Treadwell adjusted himself in the chair and tried to make eye contact with Kelly. Jason took a half step to the side, placing himself directly in the witness’s sight path.
“We didn’t deem those other citations-which were spread out over nearly ten years-sufficient to take revocation action,” Treadwell said.
“But you were also aware, were you not, that a number of guns from Peninsula Arms had been traced to crimes in cities in the northeast-cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Washington?”
“Yes. But without information that the sales of those guns somehow violated the law, we couldn’t take legal action against the dealer.”
“My point exactly,” Jason said.
“Objection!” Kelly said. “Move to strike.”
Judge Garrison cast Jason a castigating glance and then turned to the jury. “Please ignore that last statement by Mr. Noble,” the judge said. “I will strike it from the record. And Mr. Noble-please keep your editorial comments to yourself.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” Jason checked through his notes. “I do have one other question,” he said. “To your knowledge, has Ms. Starling filed any lawsuits against the ATF for its failure to take action against Peninsula Arms?”
“No, she has not.”
“No further questions.”
Before he sat down, Jason casually moved one more empty chair up to the defense counsel table. When he sat in his own seat, next to Case McAllister, all eyes were on him.
Case leaned over. “After this case, you need to raise your hourly rate.”
74
At the end of Agent Treadwell’s testimony, Kelly stood up and announced that she rested her case.
Inside, she was already second-guessing her strategy. She had started strong with the videotape of the shootings and the testimony of Blake Crawford. But she had wanted to finish strong too. She had toyed with the idea of ending on the videotaped testimony of Melissa Davids-a guaranteed high point for her side. Instead, she decided to end her case with Treadwell’s testimony, hoping to demonstrate in the flesh that ATF agents were the furthest thing from Hitler and Stalin.
Unfortunately, Treadwell had been a disaster.
Now Jason Noble was on his feet again. “I have a motion to make,” he said.
The lawyers and Judge Garrison all knew what was coming-a Motion to Strike. Defense lawyers routinely made such motions at the end of a plaintiff’s case, asking the judge to throw out the case because the evidence was legally insufficient.
“Okay,” Judge Garrison said, checking his watch. “I’m going to let the ladies and gentlemen of the jury go home for the night, and then we can discuss the motion.”
Kelly nodded her head. This was normal and no cause for alarm.
But then Judge Garrison added something that twisted her stomach in knots. “I’m also going to ask the jury not to arrive tomorrow until 1 p.m. It’s going to take us a while to work through this motion, and I’d like to give the jurors the morning off.”
Almost every member of the jury smiled. Judge Garrison had just become a very popular man.
And Kelly was sick with worry.
Jason stayed off the phone during the twenty-minute drive back to his office. His success in court had only made him feel like a bigger hypocrite. Only he knew that even if he tore apart witnesses like Agent Treadwell on cross-examination, his case would ultimately implode when Chief Poole took the stand.
It was bad enough that Jason was forced to call Poole as a witness, bad enough that he had been manipulated into keeping two jurors on the case whom he really didn’t want, but now he was being forced to use Poole as his last witness. By waiting until Monday to call Poole, Jason would end his case the same way Kelly had ended hers-with a whimper.
Maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe this guy Luthor really thought Poole would be a good witness. Maybe Luthor wasn’t the one who had provided the damaging documents to Kelly; maybe Luthor had no idea that Poole would get destroyed on cross-examination. Jason couldn’t communicate with the man, so it was impossible to know what he was really thinking. Maybe Jurors 3 and 7 would be strong advocates for Jason’s cause.
And maybe Santa Claus would show up tomorrow and grant Jason’s Motion to Strike.
If nothing else, Jason’s life had taught him to be a realist. Mothers die. Fathers disappoint. Friends get killed in car accidents. You get fired for doing a good job. Life is not fair. You move on the best you can.
What made it harder was that Jason had developed such great respect for Case McAllister. The man had done nothing but encourage and coach Jason since the day they met. Case was entrusting his entire company and career to a rookie lawyer. And Jason was rewarding that trust by selling Case out to an anonymous blackmailer.
But what else could Jason do? Betray his father and Matt Corey? If he did that, the case would be declared a mistrial, and MD Firearms would have to start over. He could quite possibly lose his law license, and serious jail time was not out of the question.
But maybe then he could at least live with himself.
He stopped at a red light, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. He was actually trembling from all the pressure, his mind racing wildly from one thought to the next.
The light turned green, and Jason took a few deep breaths. He forced himself to think logically. Left brain, Jason; filter out the emotions. Slow down. He needed to play this out one step at a time. If he won the Motion to Strike tomorrow, the case would be over. Even if he lost, he could call Melissa Davids as his first witness. That would buy him the weekend.
He would run out of time on Monday morning-either rest his case or call Chief Poole to the stand. Honor or reputation? Should he sacrifice his own father or MD Firearms?
His hands started shaking again as he drove slowly through the intersection.
When Jason got to the office, it was deserted except for Case McAllister. The veteran lawyer was in the firm’s small kitchen, finishing dinner from the Purple Cow disposable containers.
“I’m going to pick up Melissa at the airport,” Case said. “I’ll take care of getting her ready to testify.”
“Thanks.”
“You look like death,” Case said. “You need to get something to eat and take an hour or two off.”
He shoved a couple of the Styrofoam containers at Jason. Chicken wrap, turkey club, or Caesar salad. Jason didn’t care.
“I’ve got to work on my argument for the Motion to Strike,” Jason said. He tried to sound upbeat but felt like he was on autopilot. “I’ll rest this weekend.”
“You might want to call Bella. She’s been trying to get in touch with you.”
Jason smiled. “I know. Four messages on my BlackBerry.”
After Case left, Jason dialed Bella’s number. She was at the Courtyard Marriott hotel at the oceanfront with the shadow jury. She and Andrew Lassiter had shown them the opening statements and the first few witnesses. Each individual juror had filled out a brief questionnaire.
“Andrew says we can’t give them any hint who we’re working for,” Bella reported. “He says it might sway their opinions.”
“Yeah, that’s standard procedure,” Jason replied. “Don’t want them to know which side is paying them.”
Bella scoffed at the notion. “That wouldn’t influence me any. If I don’t like somethin’, I tell people. Makes no difference who’s paying me.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Anyway, they like you a lot. But they like Ms. Starling too.”
This didn’t surprise Jason. He would talk with Andrew later and get a full report on any subtle strategy changes he needed to make based on the shadow jury’s feedback.
