Intersecting Lines – The Trial

Part 11 – Hernandez

In Court

Alex's viewpoint

I'd had a phone call on the drive in this morning from Souza up in Sacramento, the Governor had agreed that Craven's behavior was unacceptable, by which she meant politically damaging, and that Craven would be dealt with, it couldn't come quickly enough for my tastes. On the other hand it also meant that Souza would be calling for her due soon enough but I was just happy to see Craven reigned in, the sooner the better. I'd smiled and finished the call then grinned like a fool before sharing the news with Liv; she'd been just as happy as me.

Once at the court complex I decided to keep things to myself, at least for now, after all Andrea didn't need to know about the politics of it all nor the other quid pro quo I'd negotiated. Better she could focus on the trial and sending Kennedy and the others away for good, as for the bit about me replacing Annesley; well we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

We'd had our morning coffee before heading down where we dived into day two of Hernandez's testimony. This morning's session dealt with the attempts on our friends lives; Andrea was leading us off today and began with the train of events that saw assassins being sent after them.

"Mister Hernandez, as I understand it you were contacted by Mister Kennedy and that he told you he had a problem?" Hernandez nodded once as he replied.

"That is correct"

"Could you please inform the court what transpired" Hernandez nodded and leaned forward, the better to be heard.

"Kennedy called me on my cell phone and demanded that we meet urgently to deal with an issue that had cropped up. As it happened I was in Los Angeles and given he seemed quite agitated, I arranged to meet him as soon as possible" Andrea nodded and encouraged him to keep going.

"And what actually emerged when you did meet up with the defendant, Mister Hernandez?" He settled himself and looked towards the jury as he started.

"We met at a café in a shopping centre in downtown Los Angeles, Kennedy was somewhat agitated, he reported that he and his cohorts were under close and specific investigation and that he needed the investigating officers dealt with so that he and the other officers he had co-opted could continue their work with Sinaloa" Andrea nodded,

"And by dealt with he meant killed?" At her clarification Hernandez nodded easily.

"That is correct" he said as Cox rose to his feet.

"Objection your Honour, inference and supposition" I glanced his way, the objection seemed a bit pro forma to me, but it wasn't like they had much else. Craven looked to Andrea who shook her head.

"The statement will be clarified by both the witness and the surveillance tape Your Honour" Craven nodded and spoke, his voice harsh.

"It had better be counsellor, it had better be. On that basis you may proceed" Andrea turned back to Hernandez as Cox sat back down.

"Exactly whom did he ask to have killed Mister Hernandez?"

"Commander Raydor and Deputy Chief Johnson initially" He shrugged. "Once I explained that I would have to talk to my superiors but that they would almost certainly agree, he expanded the list to include four other women, the one's I now know as Doctor Maura Isles, Detective Jane Rizzoli, Agent Anastasia Romanov and miss Natalie Dearing" I glanced at Peterson and his crew but they were silent, given they knew what was coming I wasn't surprised.

"I understand that a price of twenty five thousand dollars per person was agreed?"

"Yes, the money being subtracted from the next missions that Kennedy and the others did for Sinaloa, to cover the one hundred fifty thousand dollars cost that he willingly agreed to" Andrea nodded.

"Mister Hernandez, we have a recording which we would like you to listen to, if you and the rest of the court would turn your attention to the screen" At that Peterson stood and spoke up.

"Objection Your Honour, it is the Defence team's understanding that the recording the Prosecution intends playing was illegally obtained and is thus inadmissible" Craven looked to Andrea.

"Is this true?" Andrea shook her head, obviously confident.

"Most definitely not Your Honour, I personally obtained a warrant to conduct surveillance on the activities of then-Sergeant Kennedy before surveillance measures were put in place, Judge Lopez signed the warrant request prior to this conversation being recorded" Craven leaned forward.

"Given the significant assertion made by the Defence, can this warrant be produced?" At that I smiled; we'd expected something like this and had done our prep work. Flipping open a folder I pulled out a certified copy of the original warrant we'd obtained from Lopez' people and walked it over to him.

"Your Honour, the People submit into evidence a certified copy of the original warrant, signed by Judge Lopez and authorising physical and electronic surveillance on the defendant Kennedy and a number of the other defendants" I handed it across then turned and walked back to my seat, smiling a little nastily at Peterson as I did. 'Suck on that" As I sat Craven looked up, having skimmed the warrant, and then having handed it to the court officer to be entered as evidence looked to Peterson and spoke.

"This warrant is in order, the objection is denied. Prosecution may continue" Andrea smiled.

"Thank you Your Honour" As I was saying before Defence counsel so rudely interrupted, we have a surveillance tape we wish to play…" That was my cue. I had the audio file already set up, all I had to do was hit play in the media player tab, sending the record of Hernandez and Kennedy's meeting out across the court. For the next few minutes their conversation echoed across the deathly silent courtroom, I could see the impact on the jury, the audience and could imagine the effect across America.

Chicago CPD Intelligence Unit

Erin Lindsey looked across to her partner Jay Halstead; they were doing paperwork on a recent bust in a quiet office, well away from most cops and the attention her appearance in Runway had attracted. Some had been cool, others not so much, despite the brass all the way to the top signing off on it.

The dress and jacket she'd been wearing had been totally professional, the heels maybe a little too high for police work, but the hair, makeup and photography had transformed her into a stunning woman, one that most cops had never imagined lurked under her no-nonsense exterior. She'd got tired of the come-ons, the jokes, the flirting and the propositions from way too many guys and even one or two girls, so she was keeping a low profile, working away in this spare office. Well they were supposed to be working but they'd been distracted by the coverage of the trial.

They listened, a chill stealing over them as the recording played of the cartel man and the crooked cop bargaining over the cost of having six law enforcement people executed, the sheer business-like manner of the negotiations appalling in and of itself, let alone what it was supposed to result in. Finally Jay spoke.

"Jesus, that's a conviction right there, they can't get off after that" Erin pulled a face before replying.

"So far that only connects Kennedy to the cartel guy, they have to have more if they're going to convict all of them" Halstead nodded

"I hope so, those cops are everything that's wrong with fighting the cartels, too much money washing through them, it allows them to find people to corrupt" Erin nodded grimly.

"Though in this case it seems like they were all only too happy to sell out to the cartels" Jay suddenly smiled.

"Won't do them any good, after all money's no good if you can't spend it and not too many shopping sprees on death row" Erin thought about it for a moment then asked a question.

"California doesn't do capital punishment right?" Jay looked thoughtful for a moment then shook his head as he replied.

"Pretty certain they don't" She nodded slowly then spoke

"Then they have the rest of their lives to pay for what they've done" At that Jay smiled wolfishly.

"Oh yeah, for decades to come" Erin looked a little pensive before a determined look set on her face.

"Then that'll have to do I guess"

In Court

The silence in the court after the recording finished was deafening, looking across the faces of the jury I could see at least half of them were looking at Hernandez, trying to match the urbane, polite and well-dressed man in front of them with the easily recognised voice cold-bloodedly arranging murder on the tape, while the other half were staring at the Defence tables, Kennedy to be specific, who looked down at his hands clasped on the table in front of him. Andrea let it drag on for a good ten seconds before she spoke up.

"Well…" She turned to face Hernandez. "You recall that incident Mister Hernandez?" He nodded.

"I do indeed" he said as Andrea nodded.

"What were your thoughts at the time?" Hernandez frowned for a moment then replied.

"That while this was not a good situation and that it would require work to solve, it would also advance Sinaloa's plans for these officers, to make them their tools for undermining the Los Angeles Police Department" Andrea nodded and coaxed him on.

"In what way advance them Mister Hernandez?"

"They were asking to have police officers killed, obviously they were not adverse to the deaths of their fellow officers, to have their blood on their hands so to speak, so the likelihood of them being willing to kill other officers was very high, with the right inducements they were ready to become Sinaloa's tools within the LAPD" Andrea looked pensive for a moment, then went off on a bit of a tangent.

"What was Sinaloa's plans for these officers, what did they want them to do?" Hernandez shrugged.

"While I was not privy to all of El Jefe's plans, I was told that they would be tasked to find out the identity and personal details of the entire LAPD drug squad" Andrea nodded.

"Basically attempting to publicise and thus undermine the effectiveness of the drug squad" Surprisingly Hernandez shook his head at her statement.

"You misunderstand me Miss Hobbs" He smiled grimly. "They were to be identified to Sinaloa and they would send teams after them, as has happened in Mexico, to deal with them" Andrea was stunned, this was something we hadn't heard before, something that came out in her voice.

"To deal with them…?" Hernandez' voice was calm despite the gravity of what he was saying.

"Teams of killers Miss Hobbs, Sinaloa wanted the identity of every officer in the LAPD drug squad so they could all be killed; it was El Jefe's intention to wipe out them all, as quickly as possible, hopefully over one single night, leaving the police's ability to hinder Sinaloa's drug activities in tatters and to send an unmistakable message to the LAPD, that this showed that Sinaloa could strike anywhere at anyone"

Los Angeles LAPD Robbery / Homicide

"Oh my god" I shook my head in my silent office then looked up to see my team were staring at their computer monitors, as transfixed as I was by the trial. A few seconds later my phone rang, it was Brenda. "You saw?" I asked as she unconsciously repeated my words.

"Oh my god Sharon…" She was silent for a few seconds. "The implications of what they had planned…" Unconsciously I nodded.

"It would turn into a war between the Cartel and the LAPD, except Sinaloa already had agents inside the Department willing to kill for them" I felt sick, they'd been so close… "We dodged a bullet there honey" Brenda's drawled reply was darkly amused.

"Quite literally"

In Court

"Objection Your Honour, irrelevant to this case and rampant speculation at best" Craven thought about Peterson's objection for a moment then nodded.

"Objection upheld, the jury will disregard that line of questioning" Andrea nodded and visibly pulled herself back on track, as I belatedly realised Mikki had come up through the drug squad, hence Andrea's interest, before she turned back to Hernandez.

"What happened after that meeting concluded Mister Hernandez?" At Andrea's question he sat back.

"I left the building then called my superiors in Culiacan and explained the circumstances. They felt it was appropriate to provide the assistance requested, as it would enmesh Kennedy and the others even more into Sinaloa's debt, making it easier to manipulate them in the future" Andrea nodded slowly and then pressed on.

"I see; what then?"

"I let Kennedy know that Sinaloa would deal with the problem and flew back to Culiacan that evening where I learnt the assassins for the mission had been selected" He shrugged. "An address was needed for all the targets; fortunately Kennedy was able to supply addresses for each of the women he desired dead, so we were able to brief the assassins on the targets and send them on to Los Angeles" He looked over at the Defence table. "Based on the information supplied by Kennedy, it was anticipated that the mission would go smoothly, with the women dead and appropriate clues left pointing to either a robbery gone wrong or an attack by a street gang"

Andrea gave that a moment to sink in with the jury and the audience, before turning to face Hernandez.

"That however is not what happened am I correct?" Hernandez nodded once then replied.

"The attack did not go as planned and they were captured"

"What happened there, Mister Hernandez?" He shrugged before responding. .

"I know more now, but at the time they did not report back after informing me that they were setting out on their task" he said then shook his head before continuing. "Given there was no news I suspected they had been killed trying to undertake their mission, however late the following day I was made aware via a law firm that Sinaloa retained here in Los Angeles for various legal matters, Guzman, Santiago and Associates, that they had been captured and were being held by the LAPD for questioning"

"And what then transpired?" He settled back in his seat.

"I arranged for Kennedy to be informed of what had happened and that we would need to consider another option" He looked to Andrea and continued. "It was seen as a minor setback, after all no one expected the two men arrested to talk to the police, given it was expected that they would be charged with minor offences such as a failed robbery and would either serve a minor sentence or possibly, as it was both men's first offence in America, be potentially charged, fined and released" He shrugged. "Unfortunately for Sinaloa they did talk, telling the LAPD everything, as part of which they identified me, leading to my arrest as I attempted to cross the border back into Mexico"

"Yes, I understand you were arrested down in San Diego and transported back to Los Angeles?" Hernandez nodded once as he replied.

"That is correct"

"What happened when you were returned to Los Angeles?" Hernandez shifted in his seat before answering.

"I was questioned by Deputy Chief Johnson of the Los Angeles Police Department, amongst others. It was they who informed me that I had a choice, I could continue to work for Sinaloa or I could take the opportunity the LAPD and the Federal Bureau of Investigations were offering, which was to walk away from Sinaloa and work with them" He shrugged blandly before continuing. "My choice was obvious and here we are"

I carefully smothered a snort, having seen the recording of that encounter and spoken to Brenda and Ana I realised Hernandez had cut a deal, not out of altruism but to save his skin. When Brenda had pointed out that Sinaloa having him killed in prison was a cheaper option to ensure his silence than defending him in court and, given that immunity for him was on the table to buy his cooperation, Sinaloa would surely move to make sure he stayed silent, permanently. Needless to say he'd seen the inescapable logic in that pretty damned quick, Ana's offer of a deal from the Bureau including placing him in, ironically enough given what had transpired, the Witness Protection program, had been enough for him to roll over and sing like a canary, trading his vast knowledge of Sinaloa and its operations for a comfortable new life and new identity.

"Your arrest prevented any further actions or attacks by Sinaloa against these officers did it not?" Andrea asked, drawing a nod and an answer from Hernandez.

"Yes, I had been the point of contact between Sinaloa and Kennedy and through him, to the others, he had no one else to contact" Hernandez shrugged. "He perhaps could have tried to contact Sinaloa directly, as he had done once before by travelling to Mexico, but events here in Los Angeles moved too fast for that" Andrea nodded and turned to face the jury.

"So, to sum up, you acted as the point of contact between Sinaloa and the defendants, paying them at least thirty thousand dollars a time on behalf of the Cartel for the murder or kidnapping of people of interest to Sinaloa, is that correct?" Hernandez nodded.

"It is" Andrea nodded and pressed on.

"Once the defendants had established that they could find and kill former Cartel members located within the Justice Department's Witness Protection Program here in Los Angeles, Sinaloa got them to branch out and undertake killings of other people that Sinaloa wished killed, is that also correct?

"It is" Andrea turned to look towards the Defence tables.

"And that their activities grew to include kidnapping as well as murder, encompassing almost forty victims over a period of less than two years?"

"That is also correct" Andrea spun on her heel and faced Hernandez.

"And that when the actions of a number of dedicated Los Angeles Police Department investigators placed their activities under threat of exposure, the conspirators reached out, through you, to Sinaloa, to have those officers killed?" Hernandez nodded.

"Through Kennedy yes, that too is correct" Andrea waved at the Defence tables as she continued.

"Mister Hernandez, can you confirm that of the seven defendants' on trial here today, you personally met three, Kennedy, Farrar and Osmond, and were told of the direct involvement of Di Marco, Humphries and Powell in the murders carried out on behalf of Sinaloa?" Hernandez leaned forward to reply.

"That is correct; the only defendant that I did not know of by name was his sister. He had told me he had a contact in Witness Protection, but not their name" Andrea nodded slowly, satisfaction evident in her face as she hammered the last nail in place.

"One last question Mister Hernandez, just one" She glanced towards the jury. "Can you confirm that it was Sinaloa's objective to have these officers commence murdering fellow officers and facilitating Sinaloa's undermining of the effectiveness of the LAPD" Hernandez leaned forward to be heard clearly through the microphone.

"Yes Miss Hobbs; that was indeed Sinaloa's objective" Andrea stood there, judging the jury's mood before nodding slowly to herself.

"Thank you for your candour, your clarity and your cooperation Mister Hernandez" I smiled at her alliteration, an occasional habit of hers, as she turned and inclined her head to Craven. "We have no further questions for this witness Your Honour" With that she turned and walked back to our desk, I held my fist out and got a fist bump in return as I smiled.

"Great session" I got a smile in return as she sat.

"Yeah, it was" Craven meanwhile had looked to the Defence tables then at the clock, it was 12.21.

"Defence, your witness, however given the time, I will call an early adjournment for lunch. Court will reconvene at 1.30 and you may commence your cross at that time"

Los Angeles LAPD Federal Bureau of Investigations Liaison Office

The phone ringing distracted Ana Romanov from where she was watching the trial in her small office in the Parker Centre. The office she'd been given as the Bureau Liaison Officer was what could be charitably called small; it was big enough for a desk for her laptop, a chair on each side of that desk, a filing cabinet, a small lockable safe and not much else. She didn't mind though, she spent most of her day out and about, meetings, talking to people, coordinating with departments across the LAPD, the office was just a place she went to when she had nowhere else she needed to be right that moment.

It also gave her a place where she could shut the door, have a moment's privacy and get her thoughts in order, something she had found herself doing more often in recent days as the trial unfolded. After the depressing mess that had been her testimony, she'd watched them go after Jane the same way, then after Maura as well. She'd watched the others give evidence, silently cheering them on, scowled bitterly at Peterson's antics and felt sick at Craven's behaviour.

She'd been there when Andrea and Alex had worked with Nat, coaching her to be ready for Peter's slime-ball tactics, watching Nat defend them all against Peterson's smears had left her feeling proud as anything, her other half had been amazing and, in her, admittedly biased opinion, done a hell of a lot to undermine Peterson's gutter-filth insinuations.

Now though she watched as the court stood as Craven left, the coverage crossing back to the network's expert panel. Hernandez' evidence had been crucial in establishing the guilt of Kennedy and Di Marco and the rest, but she was under no illusions that the Defence would do everything in their power to undermine his testimony; she'd just have to put her trust in Andrea and Alex.

Her cell's ringing dragged her attention away as she saw the name there, 'Gibbs: Leroy', drawing a smile as she answered.

"Gibbs, how are you, enjoying the Washington weather?" His voice came down the line.

"It's the usual crap but you get used to it" Ana nodded at that.

"I did, eventually, but I like the weather a lot better out here"

"I bet, all that hot weather" Gibbs paused, then pushed on. "I've been watching the trial…" Ana nodded understandingly. "…and I saw you get blindsided by the Defence so I did some digging" Ana frowned, then realised what he meant, that personal evaluation report.

"Yeah, that came out of nowhere; I thought I was supposed to get notification before it was released?"

"You were, but the records people sent a formal notification by mail to the most recent address they had, which was an address in Seattle" Ana closed her eyes and groaned in sheer mortification, then explained.

"Damn, we had a mail redirect running for six months, while we notified everyone, but that's now past and I screwed up, I must have missed Army records"

"Yeah, I saw it and asked some questions, it looked a little shady when I first saw it but it was just a standard bureaucracy snafu" Ana shook her head, though she smiled at the thought that Gibbs would look out for her, he was a good guy, then replied.

"In this day and age you'd think they'd send a message via email…" Gibbs' reply was quick.

"You'd think, but this is the military personnel records bureaucracy we're talking about, hardly the most technologically innovative organisation at the best of times" Unconsciously they both smiled at that description before Ana spoke.

"Thanks for looking into it, I had no warning and it shocked the hell out of me"

"Yeah, I saw it live on cable and thought I should make a few enquiries" Ana's smile widened.

"Aw, you watched, I'm touched" The snort she got down the phone was pure Gibbs.

"Well, not so much you, but all your good looking friends" Ana rolled her eyes then smiled as she spoke.

"Too bad none of them will touch you with a ten foot pole Gibbs, wrong chromosome and all:"

"Damn, always knew there was something wrong with the world" Ana smiled, tossing one of Gibb's old sayings back at him.

"Nah, that's just institutional paranoia, everyone has that"

"A bit of an occupational hazard in our line of work" he said, drawing a nod from Ana as she replied.

"Yeah, it sure is" Ana changed the subject. "When are you coming out here, Nat says she likes meeting people from my past, though I think she just likes hearing the embarrassing stories"

"I've got a few of those I can tell, though I'm actually coming out there in a bit over two weeks to catch up with the people in the LA office" Ana smiled and nodded at that piece of good news.

"Yeah, I've met Kensi Blye a couple of times at interagency stuff, and worked with her on a gun-running investigation a couple of months back, she's a good operator"

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons I'm coming out, look over the crew and talk to a few of them about their career progression, the next posting, that sort of thing" Ana nodded, that was Gibbs, he looked out for his people.

"We'd love to catch up, I'll even cook" She could hear the smile in his voice.

"That's an offer too good to miss, I get to watch you work for a change while I sit on my ass and tell embarrassing stories to your better looking half" Ana's response was quick but lacked any heat.

"Fuck you man" Gibb's amusement was audible down the line.

"That ain't gonna happen, like you said, wrong chromosome" They shared a chuckle.

"Life's a bitch isn't it?" Ana said, getting an unconscious nod from Gibbs as he replied.

"That it is. Anyway, I have a meeting I have to get to, but I wanted to fill you in on the background to your personnel file going public, plus give you a heads up that I was going to be in LA"

"Thanks Gibbs, I appreciate it. Give me a call when you have a date and we'll arrange something"

"Good to chat Ana"

"You too Leroy, be well"

"You too" With that the call ended, leaving both participants smiling before they turned their attention to other matters.

In Court

I watched as Ling stood, wearing her trademark severe black pants suit and stiletto's, the suit had leather lapels while the skinny cut accentuated her slim figure, and made her way into the centre of the floor as I watched carefully, she was Peterson's razer-sharp rapier, as opposed to his bludgeoning club, Cox.

"Mister Hernandez, you claim to have been happy to cooperate with law enforcement officials, is that correct" Hernandez nodded.

"It is"

"Let's be honest here, you only walked away from Sinaloa because you'd been caught and Agent Romanov offered you a better deal" Hernandez tipped his head to regard Ling as he spoke.

"Whilst I was not expecting to be arrested at the border, having crossed it regularly without issue many times previously, I was offered a chance to start a new life by turning my back on my old one, a choice I was pleased to make" Ling raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

"And start a new life with the slate wiped clean of any previous crimes you had committed" Hernandez shrugged.

"A part of the process was providing a complete explanation of the crimes I had committed up to that point in my life, I was fortunate that as I had spent much of my time with Sinaloa as what you might call a middle manager in the cartel equivalent of administration, I had been somewhat isolated from the more extreme actions of the cartel"

"If you wanted to escape the cartel why didn't you just walk away when you were here in Los Angeles?" Ling probed deeper as we watched and waited.

"Counsellor, Sinaloa and the other Cartels have extensive connections, I was a Mexican citizen, here on a Mexican passport; how would I be able to just walk away as you put it when I could not legally work here in America?" At Hernandez' words Ling shrugged elegantly.

"Millions of others have done so over the years, with tens of thousands more joining that exodus each year" Hernandez smiled tightly.

"Very, very few of them have a drug cartel after them for turning traitor counsellor, even fewer have a multi-million dollar price on their head, that reality changes things somewhat" Ling ignored that and pressed on.

"Why not just go to the police yourself? Turn yourself in?" Hernandez nodded once.

"A valid point, however you have to understand the perception of the police that most people in Mexico have, that the police are not to be trusted, that they are corrupt and riddled with Cartel sympathisers and agents" He shrugged. "That makes going to the police a very dubious proposition at best, one to be avoided if possible"

"But you said that…" Ling checked her tablet. "…that Sinaloa had very little success in penetrating the LAPD" she looked up. "Why not go to them" Hernandez shook his head.

"Sinaloa had indeed penetrated the LAPD Counsellor, hence our presence here today" Ling nodded once and turned away from that.

"Ignoring that irrelevancy, why not go to the LAPD Mister Hernandez, or even the FBI?" Hernandez gave a very Latin shrug.

"The image of many US police forces is not the best south of the border. The belief is that they are unsympathetic to minorities, particularly blacks and Latinos, something that the ongoing series of well-publicised police beatings and shootings have done nothing to dispel" Hernandez shrugged. "When your own citizens and politicians are regularly televised marching to protest the shootings of minorities in cities across America, well that hardly engenders confidence in approaching them, not just as a Latino, but as a senior Cartel member, as you can understand counsellor"

"But you had something to trade, information for security" Ling said as Hernandez nodded slowly.

"That is true, but approaching the police is a terrifying option, it runs counter to everything that Mexican's have learned in their dealings with the police. A foreign police force, one that has been publicised for its issues with minorities, one that Sinaloa already had agents placed within; it did not seem such a valid option"

"You were looking for a better deal, immunity wasn't it?" Ling pressed as I waited, wondering where she was going with this.

"I did not expect it, so when it was offered, and more importantly it was explained that the Cartel's agents within the LAPD had been arrested, making it significantly less likely the Cartel could strike at me that way, I accepted the immunity on offer" Ling jumped on that.

"So the women here in Los Angeles, Johnson and Raydor and Romanov, they offered you immunity in return for supporting their claims against the unjustly accused defendant's…"

"I was offered immunity yes, and part of my testimony was on what had transpired with Kennedy and the others" Ling nodded as Andrea stood to interject.

"Your Honour, the principle and the practice of immunity from prosecution is well known, far too well known to have to repeat here" I stood beside her to back her up.

"And the decision to offer the witness immunity was not taken by either Agent Romanov, Chief Johnson or Commander Raydor, no matter what the Defence would have you believe to the contrary" Andrea shook her head at Ling as I continued. "That decision was made at the highest echelons of the FBI and the Justice Department in Washington, Agent Romanov, for reasons I'm sure we can all understand and appreciate, was a reluctant conduit at best of the offer to Mister Hernandez" Craven thought that over for a moment then nodded.

"Objection upheld; the Jury will disregard that line of questioning. Counsellor, another tack" Ling nodded and turned back to Hernandez.

"Mister Hernandez, how many people did you kill while working for the Sinaloa cartel?" At that I stood.

"Objection Your Honour, what exactly does this fishing expedition have to do with the evidence pertaining to the matter before this court?" Craven looked to me and then back to Ling.

Defence?" Ling was unfazed.

"Your Honour, we seek to understand the nature of the crimes this witness was absolved of by the Prosecution in their frantic hunt for anything they could use against my clients" Andrea stood up and spoke.

"If your clients hadn't approached Sinaloa to act as their paid assassins then we wouldn't be having this conversation" Ignoring the dark look that appeared on Ling's face Andrea turned to Craven. "It also seems as if Counsel is becoming increasingly hard of hearing, it has already been established that the decision to grant immunity was not one undertaken by any of the officers investigating the defendant's crimes here in Los Angeles, but in Washington" She shrugged. "As for the prosecution offering immunity, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office had no involvement in that decision whatsoever" Ling wasn't taking that lying down.

"Your Honour, we seek to identify the crimes undertaken by this witness, crimes that have been glossed over by the Prosecution as they rush to convict my clients of crimes they didn't commit" I smiled and shook my head, all for the camera.

"Not just deaf, but dumb too" I muttered, loud enough to probably be picked up by the media pool sitting behind me and probably the television cameras too then continued. "Your Honour, the Defence seems to have forgotten that, as my colleague so recently pointed out, the rationale for conferring immunity from prosecution is well established, to allow lesser crimes to be absolved in order for greater crimes to be solved and the perpetrators of those crimes to receive the punishment they so richly deserve" I looked to the jury. "That is what the people seek to prove here Your Honour, that the defendant's capital crimes be prosecuted and they are sentenced for their crimes"

Craven looked thoughtful for a moment then shook his head.

"Under the circumstances, I will allow the Defence to pursue this line of questioning, but if I believe it is wandering too far from relevance to this case I will stop it" He looked our way. "Understand?" We both nodded as Andrea spoke.

"Yes Your Honour" Ling smiled.

"Thank you Your Honour" She turned to Hernandez. "Please answer the question"

"I was recruited into the cartels as a boy" He shrugged. "As was common in the poorer parts of Culiacan where I grew up" Ling regarded Hernandez coldly and pressed harder.

"And what did you do for the Cartel?"

"I was initially a lookout for Cartel activities that the police might try and disrupt, then as a foot soldier of the cartel, like so many others, as I grew older I was used for more senior and important roles, I did them efficiently and Sinaloa continued to employ me"

"What sort of roles?" Hernandez shrugged at Ling's question.

"I was used as a messenger between elements of the Cartel in different cities, then later, having demonstrated a level of initiative, as a courier, carrying messages and items between Sinaloa and other cartels" Ling nodded.

"A position of trust it seems" Hernandez nodded in return then replied.

"I had given them no reason not to trust me, I had performed my assigned tasks quickly and professionally" Hernandez smiled a little sardonically. "In addition, as I'm sure you realise, the cartels have many, many very effective methods to ensure loyalty"

"Speaking of which, the cartels have various loyalty rites I understand, most involve killing someone to prove loyalty am I correct?" Hernandez nodded once.

"That is correct counsellor, Sinaloa required a blooding, that is you must kill a member of a rival cartel, they must die at your hand" He nodded. "Before you ask, yes, I killed a member of Los Zetas in a knife fight, he left me with several scars, I left him dead, If I hadn't he would have killed me without hesitation" Ling brushed past that.

"Was that the only person you killed for Sinaloa?" Hernandez sighed.

"No, I was involved in several gun battles with rival cartels in the years that followed, and before you ask, I am aware of three other people who I shot during those times that died, either partly or wholly because I shot them" He shook his head. "I was eventually promoted out of being a foot soldier to a new role where I acted as a courier and go between with other cartels, I did that efficiently and was trusted to do more senior work, liaison with politicians, businessmen, corrupt police and lawyers, more and more of my work was that, to the point that I had little to no direct contact with the Sinaloa street level activities anymore" Ling nodded.

"And you corrupted police and lawyers Mister Hernandez?" He shook his head.

"That was usually handled by others, once they had agreed to work for Sinaloa I was used as their conduit to Sinaloa, passing on messages and tasks to the contacts, and paying them off as required"

"Had you corrupted people here in California before?" Hernandez shook his head.

"As I explained, that was not normally my role; that fell to others. I was their contact, messages passed from them to Sinaloa and back, through me each way" Hernandez leaned forward. "Sinaloa employs people like me in the same way your Central Intelligence Agency does, as handlers for strings of agents, people who work for them embedded in other organisations hostile to America, or in this case Sinaloa" Ling frowned, she obviously didn't like that analogy.

"But your actions were nothing like that of the CIA, it attempts to make the world safer by its actions, whereas the Sinaloa cartel's actions have the diametrically opposite effect" Hernandez nodded agreeably.

"Obviously not everyone would agree with your interpretation of the CIA's actions; I was only comparing the two organisations in so much as the role I played was similar to that of someone in the CIA who also acted as a liaison officer" Ling wasn't letting go.

"Your actions led to misery and death, here in Los Angeles and elsewhere did it not?" Hernandez nodded.

"That was the result of Sinaloa's actions, yes"

"Your actions you mean?" At her words Andrea spoke up.

"Objection your honour, the Defence is attributing motivation to the witness when the witness was following orders" Ling smiled broadly as she shot back.

"Ah, the defence of the Nazi's at Nuremburg, that didn't work out so well for them either did it?" Andrea shook her head and looked to Craven.

"Your Honour, the witness has confessed to the crimes he has undertaken on behalf of Sinaloa, crimes which have, as much as possible, been verified by the FBI. No one here, least of all Mister Hernandez, is denying those crimes; the Justice Department, weighing up the balance between Mister Hernandez' previous crimes and the valuable evidence that he had on the operations of Sinaloa, made the determination to offer him immunity in return for his testimony" She looked to Ling. "I understand that the Defence would like to whitewash the evidence that has been heard from the witness about the actions of their clients, but that is not a decision they get to make"

"Your Honour, the witness has made a large number of uncorroborated statements regarding our clients, given the weight the Prosecution is placing upon that untested evidence, we feel more than justified in digging into the background of their star witness" Andrea shrugged.

"While Mister Hernandez evidence is compelling, I would have thought the tape of their client's making the decision to have the investigating officers and their partners killed, and then negotiating with their Sinaloa contact to have the job done, was the star witness as she puts it" Ling shook her head angrily.

"Cross examination is the heart of our system of justice, subjecting the evidence and the witness to the test to ascertain the truth of the matter" Andrea nodded smoothly.

"None would dispute that" She turned to Craven. "Your Honour, no one is attempting to deny Defence their chance to cross, as they have indeed stated, that is a key component of the American justice system. That said however is it too much to ask Defence Counsel to stick to the crimes committed and on trial here today; that is those committed by her clients?" Craven frowned for a moment then looked to Ling.

"Counsellor?" She turned to face him.

"We seek to determine the veracity of the witness and their testimony, given they were promised immunity and a new life in return for assisting the Prosecution to convict the defendant's on these trumped up charges. As part of that we feel it is imperative we understand the motives of the witness and the nature of the crimes they committed as part of their being granted immunity" Andrea shook her head.

"No one is denying the Defence's their rights however we are trying seven men and women on a range of capital crimes, those committed within this court's jurisdiction. The Defence seems bound and determined to dig into actions taken years ago and far outside the scope of this trial and the jurisdiction of this court, all in an attempt to dispute, denigrate and deny the evidence being considered" She shrugged. "Must we delve back into the witnesses' school records to determine if they were a model student? Of course not, for it has no bearing on the matter's being held in Your Honour's court" She spread her hands wide as she finished. "We simply ask that their cross be related to the crimes being heard in your court and the evidence presented, not spurious fishing expeditions"

Craven was silent for a while, looking from Ling to Andrea and back then nodded slowly, looking to Ling.

"Defence will restrain themselves to the witnesses' actions as they pertain to the subject of this trial" Ling frowned for a moment then nodded.

"Yes Your Honour" It wasn't like she had a whole lot of alternatives. As Andrea sat back down we exchanged a look and a small smile; if Ling was restricted to the specifics of the case, then she had almost no chance of undercutting Hernandez' evidence.

That made it a win in my book.