Phillip Margolin - Ties That Bind

"Hi, Amanda, Kate," Kerrigan said. "This is my second chair, Maria Lopez."

The women nodded at Maria then Kate took the end seat at the defense table.

"You're not really asking for a full-blown bail hearing, are you?" Kerrigan asked Amanda.

"Yup."

"Robard will never grant bail."

"Then I'll be wasting my time."

The prosecutor laughed. "I knew you'd be a pain in the neck."

"Hey, it's my job."

Kerrigan was about to say something else, when Jon Dupre was led into court in manacles and leg chains. With a look of deep satisfaction, Maria Lopez watched Dupre struggle forward. Amanda remembered that Lopez had prosecuted the prostitution case, which had been dismissed.

"Sit down with your attorney," ordered Larry McKenzie, one of Dupre's guards.

"Aren't you going to take his chains off?" Amanda asked when McKenzie made no move to unshackle her client.

"Orders. He's supposed to have them on during the hearing."

"We'll see about that."

"Don't get mad at me. I'm just following orders."

"Sorry, Mac," Amanda told the guard.

"No problem, Ms. Jaffe, but I wouldn't argue too hard to have them taken off, if I was you. I was on the admitting desk when Wendell Hayes came to the jail the day he was killed. I wish I'd told him to be more careful."

Amanda pulled out Dupre's chair and helped him sit down before sitting next to him. The bailiff rapped his gavel and Ivan Robard walked briskly through a door behind his dais.

"Be seated," he ordered. "Call the case."

"This is the time set for a bail hearing in the case of State of Oregon versus Jonathan Edward Dupre."

As soon as the bailiff finished reading the case number into the record, Tim Kerrigan stood and told the judge that he was ready to proceed.

"Amanda Jaffe for Mr. Dupre, Your Honor. Before we start the bail hearing, I would like to have my client unshackled. He . . ."

Robard held up his hand. "I'm not going to do it, Ms. Jaffe. Feel free to file a motion with authorities so you can make your record for the appellate courts, but I've talked to the jail commander and he believes that Mr. Dupre is too dangerous to leave unshackled."

"Your Honor, this is a bail hearing. You are going to have to decide whether Mr. Dupre should be released from custody. Your ruling to have him kept in chains shows that you have prejudged his case, and I'd ask you to recuse yourself."

Robard cracked a humorless smile. "Nice try, but it won't work. I'm keeping the shackles on for security reasons, and so would any other judge in this courthouse. I haven't heard any evidence yet. If Mr. Kerrigan doesn't make a case for holding your client, we'll talk about bail. So let's get to it."

Judge Robard shifted his attention to the prosecutor.

"Mr. Kerrigan, Mr. Dupre is charged with, among other things, two counts of aggravated murder. ORS 135.240(2)(a) says that I have to grant release unless you can convince me that the proof is evident or the presumption strong that Mr. Dupre is guilty. What's your proof?"

"Your Honor, I'm planning on calling one witness in the case against Mr. Dupre for murdering Wendell Hayes. That should be sufficient to convince the court that there is a strong presumption that Mr. Dupre is guilty in that murder case. The state calls Adam Buckley, Your Honor."

Like most of the jail guards, Adam Buckley was a big man, but he had lost weight since witnessing the death of Wendell Hayes. He was dressed in an ill-fitting sports coat that hung loosely on his slumped shoulders; he kept his eyes low to the ground as he walked to the witness stand. Amanda had read the report of his interview and she knew that he was on administrative leave as a result of his trauma. She felt sorry for Buckley because she knew what he was going through.

"Officer Buckley," Kerrigan asked after the guard had been sworn and testified to his occupation, "did you know Wendell Hayes?"

"Yes, sir."

"How did you know him?"

"He came up to the jail to talk to prisoners from time to time. I let him in and out."

"On the day of his death, did you let Mr. Hayes into a contact visiting room at the Justice Center?"

"Yes, sir."

"What prisoner was he meeting?"

"Jon Dupre."

"Do you see Mr. Dupre in this room?"

Buckley cast a quick look at Dupre, then looked away. "Yes, sir."

"Can you identify him for the judge."

"He's the man sitting with the two women," Buckley said without looking at the defense table.

"Was Mr. Dupre in the visiting room when you let Mr. Hayes into it?"

"Yes, sir."

"You saw him?"

"I went into the room with Mr. Hayes. Dupre was sitting in a chair in the room. I told Mr. Hayes to press the call button if he needed help, then I locked them in."

"Was anyone else in the contact room?"

"No. Just Mr. Hayes and the defendant."

"Was Mr. Dupre shackled as he is today?"

"No, his hands and feet were free."

"Thank you. Now, Officer Buckley, shortly after you locked the two men in together, did you see them again?"

Buckley paled. "Yes, sir," he answered in a shaky voice.

"Tell the judge what you saw."

"Mr . . . Mr. Hayes . . . He was pressed up against the glass window." He paused. "It was awful," he said, shaking his head as if to clear it of his memory of the event. "There was blood all over the window. It was coming from his eye."

"What did you see next?"

Buckley pointed at Dupre. "He was stabbing him."

"Could you see what Mr. Dupre was using?"

"No. He was moving it back and forth too fast."

"Your Honor," Kerrigan said as he picked up an evidence bag containing the shiv, "Ms. Jaffe has agreed to stipulate, for purposes of this hearing, that Exhibit One is the weapon that was used to stab Mr. Hayes."

"Is that right?" Robard asked.

"Yes, Your Honor," Amanda answered.

"Officer Buckley, did you see what happened to Mr. Hayes as a result of Mr. Dupre's attack?'

"Yes, sir. He was bleeding badly from several places."

"Did Mr. Dupre try to attack you?"

"I was pressed up against the glass trying to see how bad Mr. Hayes was hurt, and he made stabbing motions at me."

"Where was Mr. Hayes at that time?"

"On the floor."

"Your Honor, for purposes of this hearing, Ms. Jaffe has agreed to stipulate that Mr. Hayes died as a result of wounds inflicted by Mr. Dupre with Exhibit One."

"So noted. Any further questions, Mr. Kerrigan?"

"No."

"Ms. Jaffe?" Judge Robard asked.

"A few, Your Honor," she said, standing and walking toward the guard. "Officer Buckley, where did you first encounter Mr. Hayes?"

"When he came off the elevator he rang me to get into the hall with the interview rooms."

"And you took him to the interview room where Mr. Dupre was waiting?"

"Yes."

"Did you search Mr. Hayes before you let him into the interview room?"

Buckley looked surprised by the question. "I don't ever do that. They search the lawyers downstairs before they send them up."

"So your answer is that you did not search Mr. Hayes?"

"Right. Yes."

"Did you have Mr. Hayes and Mr. Dupre in your sight continuously after you locked Mr. Hayes in?"

"No."

"Why not?'

"Another lawyer came up on the elevator and I let him in to see a prisoner."

"How long were Mr. Dupre and Mr. Hayes out of your sight from the time you locked in Mr. Hayes until you saw the two of them fighting?"

"I don't know. Probably a minute, maybe two."

"So you have no idea what happened in the interview room between the time you locked Mr. Hayes in and the time you saw the men in the middle of their fight?"

"No, ma'am."

"No further questions."

"No further questions," Kerrigan said, "and no other witnesses, Your Honor."

"Ms. Jaffe?" Robard asked.