David Ellis - Jury of One

But that didn’t mean that a kid couldn’t get caught up for something, even if he didn’t have anything to do with it. And if Shelly believed that, then a kid who grew up and lived like Todavia believed that even more. She had already seen, firsthand, that Todavia had a general fear of law enforcement; she saw him defer to a former cop, Joel Lightner.

She read the uncertainty in his eyes. He hadn’t expected this. He hadn’t expected to be accused of playing a role in the shooting, and he was beginning to think that Shelly was pointing a finger at him.

“Man, no one said nothin’ ’bout me bein’ up for this, ” he said.

“Well, let me ask you this.” She had to play this right. She didn’t want to get his lawyer involved, because in the end, Todavia’s lawyer would assure him that he had nothing to worry about. She didn’t want that. She wanted the witness thinking he was on the hook. She wanted to scare him enough, but not so much that he started shouting out words like Fifth Amendment and lawyer.

“Didn’t you tell us, Mr. Todavia-your words, certainly not mine-but didn’t you tell us that Alex all but told you he was going to kill a police officer? And you never reported that information?”

“Judge.” Morphew stood. “I think the witness-”

“Sidebar, your Honor?” Shelly quickly interrupted. She absolutely did not want the witness to hear this conversation. The judge waved them forward. They all met in the corner, far from the jury and witness.

“Judge, he should be allowed to confer with his P.D.,” said Morphew.

“He doesn’t need his lawyer,” Shelly answered. “I’m just asking him if it’s true that he never reported what my client supposedly said to him. That’s no crime.”

“But she’s giving the appearance that it is a crime, Judge. He should be allowed to confer with counsel.”

“To tell him what?” Shelly asked the judge. Always direct your comments to the judge or risk his ire. “That he has nothing to worry about? He isn’t going to incriminate himself, your Honor. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“I’m not going to tell a witness he can’t confer with counsel,” said the judge.

“I haven’t heard him ask, Judge.”

“Thank you, Ms. Trotter. If you had let me finish, I would have said that very thing.”

“Sorry, your Honor.” She raised her hands.

“Do you mind if I continue?”

“Of course not, your Honor. I apologize.”

His Honor adjusted his glasses and spoke to the court reporter. “The witness is not in jeopardy with regard to the question of whether he failed to report a vague reference to a future crime. If he wants to speak with his lawyer, I’m going to allow that. But I’m not going to stop these proceedings for a needless exercise until that time.” He looked at the prosecutor, almost as an aside. “She can play this game, Mr. Morphew.”

They all returned to their places. Todavia was in distress. He seemed to be hoping that, following this sidebar, someone would tell him he didn’t have to answer the question. He could lawyer up at any time, so she had to move fast.

“I’ll ask you again, Mr. Todavia. If I heard you right before, I thought you said that my client told you of a plan to kill a cop. You said you ‘knew what he meant.’ And yet you never reported that to the authorities, did you?”

“Man, what am I gonna report?”

“Well, did you really, truly believe that Alex was going to kill a cop?”

He studied her a moment, or he was studying the entire situation. He was doing what they all do, trying to find a middle ground. Shelly was serving it on a silver platter. “No, couldn’t a said that for sure,” he said.

“Oh.” She tried to seem relieved for him. “Okay. So that’s why you didn’t report it. Because you didn’t think he meant that he was going to kill a cop.”

“No, ma’am.” He was gaining momentum now, buying into this position.

“It was possible, for example, that he was kidding.”

“Could be.”

“Alex, you’ve known him for a few years, right?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s been known to joke around, yes?”

“Yeah. Funny guy.”

“Funny guy,” she repeated. “Alex, you mean.”

“Yeah, kid makes lots of jokes. Always joking around, that guy.”

Always joking around. Maybe he and Shelly could tour together. A laugh a minute.

“You didn’t really take him seriously, did you? Whatever it was he said to you?”

“Nope.” Todavia shrugged. “What do I know? Guy says something. Never know.”

“In fact, since we’re talking here”-she gestured between the two of them-“it was about six months ago now, and you said you didn’t take it seriously. Could be, maybe you don’t remember word for word exactly what Alex said. Right?”

Todavia squinted at her. She saw immediately that she had overplayed her hand. One question too many, the failure of a lawyer falling too much in love with her own performance. Of course. Todavia could dance around the edges here, but if he came off that statement, he ran the risk that Morphew would pull his plea agreement. She wanted to reach out and grab the words out of the air.

“Well-”

“Tell you what, Mr. Todavia. I’ll withdraw that question. Let me-”

“Judge, can the witness finish his answer?” Morphew requested.

Damn. Shelly wanted to kick herself, but she could show no hesitation whatsoever. “Of course.” She extended her arm to the witness.

“Man said what he said, is all.”

“Okay.” She exhaled. That could have been worse. She had been lucky there. Now was the time to scare him. “Mr. Todavia, in this time that you say you and Alex had an ‘arrangement,’ did you ever introduce Alex to any members of the street gang? The Columbus Street Cannibals?”

“Lady, I told you before. I didn’t introduce nobody to Alex.”

He told her before at his house, he meant. “As far as you knew, did Alex know any of the other members of your gang?”

He laughed. “Alex? No, lady. Alex didn’t know none of my friends. Look at that boy.”

She couldn’t have scripted a better answer. It was more or less the same thing he’d said at his house. “Okay, Eddie. You told us that Alex said he had a cop on his tail who wanted to take down the Cannibals. Remember you told us that?”

“Yeah.”

“According to your testimony, this cop wanted to use Alex to help take down the Cannibals.”

“Right.”

Shelly had slowly moved toward Todavia. “If Alex is going to help take down the Cannibals, and you’re the only Cannibal he knows, that meant he was going to have to take you down. Isn’t that right, Eddie?”

Morphew rose to object. “Assumes facts not in evidence. Speculative.”

“I just want his state of mind,” Shelly said calmly, as if it were a no-brainer.

The judge slowly nodded. “I’ll hear the answer.”

Having turned to the judge, she saw in her peripheral vision that Alex was squirming. She looked at him and he summoned her with his eyes. “A moment, Judge?” she asked. When she reached Alex, he stood and leaned over the defense table.

“Shelly, what are you doing?” he whispered urgently. “You can’t accuse this guy of murder.”

“I’m not. Relax.” She motioned him down and turned back to the witness. “You know what? I’ll rephrase.” It gave her a chance to say the whole thing again for the jury’s benefit. She moved a step closer to the witness, whose demeanor had turned decidedly sour again. This was about as unexpected to Todavia as the kick to the abdomen. She ticked off points on her hand. “You said you believed Alex when he said that this cop wanted to take down the Cannibals, and that he was going to use Alex to do it. You said that as far as you knew, Alex didn’t know any other Cannibals besides you. So from your standpoint, Eddie, didn’t that mean that this cop had become a threat to you ?”