Perri O'Shaughnessy - Unfit to Practice

“That’s right. She didn’t have to do that. I like Ms. Reilly, don’t get me wrong. I know she didn’t mean for us to get hurt.”

“Would you mind going into a little more detail about what happened when Cody Stinson ‘jumped out’ at you?”

“Certainly. We were just walking along, and there he was. I recognized him right away and I started screaming and kicking him, because Angel and I have two brothers, and I think it was just a reaction to the situation, you know? Because I recognized him right away. Angel kind of leaped onto his back.”

“And got knocked down.”

“Right.”

“What exactly did Cody Stinson do?”

“Well, he was shouting,” she said dubiously. “What do you mean, what did he do?”

“Did he pull a knife?”

“I didn’t see one. Doesn’t mean he didn’t have one, though.”

“What was he saying?”

She shook her head in disbelief. “I wasn’t listening, to tell you the truth. I was scared out of my brains.”

“Is it possible Cody Stinson just wanted to talk?”

“He knocked Angel down,” she said slowly. “So, no. I wouldn’t say so.”

“After she jumped on his back.”

“He jumped us,” she said firmly.

“After you screamed and kicked him.”

“What was I supposed to do! He’s a murderer and he shows up in the woods by the beach where I’m supposed to be meeting my fiancé! I’m damn proud we fought back!”

Jack calmed her down, praising her quick thinking, all the while making his points for the judge. When they got to the event at the women’s shelter, he tried for similar points. Why did Stinson knock? Hadn’t he said he just wanted to talk to them that night, too? Wasn’t it possible the broken window was just a result of his frustration about not getting their attention? He established that the Taylor-Ford home and Ford’s office were listed, as were Angel’s address and workplace, “accessible to anyone that can read.”

When he finished, his usually cool forehead had a sheen of moisture. “Brandy’s got the judge diving for his hanky,” Jack whispered to Nina. “Did you have to pick a client who’s so damn adorable and sympathetic?”

Cody Stinson’s jail jumpsuit hung on him. Escorted into the court by a guard, he took the stand nervously, stroking his goatee while Nolan shuffled through her notebooks for a minute. Then Nolan introduced herself and established that he was at present incarcerated and awaiting a trial in a murder case.

“You know why you’re here today?” Nolan asked.

He pulled his mouth into a pucker. “I guess to say bad things about that attorney over there, Nina Reilly.”

“Do you know Ms. Reilly?”

“Not personally, no.”

“You have nothing personal against her.”

“No.”

“And no reason to say bad things.”

“Right.”

“You are accused of murdering Phoebe Palladino at Campground by the Lake in South Lake Tahoe in the early-morning hours of September the first, last year?”

“I didn’t do it.”

“You’ve spoken to your attorney regarding your testimony here today?”

“I’ve waived my right to be silent and take the Fifth Amendment in writing. I want to talk about this. If I don’t say anything, I’ll never get out. You know, they let Mario Lopez go because of those bozo women. That’s just so lame.”

“We’re not here to determine your innocence or guilt, Mr. Stinson. What we’d like you to tell the court is how you received information about a confidential file on your case. How did you hear that Brandy Taylor and Angel Guillaume had some information of interest to the police regarding you in that case?”

“That’s easy. Somebody called me and told me.”

“Somebody?”

“Just a voice on the phone.”

“What did this person say exactly?”

“He-or she, whatever it was, said that these two women were running all over town telling everybody that they saw me kill Phoebe, which was a lie!”

“Up until that point, the police were looking at another suspect, isn’t that so?”

“Mario. Mario Lopez, that’s right.”

“In fact, you had established an alibi, which the police seemed to believe.”

“That broke down when those women said they saw me at the campground.”

“Made you mad, didn’t it?”

“Well, let’s face it. I knew I didn’t hurt Phoebe. I was just trying to save everybody the trouble of getting confused about what happened. I knew it would look bad, me being at the campground that night later. If I could, I would have kept my alibi.”

“Not only did it make you mad, it attracted the police’s attention.”

“Right. It looked like, up to that point, they didn’t think I was involved.”

“In fact, you were arrested as a result of the information Brandy Taylor and Angel Guillaume gave to the district attorney’s office. You must have seen that coming. You must have been upset.”

“Your Honor,” Jack said, “asked and answered.”

“Let’s not belabor the point,” said Brock. “Con-tinue.”

“What specific information did that person who called give you regarding the identity, whereabouts, and intentions of these witnesses?”

“He gave me their addresses, including one for a beauty salon where one of them worked, and the Ford guy’s office. Told me they were planning to go to the D.A. to say things about me.”

“When you received this information, what was your reaction?”

“I wanted to talk to them.”

“You wanted to talk,” Nolan repeated, eyes rolling slightly. “Mr. Stinson”-Nolan waved a stapled pile of papers at him-“isn’t it true that you stalked and assaulted these two women on at least two separate occasions with the intention of scaring them so completely they would never testify against you?”

“That’s sheer bullsh-they jumped me!”

“And, Mr. Stinson, in between surprising the two women on the beach and again at the women’s shelter at Tahoe, where you broke a window, frightening and disturbing the residents, you took the time to drive to Palo Alto and use these terrifying tactics, verbally abusing and attempting to assault Brandy’s fiancé, Bruce Ford?”

“What is this? I thought this was about how bad she was, not how bad I am! I didn’t attack nobody, not Phoebe, not those women, not that wuss Ford. I just wanted to straighten things out with them.”

“By straightening, do you mean you wanted them to leave town and not testify against you?”

He folded his arms. “That would suit me, yeah. Because they were lying.”

“Uh huh,” said Nolan. “If you had not received that anonymous phone call, would you have known about the potential witnesses?”

“Probably not. No.”

“You would not have gone after them?”

“To talk to them! No.”

“That’s all.”

Jack stood while Nolan sank back into her chair.

“Mr. Stinson, tell us more about what happened at the beach that day that you came upon Brandy Taylor and Angel Guillaume. What was your intention on that day?”

“I went there to talk to them, I swear. How many times do I have to tell you people?”

“Did you take a knife along?”

“No!”

“A gun?”

“No.”

“A weapon of any kind?”

“I didn’t take a weapon. These were women. I didn’t go looking for trouble.”

“Yet you ended up in a fight, didn’t you?”

“Like I said before, they jumped me first. Of course I’m not going to just take that. I pushed ’em off.”

“And at the women’s shelter?”

“Christ, I even knocked! Next thing I know, there’s a lady I never saw before waving a rifle at me.”

“When you went to Bruce Ford’s-”