December
Abe Kessler was doing everything he could to get an acquittal. If he could defeat the legendary Jack McCoy in what would likely be the biggest trial of the year, then he would finally be considered a big shot in New York. He would be able to charge a higher fee and possibly break into television. Abe had big dreams, and now it was time to start making them real.
Kessler had accepted a big retainer from his client. This turned out to be necessary since Langan had her accounts frozen soon after he took the case. The attorney was surprised that a colleague of his would make such a move before she was facing two counts of murder in the first.
"Don't you think it's a bit hypocritical," he had asked Langan, "freezing another defendant's assets before trial." Langan had contributed to the amicus brief opposing the government's freezing of defendants' accounts pre-trial as it could prejudice their access to counsel before the trial and force them to plead guilty when they would otherwise fight."
"Not my trial," Langan said coolly. "My job is to protect my client's interests not worry about the scoundrel who killed her parents."
"Innocent until proven guilty."
"Spoken like a lawyer who knows he's going to lose."
Kessler was only more determined to win. He knew it would be ugly but he was confident that he could unravel enough of the prosecution's case to skate by.
He hired a jury consultant recommended to him by Neil Gordon to help him with his preemptory challenges.
"Black people are more likely to acquit no matter who the defendant is. White people are more likely to acquit white people than they are black people."
Ideally, he would get a mostly white jury with one black person on it.
"You want to keep in mind the financial status of the jurors as well. Your client would be better off with a jury in a similar financial class as she."
"So if there's a rich, black, republican juror?"
"That would be golden.
Kessler used his challenges to strike out lower class, white people with children. He didn't need any jurors have a tearjerker reaction when they saw Cassie testify.
Ultimately, the jury had seven men and five women, one of the women was black and two of the men were non-white Hispanics. Kessler thought he had a pretty good bunch.
"What kind of woman hires a hitman to murder her own sister and her sister's husband?" Nancy Grace had been milking the murders for all she could.
She had a panel of "experts" to debate the prosecution's theory of the case.
"Logically, their story is rather sound. People murder for money all the time; the problem they have is evidence. Margaret did not want to get caught. She used go between and throw away phones. McCoy will need to do more than tell a story that sounds true; he needs to back it up."
"I think ultimately Greenfield will walk," another said. "Even if it's not during this trial, she'll win on appeal because she has the money and the time to keep hammering away at the justice system. The prosecution's case like a levee in Katrina; sooner or later, it's going to break."
Security had been increased at Cassie's school to keep the paparazzi away. They established a perimeter and the girl donned a hat and sunglasses to hide her face from the cameras.
Her mama had to hire a driver to take her to and from work and to get Cassie too and from school. This had been at Olivia's insistence after she saw the way they tried to climb fences to get to her family.
"They're like fucking spiders." Olivia wished she could just get them all with a bug bomb or something.
"Hang in there, Baby," Alex kissed her frustrated fiancée. "We just have to make it until the trial is over. Then we can go to Boston for Christmas."
They were taking an extended vacation, staying through New Years, so they could escape the drama of Manhattan.
A crowd of people lined up down the hall and around the corner, all trying to get into the murders' trial.
Lena Petrovsky would not have any foolishness in her courtroom. She made it very clear, "no cell phones, no cameras and no talking from the peanut gallery. If the audience is not ruly, then we will close the trial."
The room was jam-packed. Not just with spectators, but the benches on both counsel tables were full.
McCoy had Steele riding second chair and Rubirosa riding third chair, rare for him to have three attorneys, but he wanted them to each use his or her strengths to form a triple threat.
Steele would be doing the opening statement and doing the direct for Stuckey and Walsh, Rubirosa the closing and the direct on Cassie, Alexandra, and Lupo. McCoy would be doing the direct on Warner, the first responder, Green, and all of the cross-examinations. All three of them would be working on objections. If Kessler took a toe out of line, he wanted it caught.
At nine sharp, Petrovsky started the trial. "The people may begin."
Steele stood up and addressed the jury. He wasn't a large man, but he was imposing. Jack chose him because Steele had a way of talking like he knew he was right and you should know too. McCoy wanted the jury to hear the prosecution's confidence and to be enraptured by it.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are here because of greed and jealousy. Margaret Greenfield and Jessica Walker were sisters. They were estranged. Jessica had left her family and their riches behind to marry the man she loved, a hard working man who went from being a poor tramp from the lower east side to a successful surgeon.
In a bizarre twist of fate, Jessica and her daughter Cassie stood to inherit most of her father's will, a sum of over 160 million dollars. Margaret would inherit nothing. Margaret got one over on her father's estate lawyer by faking a child, so she could get half of the inheritance.
It worked, but half of the estate was not enough for Margaret. She had to have the whole thing. She hired James Stuckey to murder her sister, to murder her sister's husband, and to kidnap her niece, so she could pass off her niece as her own child and collect get of the money.
This is a story as old a Cain and Abel, one sibling jealous of the other's fortune, one sibling murdering the other in cold blood. Cain was cast out for his sins, and Margaret Greenfield needs to pay for hers."
Kessler wasn't fazed with Steele's bravado. He had a different story to tell.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Henry and Jessica Walter were tragically murdered in a crime that was about greed. However, the prosecution is grasping at straws and supposition.
We know that Phillip Marsh murdered these people. We know that Stuckey hired him to do it. We know that Walsh tried to finish the job after Marsh was incarcerated. We also know that all of these people received plea deals. Their testimony saved them from life sentences without parole. It is suspect and it cannot be enough to condemn Margaret Greenfield. The prosecution needs more than biblical allegory to convict. It needs hard proof and there just isn't any."
The first witness was the first responder. He had to describe how he came to the Walker estate to find Henry dead in the living room, covered in blood, Jessica outside the bathroom dead and covered in blood, and how he found little Cassie hiding in the closet.
He was able to lay the foundation so that the frantic 9-1-1 calls could get into evidence. McCoy wanted to get as much evidence about the murders into the jury's minds as possible. He knew he didn't have the strongest case when it came to proving Greenfield's involvement, but he had enough to make it past appeal. He just had to get the big C at trial.
Kessler tried to bring out what the first responder didn't know. "You didn't see who stabbed the Walkers, did you?"
"I did not."
"And you wouldn't know who hired the killer."
"Objection, beyond the scope," McCoy objected quickly.
"Withdrawn and no further questions," Kessler was hoping that the objections made it look like the prosecution was hiding the ball.
Warner was the next to testify.
"Henry was stabbed 11 times. The fatal wound tore open his liver, causing the toxins inside of it to course through his body. He died in minutes after that wound."
"Was that his final wound?" McCoy questioned.
"No, he was stabbed another five times," Warner pointed out the order of the stab wounds.
"How do you know in which order he was stabbed?"
"I can tell based on the deformation of the knife. Each time the killer stabbed the victim, the knife got a bit more deformed. By measuring the wounds, I was able to tell the order in which they occurred."
"Did you make any other observations about the crime?"
"The victim put up quite a fight. He kept trying to get the knife away from his killer, causing wounds on his hands and he had been slammed into a table and a wall. I found splinters in his back."
Like Henry, Jessica had put up a fight too, but she was not able to last very long. Marsh stabbed her seven times, the third one being the fatal one that got her heart.
Kessler wanted to paint Marsh in the worst light possible. "Would you say that the killer had experience with stabbing people?"
Warner wasn't sure how to answer that. "I can't say if he's stabbed before, but the killer was certainly ruthless."
"You said the knife was deformed. Does that mean that the killer had above normal strength?"
"It could. It could also mean that it was a cheap knife or that the killer hit a bone early on, ruining the structural integrity of it."
"Would you say that the stab wounds were indicative of rage?"
"It wasn't a crime of passion if that's what you mean. Typically, you would see more like 40 stab wounds in such a crime."
"But it could have been for a personal vendetta."
"Objection, still beyond the scope."
"I'm just asking about the observations she made while doing the autopsies."
"An autopsy can sometimes give clues as to why someone was killed, but that is not to a perfect science. Defendants are usually in a better position to say why they did it." Melinda was not fazed by a hack like Kessler.
"Move to strike the last part as nonresponsive."
"Be careful Doctor."
"I apologize your honor."
They took a lunch break after Warner and in the afternoon, Detective Green took the stand.
"Can you say your name and occupation?"
"Edward Green, senior detective with the NYPD, homicide division."
"And did you work the Walker murders?"
"I did."
"How did you receive the case?"
"I received a call from my superior that there had been a double homicide in the Upper West Side. My partner and I met at the crime scene where we found the Walkers were dead. They had clearly been murdered."
"And what happened next?"
Green explained how they did a walkthrough and when they saw a child's room, they asked where the child had gone.
"An officer explained that Cassie had been taken to the hospital." She had been unwounded in the attack, but the girl had slipped into some kind of shock.
They went to the hospital where she had been discharged, but she would not talk about the night before. "She only gave one word answers if that. We didn't know what to do, so we took her to a child psychologist who works with NYPD."
Cassie wouldn't even talk to her.
"Eventually, she was able to sit down with a sketch artist and describe the man she had seen in her house."
"And you were able to find him based off this sketch."
"We were, Marsh had a record, so he was in our database."
He had been captured in Connecticut and extradited back.
"Did Marsh confess to the crimes?"
"Not initially?"
"But he did eventually."
"Yes, he did."
"And did he say why he did it?"
"He said that Stuckey had promised him 100k to kill Henry, to kill Jessica, and to kidnap Cassie."
"But he failed to kidnap Cassie."
"He bolted once he heard the police sirens."
"And what did he do after he got arrested?"
"He tried to get his brother to kidnap Cassie so he could get paid. Greenfield refused to pay until she got the girl."
"Objection hearsay."
"The defendant's own statements are not hearsay," McCoy countered.
"My client never spoke to Green. This is double hearsay."
He had a point. "What say you to that Mr. McCoy?"
He didn't have an answer, but Connie did. "But she did speak to Stuckey and a co-conspirator's statements are an exception to the hearsay rule."
"Thank you Mr. McCoy," Petrovsky chided. "I'll allow it, but be mindful."
The cross on Green took the rest of the day.
Kessler tried to make something of Greenfield's lack of confession.
"She never confessed did she?"
"Of course not. She lawyered up as soon as we arrested her."
"Motion to strike the last statement as it was non responsive."
Petrovsky was less giving this time. "You shouldn't ask questions if you do not like the answers."
"The only person to can attest that my client was responsible for these crimes is a convicted murderer."
"Your client can attest to it to, if she dares to take the stand."
"Your honor, permission to treat him as hostile."
"Mr. Green, remember your manners."
"Of course your Honor. I apologize."
Cassie was slated to testify first thing Tuesday morning. Rubirosa had prepped her well, but it would still be scary.
Alex made Cassie her favorite dinner, herb roasted chicken, mac and cheese, green beans with pecans.
When Olivia came home, she could smell her fiancée cooking up a storm. "What is this?"
Alex had on an apron that said kiss the cook.
When she turned, Olivia smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Smells good."
"Thanks."
Olivia went to get Cassie. She was in her room hugging Toby. The detective knew something was wrong.
"What is it bumblebee?"
Cassie was nervous. "What if I mess up tomorrow?"
Olivia's heart broke. She scooped up her little girl. "You're going to be great tomorrow. Just remember what you and Connie practiced." She kissed Cassie's forehead. "It's okay to be scared. We all get scared sometimes."
"Even you Papa?"
"Even me."
After Alex called them, Olivia and Cassie came out to dinner. Cassie was happy when she saw the menu.
"My favorites!"
They all sat down and started to eat.
Suddenly, Cassie was a little chatterbox, going on about what had happened in school that day.
"Billy pushed Tyra in the dirt during recess, so she put a tack on his chair."
The poor boy yelped when he hopped back into his seat.
"That wasn't very nice," Alex cautioned Cassie as Olivia cracked up.
The detective was about to clear their plates when the doorbell rang. They hadn't been expecting anyone. Olivia went to the door, stepping in front of Alex in case it was a foe.
She looked through the peephole and saw Judge Donnelly.
"I come in peace," she told Olivia.
The brunette opened the door, and Liz had a tray of cookies.
"Where's my little princess?"
Cassie saw the tray and knew what that meant. "Here!"
"I brought you some cookies."
"Thank you," Cassie made off with a chocolate chip and marshmallow cookie.
"How is she holding up?" Liz asked Alex.
"She's nervous," Alex told her. "We all are."
Donnelly hoped her presence would help put Cassie at ease. "I'm going to have a talk with her."
The judge went into Cassie's room where she saw the little girl playing with a doll.
"Hi Cassie."
"Hi Aunt Liz."
"I used to be a lawyer, did you know that?"
"Like mama?"
"Just like Mama. I tried a lot of cases."
"Did you win?"
"Sometimes," Liz told her, "but sometimes, I didn't win. I always did my best, but we can't control the outcome. We can only tell the truth and hope for the best."