The Trial of Jordan Colmar - 1. Chapter 1: Call Your First Witness

Martin returned to his office, followed by his 'entourage' as Belle called them. Somehow he couldn't see Daniel Hember as a member of anyone's posse.

"That went quite well," Daniel said when they entered Martin's office. "The jury didn't seem to buy Jordan's defense if you ask me."

"It's still early." Martin muttered, looking around for his nerf basketball.

"Here." Mary shoved the orange ball under his face. "Don't bother Dan, he's in his, 'I screwed up' mode."

"Screwed up?" Dan's head twitched as he looked for Mary to explain. Martin watched the exchange.

"I forgot at least two things I wanted to say." He threw the ball against the nearest wall, cradling it when it returned. "Things I wanted to put in their mind before we start with testimony."

Mary rolled her eyes, then dug into the trial bag she lugged from the courtroom.

"Martin, please," Dan said. "That was truly one of the best openings I've seen in a long time. You were passionate when you needed to be, angry when you should have been and gentle at the right times. By contrast our opponent was arrogant and disdainful, just like the immature child he represents."

Tossing the ball again, he heard the words, but didn't totally agree. Trials could be lost at opening statements, but never won. "They don't have the burden, I do. Contrasting their opening to mine doesn't change that I missed a few things."

"Fine." Daniel motioned for everyone, including Mary to leave the office. Mary raised an eyebrow to him and he nodded his agreement. Dan might be co-counsel, but he was still only a special assistant district attorney. When the case was over, his involvement with the office was too.

Martin watched Dan turn from the closed door back to him. "Are you like this during every trial?" His smile suggested he was trying to lighten the mood.

"Pretty much." He motioned Dan to the leather couch against the wall. Tossing him the sponge ball, he snickered when the elder man didn't know what to do. "They don't allow me to take a shot of scotch, so this is the next best thing."

"Scotch would be good about now." He tentatively tossed the ball back.

It sailed high and to the left, but Martin caught it anyway. Definitely not as good as Mary at accommodating his quirks. Stuffing the ball in his desk, he shrugged out of his coat.

"You've been on this side before. I'm not defending some dirt bag perp who did the crime. Peter Gregory did nothing to deserve what happened to him. No detail is too small when you're the voice of the victim, you know that."

"I do and I didn't ask everyone to leave to lecture you." Dan stood up and removed his suit jacket. Draping it over the arm, he cracked his knuckles and sat down. "Terrible habit I know."

"No worse than throwing a nerf ball at your esteemed co-counsel." They both laughed.

"Martin, you are one of the finest attorney's to grace this office. When the time comes, win or lose, you'll have my support to become the District Attorney."

"Thank you," Martin cut in.

"You're welcome and you've earned it. I know you're not some wet behind the ears kid, trying his first case, but you're still a kid to me. So let an old hand give you some sage advice."

Martin blinked, and nodded. What did he say to that? Hember was a pillar and as respected as they come.

"That smug little brat is killing his own case. The way he sneered at you when you pointed at him, or nodded when his attorney said he was innocent. It's crap. His father is wasting his money on those bumpkins. Yeah, yeah, I know, he hired them from Philly, but this ain't Philly. People here aren't the juries there. You're an honest man who wears his beliefs on his sleeve. That is why I hate like hell when you take on one of my cases. People trust you because you don't lie to them and they know it. Don't ask me why, 'cause if I knew, I'd damn sure bottle it up and sell it."

Dan laughed at his joke, and Martin smiled.

"What I'm trying to say is be Martin Pratner and try this case like you know you will." He waived his hand absently. "Do that and everything else will fall in place."

"Okay." He'd always respected Dan before, but now he found he genuinely liked the man.

A knock on the door stopped him from saying more. "Come in."

Mary led the way, followed by two well-dressed associates from Hember's firm, each carrying a large cardboard box. Clearly he wasn't shy about spending Raymond Henry's money.

"I took the liberty of ordering lunch." Dan flashed him a grin. "An old law firm practice. Order lunch before you go to court in case you forget."

"Let's use the conference room so we can make it a working lunch." Martin grabbed his legal pad and led the way. Definitely a new way to prosecute cases.

***

"Officer Bennett, were there lights near where the fight took place?"

"Objection!" George Rankin, Colmar's lead defense counsel, stood up striking the table. "Leading."

Martin was getting tired of this tactic. Before he could respond, Judge Milton spoke. "Overruled. Counsel, this tactic of making baseless objection simply to disrupt the direct examination of Officer Bennett is going to stop. I don't know how they do things were you normally practice, but in this courtroom we follow the rules of evidence. So, if we are clear, I'll ask you to take your seat and not waste more of the jury's time, my time, or the government's time."

"Your Honor," the way the words came out suggested a total lack of respect for the court, "I would note…."

"Mr. Rankin, I've ruled and I suggest you sit down and let us continue."

Martin kept half an eye on the jury, hoping to see how the Judge's rebuke played with them. Most kept a neutral face until Rankin refused to sit down. That maneuver didn't go so well.

"Yes, Your Honor."

"You may repeat the question, Mr. Pratner."

"Thank you, Your Honor." He gave the judge a slight nod then turned back to his witness. "Officer, do you know if there were any lights in the area of the fight?"

"Yes, sir. There were a bunch of lights and they were all working."

"Objection, vague response."

"Bailiff," Judge Milton's eyes became slits as he stared at Rankin. Martin knew what was coming, and it seemed Rankin suspected, but wasn't sure. "Please take the jury back to the jury room for a fifteen minute break. Counsel, in my Robing Room."

Martin stood while the judge and jury were escorted out. Glancing over, he noted Dan's face barely contained its glee. Yeah, it was a bad idea hiring some firm that didn't practice in this courtroom. Everyone around here knew Judge Milton didn't play around like that.

The Court Crier led the four attorneys back to a door just to the right of the courtroom. Judge Milton already had his robe off and was seated behind the large, wooden desk. Martin went in first and stood to the left of the desk, ignoring the row of chairs against the wall. Dan stood beside him, his smirk under control.

"Gentlemen." The voice behind the desk boomed as Rankin and his colleague appeared ready to take a seat. They both snapped to attention, noting the judge's glare. "You may take a seat if you like."

Martin nodded, he knew the drill. Milton told you when to sit, when to stand. Once you knew what to expect, he was actually a decent guy. These two, however, were determined to test him. Works for me.

"Mr. Rankin," the judge leaned forward. His long gangly frame seemed longer and thinner without the robe. "There are really two ways to do things here, my way or the wrong way. Terrible as that cliché is, it is nevertheless true. You may grandstand, bluster, pound the table, get righteous, thunder at the unfairness of the government, whatever, but you will obey the rules I lay down."

Tight lipped, Martin watched Rankin get ready to speak. Problem was, Milton wasn't done. "Mr. Rankin, I'm speaking. When I'm done, I'll let you know."

Milton sat stone faced, staring at the man. The piercing blue eyes had evoked fear in more than a few new assistants over the years. Martin doubted defense counsel understood this was a test. If he could speak to Dan, he'd bet him dinner Rankin failed this test. Then again, Dan would be smart enough not to accept.

"Yes, Your Honor."

Yup, totally failed.

"Mr. Rankin, didn't I just say I'll tell you when you can speak? All you need do is nod your understanding. I promise you, I'll give you chance to speak. Are we clear?"

Martin knew the only reason he was here was Milton abhorred ex-parte communications. He never said anything to a lawyer about a case if the opposing counsel wasn't present. Without knowing for sure, he was certain Dan understood as well.

"Mr. Rankin, I know you're a fine lawyer, but when I rule, I've ruled. Your record is preserved and you are free to appeal me after the case is over. I know you think this is a hick county with hillbilly judges, but you will still show proper respect to the court, the proceedings and the parties. Doing exactly what I instructed you not to do one question later shows a complete lack of respect for the court. Not me, but the Court.

"Since you don't seem to understand, let me lay this out in simple terms. Mr. Pratner presents his case, you present a defense, the judge rules on evidentiary and legal issues and both parties follow the judge's ruling. You don't have to like my decisions, or me, or respect me personally, but you will show respect for the court.

"I may be a hayseed to you, but rest assured I know what you're doing. You're not the first lawyer to think up the strategy of making baseless objections to disrupt your opponent's case. And while I respect your right to enact your defense strategy as you see fit, I'm not going to let you waste my time, the court's time, the jury’s time, or the government's.

"Now, you know, Mr. Pratner knows, I know, everyone knows a yes or no question that does not suggest the answer is not leading. Since you seem unclear on this, let me expound. Had Mr. Pratner asked, "the lights were on, weren't they?' or "It was well lit, wasn't it?' those would be examples of leading questions.

"Tell me, Mr. Rankin, what rule of evidence is 'vague response' found under?"

"Sir?" Martin couldn't stop the grin at Rankin's new attitude.

"I'm a hick, remember?" Milton's voice held no trace of humor. "Educate me. What rule of evidence did Officer Bennett's answer violate? Was it hearsay? Not relevant? Was it speculative? Did Mr. Pratner fail to lay a proper foundation to establish a basis of knowledge? Or…."

He leaned over, squinting so that one eye was nearly closed. "Does it hurt your client and you want to disrupt my courtroom?"

"I believe, Your Honor," Rankin licked his lips and took a breath, "I misspoke."

"I believe you did, sir." Milton sat back, never shifting his gaze. "Let me make one thing clear. I don't care a lick where you're from. If Hember was in your seat and he did what you did, I'd call him in here just the same. But this is the last time, I'll warn you. Next time you'll be making a hefty contribution to court's general fund. If that isn't enough, I suspect we'll end up with a mistrial, you'll get locked up for a few days, Colmar will need new counsel and the only person who'll be happy is Hember who is still being paid by his client to be a pro-bono special assistant district attorney. Are we understanding each other?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Rankin glanced over, and Martin gave him a smirk and shrug. Petty perhaps, but if it threw him off his game a tick, it was worth it. Hopefully things would move a bit quicker.

***

"No further questions for this witness, Your Honor." Martin sat down, pleased at Bennett's testimony. Honest with a bit of story teller in him, he captivated the jury with his account.

"Cross Examination, Mr. Rankin."

"Thank you, Your honor." Rankin moved to the podium with the confidence of an experienced lawyer. He may have misplayed the judge, but he was still a top notch litigator.

"Officer Bennett, let me get this right, you had a hunch something was going down so you left your beat and went on campus?"

"Not a hunch, sir, I saw your client acting suspiciously, so I followed." The man nodded at Jordan when he said, 'your client.'

"Suspicion, hunch, you didn't have any concrete information when you followed, Jordan, did you?"

"No, sir."

"And, there was no word of a fight going down?

"No."

"No history of bad blood between Jordan and anyone that you knew of at that time?"

"No, sir,"

"So you abandoned your post to follow a group of Graydon students onto campus."

"As I said in my testimony …."

"Officer, isn't it true you left your post on nothing more than a suspicion that something wrong was a foot?"

Martin grabbed his pad and scribbled a quick note. "Get Chief Anderson here, NOW!" Tearing off the sheet he put it behind his back and let go when he felt a tug. Mary would handle it.

"Yes, sir."

"And you, like other officers in the department are assigned a set area to patrol, correct?

"Yes."

"In that area, you're responsible for protecting the citizens who live there, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"And if something happens in your patrol area, you're expected to be the first person to respond, unless you're busy."

"That's correct."

"If something happened in your area and you weren't there because you weren't doing your job, you could be in trouble, couldn't you?"

"I was doing my job, sir."

"My question wasn't were you doing your job, my question is, IF you were doing something other than your assignment and something happened, you could get trouble, isn't that right?

"If I was doing something other than my job and something happened and I wasn't in my area, yes sir, I could get in trouble."

"Depending on what happened, you could get written up?"

"Yes."

"Suspended?"

"Yes."

"Or even fired, isn't that right?"

"Yes."

"You received a medal for your actions, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you were given an outstanding review for this past year. Correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"And prior to this year, you never got better than an excellent, isn't that true."

"Yes sir."

"In fact, your last two ratings were satisfactory and excellent, am I correct."

"You are, sir."

"Promotions are based on seniority and performance appraisals, isn't that right?

"It is, sir."

"So it's really in your best interest to be the best officer you can be if you want to get promoted, correct?"

Bennett nodded, then quickly added, "Doing a good job helps with promotions."

"And saving Peter Gregory, that's the kind of award and recognition that can boost your career, isn't that right?"

"It didn't hurt, no sir."

Rankin grabbed a piece of paper handed to him by his associate. "Three weeks before this incident, you put in for a promotion to sergeant, correct?"

"I did, sir."

"At the time you observed the things you testified to, you were alone. You weren't working with a partner were you?"

"I was not, sir."

"No further questions, Your Honor."

"Re-direct, Mr. Pratner?"

"Briefly, Judge." Martin glanced over his notes before looking up. "Officer Bennett, your last review prior to this year, what was your rating?"

"Excellent."

"Is that the highest rating?"

"No sir, Outstanding is the highest."

"And the year before that, what was your rating?"

"Satisfactory."

"How much of the year did that review cover?"

"Objection, Your Honor. Relevance?" If the meeting in the Robing Room had any impact, Rankin didn’t show it.

"Mr. Pratner? Response?"

"Yes, Judge. It goes to the circumstances surrounding that rating. Defense opened the door with their line of questioning."

"Overruled, you may answer, Officer Bennett."

"Only three months, sir."

"Regarding your patrol area, are you required to stick to the boundaries no matter what?"

"No, sir. If we see criminal activity outside the boundaries, we are expected to do our job."

"What, if anything, do you do if you go beyond your area?"

"We are required to call in and explain the situation."

"Did you do that in this case?"

"No, sir, I did not."

"Why not?"

"Everything happened so fast, I didn't remember to call in my situation until I saw what I believed to be an ambush."

"As a result of leaving your patrol area, were you disciplined?

"No, sir."

"Prior to this date, had you ever left your patrol area before to investigate what you believed to be criminal activity?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did any of those occasions result in an arrest, being made?"

"No sir."

"Were you disciplined for any of those instances?"

"No, sir."

Martin noticed Dan sliding a note across the table. "Court's brief indulgence, Your Honor." The note was in Mary's handwriting. ‘Chief Anderson is outside.’

"Very brief, Mr. Pratner."

Scribbling a note for Dan and Mary to speak to the chief along this line of questioning, he passed it over. Pretending to check his notes, he decided on one last question for appearance sake.

"Officer Bennett, have you ever been disciplined by the department?"

"Objection, beyond the scope of cross."

"Mr. Rankin, I do not want speaking objections." Milton barely sat up in his seat. "State you have an objection, and I will ask for your basis."

"Yes, Your Honor."

"Objection sustained, the question went beyond the scope of defense's cross."

Keeping the grin off his face, Martin nodded his understanding at the Judge's ruling. "Officer Bennett, have you ever been disciplined for leaving your patrol area?"

"Objection. Asked…" Rankin stopped short of clapping a hand to his mouth. "Sorry, Your Honor."

"Basis, Mr. Rankin?"

"Asked and answered, Judge."

"Mr. Pratner?"

"I didn't ask that specific question, Your Honor. My question before was limited to the time before the attack on Peter Gregory. This one covers any instances where he left, including the time since the attack."

Weak, stupid, but factually correct. He should have withdrawn the question, but he hated to concede anything to team Colmar.

"Overruled, you may answer Officer." Martin suppressed his smile and the visible frustration of defense counsel.

"Can you repeat the question, sir?"

"Have you ever been disciplined for leaving your patrol area?"

"No, sir."

"No further questions, Your Honor."

"Your Honor?" Rankin's stood up. "May I ask a few follow up questions?"

"Certainly, Mr. Rankin." Martin did a double take. Milton was allowing re-cross? "That's called the defense case. You may call the officer in your case if you have other areas you wish to explore with him. The way it works is, there's direct examination, cross examination, and redirect examination, that's it. Since you get the right to present a case, you may call him and ask him questions on direct examination. The witness is excused. Sir, you are not to discuss your testimony with any other witnesses.

"Yes, sir."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I think I said we'd break around three, it's five minutes to three so we'll take a fifteen minute break now. I ask you all be back in the jury room promptly at 3:15."

Martin nodded to one of Hember's associates to join him. Together they gathered up a few documents and went in search of Mary and Dan.

Time to change the witness list. Best to nip the defense strategy in the bud while it was fresh in the jurors' mind. Opening the door to the witness room, he saw Dan and Mary talking to the Chief.

"Good catch," Dan said, handing him some notes. "Chief Anderson can address the issue they raised."

Scanning the notes, he nodded. "Excellent. Feel up to it?"

Dan smiled, giving Martin a wink. "Chomping at the bit."

"Let's see what you got, counsel."

***

Collecting his papers, and getting them in a semblance of order to take back to the office, Martin was pleased with the day's testimony. Rankin looked frustrated by not only the judge, but his inability to punch meaningful holes in the government's case.

Between Bennett's eye witness account and the video, he gave the jury plenty to think about before he got to Peter Gregory.

He laughed out loud recalling Dan's answer to the defense objection to Chief Anderson's testimony.

"What's so funny?" Dan looked slightly bemused.

"Just reliving your animated argument for why we should be allowed to call Chief Anderson. Made Bennett sound like a saint."

Dan clapped him on the back. "Just trying to keep up with you, Martin."

Mary met them halfway to the courtroom exit. "I sent the boys home. Peter was told he is testifying first thing tomorrow."

"How'd he take it?"

"He's nervous, but I sensed he was also relieved."

"I bet."

"Pratner." Martin looked around to see who growled his name. Everyone else stopped as Hank Colmar moved closer. Martin put a hand on Dan's chest to keep his co-counsel from stepping in front of him. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mary duck back into the court room.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Colmar?"

"Don't act like you don't know what you're doing. How much did Barbara Tellerman pay you to come after my son like this?" The man's jowls jiggled as he shook uncontrollably.

"Good day, Mr. Colmar." Martin moved to walk around the man, but a hand grabbed his arm.

"Don't walk away from me, I'm not finished." Hank backed away a step when Martin glared at him. "You don't think I know what's going on? You're good buddy Royce Tellerman convinced you with his wife's money to believe that pervert son of theirs and his deviant friend. How much tax payer money are you wasting chasing an innocent kid? You put Hember on your payroll to keep him from representing Jordan. How is that not misuse of taxpayer money? My money?

"I'll see to it you pay for this travesty. Do you hear me?"

He felt Dan hovering behind his left shoulder, but he left him there. "Mr. Colmar, I understand you're upset about what your son did, but I assure you, no one is wasting money on this case."

"Yeah, then where did the money to hire Hember come from?"

"Raymond Henry hired me to represent his grandson and Peter Gregory. He then donated my time to the county, so I could assist on the case." Dan didn't seem ruffled in the slightest.

"Whatever. You two make me sick. I promise you, Pratner, you haven't heard the last of me on this."

Martin took two steps, backing the man toward the wall. "No, you listen to me, Colmar. I understand you're upset, so I'll let this slide today. But unless you want to find yourself on trial for obstruction of justice, you'd better steer wide of me. Next time you threaten me, expect to be locked up."

Mary appeared on his right side, two Sheriff's deputies in tow. Hank Colmar's eyes darted from Pratner to the deputies and back. He shook a pudgy finger at Martin, before taking a few steps back. After putting some distance between himself and the others, he turned on his heel and stomped off.

"Want us to go after him, Mr. Pratner?" one of the deputies asked from behind. Martin never turned to see who spoke, just shook his head.

"No leave the man be. I suspect we'd all be on edge if it were our only son who was facing most, if not all, of his adult life in jail."

Nodding, he led his entourage back to the office to compare notes and prepare for tomorrow. This case was a long way from over, no sense letting Hank Colmar get to him.