Richard Patterson - Conviction

"For what?" Terri said to Bond. "Fleet's the only key witness against Rennell who's still alive. We're convinced that he's the murderer, which also makes him a flight risk. There's no way to resolve this petition fairly without his testimony."

Bond considered her and also, Terri guessed, the publicity which would ensue if he were perceived to shelter a man guilty of Thuy Sen's murder. "I'll give you Fleet," he said curtly. "As to the others, your motion for discovery is denied—this proceeding is supposed to be fair, not endless.

"This is beginning to sound like a second trial. Instead of a proceeding to determine whether Mr. Price deserves a second trial."

"We agree," Pell put in hastily. "The original prosecution team knows nothing about guilt or innocence beyond what Inspector Monk and Dr. Shelton testified to at trial. Nor does Mr. James, who can testify by affidavit." Briefly, Pell glanced at a note passed to him by Janice Terrell. "That leaves Mr. Fleet. Where the Court has already ordered his deposition, there's no need to call him live . . ."

"No live witnesses?" Carlo whispered in Terri's ear. "What kind of kangaroo court would that be?"

"Your Honor," she protested, "the Attorney General is trying to reduce any hearing to an argument between lawyers over fifteen-year-old evidence, rather than the live testimony of witnesses regarding new evidence—"

"Which comes down," Bond admonished, "to the deposition of Payton Price, already granted you by order of this Court. With respect to the man he accuses, Eddie Fleet, I'll reserve my ruling until after you depose him."

Terri felt a rising desperation. "As to that, Your Honor, we continue to search for evidence that Mr. Fleet—in addition to being physically abusive—has a sexual interest in children. Which would suggest that he, not Rennell, was involved in the murder of Thuy Sen—"

"Do you have any such witness?"

"Not at this time—"

"Then that's all speculation, isn't it?" Examining his cuff links, Bond asked, "Do you have anything to offer which is real?"

"Yes, Your Honor. The testimony of three of the jurors who sentenced Rennell Price to death. They would not have voted for the death sentence if Payton had testified against Eddie Fleet—"

"Based on what?" Pell interjected with what seemed to be genuine scorn. "We can't replicate the trial, or assess the state of mind of jurors who—fifteen years later—may be moved by a murderer's imminent death to forget why he deserves it."

"Go no further," Bond cut in. "Their testimony is inadmissible, and Ms. Paget knows it. Or should."

With great effort, Terri maintained her surface equanimity. "Your Honor," she said in a respectful tone, "the question is whether, on the evidence we now have, a reasonable juror would have voted to convict—"

"Which determination," Bond interrupted, "will be made by this Court. We've told you what evidence we'll hear on the matter of guilt or innocence. Give us your wish list with respect to presenting the state of Mr. Price's mental functioning."

To her side, Terri saw Carlo staring at the table in an effort to conceal his frustration. Across the table, Janice Terrell watched him, the first hint of a smile surfacing in her cornflower blue eyes. But Terri spoke as though Bond's adverse ruling had never occurred. "We have at least two key witnesses, Your Honor. The first is a social historian, Dr. Tammy Mattox, who will reconstruct Rennell's life history."

"Is that necessary, counselor? You have the records."

"We agree," Pell said promptly. "We'll stipulate to the admission of all records concerning Mr. Price, whether from school, doctors, or his incarceration in juvenile hall. We're also amenable to affidavits from Rennell's third-grade teacher, and even from Dr. Mattox herself." His tone became dismissive, that of someone granting a favor. "Even though what she has to say is hearsay, entirely derived from other people and sources."

Bond nodded. "That seems fair enough."

"It's wholly insufficient," Terri countered. "Dr. Mattox interviewed Rennell Price's mother, who is paranoid schizophrenic, and his grandmother, who's bedridden—"

"Concerning what?" Bond asked with muted incredulity. "What exactly does the resident of a mental institution—or, for that matter, a sick and elderly woman who never testified at trial—have to offer us?"

"Evidence regarding Rennell Price's childhood and adolescence," Terri answered. "Including his mental capacity—"

"According to a lunatic?" Bond shot back. "Let's hope you have someone more edifying than that."

"To see Rennell's mother," Terri said firmly, "is to be edified. Including, if she's willing to share it, the true identity of Rennell's father."

Bond raised his eyebrows. "Who might he be?"

"A boy from the neighborhood who she describes as 'slow.' But she won't give his name, and we haven't been able to track him down."

"Ms. Paget," Bond remonstrated, "I cannot imagine listening to an insane woman testify regarding her liaison with a nameless, and perhaps apocryphal, boyfriend. Spare me, please—except by affidavit."

Leaning forward, Terri tried to keep the anger she felt from showing in her eyes. "Rennell Price," she said, "grew up in the Bayview, the presumed son of a psychotic and abusive father and a deeply troubled mother. His environment was brutal and chaotic. The witnesses to his life will be found not among the friends and acquaintances of those sitting at this table but among people who are—and whom we like to keep—invisible to us. Either we can bring them here or we can have an expert like Dr. Mattox integrate what they told her.

"What Mr. Pell wants is to reduce this case to a jumble of paper, a dry record to which he can apply the 'presumptions' of AEDPA and the presumptive wisdom of the California Supreme Court. It's a way of sanitizing Rennell's death without ever looking at his life. We believe that the most critical evidence of Rennell Price's retardation can be found not in tests but in his life. Which can be knit together only through the narrative of an expert . . ."

"Is your Dr. Mattox a psychiatrist or psychologist?"

"No. She's a Ph.D. in anthropology, which enables her to interpret the impact of Rennell's family and environment—"

"But not his mental condition, I would think."

"What she has to say," Terri parried, "bears on his mental condition. We also have Dr. Anthony Lane, both a psychiatrist and a neuropsychologist, who examined Rennell extensively and whom we wish to call as an expert witness."

"Then isn't he enough?" Turning to Pell, Bond inquired wryly, "What say you, Mr. Pell?"

"That the Court's reservations about Dr. Mattox are well taken, and that it can hear Dr. Lane by means of affidavit. And that the Court is correct in observing that this hearing is not a second trial." Briefly, Pell paused, listening as Janice Terrell murmured a few brief words. "We do, however, request leave to conduct our own mental examination of Rennell Price, so that Dr. Lane's affidavit is not the only evidence before the Court. In particular, we'd like to administer a second IQ test."

"Which won't be accurate," Terri protested. "It's called the 'practice effect.' Even the retarded do better with repeated testing."

Pell leaned forward, offering her a sardonic smile before he turned to Bond. "Which is no doubt why Ms. Paget seems to have given her client every test of mental functioning known to man. So that when our tests prove him not to be retarded, she can claim it's the result of her personal Head Start program."

Though Terri could not acknowledge it, the accusation was true. "Since when is thoroughness merely a ploy?" she objected. "The State's prison clinicians are hardly objective—they're notorious for cookiecutter findings."