'No,' Abbie said firmly.
'I have an ethical obligation to communicate the offer.
They'll take a plea to murder. Life with a ten-year minimum sentence.
There would be no possibility of a death sentence.'
'I'm innocent. I will not plead guilty to a crime I did not commit.'
Matthew smiled. 'Good. That's what I hoped you'd say.'
'You're that certain you'll win?'
'I'm positive.'
'I'm scared, Matt. I keep thinking about what will happen if we lose. I used to think I could take anything, but I can't. If I have to go to jail . . .'
Abbie looked as frightened and vulnerable as a child. Matthew hesitated for a second, then put his arms around her. Abbie collapsed into him, letting go completely. Matthew wished he could make time stop, so he would never have to let her go.
Chapter TWENTY-ONE
Matthew Reynolds was right. While working on State of Oregon v. Abigail Griffen, Tracy did not have time to run or rock-climb or eat right, and she sure wasn't sleeping right. But she didn't care.
Trying a death penalty case was more exhilarating than anything she had ever done.
All her life Tracy had been fiercely competitive. That was why she had turned down jobs at several corporate law firms, which offered more money, to work for Matthew Reynolds. Criminal law provided the biggest challenge. There were no higher stakes than life or death. She played for those stakes occasionally when she climbed, but the life that was at risk was her own. It surprised her how much more difficult it was when the life in the balance was someone else's and that person was totally helpless and dependent on her skills.
When Reynolds spoke about the lawyers who visited their clients after dark during her interview, Tracy felt an electric current passing through her. Reynolds had never faced the ultimate failure of watching a client die, and she vowed that it would never happen to her.
Matthew had put her in charge of the legal research so he could concentrate on the facts of the case. This was tremendously flattering because Reynolds was known nationally for his innovative legal thinking.
But it also meant working in the library from morning to night, learning everything there was to know about the specialized area of death penalty law, as well as the legal issues that were specific to Abbie's case.
Tracy's head was so crammed with information that she was waking up at odd hours with ideas that had to be jotted down. When the alarm startled her out of bed each morning, she was groggy, but an adrenaline high kicked in and carried her through days that passed in a flash.
Once the trial started, Tracy set her alarm even earlier so she could meet Reynolds at the office at six-thirty for the day's pretrial briefing. At eight-thirty, Barry Frame would arrive with Abigail Griffen and they would drive to the Multnomah County Courthouse, where they would fight their way through the crowd of reporters and spectators who mobbed the fifth-floor corridor outside the courtroom.
Their judge, the Honorable Jack Baldwin, was a gaunt, diminutive man with curly gray hair and a pencil-thin mustache. His complexion was unnaturally pale. When they were introduced, Tracy noticed liver spots on the back of the judge's hand and felt a slight tremor when they shook. Lines on his face showed Baldwin's seventy-four years. The Oregon constitution made it mandatory that judges retire at seventy-five.
Although Baldwin was dwarfed by Geddes and Reynolds, he carried himself with an easy authority that commanded respect and made him seem equal in stature to the attorneys. Baldwin had a reputation for being fair and his intelligence was unquestioned. The judge let the parties know that his last major trial was going to be a model for death penalty litigation.
The first week and a half in court was taken up with jury selection and opening statements. On Thursday of the second week, Geddes called his first witness, the attorney who represented Justice Griffen in his divorce. When he was through testifying on direct examination, the jury was fully aware that Abigail Griffen stood to lose a lot of money if the divorce became final.
Tracy was worried about the damage the testimony had caused, but Matthew's cross-examination left everyone in the courtroom convinced that two million dollars was chump change for a woman like Abbie Griffen.
Next Geddes called Jack Stamm, who reluctantly told the jury about Abbie's angry reaction when she learned that Justice Griffen had authored the opinion that reversed the conviction of Charlie Deems.
Stamm's testimony was no surprise to the defense. He believed in Abbie's innocence and had spoken freely with Matthew and Barry Frame before the trial.
'Mr. Stamm,' Matthew asked the district attorney when it was his turn to cross-examine, 'are your deputies usually overjoyed when the case of a convicted criminal is overturned on appeal?'
'No, sir.'
'Have you heard deputy district attorneys other than Mrs. Griffen curse a particular judge because that judge wrote an opinion reversing a conviction?'
'Yes.'
'So Mrs. Griffen's reaction was not unusual?'
'No, Mr. Reynolds. She reacted the way a lot of my deputies react when a case is reversed.'
Reynolds smiled at Stamm. 'I suspect even you have taken the name of a few appellate judges in vain?'
'Can I take the Fifth on that?' Stamm answered with a grin.
Everyone in the courtroom laughed, except Chuck Geddes.
'I'm going to let him exercise his rights here, Mr. Reynolds,' Judge Baldwin said with a smile.
'Very well, your honor. I'll withdraw the question. But I do have another for you, Mr. Stamm. How seriously does Mrs. Griffen take her cases?'
Stamm turned to the jury.
'Abigail Griffen is one of the most dedicated prosecutors I have ever met. She is brilliant, thorough and scrupulously fair.'
'Thank you, sir. No further questions.'
'Mr. Geddes?' Judge Baldwin asked. Geddes thought about going after Stamm, but he knew Stamm would try to help Griffen if given the chance.
'No further questions, your honor. The state calls Anthony Rose.'
Tony Rose entered the courtroom looking impressive in his police uniform. He would not look at Abbie. When he took the witness stand, he sat with his shoulders hunched and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
Geddes established that Rose was a police officer who had testified in several cases which Abigail Griffen had prosecuted. Then he stood up and walked over to the end of the jury box farthest from the witness.
'Officer Rose, when did you learn that the Supreme Court had reversed the conviction of Charlie Deems?'
'The day it happened. It was all over the station house.'
'At some point after you learned of the reversal, did you have an opportunity to talk about it with the defendant?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Tell the jury about that conversation.'
'There's an Italian place, Caruso's. It's downtown on Second and Pine.
I eat there every once in a while. One night I saw Mrs. Griffen, the defendant, as I was leaving. She was by herself, so I went over to say hello. While we were talking, I told her I was sorry the case was reversed.'
'What was her reaction?'
'She was furious.'
'Did she mention her husband, Justice Griffen?'
'Yeah, and, uh, she wasn't too complimentary.'
'What did she say about him?'
'She called him a son of a bitch and she said he reversed the case to get her. I guess she was going through a divorce and figured he was trying to make her look bad.'
Geddes paused long enough to get the jurors' attention. Then he asked, 'Officer Rose, did Mrs. Griffen tell you about something she wished Charlie Deems would do to Justice Griffen?'
