EIGHT
The law offices of Dobbs and Delgado were on the twenty-ninth floor of one of the twin towers that created the signature skyline of Century City. I was right on time but everyone was already gathered in a conference room with a long polished wood table and a wall of glass that framed a western exposure stretching across Santa Monica to the Pacific and the charter islands beyond. It was a clear day and I could see Catalina and Anacapa out there at the very edge of the world. Because the sun was going down and seemed to be almost at eye level, a film had been rolled down over the window to cut the glare. It was like the room had sunglasses on.
And so did my client. Louis Roulet sat at the head of the table with a pair of black-framed Ray-Bans on. Out of his gray jail jumpsuit, he now wore a dark brown suit over a pale silk T-shirt. He looked like a confident and cool young real estate executive, not the scared boy I saw in the holding pen in the courthouse.
To Roulet’s left sat Cecil Dobbs and next to him was a well-preserved, well-coiffed and bejeweled woman I assumed to be Roulet’s mother. I also assumed that Dobbs hadn’t told her that the meeting would not include her.
To Roulet’s right the first seat was empty and waiting for me. In the seat next to it sat my investigator, Raul Levin, with a closed file in front of him on the table.
Dobbs introduced Mary Alice Windsor to me. She shook my hand with a strong grip. I sat down and Dobbs explained that she would be paying for her son’s defense and had agreed to the terms I had outlined earlier. He slid an envelope across the table to me. I looked inside and saw a check for sixty thousand dollars with my name on it. It was the retainer I had asked for, but I had expected only half of it in the initial payment. I had made more in total on cases before but it was still the largest single check I had ever received.
The check was drawn on the account of Mary Alice Windsor. The bank was solid gold-First National of Beverly Hills. I closed the envelope and slid it back across the table.
“I’m going to need that to come from Louis,” I said, looking at Mrs. Windsor. “I don’t care if you give him the money and then he gives it to me. But I want the check I get to come from Louis. I work for him and that’s got to be clear from the start.”
I knew this was different from even my practice of that morning-accepting payment from a third party. But it was a control issue. One look across the table at Mary Alice Windsor and C. C. Dobbs and I knew I had to make sure that they knew this was my case to manage, to win or to lose.
I wouldn’t have thought it could happen but Mary Windsor’s face hardened. For some reason she reminded me of an old grandfather clock, her face flat and square.
“Mother,” Roulet said, heading something off before it started. “It’s all right. I will write him a check. I should be able to cover it until you give me the money.”
She looked from me to her son and then back to me.
“Very well,” she said.
“Mrs. Windsor,” I said. “Your support for your son is very important. And I don’t mean just the financial end of things. If we are not successful in getting these charges dropped and we choose the alternative of trial, it will be very important for you to show your support in public ways.”
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “I will back him come hell or high water. These ridiculous charges must be removed, and that woman… she isn’t going to get a penny from us.”
“Thank you, Mother,” Roulet said.
“Yes, thank you,” I said. “I will be sure to inform you, probably through Mr. Dobbs, where and when you are needed. It’s good to know you will be there for your son.”
I said nothing else and waited. It didn’t take her long to realize she had been dismissed.
“But you don’t want me here right now, is that it?”
“That’s right. We need to discuss the case and it is best and most appropriate for Louis to do this only with his defense team. The attorney-client privilege does not cover anyone else. You could be compelled to testify against your son.”
“But if I leave, how will Louis get home?”
“I have a driver. I will get him home.”
She looked at Dobbs, hoping he might have higher standing and be able to overrule me. Dobbs smiled and stood up so he could pull her chair back. She finally let him and stood up to go.
“Very well,” she said. “Louis, I will see you at dinner.”
Dobbs walked her through the door of the conference room and I saw them exchange conversation in the hallway. I couldn’t hear what was said. Then she left and Dobbs came back, closing the door.
I went through some preliminaries with Roulet, telling him he would have to be arraigned in two weeks and submit a plea. He would have the opportunity at that time to put the state on notice that he was not waiving his right to a speedy trial.
“That’s the first choice we have to make,” I said. “Whether you want this thing to drag out or you want to move quickly and put the pressure on the state.”
“What are the options?” Dobbs asked.
I looked at him and then back at Roulet.
“I’ll be very honest with you,” I said. “When I have a client who is not incarcerated, my inclination is to drag it out. It’s the client’s freedom that is on the line-why not get the most of it before the hammer comes down.”
“You’re talking about a guilty client,” Roulet said.
“On the other hand,” I said, “if the state’s case is weak, then delaying things only gives them time to strengthen their hand. You see, time is our only leverage at this point. If we refuse to waive our right to a speedy trial, it puts a lot of pressure on the prosecutor.”
“I didn’t do what they are saying I did,” Roulet said. “I don’t want to waste any time. I want this shit behind me.”
“If we refuse to waive, then theoretically they must put you on trial within sixty days of arraignment. The reality is that it gets pushed back when they move to a preliminary hearing. In a prelim a judge hears the evidence and decides if there is enough there to warrant a trial. It’s a rubber-stamp process. The judge will hold you over for trial, you will be arraigned again and the clock is reset to sixty days.”
“I can’t believe this,” Roulet said. “This is going to last forever.”
“We could always waive the prelim, too. It would really force their hand. The case has been reassigned to a young prosecutor. He’s pretty new to felonies. It may be the way to go.”
“Wait a minute,” Dobbs said. “Isn’t a preliminary hearing useful in terms of seeing what the state’s evidence is?”
“Not really,” I said. “Not anymore. The legislature tried to streamline things a while back and they turned the prelim into a rubber stamp because they relaxed hearsay rules. Now you usually just get the case cop on the stand and he tells the judge what everybody said. The defense usually doesn’t get a look at any witnesses other than the cop. If you ask me, the best strategy is to force the prosecution to put up or shut up. Make them go sixty days from first arraignment.”
“I like that idea,” Roulet said. “I want this over with as soon as possible.”
I nodded. He had said it as though a not-guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion.
“Well, maybe it doesn’t even get to a trial,” Dobbs said. “If these charges don’t hold muster -”
“The DA is not going to drop this,” I said, cutting him off. “Usually, the cops overcharge and then the DA cuts the charges back. That didn’t happen here. Instead, the DA upped the charges. That tells me two things. One is that they believe the case is solid and, two, they upped the charges so that when we start to negotiate they will deal from a higher ground.”
“You’re talking about a plea bargain?” Roulet asked.
“Yeah, a disposition.”
“Forget it, no plea bargain. I’m not going to jail for something I didn’t do.”
“It might not mean going to jail. You have a clean rec-”
“I don’t care if it means I could walk. I’m not going to plead guilty to something I didn’t do. If that is going to be a problem for you, then we need to part company right here.”
I looked closely at him. Almost all of my clients make protestations of innocence at one point along the way. Especially if it is our first case together. But Roulet’s words came with a fervor and directness I hadn’t seen in a
