Chapter Seven

Supreme Court Trial

Part 52

Bernard was testifying for the prosecution.

"People's seven, Your Honor," said Connie, holding up a new stack of papers.

She approached the stand.

"Detective Bernard, do you recognize these?"

Bernard took the documents.

"Yes," he said. "These are the victim's phone records."

"What are the highlighted portions?"

"Those are numerous calls the victim received from the same phone number."

"Whose number is it?"

"The defendant's."

"Is there anything else of note from these records?"

"The defendant called the victim more than once daily—sometimes as much as five times a day."

"When you and Detective Lupo examined the victim's phone, did you find anything else of note?"

"She had a lot of voice messages. When we arrested Mr. Slater and were interrogating him, we played the messages for him. We told him we'd pulled the victim's phone records and knew which number was his and how often he called. He then admitted to leaving the messages."

"Would you please describe the content of the messages?"

"Hateful, profane—he swore at the victim a lot—hostile, intimidating."

"People's eight, Your Honor," Connie said, holding up a different document. "This is a transcript of one of the messages the defendant left on the victim's phone. The court is warned that it contains explicit language. Detective, would you be so kind as to read it?"

"Yes," Bernard replied, taking the transcript. "You fucking bitch," he read. "You'd better answer me. You can't keep ignoring me—I will not allow it. You and I are going to fucking talk, and it's going to be soon. You are fucking lucky to have me in your life, Gail. You aren't just going to throw this away. Again, I will not allow it. You aren't going to get rid of me, so quit avoiding me. Don't you turn your back on the best thing that has ever fucking happened to both of us. I was good to you—I was damn good to you. You're going to face me, and I am not letting you go."

As he read, Allison studied the jurors' reactions. They looked shocked and disgusted.

After Bernard finished reading, Connie let the content of the message sink in for a moment.

Then—

"Thank you, Detective. Nothing further."

Supreme Court Trial

Part 65

Eric Slater was on the stand.

"Why do you carry a gun, Eric?" asked Langan.

"For protection," Eric replied. "People in this city are crazy. Mugging, robbing, assault…I mean, damn…"

"And you've carried it legally?"

"Yes. I have a permit and a registration."

"How long have you owned your gun?"

"Six months."

"When did Miss Sullivan end your relationship?"

"Four months ago."

"Where do you normally store your gun?"

"In my car, in the glove compartment. That way, whenever I'm out and about, and I'm somewhere I don't feel entirely safe, it's right there. I can just take it out of my car and have it with me."

"When have you carried it? Night? Day? Both?"

"Usually at night."

"Why is that?"

"Because I feel like that's when the city is most dangerous."

"You aren't known for being violent, are you, Eric?"

"No."

"In fact, you have no criminal record, do you? You've never had any legal trouble before, have you?"

"No, I haven't."

"So being violent obviously isn't the norm for you?"

"No, sir, it isn't."

"So would it be unreasonable to call this whole ordeal an isolated incident?"

"No. I am not a violent person."

"Eric, how did you feel when Miss Sullivan ended your relationship?"

"I was devastated. I had trouble sleeping, sometimes I didn't feel like eating…I was very hurt—hurt and angry. I loved that woman. I loved Gail Sullivan. I would've done anything for her—anything. She was the love of my life. I wanted to marry her."

"Why did you behave so angrily?"

"Because I was so hurt! You can't know how much this hurt! Like I said, I was devastated. I was…I won't even lie, it felt like I was grieving. It was like I was mourning what we had. I was so devastated and depressed that I wasn't thinking straight. Again, I'm not violent, I'm not hateful. I was just hurt and angry and depressed."

"Do you regret what happened?"

"Yes, I do."

"Would you ever do anything like that again?"

"No, sir, I wouldn't."

"Nothing further," Langan said.

Connie arose and approached the stand.

"You say you carry a gun for protection—to make you feel safe?" she said.

"Yes."

"So when you went to Miss Sullivan's apartment the day she was killed, you brought your gun with you to feel safe? You took it out of your car and into the building with you because you felt you needed the protection—you thought you could be in danger?"

"Well…"

Eric seemed to be struggling to come up with a good answer.

"How did you know where Gail lived?"

"We were together for two years."

"So you two spent time together in her apartment?"

"Yes, we did."

"Think back for me, Mr. Slater—all those other times you visited Gail in her apartment, did you have your gun with you? Did you take it out of your car and into the building with you?"

Eric hesitated.

"No," he finally said.

"So is it reasonable to assume you never felt unsafe in that particular building?"

Eric paused longer this time.

"Yes," he said softly.

"So if you've never felt unsafe or threatened when visiting that building, why'd you have your gun on you for that particular visit? You never felt threatened by Gail before, did you?"

Eric's facial expression read: Oh shit.

And Connie knew it.

"No further questions," she said, returning to the prosecution table.

Langan stood up to redirect.

"Why did you bring the gun with you into the building, Eric?"

"I…I was just upset. I was depressed as hell. I just…I just wanted to scare her. That's all."

"So why'd you pull the trigger?"

"I don't know. I just freaked out. I got too emotional. I don't know!"

"So you were overcome with emotion to the point where you weren't thinking clearly, correct?"

Connie stood up.

"Objection, leading the witness."

"Sustained. Try again, Mr. Langan," said the judge.

"Can you describe what was going through your head when you arrived at Miss Sullivan's apartment with your gun?"

"It was just that I wanted to scare her. That's all. I didn't mean to kill her. I just lost it, I swear. I wasn't myself. I was all worked up and upset."

"Nothing further."

Connie stood as Langan sat down.

"Mr. Slater, you did notice that Gail wasn't returning your calls, wasn't emailing you back, and wasn't messaging you back on Facebook, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course."

"Isn't it true you tried to email her old address and received an automated message that said your messages couldn't be delivered at all?"

"Yeah, once or twice."

"What did you think when that happened? Anything?"

"At first I thought I'd misspelled her email address, so I double-checked the first time my message bounced back, and I re-sent it, but that wasn't it. Then I thought it was my internet provider, but that never happened when I emailed Gail in the past."

"What was the reason the automated message gave for why your message bounced back?"

"It said something like 'invalid address'."

"Did you wonder why that was?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Did it occur to you that she may have changed her email address?"

"Yeah, I figured that's what she did."

"Did you know she'd blocked you on Facebook?"

"Well, when I saw that I couldn't contact her there, I figured she must have."

"So you figured she changed her email address and blocked you on Facebook. So you knew she was keeping you from contacting her online, and you knew she was ignoring your voice messages and wasn't returning your calls. How'd you feel about all that?"

"Ignored…hurt…betrayed…depressed…angry…"

"Did Gail know you were going to visit her the day she was shot?"

Eric paused.

"No…" he then said.

"Did you ever surprise her with visits before, when the two of you were together?"

Eric's face bore the 'Oh shit' look again. He paused longer than before, then—

"No…"

"So you never surprised her with a visit before, yet you did the day she died? You never brought your gun with you into her apartment building before, yet you did the day she died? Did she ever tell you her work schedule?"

"No."

"Did you ever ask her for it?"

"No."

"Is why you had to talk to the receptionist at the magazine where Gail had recently been hired?"

"Yes…"

"So you found out when she would be off work, you brought your gun with you, and you showed up unannounced at her apartment—three things you'd never done before? Yet you claim all you wanted to do was scare her?"

"Yes…"

"You harassed her incessantly—to the point where she barred you from contacting her online, and she was planning to change her phone number. It didn't occur to you that she may have done those things because you scared her?"

"I just wanted to talk to her!"

"Then why not just say that? Why harass and threaten her? Why show up at her apartment, unannounced, with your gun? If you just wanted to talk, why the hostile behavior? Why shoot her?"

"I felt ignored! She wasn't paying attention to me! I never meant to kill her, I just wanted her back! I just wanted to scare her, get her attention, I swear! Have you ever been in love with someone, Miss Rubirosa?"

Connie couldn't help but glance at Mike before answering.

"Not in the way you have, Mr. Slater," she said, disgust in her voice.

Eric completely missed her point.

"Then you don't understand," he said. "I never meant to kill her."

"Oh believe me, Mr. Slater—I understand a lot better than you think."

Again, Eric completely missed the point.

"No, you don't," he said.

"Nothing further," Connie said, ignoring him.

She went and sat back down.

"The defense rests, Your Honor," said Langan.

"The People rest, as well, Your Honor," said Connie.

"Looks like we're finished, then," said Judge McConnell. "Very well—I'll hear closing arguments tomorrow. Court will reconvene tomorrow morning at nine o'clock."

With that, he banged down the gavel.

"I think this is open and shut," Allison said to Connie, as the two of them packed up. "This jury does not look like they're buying the 'poor me, I'm a tortured soul' defense."

"I agree. Langan's reaching. He has been this entire time," said Connie. "But his ego won't let him see that."

"Definitely not. You up for drinks?" asked Allison.

"Sure," said Connie.

She turned around to Mike.

"Hey, Allison and I are going out for a drink, would you like to come?" she asked.

"I'd love to, but Doug and I have a motion hearing to prepare for," Mike said sweetly.

"Oh, that's right," Connie said, recollecting.

"I promise I'll be here tomorrow morning," Mike said.

"I'm glad," said Connie. "See you later!"

"See you later, Connie."

They briefly kissed 'goodbye', and Connie packed up the remainder of her things into her briefcase.