Jail Cell Love Affair - 11. Long Days and Appeals

Friday came, and Fred went out for dinner and drinks with Dante and Kirsten. There was a little talk about work, but for the most part, the topics were more personal. Dante was thirty, graduated with law degree from Texas A&M. It took him three attempts before he passed the bar. He was single but engaged to a long-time girlfriend named Stacy.

Kirsten was twenty-three, had a bachelor's degree in paralegal studies, also from Texas A&M, and was trying to save money to begin law school part-time the following September. She was single, unattached, and had no desire to get into a relationship that could sidetrack her law career. Calling her plain-looking would have been a compliment. But Fred was nice and didn't indicate that being in a relationship wasn't in the cards for her. Otherwise, she was very nice and very smart.

They already knew Fred was gay from the interview, but he shared some more of his history. He graduated from LSU for both undergrad and law school. He passed the bar on his first try, scoring in the top five percent of his class. He moved to Galveston from Louisiana to get away from his family, who despised the fact he was gay. Fred stayed single all through law school but kept his sexual orientation secret so his wealthy parents would continue paying for his schooling. After graduating from law school, he came out to them and was immediately excommunicated. Fred also shared details and answered questions about his criminal troubles.

Otherwise, as he expected, Fred spent every minute that he was in the office on the Wallingford case. As he guessed, it took him another week to review the entire case file. Many points required multiple looks. Aside from that Friday, he arrived early and left late. Neither of these facts were missed by Sebastian, and by extension, partner Karter Gold. He was in his office early on the Monday following his hire when he had a visitor he didn't recognize.

The man walked in, uninvited. Startled, Fred said, "Hello. Can I help you?"

Extending his hand, the man said, "You already are. Karter Gold, junior partner."

Panicking, "Oh. I'm sorry Mr. Gold. I didn't know it was you."

"Calm down Fred. And didn't Conrad explain to you about names?"

"Yes. I'm pleased to meet you Karter."

"Same here. I'm pleasantly surprised you're here this early. I typically take a walk through the offices a couple times on days I'm not in court. Last week was pretty brutal, so I didn't get a chance to meet you earlier."

"That's quite alright. I'm sure you're a very busy man."

"Goes with the territory. I've seen your CV, heard your story second-hand, but if you can spare a few minutes, I'd like to get to know you a little better from a more personal standpoint."

"Sure. As you can tell, I'm not against starting early or staying late."

Fred continued, giving Karter a summary of his career and criminal experience, answering questions along the way.

"Thank you, Fred. I feel like I know you a little better now. I can tell you're going to do your best for young Mr. Wallingford. The team obviously made a mistake with Thompson. But I feel like we have satisfactorily corrected that mistake by hiring you. I know you'll be sharing your appeal with Sebastian, but I'd appreciate being copied as well. That won't often be required, but Burton Senior, as you're aware, is a very important client."

"Of course, Karter. I hope to have the first draft available in around ten days."

"Really? That would be wonderful. Burton Senior was told within two months, so beating that significantly will make him very happy. I'm sure you're aware that he'll want to meet you in time. He's waiting until the initial paperwork is completed, not wanting to slow us down."

"Yes, Sebastian said that he'd want to meet me at some point. I'd be more surprised if he didn't."

"True, true. Okay, then, carry on, and please, don't hesitate to reach out to me through Allison if you need anything."

"Thank you. I'll do that if needed."

Although Fred spent some time reviewing Mo's case over the weekend, he felt he had definitely missed something. So after stopping for some take-out on his way home, he dove into the case files again. He was just about to give up for the night when he found it. He'd begun to cross-examine himself, thinking out loud. He had been doing it at the office as well. Dante got used to it pretty quickly. At least after he closed Fred's door a couple times.

"It's the knife. How can Mo's fingerprints be overlapping with Kevin's if only Mo used the knife? Not only overlapping, but also be imprinted in the blood on the handle? Shit. I wish I caught this over the weekend. I'm going to have to wait until Saturday before I can ask Mo about it. Maybe since I'm making so much progress on Wallingford, Sebastian will give me a half-day to head to Rosharon to see Mo. I'll have to ask him about that tomorrow."

Fred waited until nine AM to go check if Sebastian had any time.

"Hi, Cheryl."

"Hi, Fred. What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if Sebastian has fifteen minutes he can spare me today. I have a quick question I need to ask him."

After consulting his calendar, "He's free until nine-thirty, let me ask."

Cheryl messaged Sebastian, and he was available.

"Go right in."

"Good morning, Fred. How are you today?"

"I'm well, Sebastian, yourself?"

"Just great. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I've been making good progress on the Wallingford appeal, but after meeting the other clients on Thursday, I took a closer look at their case files over the weekend. I found something in one of them that may be important."

"Which one, and what did you find?"

"Missouri St. Louis. There's a discrepancy between what the prosecutor claimed and the evidence that apparently Silas missed."

"Okay, go on."

"The prosecutor stated that only St. Louis' fingerprints were found in the blood on the knife used to kill the victim. While that is true, the photographs plainly show two distinct sets of fingerprints in different orientations. One is not imprinted in the blood, and some partially covered in the blood. The other set the other is in the blood."

"Which is which?"

"St. Louis' is above the blood, the victim's below or partially covered."

"That would imply the victim held the knife first, and likely was still holding the knife when the fatal injury occurred."

"Exactly, and Silas' notes indicate St. Louis claimed it was Kevin Atherson's knife. The fact he had it first was never mentioned at trial."

"Another Silas Thompson mistake. And what do you conclude from this information?"

"That Atherson was holding the knife initially. Any injury caused by Mo would likely have occurred in a struggle. If Atherson had the knife, then it was self-defense."

"Does you client concur with this?"

"That's why I asked to see you. I'd need to go to Rosharon to ask him. But I don't want to use Wallingford's time to do it."

"If you can go this afternoon, check with your client, but still focus most of your time on Wallingford, you do need to follow up on this. But please, otherwise limit your time working on St. Louis to about an hour a day."

"What about on my own time?"

"That would be your prerogative. I saw you billed fifty-six hours last week. Impressive for four days for a new associate. But we can't afford to have you burning out. If you will limit your time to sixty hours a week, including work-at-home time, I'll approve it. You're not used to constant fifteen-to-eighteen-hour days. Once you're here a little longer, okay; but right now, you need to pace yourself. Bearing that in mind, having another innocent client in prison any longer than necessary is completely unacceptable. So, go ahead with a St. Louis appeal."

"Thank you, Sebastian. I won't let you down on either case."

"We'll see. I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"Understood."

Fred called the prison and told them he would be there around three PM to see St. Louis. He was told they would have him ready. Once Fred arrived, Mo was retrieved. Fred couldn't control his enthusiasm.

"Hey Mo. How are you?"

"Same as usual, I'm here, so it never gets very good. You look happy."

"I might be able to change the way you feel. I need to ask you a few things about your case."

"Sure, but it's all been asked before."

"Maybe, but not necessarily in the right light. The knife that was used to kill Kevin; whose was it?"

"Kevin's, I told Silas that. That came out at trial too."

"True, but not who had it initially. What about fingerprints on the knife?"

"I'd guess both were there, but you've obviously looked at the transcripts more recently. What do you think?"

"I think that the DA's office didn't state the complete truth when they stated your fingerprints were found in the blood on the handle."

"What else would need to be said?"

"That Kevin's were there as well, UNDER any blood."

"So?"

"Did Kevin have the knife initially?"

"Yes. I told Silas that."

"Nothing in the transcript. Can you tell me exactly what happened, start to finish?"

"Kevin came home drunk. He'd said that someone at the bar saw me with another guy. I was with this person for business reasons, so nothing happened. That's not what Kevin was told. He came home, angry at me. He said, 'If you're going to fool around, I'm cutting your dick off.' He came at me with the knife. I held him off, but he was squirming around, my grip on the knife slipped, and it cut his neck. Blood was everywhere. I let go of his hand, he fell to the floor, and I tossed the knife away from us, then tried to stop the bleeding. It didn't matter." Tears were now running down Mo's face, "He died in my arms. It couldn't have been more than a minute, maybe ninety seconds."

"I'm sorry I made you go through that. Silas never argued it was self-defense?"

Wiping his eyes, "No. He said due to the size difference, nobody would believe it. I described the struggle; he positioned it as a tragic accident. Nobody believed us, so I was convicted of voluntary manslaughter."

"Okay. I spoke to my boss. As long as I limit my time until the other appeal is in the court's queue, I can start working on your appeal. I'll be going for ineffective assistance of counsel. If the conviction gets overturned, and we get a new trial, you'll plead self-defense."

"Do you think that will work?"

"I'm not going to say anything is for sure, but I think there's at least a chance we can get your conviction reversed."

"Oh, man. You know I've been here just over five years?"

Fred nodded.

"I could have been free all that time."

"Yes. But then, we probably would have never met."

"Nothing personal, Fred, that's nice and all, but it doesn't make up for it."

"No, definitely not. A little over five years is better than twenty though, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Shit, there could still be an 'us.'"

Fred smiled.

Fred continued working on the two appeals. He probably spent a little more time on Mo's than he promised Sebastian, but he still finished the Wallingford first draft quickly. Dante, Sebastian, and Karter each had a few minor suggestions, but less than two weeks after his meeting with Burton, the appeal was filed. Fred started working in earnest on Mo's. He finished that one a week later, letting Dante review it. Again, a few suggestions were made. Fred asked Sebastian if he needed to see Mo's, but Sebastian was content to let Fred fly basically solo on that one.

Two more trips to Rosharon were made. Once to give a copy of the appeal to Wallingford, another to share Mo's with him. Both clients were extremely happy. And hopeful.

The day after filing Burton's appeal, Karter visited him again, this time with Burton Wallingford Senior in tow. After Karter introduced Fred, Burton kicked off the conversation.

"So, you're the man that will hopefully be Burt's savior?"

"Yes, sir. Although I wouldn't go as far as saying savior."

"Don't be modest. Karter has shown me the motion of appeal. Excellent work. Your predecessor must have been a royal idiot."

"I wouldn't know sir; I never met the man."

"Consider yourself lucky. He's exactly the kind of person that tarnishes the image of every lawyer. You, on the other hand, if successful, will become part of my legal team here at LMG; at least part-time. I suggested that to Conrad. I don't believe he will ignore that suggestion."

"Thank you, sir. I would be honored to represent you in any way."

"You know, Fred, coming from you, that doesn't sound like ass kissing, like it would for most people."

"I appreciate that, Mr. Wallingford. I truly mean it. Not just for the reason that I'd still be employed at all."

Wallingford senior laughed.

"I have two more sons. Should either or both of them get into legal trouble, I'd want you standing with them."

"I hope that is never needed, but if it is, you'll get one hundred and ten percent."

"Okay, that did sound like kissing ass. I'll let you get back to work before your lips freeze there. Have a good day, Jamers."

Chuckling, Fred said, "You too sir."

Next up - "Results and Impacts"