"Let me start by saying that after I was resurrected, I was directed by my Father to answer to no man. I have a mission here on earth and I must fulfill it before I return to my Father's side. I answer to God's Law, not to the law of man. Even as we sit here today, I may again be violating one of man's laws. The judge in this case has issued a gag order. Since we had this interview scheduled before her order, it is my position that I am not violating her ruling. If I am wrong, I am willing to accept whatever sanctions the judge imposes. I will not have my freedom of speech taken away. I was put here because I would not subject myself to man's questions in a deposition. I have not changed my mind. It is shocking to me that I can be persecuted and incarcerated for my stand against abortion as well as my religious beliefs. We put that behind us two hundred years ago when our forefathers drafted the Constitution. I can only hope that my incarceration will serve to focus the attention of our national leaders to such persecution. I am willing to stay in this jail until trial and beyond, if that is necessary."
"Will you testify at trial?"
"Fair question. I don't know. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. It may be that I'll have something to say in my defense at that time. Let me remind you that I should not be the prisoner here. The ones behind bars should be those who are running the abortion clinics and doing the killing."
Seeing where the interview was going, the producer terminated it. In another sentence or two, T. J. would launch an attack with his claim of the defendants being butchers and murderers. Certainly, she didn't want her program to be accused of taking sides. Nor, did she want 60 Minutes involved in the lawsuit.
***
On Sunday night the judge really blew her stack. This time she was at home, having seen a promo that 60 Minutes would have a segment about The Chosen. The promo didn't bother her one bit. She couldn't control the media. It was when the reporter mentioned that Reverend Luther had been interviewed on the day after she had entered her gag order that she burst out a string of profanity. After watching 60 Minutes, she called her clerk and told her to chase down J. Robert Tisdale and have him, Ms. Jackson and their client in her court by ten a.m. on Monday. Johnny Bob had also seen the promo and watched the same program. While he understood that T. J. was potentially in trouble, he was more than a little surprised to get a call from the judge's clerk on Sunday night. It was beginning to look like he might wear out his pickup on the highway to Houston.
Judge O'Reilly took the bench. With no advance warning, somehow the word had gotten out and the courtroom was almost full of reporters. Johnny Bob, Claudia and T. J., dressed in his jailhouse orange jump suit, sat at one counsel table. Tod and Jan were seated at the other. "Ms. Jackson, this is going to be brief. I do not want to interfere in any attorney-client privileged communications, but prior to last Wednesday, did you apprise your client of the order I entered on Tuesday evening?"
Claudia said only two words, "Yes, ma'am."
"Reverend Luther, would you please stand?" While she waited for him to rise, she took a sip of coffee from a cup emblazoned with a warning, "You will never know a woman until you meet her in court."
"Reverend Luther, I have been checking on your living conditions in the county jail and find that they have certainly been above average. I'm going to change them. You have intentionally violated my orders, not just in refusing to answer questions in a deposition, but now my specific order that you not discuss this case with the media. To top it off, you did it on national television. I'm taking away all of your jail privileges. You are going to be placed in solitary confinement and you will be permitted to speak only with your counsel until further order from this court. Bailiff, return him to the jail and see to it that my orders are strictly enforced. That's all, counsel."
The judge stormed from her bench and slammed the door to her chambers
CHAPTER 49
As T. J. returned to jail, Johnny Bob stopped Tod at the elevator. "Tod, why don't you and me go down to the cafeteria and get a cup of coffee? Claudia's going over to the jail to check on our favorite client's living conditions. We need to talk anyway."
"Only if I buy, Johnny Bob. I want you in my debt even if it is for a dollar."
The two lawyers rode in silence to the basement and then chatted about families, kids and grand kids as they walked through the courthouse tunnel system to the cafeteria. Finding a quiet table in the corner, they sipped their coffee, which was like the coffee in most county cafeterias, very hot and bearing only a faint resemblance to the real thing.
"Look, Tod, first I want you to know that I had no idea that T. J. was going to violate the gag order. I've been around him off and on for awhile, and the more that I see of him; the more I understand that he listens to a voice that apparently only he hears. Whether it's the voice of God or just voices, your guess is as good as mine."
Tod accepted the apology. Johnny Bob was as tough an opponent as he had ever faced and generally played by the rules. Tod described in a limited way the impact that the lawsuit and, particularly, the verbal attacks had affected his client and mentioned that Dr. Moyo's practice had dried up, forcing him to do emergency room work. It was a fairly candid discussion between two professional lawyers, each, of course, being careful not to divulge something that wouldn't come out anyway.
"Let's talk about discovery," Johnny Bob said, focusing the discussion on what lay ahead. "The Judge, bless her little red head, has us on a damn short fuse. We've got a lot to do. We ought to be limiting depositions to only the key witnesses. Then we'll line up any experts we gotta have for deposition and be ready for trial when the judge says this train has to be in the station."
"Don't disagree. Who do you have in mind as the key witnesses?"
"Well, on your action for defamation, one of them is across the street in solitary. So, I suppose we eliminate him unless some voice directs him to speak up. You've got what he said on videotape anyway. I need Dr. Moyo. I don't think that for a medical malpractice case it'll be a long deposition. The procedure is not complicated and we know what problems developed. By the way, that was one slick move you pulled in filing that third-party action and then getting the judge to keep the two cases together. Sure leveled the playing field and got some people's attention on my side of the table."
Tod nodded his thanks at the compliment.
"I've got to take some of the people at the clinic, probably the counselor and those two weekend nurses. You're going to want Lucy, her parents and, I'm sure, Aunt Jessie."
"And, I may want to depose a couple of the treating doctors and that psychologist that Lucy's been seeing," Tod said as he took over the discussion. "I'll need one or more of the groups who joined together to fund this lawsuit. I need some admission that T. J. was speaking for them when he made those speeches from the pulpit."
"I suspect that they would prefer, at this point, not to have T. J. tied to them like a tin can to a groom's car, but I'll line someone up for you. Why don't we work out a written agreement, to get these fact witnesses done in sixty days? I think I can speak for Claudia and I suspect you can for Janice. About the experts, you think that you and Janice can designate sixty days from now?"
"I suspect we can, Johnny Bob. The problem is that then you would have to designate in thirty days. You'll have to tell me if you can have your experts lined up that quickly."
"Good point, Tod. Let's make it forty-five days from today for me to designate experts and then you give me your list of experts thirty days after that. That'll be pushing it real close to get expert depositions done. Again, maybe we won't need to depose them all. Matter of fact, the older I get, the more often I just wing it at the courthouse with experts anyway."
"Come on now, Johnny Bob, it's not a question of age. You're just so damn good that you don't need some of those depositions. Call it experience, not age, and I'll believe you."
Tod's compliment brought a smile from the old fox across the table. Johnny Bob and Tod worked out a few other details, and Tod agreed to
have a draft of a discovery agreement faxed to Palestine by the time that Johnny Bob got back to his office.
"One last thing, Tod, I'm going to need some living quarters down here for the next few months. It's time to get out of hotel rooms. Got any ideas?"
"Sure do, Johnny Bob. If you've noticed as you have driven around Houston lately, every old building downtown is being converted into loft apartments. Let me have Grace make a few calls and she'll call your secretary to give her a list of what's available. Some of them may even be walking distance from the courthouse. How many do you need?"
"Probably four. One for me, one for Claudia, one for my legal assistant and secretary and an extra one for witnesses. Well, make it five. Maybe by then, T. J. will wise up and he can get out of the graybar hotel for trial."
***
Not known for silence, Johnny Bob was lost in thought as he and Claudia drove back from Houston. Claudia recognized the best she could do was to leave him alone and stared out the window, wondering what twist the lawsuit would take next. When they got back to Palestine, Tod's proposed agreement was waiting for Johnny Bob on the corner of his secretary's desk.
As he walked back to his office, he hollered down the hall and asked Claudia to join him. She yelled back that she was going to get out of her courthouse clothes and would be there in five minutes. It only took about three minutes before she entered his office, coffee mug in one hand and yellow pad in the other. Claudia had quickly adapted to Palestine's example of business casual attire. She was wearing jeans, not designer but just plain old Wranglers, cowboy boots with the highest heels she could find, and a blue tee shirt with gold letters across the front, entreating, "Mamas, Please Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowgirls!" She plopped down in the chair across from Johnny Bob and propped her boots up on the corner of his desk.
"So, what's our move, Johnny Bob?"
"Well, we damned sure can't do much for The Chosen. He's out of choices. He's in solitary and Ruby's got the only key. You know him as well as I do; so, don't be surprised if he's still there when we start trial."
"Well, I, for one, was not the least bit surprised. When I heard what he had done, she had to bring the hammer down on him, God rest his holier-than-thou soul. You think we should make any effort to spring him?"
"Naw," Johnny Bob said. "Hopefully, he can't get into any trouble in solitary. Let's leave him there so we don't have to worry about him. After the hearing, Tod and I worked out an agreement. See what you think about it?"
Glancing over the proposed deadlines, Claudia replied, "Damn short timetable. I don't suppose that we have any choice, though, do we? Let's talk about experts.
"I know a first class obstetrician in Ohio who has good academic credentials. Knows how to do abortions. He only does them when the mother's got a serious problem. I think he'll help us on the malpractice, both against Dr. Moyo and the clinic. He may be able to offer an opinion that Lucy will not be able to have children. We've got the treating doctors on damages and the psychologist on Lucy's emotional state, past and future. Speaking of damages, that brings me to a real concern of some of my organizations. They are damned scared of this slander action. They now understand that T. J. could very well have gone too far in some of those comments about murder and baby killing."
"Well, they might as well get ready to worry some more," Johnny Bob responded. "Tod told me that Moyo's practice has gone down the tubes. He's having to do emergency room work now."
"Shit," Claudia exclaimed. "Too damn bad we didn't rein in T. J. the first time he started talking about baby killing and before he started calling names."
"I agree, Claudia, but there's an old country saying in these parts, 'Once the cow's peed in the milk, you can't strain it out.' T. J.'s done pissed all over Dr. Moyo and Population Planning, and we're just going to have to defend it."
Smiling at another of Johnny Bob's East Texas sayings, Claudia asked, "What's your experience in the defamation area? I was interested in the First Amendment in law school. Since then I haven't really had any practical experience in handling libel and slander for either the plaintiff or the defendant."
"It may be that I have just a little more learning on this subject than you do. I've looked at a few plaintiff defamation cases over the years and had to go update myself on the current state of the law each time. Never actually agreed to take one, though. Defamation is not that hard to prove. The plaintiff just has to prove that the statement was made; that it was false; that it was defamatory, meaning the ordinary person would consider that it would do damage to the reputation; and that the statement caused damages to the plaintiff. The problem usually is damages. Some wiseass can call someone every name in the book and accuse him of all manner of evil doing, all of it absolutely false, and there's usually no real economic loss. I never figured that a jury would award a lot of money for damaging someone's reputation, regardless of what Shakespeare says when he compares stealing a purse to a good name. I'd much rather have a death or an amputated leg that my client is suing about."
Claudia concentrated like she was sitting on the first row of a Harvard torts class.
"Now, let's talk about Dr. Moyo. First, when he's accused of being a murderer and a baby killer and so forth, that's going to be slanderous per se. Last time I looked, murder was a crime and if you accuse someone of committing a crime, it's slander as a matter of law. As to damages, T. J. broadcast his comments all over the world, and if what Tod told me today is true, Moyo can show some significant economic damages and the jury just might choose to punish T. J. and his forces. As to Population Planning, while T. J. may have slandered them, my guess is that they can't show any real economic loss. I doubt if a jury is going to get up in arms about some damage to their reputation. Bottom line is that Moyo just may have a pretty damn good case against The Chosen and his forces. The only thing that we haven't talked about is truth. Even if a statement is slanderous, if it's the truth, that's a defense. Call your neighbor a horse thief and accuse him of stealing your prize stallion, you've slandered him. If the stallion is found in his barn, you're gonna win because what you said was true even if it was defamatory."
Claudia sat quietly for a long time and Johnny Bob gazed out the window at the courthouse until she spoke. "I've got an idea. Why don't we prove that what T. J. said was true?"
"You lost me there, Claudia. Moyo didn't commit a murder," Johnny Bob replied, as a quizzical look came across his face.
"The hell he didn't! You need to be thinking like a pro-lifer. We believe that life begins at the moment of conception. If we're right, and I know we are, he has killed a pre-born human being, lots of them. That makes him a murderer and a baby killer and whatever else T. J. called him. Same goes for Population Planning."
Johnny Bob got out of his chair and paced the room, then stroked his chin as he stared out the window again before he spoke, obviously absorbing and debating in his own mind what Claudia had just proposed. "Boy, now ain't that just an interesting theory. Texas usually doesn't give a pre-born human being, as you call it, much in the way of rights in a civil lawsuit. You got any law to support your theory?"
"Not a shred out there that I know of, Johnny Bob, not on either side of the issue. You opposed to trying to make law?"
"Not something that I've had to do very often, although this wouldn't be the first time in my long and semi-illustrious career. You realize, though, that if we do this, we're going to put the pro-life/pro-choice debate right in the middle of our lawsuit. You also know that just because you try to make law, you don't always succeed. On the other hand, if you don't try, you damn sure will fail."
As he turned from the window, Claudia could tell from his expression that he had made up his mind. "What the hell? We might as well try to get a jury to go along with us, then worry about it on appeal. After all, I've got me a Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard Law graduate to handle my appeal. Now, I wasn't figuring on trying such issues in this case; so, you better start by giving me a little education on the aborti
on debate and then we'll talk about what experts you think we'll need."
Claudia was pleased to see that it was her turn to be the teacher. "First, you know that this debate goes back thousands of years."
For the next hour, Claudia led Johnny Bob through the years of debate, from Rome to old England to early state legislation against abortion in the 1800's until she reached the pivotal decision of the United States Supreme Court.
"In 1973, the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, and the doors to the abortion clinics were thrown wide open. The majority of the court bought into the plaintiff's position that an anti-abortion statute abridged a woman's right to personal privacy, protected by various constitutional amendments. Justice Blackmun wrote the opinion, finding that such a right of privacy is found in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and its attendant restrictions upon state action, as well as the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people. Both, he said, were broad enough to encompass a woman's decision as to whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. He also concluded that the definition of the word 'person,' at least as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn. And, by the way, with what we are about to do, we can expect his language to be thrown into our faces. We'll have to come up with an argument around it. Bottom line is that the Supremes said that a state couldn't regulate abortion prior to viability. Bottom line is that the Supremes said that a state couldn't regulate abortion prior to viability.
Johnny Bob had settled into his chair and propped his feet on his desk as he tried to absorb all that Claudia was telling him. After staring up at the ceiling with his hands folded across his ample belly, the trial lawyer in him took over. "Now wait just a damn minute, here, Claudia. The pro-life side is grabbing a lot of attention with something called partial-birth abortions. Sound pretty damn bad from what I've read. Can we stir that into our pot and heat up the jury, maybe even make them mad?"
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