Robert Tanenbaum: Malice

"This is on page one hundred and twenty," Karp said. "You asked, 'Did Coach O'Toole tell you to lie to ACAA investigators if they asked you questions about the party?' Now, read the next lines."

"'That's not what he said,'" Larkin read. "'He told me to tell the truth. He said there's never such a thing as one lie because one lie creates another lie until nobody knows what the truth is.'"

Karp closed his copy of the transcript. "Until nobody knows what the truth is," he repeated. "Mr. Larkin, after what we just heard, do you still feel that the only substantive, relevant information was on the nine pages of the transcript you created?"

Larkin shrugged. "It was my opinion that the boys were lying to protect the coach."

"Nine pages of truth, to a hundred and twenty-six pages of lies," Karp said. "That's a whole lot of lying, Mr. Larkin. So many lies that nobody knows what the truth is, right, Mr. Larkin?"

"Objection," Zusskin said wearily. "Counsel is making a speech."

Karp looked at Larkin, then Zusskin, then the representatives of the ACAA, and snorted in disgust. "I withdraw the 'speech,' Your Honor. And I'm done with this witness."

Zusskin rose tiredly to his feet for redirect, but he seemed lost as he blinked at Larkin without speaking. One of the ACAA reps reached over the bar and tugged on his coat; the attorney leaned back and listened. When he looked up, it was with relief written all over his face.

"Your Honor, we have no further questions for Mr. Larkin," he said. "But may I approach the bench?"

"Be my guests," the judge said, and nodded to Karp and Meyers to join them.

Zusskin smiled at Karp as he walked up, as if ready to offer the deal of a lifetime. "My clients-the ACAA and the university, which, considering the current circumstances of Mr. Huttington and Mr. Barnhill, is now represented by the Board of Regents-have decided that there is no reason to continue this trial. They are prepared to offer a very generous sum to settle the case, as well as reinstate Coach O'Toole to his former position at the University of Northwest Idaho."

"May I inquire as to the change of heart?" the judge asked.

Zusskin spread his hands, shook his head, and smiled. "Just that the jury might misinterpret some of what has been said here. And we are concerned that the complainant, Rufus Porter, may not have been entirely truthful."

"No, as a matter of fact, everything he said was a lie," Karp remarked. "Your clients are just trying to buy their way out of one huge expensive embarrassment."

"So, Mr. Karp, does that mean you are turning down the offer to negotiate a settlement?" the judge asked with an amused look on his face.

"No, I owe it to my client to present the offer," Karp said. "Give me just a moment."

Every eye in the courtroom followed Karp's mission to the plaintiff's table, where he sat and spoke quietly to O'Toole for perhaps thirty seconds with Meyers listening in. Then Karp stood up and returned to the judge's bench with a big smile on his face, which Zusskin misinterpreted.

"We have a deal?" Zusskin grinned.

"No way." Karp grinned back.

"What?" Zusskin replied, frowning.

"No way, Jose," Karp chuckled. "My client wants complete vindication from this jury and this court."

The judge sat back and said aloud so that everyone in the courtroom could hear, "Well, then on that note, Mr. Zusskin, call your next witness, please."

Zusskin put his hands in his pants and rocked back on his heels. "Uh, Your Honor, we had intended to call Clyde Barnhill to the stand, but given the circumstances of which I'm sure you've been made aware, we, uh, won't be doing that."

"So are you resting, Mr. Zusskin?"

Zusskin looked back at the ACAA reps, who nodded as one. "Looks that way, Your Honor," he said, and tried to smile but failed.

Allen straightened up. "Well, then, if there are no further witnesses, I guess we can move to closing arguments. Yes, what is it, Mr. Karp?"

"Your Honor, there is one request, we'd like to recall Kip Huttington back to the stand."

Zusskin whirled and stalked back up to the judge, where, when Karp and Meyers joined him, he whispered, "He can't do that. Mr. Huttington has already appeared and been dismissed. And in light of what happened over the weekend, I doubt Mr. Huttington's lawyer will let him take the stand unless it is to invoke his Fifth Amendment privileges against self-incrimination."

"Au contraire," Karp whispered back. "Mr. Huttington has waived his Fifth and his right to an attorney. Your Honor, I am recalling Mr. Huttington to correct the record from his prior testimony. He will testify, among other things, that he lied when he said that Coach O'Toole confessed to him."

The judge nodded. "Then by all means, let's get him up here and hear what he has to say."

The spectators in the courtroom gasped as a handcuffed Kip Huttington shuffled into the courtroom wearing a jail jumpsuit. A deputy walked alongside with a hand on his arm, though it looked like it was more to support the quaking man than out of concern he might attempt escape.

Huttington kept his head and eyes down as he climbed into the witness stand. Once seated, the judge reminded him that he could still consider himself under oath.

Karp wasted no time. "Mr. Huttington, on Friday you testified that Coach O'Toole came to your office and confessed that he'd known about this party and paid for the alcohol and strippers. Was that true?"

Huttington shook his head.

"Speak, Mr. Huttington," Karp demanded. "The jury can't hear you rattling your head back and forth, and the court reporter is obliged to accurately record your testimony."

Huttington flinched but spoke into the microphone. "No. Coach O'Toole never said that."

"Why did you testify that he did?"

"My attorney at the time, Clyde Barnhill, told me to."

"Why?"

"We were worried about the case."

"Is there a reason you were so anxious to get rid of Coach O'Toole?"

"He wouldn't let Rufus Porter back on the team."

"Was there anybody demanding that you get rid of Coach O'Toole so that Rufus Porter would be allowed back on the team?"

"His father, John Porter."

"So you lied?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I was being blackmailed."

"Blackmailed? Whatever for?" Karp acted as if this were the first he'd heard about the issue.

Huttington's head dropped and he began to cry.

"I asked you a question, Mr. Huttington," Karp said, letting his voice rise.

"I got a girl pregnant. Maria Santacristina. She was going to tell my wife, ruin me. I panicked and asked Mr. Barnhill to help. He called John Porter, who…who…who made the arrangements."

"Arrangements? What arrangements?"

"To have her killed."

Again, the spectators gasped. A woman juror covered her mouth and gave a small cry.

"Do you know how they murdered Maria Santacristina?"

Huttington nodded but couldn't speak. He just kept sniffling and trying to suppress sobs.

"Come now, Mr. Huttington," Karp said angrily. "The court reporter can't hear you nodding your head, nor can she transcribe your sniffles and moans. Do you know how they murdered Maria Santacristina?"

"YES!" Huttington screamed, looking up, his eyes red from tears and hate. "THEY BURIED HER ALIVE IN MY CAR!"

The woman juror cried out. "Oh my God!" Others in the courtroom echoed the sentiment.

Karp waited for the muttering to subside, and then turned to a new line of assault. "Okay, Mr. Huttington. So you were aware that a young woman, who you'd impregnated, was murdered on your behalf. And then you participated in this farce against my client because the murderers were using it to blackmail you. But do you have any idea why the ACAA would be so anxious to participate in this travesty?"