Michael Connelly: The Brass Verdict

I was on a roll and decided to go all in.

“Thank you,” I said. “Your Honor, now might also be a good time for the prosecutor to reacquaint his witness with the penalties for perjury.”

It was a dramatic move made for the benefit of the jury. I was expecting I would have to continue with Torrance and eviscerate him with the blade of his own lie. But Vincent stood and asked the judge to recess the trial while he conferred with opposing counsel.

This told me I had just saved Barnett Woodson’s life.

“The defense has no objection,” I told the judge.

After the jury filed out of the box, I returned to the defense table as the courtroom deputy was moving in to cuff my client and take him back to the courtroom holding cell.

“That guy’s a lying sack of shit,” Woodson whispered to me. “I didn’t kill two black guys. They were white.”

My hope was that the deputy hadn’t heard that.

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up?” I whispered right back. “And next time you see that lying sack of shit in lockup, you ought to shake his hand. Because of his lies the prosecutor’s about to come off of the death penalty and float a deal. I’ll be back there to tell you about it as soon as I get it.”

Woodson shook his head dramatically.

“Yeah, well, maybe I don’t want no deal now. They put a goddamn liar on the stand, man. This whole case should go down the toilet. We can win this motherfucker, Haller. Don’t take no deal.”

I stared at Woodson for a moment. I had just saved his life but he wanted more. He felt entitled because the state hadn’t played fair – never mind responsibility for the two kids he had just admitted to killing.

“Don’t get greedy, Barnett,” I told him. “I’ll be back with the news as soon as I get it.”

The deputy took him through the steel door that led to the holding cells attached to the courtroom. I watched him go. I had no false conceptions about Barnett Woodson. I had never directly asked him but I knew he had killed those two Westside boys. That wasn’t my concern. My job was to test the state’s case against him with the best of my skills – that’s how the system worked. I had done that and had been given the blade. I would now use it to improve his situation significantly, but Woodson’s dream of walking away from those two bodies that had turned black in the water was not in the cards. He might not have understood this but his underpaid and underappreciated public defender certainly did.

After the courtroom cleared, Vincent and I were left looking at each other from our respective tables.

“So,” I said.

Vincent shook his head.

“First of all,” he said. “I want to make it clear that obviously I didn’t know Torrance was lying.”

“Sure.”

“Why would I sabotage my own case like this?”

I waved off the mea culpa.

“Look, Jerry, don’t bother. I told you in pretrial that the guy had copped the discovery my client had in his cell. It’s common sense. My guy wouldn’t have said shit to your guy, a perfect stranger, and everybody knew it except you.”

Vincent emphatically shook his head.

“I did not know it, Haller. He came forward, was vetted by one of our best investigators, and there was no indication of a lie, no matter how improbable it would seem that your client talked to him.”

I laughed that off in an unfriendly way.

“Not ‘talked’ to him, Jerry. Confessed to him. A little difference there. So you better check with this prized investigator of yours because he isn’t worth the county paycheck.”

“Look, he told me the guy couldn’t read, so there was no way he could have gotten what he knew out of the discovery. He didn’t mention the photos.”

“Exactly, and that’s why you should find yourself a new investigator. And I’ll tell you what, Jerry. I’m usually pretty reasonable about this sort of stuff. I try to go along to get along with the DA’s office. But I gave you fair warning about this guy. So after the break, I’m going to gut him right there on the stand and all you’re going to be able to do is sit there and watch.”

I was in full outrage now, and a lot of it was real.

“It’s called ‘rope a dope.’ But when I’m done with Torrance, he’s not the only one who’s going to look like a dope. That jury’s going to know that you either knew this guy was a liar or you were too dumb to realize it. Either way, you’re not coming off too good.”

Vincent looked down blankly at the prosecution table and calmly straightened the case files stacked in front of him. He spoke in a quiet voice.

“I don’t want you going forward with the cross,” he said.

“Fine. Then, cut the denials and the bullshit and give me a dispo I can-”

“I’ll drop the death penalty. Twenty-five to life without.”

I shook my head without hesitation.

“That’s not going to do it. The last thing Woodson said before they took him back was that he was willing to roll the dice. To be exact, he said, ‘We can win this motherfucker.’ And I think he could be right.”

“Then, what do you want, Haller?”

“I’ll go fifteen max. I think I can sell that to him.”

Vincent emphatically shook his head.

“No way. They’ll send me back to filing buy-busts if I give you that for two cold-blooded murders. My best offer is twenty-five with parole. That’s it. Under current guidelines he could be out in sixteen, seventeen years. Not bad for what he did, killing two kids like that.”

I looked at him, trying to read his face, looking for the tell. I decided I believed it was going to be the best he would do. And he was right, it wasn’t a bad deal for what Barnett Woodson had done.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I think he’ll say roll the dice.”

Vincent shook his head and looked at me.

“Then, you’ll have to sell it to him, Haller. Because I can’t go lower and if you continue the cross, then my career in the DA’s office is probably finished.”

Now I hesitated before responding.

“Wait a minute, what are you saying, Jerry? That I have to clean your mess up for you? I catch you with your pants around your ankles and it’s my client that has to take it in the ass?”

“I’m saying it’s a fair offer to a man who is guilty as sin. More than fair. Go talk to him and work your magic, Mick. Convince him. We both know you’re not long for the Public Defenders Office. You might need a favor from me someday when you’re out there in the big bad world with no steady paycheck coming in.”

I just stared back at him, registering the quid pro quo of the offer. I help him and somewhere down the line he helps me, and Barnett Woodson does an extra couple of years in stir.

“He’ll be lucky to last five years in there, let alone twenty,” Vincent said. “What’s the difference to him? But you and I? We’re going places, Mickey. We can help each other here.”

I nodded slowly. Vincent was only a few years older than me but was trying to act like some kind of wise old sage.

“The thing is, Jerry, if I did what you suggest, then I’d never be able to look another client in the eye again. I think I’d end up being the dope that got roped.”

I stood up and gathered my files. My plan was to go back and tell Barnett Woodson to roll the dice and let me see what I could do.

“I’ll see you after the break,” I said.

And then I walked away.

It was a little early in the week for Lorna Taylor to be calling and checking on me. Usually she waited until at least Thursday. Never Tuesday. I picked up the phone, thinking it was more than a check-in call.