His eyes became slits. Sue had two kids, including a twelve-year-old son. Turner freaked her out. She forced herself to outstare him and he finally looked away and gave another grunt.
“Something on your mind, Troy?”
“Yeah.”
“What?”
“Can I have a smoke?”
Both boys, as it turned out, were thirteen, and Troy was the older one, a month from fourteen. Neither had known Kristal Malley. As the papers reported it, the pair had run out of change; as they left the video arcade they spied the little girl wandering around the mall looking lost. Deciding it would be “cool” to “fool around,” they gave Kristal some stale candy from Rand ’s gritty jeans pocket and she accompanied them willingly.
Despite evidence to the contrary, implications of sexual assault laced the local coverage. The story was picked up by the national press and the wire services, tilting toward the lurid, feeding sensation to their international clients.
That brought the usual swarm of talking heads, public intellectuals, and other misery pimps sounding off. Op-ed editors found themselves in a buyer’s market.
The
One genius, a pundit funded by the Ford Foundation, attempted to connect the crime to the post-Christmas sale season- pernicious materialism had led to frustration had led to murder. “Acquisitional rage,” he called it. The same thing happens all the time in the favelas of Brazil.
“Shop till you drop it on someone,” Milo had remarked at the time. “What an asshole.” We hadn’t discussed the case much and I’d done most of the talking. He has solved hundreds of homicides but this one bothered him.
The media noise lasted awhile. Over at the Hall of Justice, the legal process kicked in, stealthy and gray. The boys were placed in the High Power ward at the county jail. With both of them too young to qualify for a 707 hearing to determine if they could be tried as adults, most experts felt the disposition would end up in Juvenile Court.
Citing the brutality of the crime, the District Attorney’s Office made a special request to kick the case up to Superior Court. Troy Turner and Randolph Duchay’s court appointed P.D.s filed papers in strong opposition. A couple more days of editorial columns were devoted to that matter. Then another lull, as briefs were written and a hearing judge was appointed.
Juvey judge Thomas A. Laskin III- a former D.A. with experience prosecuting gang members- had a rep as a hard case. Courtroom whispers said it was going to get interesting.
I got the call three weeks after the murder.
“Dr. Alex Delaware? Tom Laskin. We’ve never met but Judge Bonnaccio said you’re the man for the job.”
Peter Bonnaccio had been presiding judge of Superior Court, Family Division for a couple of years, and I’d testified before him. I hadn’t liked him much at first, thinking him hasty and superficial when making custody decisions. I’d been wrong. He talked fast, cracked jokes, was sometimes inappropriate. But plenty of thought went into his decisions and he was right more often than not.
I said, “What job is that, Judge?”
“Tom. I’m the lucky guy who got handed the Kristal Malley murder and I need the defendants evaluated psychologically. The main issue, obviously, is, was there enough mature forethought and mental capacity prior to and during the commission of the crime to qualify the defendants for full, adult psychological capacity. The D.A.’s broken new ground, but from what I’ve seen the sixteen-year minimum for a 707 isn’t inviolate. Issue Two- and this is as much personal as official- I’d like to know what makes them tick. I have three kids of my own and this one makes no sense to me.”
“It’s a tough one,” I agreed. “Unfortunately, I can’t help you.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m not the man for the job.”
“Why not?”
“Psychological tests can reveal how someone’s functioning intellectually and emotionally in the present, but they say nothing about past state of mind. On top of that, they were developed to measure things like learning disabilities and giftedness, not homicidal behavior. In terms of what made these boys tick, my training’s even less helpful. We’re good at creating rules about human behavior but lousy at understanding exceptions.”
“We’re talking bizarre behavior, here,” said Laskin. “Isn’t that your bailiwick?”
“I’ve got opinions, but they’re just that- my personal point of view.”
“All I want to know is were they thinking like kids or like grown-ups.”
“There’s nothing scientifically definitive I could say about that. If other shrinks tell you different, they’re lying.”
He laughed. “Pete Bonnaccio said you could get like this. Which is exactly why I called you. Everything I do on this one is going to be put under the microscope. The last thing I need is one of the usual expert whores turning it into a circus. I didn’t take Pete’s word that you were unbiased, I talked to some other judges and a few cops. Even people who think you’re a compulsive pain-in-the-ass admit you’re not doctrinaire. What I need here is an open mind. But not so open your brain falls out.”
“Are you open-minded?” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“You really haven’t made up your mind?”
I heard him breathing. Rapidly, then slower, as if forcing himself calm. “No, I haven’t made up my mind, Doctor. I just had a look at the autopsy photos. Went by the jail and looked at the defendants, too. In jail duds, with their hair cut, they look like they got kidnapped themselves. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“I know, but- ”
“Cut the crap, Doctor. I’ve got solid citizens clamoring for vengeance and the ACLU and their buddies wanting to make political hay. Bottom line: I’ll evaluate the data and make up my own mind. But I need to be sure I’ve got the best information. If it’s not you evaluating those boys, it’ll be someone else- probably one of the whores. You want to opt out of your civic duty, fine. Next time something bad happens, tell yourself you did
“Impressive guilt trip.”
“Hey,” he said, laughing. “Whatever works. So how about it? Talk to them, test them, do whatever the hell you want and report directly to me.”
“Let me think about it.”
“Don’t think too long. Okay, decided yet?”
“I need to be clear,” I said. “I could end up with no recommendation on adult versus juvey.”
“I’ll deal with that if and when it happens.”
“I’d need unlimited access,” I said. “And no time pressure.”
“Yes to the first, no to the second. I’m due to rule within thirty days. I can extend it to forty-five, maybe sixty, but if I don’t act in a timely manner it leaves me open to all sorts of appeal static. You in?”
“Okay,” I said.
“What’s your fee?”
I told him.
“Stiff,” he said, “but not out of line. Send your bill directly to me. You might even get paid within a reasonable amount of time.”
“Comforting.”
“That’s all the comfort you’re going to get on this one.”
