grants, among them a Fulbright and a Holenbeck. I am currently the head of the Entomology Department at the University of Texas."

  "So, you would be considered an expert in the field of butterflies, with a wide-ranging knowledge of their breeding and feeding habits?"

  "Objection. Calls for speculation."

  "I'll withdraw it. On that basis, Dr. DeVere, would you consider yourself an expert on the feeding and reproduction habits of the monarch butterfly?"

  "I've done extensive work on the disappearance of the monarch butterfly due to its ingestion of TG corn."

  "Excuse me, Dr. DeVere," Judge King asked sweetly from the bench. "Since you are a leading expert in the plight of the monarch butterfly, I have one question."

  "Of course. Go ahead, Your Honor," Herman demurred.

  "Have you ever heard of the Danaus Plexippus Foundation?"

  "I beg your pardon?" Dr. DeVere shot a worried look at Herman, who just barely managed to keep his growing panic under control.

  Judge King said, "I've just been assured by counsel in a sworn affidavit this morning that the Danaus Plexippus Foundation, his new client, is a world-leading organization, devoted to the preservation of the monarch butterfly. As a renowned academic expert on the monarch, I was wondering if you'd ever heard of this world-famous foundation?"

  "Uh… of the ahh… Danaus Plexippus Foundation?"

  "That's the one," Melissa said from the bench, a smile now tickling the edge of her mouth. "Counsel said that it's the 'foremost foundation.' I said, 'In the world?' And he said, 'In the whole wide world.' I figure a leading doctor on monarch butterfly feeding and reproduction would certainly know about the leading foundation chartered with the protection of same. How about it? Ever heard of these guys?"

  "No, Your Honor."

  "No?" Melissa shifted, her pregnancy signaling more discomfort, but a smile twitched happily at the corners of her mean, ruler-straight little mouth. "This is very strange. How could this be? The leading doctor on monarchs has never heard of the leading preservation society. Herman, are you as shocked as I am?"

  Herman didn't answer, didn't know what to say. He'd been busted.

  Judge King went on. "I'd hate to think that an attorney trying a case before me would stretch the truth would liel Please tell me that's not what's going on here, Herman?"

  "Well, Your Honor, technically, what I said was…"

  "Herman, I want a straight answer. Who and what is the Danaus Plexippus Foundation? And I don't need a snow job. Your motion to amend calls them a research group. Yes or no?"

  "Danaus plexippus is Latin for 'butterfly,' Your Honor."

  "Literae scriptae manet is Latin for 'never put b.s. in writing.' " She held up his motion as proof.

  "Your Honor…"

  "Yesssss, Herrrrmannn?" drawing it out dangerously.

  Herman couldn't finish. His mind was a blank. Suddenly he felt another arrhythmia coming on the same sluggishness and lightheadedness.

  "Are you on the board of this thing, Herman? Is this a sham foundation?"

  Herman stood before her, head down, face reddening, heart racing.

  "I can go to the Corporations Commissioner in Michigan and get the filing with a list of its officers. Don't put me through that."

  "Your Honor, I have the right, as a U.S. citizen with access to the federal court system, to file a suit on behalf of a corporation I happen to control," he protested.

  "That's a fact. But you don't have the right to file a false affidavit in my court and lie to me about it. I'm holding you in contempt and I'm throwing this whole mess out. I won't hear a case where one of the principal attorneys before me is filing bogus paper. Furthermore, Herman, I think you and I have come to the end of the road. I can't tell you how angry your courtroom behavior makes me. I have been wracking
my brain, trying to think of a way to demonstrate my displeasure to you."

  "Your Honor…"

  "Shut up!" she ordered, and now he feared the worst.

  "I'm going to apply Rule Eleven of the U.S. Code of Civil

  Procedure." Rule Eleven gave a sitting judge the right to discipline lawyers for filing frivolous, groundless, or harassing lawsuits.

  "Your Honor, this isn't a Rule Eleven situation. This lawsuit has legal merit. I would like to meet with you in chambers to discuss this," Herman said.

  "I'm sure you would, but that isn't going to happen Herman, at least not today. So you'll get the point, the fine I'm going to attach to this incident is in the amount of one million dollars."

  Herman heard a sharp intake of breath from Susan and even from a few of the defense attorneys seated behind him.

  " What?" Now Herman's heart was beating so fast it was tickling the inside of his throat. He could feel his arteries expanding and contracting with each rapid heartbeat.

  "A million dollars, Your Honor? I've never heard of a Rule Eleven penalty exceeding ten or twelve thousand dollars. You can't be…"

  "You're damn right I'm serious!" she interrupted.

  He glanced back at Susan, who had a defeated look on her face. She found his eyes, but shook her head sadly. They didn't have anything close to a million dollars.

  "I'm going to arrange for a meeting in my chambers tomorrow with an order to show cause why such a sanction should not be imposed. My clerk will get in touch to set the time. Do not be late, Mr. Strockmire." It was the first time she had used his surname. Then she cleared her throat and started to rise, but hesitated. "One more thing," she said, looking down at him like Moses from the mountaintop. "I've been made aware of your spat with the California Bar. I'm going to write them a letter detailing this incident, to be included in that file. Case dismissed. Witness is excused."