In The Plan - 17. Chapter 17

17

Stu Lee was surprised to be working on the Coghlan case again. When the call came from the insurance company, he figured the rep would politely ask for his trial files. That was the routine. Instead, the rep offered him the chance to continue.

He took it. The case seemed interesting enough, and it was easy money. Even though it would probably be a year before the case got back into court, he'd still be prepped. He'd be working against a sharper, better prepared lawyer this time, with as many resources as his own. But he was sure he'd win the second time, too. So when they finally got to court, he started his opening statement with a slight attack.

"Judge, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my name is Stu Lee. Maybe yesterday, maybe the day before, I was introduced to you. I'm a lawyer. I have an office here in Mineola, and my client is Brad Coghlan. I represent him because of mutual claims both parties brought against each other as a result of this accident. Doug Hodges brought the original action, and Brad Coghlan counterclaimed. Obviously, I'm going to stand before you and say that I don't agree, and it's not quite as Mr. Carleson tells you."

"At the beginning, you should know this isn't a straight and simple case as Mr. Carleson would have you believe. By no means. Lawyers sometimes - well, in any trial, civil or criminal, we get a chance to address juries twice. First, in the opening statement, when we're supposed to give you a preview or an overview or let you know what we think our position is going to be regarding this case. Last, in the summation, when the case is almost over and all of the testimony is in. And it's usually in the summation when lawyers supposedly shine - when we stand before you and captivate you with our argument and our oration."

"But both in the opening and the summation, we sometimes get caught up in our egos. We sometimes get caught up in our own emotions. Sometimes, we get caught by our own words. We talk too long. They say that juries usually maintain attention for no more than twenty minutes. Well, Mr. Carleson spoke to you for forty, and now, I get to go. So I know, you're all ready to go to sleep, and I'll try not to be too long."

"During the course of my opening, I'm also going to suggest to you - not tell you and not argue to you, but to suggest - based upon my preparation, what this case is all about. But I don't have a photographic memory, and I'm not so bright that I can remember everything. So if something I say differs from the recollection of the six of you when you go in to deliberate, it's not that I intend to deceive you. It's just common sense. There are six of you, and you're going to remember a whole lot more than one of me."

"One thing I do agree with - as far as what Mr. Carleson told you - is that Brad Coghlan has no memory of what occurred on the night of the accident. So what we're going to do for him - and for you - is re-create his life on that day. Obviously, we can't just call Brad because he's going to say, 'I don't remember' - and he'll say it over and over. So we're going to present to you all the people who touched on his life that day. Everybody. And by hearing these people, you'll get a picture of Brad's life."

"You already heard a reference to Brad's being a police officer, and he is one. When the accident happened, he was 33, and he'd been an officer for four years, after getting out of the military. He also co-owns a small business in Valley Stream called the Village Deli. Brad works as an officer forty hours a week and works at this deli with his partner, Greg Mackel, at least another forty."

"On the day of the accident, he was off from the police, so he opened the deli early in the morning - near 7:00 - for people to stop for coffee and bagels and rolls - that type of thing. And he went to work in his little restored 1964 Mercedes convertible - everybody's dream. He'd bought the car two years earlier and had been slowly paying to have it restored. In fact, that winter and spring, it was mainly in the body shop. He'd only just gotten it back, and he only drove it twice before the accident."

"He drove it that day because when he tested it that Sunday, there were some problems. Nothing too bad, but there was a gas station across from the deli, and he wanted the guys there to check it out."

"Now who is this Greg Mackel? He's Brad's business partner, and he's also the son-in-law of a fellow by the name of Nolan Starizny. You're going to hear about Nolan because he's the owner of the Railroad Inn. And the Railroad Inn - well, the only way I can describe it is it's Cheers. Remember that TV show? Walk into the Railroad Inn and expect to meet Sam the bartender. It's that kind of place. It's where all the cops and firemen and tradesmen and business people - and the people who grew up in the area and who still live there - go daily, or weekly, because everybody knows their name. It's a regular, old-fashioned bar."

"And Brad hung out there since before he was a cop. He grew up in Valley Stream. Doug Hodges hung out there. A lot of people that you're going to hear from within the next week - they hung out there. And you'll get an impression yourself of the Railroad Inn by just the type of people that you'll hear from and what they have to say. Because you see, Doug and Brad were friends. They were buddies. They would hang at the bar together. There were times they'd go out and do something socially together. Of course, that ended with the accident. Ended because of this lawsuit."

"Now the day of the accident, Brad was supposed to close the deli at four o'clock and then meet Greg Mackel at the Railroad Inn. They were meeting because the lease on the deli was set to expire that October, and they wanted to discuss different ways of refinancing it with Nolan."

"As Brad was leaving the deli, three guys who were volunteers at the firehouse also just across the street asked if he wanted to shoot some baskets. So Brad did that for ten or fifteen minutes and then walked back to the deli to get his car. And that's the last thing he remembers."

"From Nolan Starizny, from Robyn Nguyen - who was a bartender at the Railroad Inn - and from other people, we learned that Brad went over there and talked with Greg and Nolan about their business situation. And during that time - late afternoon, early evening - he was drinking. He had beers and Aftershock, which is some type of straight liquor. And - apparently - he got drunk."

"We know he got drunk because even though Nolan will say he wasn't, and Robyn will say he wasn't, we know from other people - who knew both Brad and Doug - that Brad was drunk. They saw he was drunk, and there was a blood alcohol analysis done much later at the hospital, and he had a very high blood alcohol reading. A .24. Very high."

Brad was in the bar till a few minutes before seven, and he left with Doug. We know that not because of Brad, and not because of Doug, but because Robyn the bartender heard Doug say, 'I'm driving Brad home. I'll be right back.' In fact, Doug left his drink there and twenty dollars - he put twenty dollars on the bar for his tab. We know that. It's not disputed."

"There was also a couple, Bruce Montelongo and his wife, who overheard Doug say, 'I'll be right back. I'm driving Brad home.' You'll also hear them say that they thought Brad had too much to drink. And there was his friend, Cole Grubaugh, and a gentleman named Matt Hekmat and another, Jayson Zaragosa. All these people knew Brad and Doug, and they thought Doug was taking Brad home."

"You've heard a reference to common sense and logic. And you're going to hear from Doug, who - knowing how drunk his friend was, and knowing how concerned he was about Brad's safety - still supposedly permitted his friend to drive his car home. Outside the bar, he said something to Brad like, 'This is a nice car. I once owned a Jaguar XKE.' And according to Doug, this was all that Brad needed to hear. Then - Boom! - down Sunrise Highway, and he's on his way to this terrible accident."

"Now you have to remember - Brad doesn't recall anything until days later, so he can't tell you what happened. But all of these witnesses can help you learn the truth."

"Still, you've got to take things in context. And you've got to think about Doug Hodges' own interest in this trial. His self-interest. What he wants from Brad - who doesn't remember squat."

"Someone else who thinks he knows the truth is a gentleman - if you get to hear from him - whose name is Joseph Muraro. He's got a cowboy hat on, and cowboy boots, and he's driving north on Mill Road to pick up a date. And he's stopped by a light in his Corvette convertible when he sees a car, coming southbound. It's coming all of a sudden - in the wrong lane - at 100 miles-an-hour - coming straight at him. And it looks like it's going to be a head-on collision."

"And at the very last split second, maybe ten feet away from him, he's going to tell you that at that moment, he gets a good look at the driver and the passenger. Because in that split-second, he doesn't duck. He doesn't blink. He doesn't squint. He doesn't pray. He just looks, and at that last split second - the amount of time it takes a vehicle at 100 miles-an-hour to transverse a ten or a twenty foot distance - he sees the individual avoid hitting him. And now he says the person was Brad Coghlan - who he never, ever, saw in his life before. Never, ever, saw or heard of before. Split second. And he describes the gentleman as having longish, sandy hair and being younger than the passenger."

"That certainly suggests to you - as it would to anybody who hears his testimony - that he also had enough time to see the passenger and compare him against the driver. Otherwise, how can he say that one's younger or older? And remember - this all happens within a hair of a second."

"You're also going to hear testimony from other people who saw this terrible accident. You're going to hear about bodies lying in the parking lot, and cars flying through the air, and cars hitting a light pole and flipping over. A lot of people witnessed this accident, but you've got to think about it. How much time did they actually have to view it? Seconds. Seconds. So everybody - interestingly enough - who had time to witness this accident saw something different. Like everybody else, you see something, and you're focused on something different. Five of us, viewing the same accident, are going to see five different things - all depending on what we're looking for and how we react to it. There's nothing unusual about that."

"Finally, you're going to hear testimony from two experts. One is a traffic reconstruction engineer who's going to give you an opinion as to what happened once the car hit the stanchion - that's another name for the light pole. This expert's opinion will be based on the location of the debris in the roadway, the type of debris in the parking lot, the damage to the car, and the damage to the inside of the car."

"The other expert is a forensic pathologist, Dr. Anthony Lowe, who's going to give you an opinion based upon his review of the hospital records. He examined the injuries to the bodies and determined who was more likely to have suffered driver-related injuries. He can't tell you who the driver was, or who the passenger was, or the extent of the injuries. But based merely on his review, he can tell you which are more consistent with driver-related injuries."

"All of those things, we're going to present to you - so you can get a thorough understanding of everything there is to know about this accident. It's not going to be a simple task. I wish it were. If it were that simple, we might not be here. Brad doesn't have a memory, but I would suggest to you - based on all that you're going to learn - that it's more than reasonable to conclude that Brad wasn't the driver. It's common sense and logic to suggest to you that Brad was the passenger. Why would Doug Hodges - a man with his background - possibly permit Brad to drive home when he knew he was drunk, and his only intent was to drive his good friend safely home?"

"At the end of the case, I know that - whatever you're going to do - it's going to be the right thing. And that's all we can ask of you. And for that, I thank you now."

After he finished speaking, Stu Lee looked at the jury. For a moment, he looked at each of the eight members - split almost evenly, men to women - and he smiled or nodded. Some of the jurors smiled or nodded back at him. They definitely seemed still awake and looked pretty happy. And, as he was sitting down, Lee glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes. Not bad. Half the time Carleson took. And he thought he'd said twice as much.