So we go over general areas, points to be made, and then I send him on his way.
Laurie and I get into bed at about eleven, and we lie there talking for an hour or so. She's a realist; she knows how difficult the situation is. The tension I am feeling is overwhelming, and it must be that much worse for her. At least I have some control over the events of the next few weeks; she can only watch and then face whatever consequences those events cause. Even Tara seems to be on edge, uncharacteristically barking out the window at street noises.
Once Laurie and Tara go to sleep, I can focus on Barry Leiter and perform my nightly self-flagellation. I will always consider myself to blame for his murder, and I will always be right.
It's a really long night.
We've been studiously avoiding television coverage of the case, and this morning is no exception. It's very difficult for Laurie to watch people openly calling her a murderer, and the few that are on her side represent small consolation.
Today, however, she will hear Dylan give his opening statement, and it will be far worse than anything she might hear on television. She will have to listen as he tells the jury that she decapitated Alex Dorsey and set fire to his body, and she will hear him ask that jury to send her to prison for the rest of her life. I restate to her what she already knows: that she must sit there stoically and unemotionally, not reacting in any way.
Outside the courthouse today, it is even more chaotic than usual, and inside, the tension level has been ratcheted up considerably. All of this is due to the start of opening statements. The prosecution gets to present its road map of the crime, telling the jury exactly what it is they will prove. They promise only what they believe they can deliver, and in this case that is quite a bit.
Before Hatchet brings in the jury so the statements can begin, he asks if there are any last-minute things we need to go over. We had included my name on our witness list, since I'm the only one who can testify to the meeting I had with Stynes. Dylan attempts to get Hatchet to rule that I should be prohibited from testifying, since Stynes is not relevant to the case. The canons of legal ethics frown on lawyers as witnesses and preach that efforts should be made not to take on cases in which the lawyer will have to testify. But it is not prohibited, and I'm not backing out.
I stand and argue that Stynes is completely relevant, that he in fact is the sole reason Laurie was out behind the stadium. Hatchet decides to defer his decision until the defense case is set to begin, and he calls in the jury.
Lawyers, start your mouths.
'Ladies and gentlemen,' Dylan begins, in a tone reflecting his sadness that we have to be here at all, 'over the next few weeks you are going to hear different points of view about the incidents that brought us here today. But let me make one fact very clear right at the start.'
He walks over toward the defense table and stands a few feet away from Laurie, pointing at her. 'This is the person on trial. This is the person whose actions you are here to judge. Now, that may seem obvious now, but soon it won't be. That is because Mr. Carpenter is going to stand up here and try to make Alex Dorsey the person on trial. That's right, he is going to make the victim the criminal, and the criminal the victim.
'Make no mistake about it, Mr. Carpenter is going to pull some tricks that would make Houdini blush. You'll watch as he makes a man rise from the dead, you'll be shocked as he turns a murdered man into a conspirator, capable of concocting grand schemes, and you'll shake your head when, for his next trick, he turns a brutal murderer into an innocent, victimized woman.
'It will be amazing, and it will be amusing, but it will all be nonsense. Because fortunately, there will also be facts that even a magician like Mr. Carpenter can't make disappear, and those facts, every single one of them, will lead you to the conclusion that Laurie Collins brutally murdered Lieutenant Alex Dorsey of the Paterson Police Department.'
He points toward Laurie again. 'Doesn't look the part, does she? Not who you envision when you think of a person who could decapitate a human being and set the body on fire. The very idea of it seems almost beyond comprehension. But I've prosecuted a lot of horrible criminals, ladies and gentlemen, and let me tell you something: They come in all different shapes and sizes. I've seen mothers that killed their children, I've seen schoolchildren that killed their friends, and none of them looked the part of killer.
'Laurie Collins was a police officer until she left the force after a dispute with Alex Dorsey. She carried a grudge against him and against another man, Oscar Garcia. So she concocted a plan, to murder Lieutenant Dorsey and to frame Mr. Garcia for that murder. Two birds with one stone. And it almost worked.'
He shakes his head, both for effect and to demonstrate his own amazement at the brazenness of Laurie's crimes, and repeats, 'It almost worked.'
Dylan then gets into the meat and potatoes of his case, describing the crime and the prosecution's theory of how it was accomplished. 'And I say to you today, there is nothing we will claim that we will not prove. Nothing. By the time Judge Henderson sends you off to deliberate, you will have no trouble understanding that we have proved not just beyond a reasonable doubt but beyond any doubt that Laurie Collins committed one of the most heinous crimes this county has ever witnessed. And I know, I am absolutely positive, that you will bring her to justice.'
The eye contact Kevin makes with me tells me that he agrees with my assessment that Dylan has done a strong job. It was clear, concise, persuasive, and it had the jury's attention throughout. It also maintained and took good advantage of the presumption of guilt.
There is a myth going around, something about the Constitution granting everyone the presumption of innocence. In the real world, that is total nonsense. Juries go in thinking that the accused is most likely guilty, or that person would not be on trial.
That leads right into the second myth, which is that the prosecution carries the burden of proof and that the defense bears no burden at all. The burden is absolutely on the defense, starting with the opening statement, to aggressively attack that presumption of guilt and plant in the jury's mind that this defendant just might, wonder of wonders, be innocent. If the defense does not meet that burden, the defendant will be eating off of tin plates for years to follow.
Hatchet asks me if I want to make my opening statement now or reserve it for the conclusion of the prosecution's case. It's a no-brainer; it's time the jury came to understand this is not going to be a walk in the park for Dylan.
'Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,' I begin, 'that was a heck of a speech, wasn't it? That Mr. Campbell can really turn a phrase.'
I look directly at Dylan. 'I'm such an admirer of his words, in fact, that I'd like to read some more, if I may. I'll make sure I quote him directly so I don't mess things up.'
I walk over to the defense table, and Kevin hands me a piece of paper. 'Here goes … these are words that Mr. Campbell said about this case,' I say, as I start to read. ''Your Honor, the State of New Jersey will prove that on May thirteenth of this year, in the City of Paterson, New Jersey, the defendant did, with malice aforethought, will- fully murder Mr. Alex Dorsey, a lieutenant in the Paterson Police Department.''
I hand the paper back to Kevin and turn to the jury. 'A little drier than his speech today, but it summed things up pretty nicely, wouldn't you say? The defendant murdered Alex Dorsey. Very simple.'
I walk over and point to Laurie. 'The only problem is, this wasn't the defendant he was talking about. He was talking about a man named Oscar Garcia, and Mr. Campbell at that time said that Oscar Garcia was guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, of the murder of Alex Dorsey. Now he says that Oscar Garcia is innocent and that Laurie Collins is guilty of that same murder, also beyond a reasonable doubt.
'So here's a riddle: How many people, not working together, can be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the same crime before those doubts become totally reasonable?'
I look at Dylan and shake my head, as if saddened by his transgressions. 'In our justice system, a prosecutor should be certain before he brings charges like these, and Mr. Campbell claimed to be certain that Oscar Garcia was guilty. He was totally wrong then, but he asks you to believe he's right now. And he wants you to send somebody to prison for the rest of her life based on that belief.
'I said he was wrong then, which makes me one for one. I'm telling you he's wrong now, which you will soon see makes me two for two.
'But when the State of New Jersey brings a charge of murder, however unfounded, it must be vigorously defended. So let's look at what Mr. Campbell would have you believe. He claims that Ms. Collins carried a grudge against Mr. Dorsey for two long years, never once during that time attempting to cause him physical harm. Then
