Jail Cell Love Affair - 10. Meet the Clients, aka, A Trip to Rosharon

Fred, Dante, and Kirsten made plans to go out after work on Friday to unwind, have a few drinks, and get to know Fred a little better. But Fred spent the next day, Wednesday, on the Wallingford case. There was so much to review, he hardly took any breaks. Late in the day, Sebastian stopped by to check in with him.

"Hi Fred. How's it going?"

"Slowly, there's an awful lot to review."

"Yes. Sorry about that, but a necessary evil when you take over someone else's cases. Have you looked at any of the others at all yet?"

"Nothing more than a cursory glance. I know how important Wallingford is."

"Very true. However, none of those clients have any clue Silas Thompson was fired. Spend a little time today, get a little familiar with those cases. You should head to Rosharon tomorrow. Primarily to meet with Wallingford, but also introduce yourself to the other clients. Even though there isn't much going on with any of their cases, all essentially lost causes, we can't ignore them completely. They are still a source of income for the firm, even if in most cases it's just an allotment from the PD's office when we supply an attorney pro-bono. Not immediately, but you will be in the rotation for that. We get two or three a month, with six junior associates, that's four to six each a year. I suspect you'll be up for one sometime in January."

"Thanks. That's good to know. I'll be looking forward to it."

DeVore laughed, "Yeah. Believe me, that won't last long. Have a good night."

"You too."

Fred couldn't believe his luck. First, he gets Mo's case, and then he's asked, no, told, to go meet those clients. When your boss says you 'should' do something, there usually wasn't an option not to. He was a happy man walking out of the office later that afternoon. He decided he'd treat himself at dinner tonight and visit a real restaurant. He was getting tired of fast-food anyway. Little Daddy's Gumbo Bar was his choice. A few minutes up the road from the apartment. Fred was in the mood for a good seafood gumbo. What better place to get it than somewhere that specializes in gumbo?

Fred had used part of his advance for more necessities. The apartment was furnished, but there was no food, and not much in the way of cookware or linens, so the advance came in handy for those items. Getting the job and starting right away took away any financial concerns he had. He had to surrender most of the seven-night fee at the hostel, having only spent one night there. Not having rent or a car payment more than counteracted that pain.

After breakfast at a local sandwich shop, he was on his way to Rosharon. His excitement was palpable. He knew he wouldn't be doing anything physical with Mo, but just seeing him again made Fred extremely happy. It was only five days since he left the prison. How was he going to survive longer stretches with no contact? He was intimidated walking into the prison's administrative section, feeling a little fearful someone will think there was a mistake and lock him back up. After scheduling the visits with his clients, ensuring there was enough time between clients to spend a fair amount of time with each, he met with Wallingford first.

The guard pointed Fred out to Wallingford. Burton walked up to Fred with an obvious attitude problem.

"So you're the next bozo Lyons sent to deal with my case? You even have a clue what's it's about?"

"Nice meeting you too, Burton. I'm Fred Jamers, and yes, I am the bozo that's going to get you out of this place."

"Well, you sound smart. How long have you been a lawyer? You look like a kid."

"A little over four years."

"Yeah, how long as a defense lawyer?"

"Today's day number three."

"Oh, great. You're going to be history so fast, once I talk to my father, you'll think your name was General George Armstrong Custer."

"Well, that's not so bad, you could have called me Jeffrey Dahmer. But I think I'm here for the duration. Lyons, et al., hired me specifically to handle your case."

"Why?"

"One, because I'm gay, and apparently that carries some weight with your father. And two, because I have been in your spot. Literally. I sat exactly where you are for one of my lawyer visits."

"How does an ex-con get to be a lawyer?"

"When he was a lawyer before, and his conviction gets overturned. I was in cell 215, until the Warden moved me into 202 a couple weeks before I got out. I know exactly what you're going through."

Burton snickered, "I highly doubt that."

"Why is that?"

"You were obviously innocent."

"So, you're saying you're not?"

"Great, he's a genius. You figure that out all by yourself, kid, or did mommy give you a hint?"

Fred's starting to really dislike this guy. He could almost sympathize with Silas, "I'm not a kid, and I'm actually older than you, boy!"

Taken aback, "Okay. Okay, let's assume you're not a complete moron. What are my grounds for appeal?"

"You're not much of a people person, are you? Anyway, you weren't even in the car when the cops showed up. The other guy's fingerprints were on the steering wheel, not yours. There was no cause for them to request a breathalyzer test. Your blood was on the passenger side window, the alleged victim's was on the driver's side. In other words, your lawyer did squat for you. If you're guilty, you went a long way to set it up like it wasn't you driving. All that in the three minutes it took the police to respond."

"You've been on the case three days, and you found all that?"

"Nope. I'll help you with your math. Today's my third day, so only two days on the case."

"Holy hell. Can I sue Thompson?"

"I don't know. I did real estate law before I spent some time here. How about we get you out of here before we think about anything else?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. I think I'll stick with you."

"That's good, because you're stuck with me. Through the appeal, anyway."

"What happens after that?"

Now that Burton is acting more civil toward him, Fred begins to calm down.

"Depends on whether we win or lose. We lose, and I'm looking for a new job again. We win, I keep doing this and you keep your ass out of trouble at all costs."

"I guess we should win, then."

Fred chuckled, "My thoughts exactly. With all that evidence, how the hell did Silas not get you acquitted?"

"He basically sat on his hands the whole way through. Yeah, he made it look good enough to fool the judge, but he didn't hide the fact that he wanted me to be convicted."

"Genius. He got himself fired because of that. Why didn't you fire him?"

"It was daddy's law firm. I didn't have a choice."

"Makes sense. I can't see any reason why the appeal won't be heard, and you walk out of there a free man. Why did you imply you weren't innocent?"

"I was testing you. It didn't matter to you whether or not I was guilty, you went straight to the facts, even after I tried to piss you off. Thompson couldn't look past his prejudices."

"Well, like I said, we have a lot in common. My only prejudice is against stupid people. You apparently made a mistake, and I can tell just in these few minutes, you're far from stupid. A bit of a wise ass, maybe, but not stupid."

"Busted. Okay, I won't go crying to daddy to get rid of you. I think you're going to do your best."

"I have to. I can't afford to lose the appeal."

"Makes two of us. So, what's next?"

"First, I'll ask you to tell me your side, a little history, etc. I haven't read everything about your case yet, but enough to recognize the massive holes in the prosecution's case that I told you before. There may even be more. Then, I write up the briefs for the appeal and we wait for the appellate court's decision whether or not to take it on. Again, I can't see, based on the facts, how they could deny taking it."

After getting Burton's perspective, they started wrapping up.

"What kind of time frame are we looking at?"

"Aside from today's visit with my five other new clients, I'm on your case full-time. Another week to review as much as I can, and then a couple days to actually write and formalize the appeal. Once it's submitted, it's out of my hands. The appellate court could take weeks, or months, depending on how backed up they are."

"Yeah, I get you can only control so much. Before he got canned, Silas said it could take him up to six months to compose the appeal."

"Maybe if he typed one or two sentences per day. Like I said, probably around another week and a half. Add a couple days for hiccoughs, call it two weeks before I submit it. Worst case."

"Shit. You get me out of here and I'll have your baby."

Fred laughed, "That won't be necessary."

"Seriously, when I get out, I'd love to see you regularly."

"Okay, calm down there, lover-boy. Like your thought about suing Silas, one step at a time. All we focus on is your appeal. You complicate it with comments like that, the court could recuse me. And, sorry, but I don't know you well enough to even consider dating you."

"You'll know me pretty well after we win the appeal."

"Burton, please, don't go there."

"I get it, you're already seeing someone. I'll cool my jets."

"Thanks. Any more questions? About the case."

"No."

"I don't have business cards yet, but the main line to Lyons, et al., will work to get in touch with me if you need to. I probably have Silas' old extension. I'll be back in about two weeks to bring you a copy of the appeal."

"No sweat. Thanks for coming on board, Mr. Jamers."

"Fred is fine. I'll see you in about two weeks."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Fred had fifteen minutes before his next appointment, so he left the visitor's room to get a breath of fresh air. After four more half-hour client windows, it was time for Mo to arrive. He felt like a schoolboy before his first date while waiting for Mo.

Mo entered the room and looked around. It took him a second to recognize Fred in a suit and tie. He turned and looked at the guard, apparently asking if Fred was the right guy. The guard nodded, confirming Fred was indeed Mo's new lawyer.

"You trying to get yourself back inside, impersonating a lawyer?"

"Nice to see you too. I'd love to give you a hug and kiss, but unfortunately, we need to keep this professional. I'm not impersonating anything. I was hired by Lyons, Martin, and Gold to replace Silas Thompson. It was just good fortune that you were one of his clients."

"Sorry, yes, it's good to see you too Fred. What happened to Thompson?"

"He lost a trial that he should have won and they canned him."

"Wow. That's pretty harsh."

"Yeah, well that client's father is an important client for the firm. Plus, from what I understand from the client, he didn't try very hard to get him off."

"Yeah. He definitely had people issues. I think he was only nice to me out of fear."

"Not a bad reason for someone who doesn't know you well."

"So, why are you here? My case ain't going anywhere."

"Well, my boss felt I should come introduce myself to my new clients who, as he put it, are lost causes. You can't imagine how I felt when I saw your name in the file. Why don't you like your given name? I think it's cute."

"Exactly; cute and a big guy like me don't go together well."

"I see. Your parents tried to be funny, I guess."

"Yeah, like you said, they thought it was cute until I got bigger. They call me Mo too. But, damn, you got out on Saturday. You already landed a new job? What about the disbarment?"

"Lyons fixed that, somehow. My research indicated it should take weeks. He got it done in a day."

"He knows somebody high up in the bar, I guess."

"Obviously. Anyway. How have you been doing?"

"Well, obviously I miss you. Sorry we couldn't have a proper goodbye, but your release was so sudden."

"It was. But I would have cried like a baby if we did get a real chance to say goodbye. As it was, I failed holding back the tears. But I knew I'd see you again. I actually contemplated saying I was part of your legal team to come visit you before Tuesday happened."

"You started with Lyons on Tuesday?"

"Yeah. I saw their job posting on the Texas bar site, applied, they sent me an email Monday, I met with them Tuesday and was hired on the spot. Apparently, I was the ideal candidate. An innocent gay man who had served time here."

"Sounds like this other client is gay?"

"Oops. Probably shouldn't have implied that. Yes."

"Well, I hope it works out for you."

"The only thing that needs to work out is I get him released. I'm not getting into a relationship with him. NFW."

"You can't wait for me, Fred."

"Maybe I can. I'll be going through your file with a fine-toothed comb. If there's anything in there that warrants an appeal, I'll be on top of it."

"I don't know the law, but I doubt you'll find anything. Silas couldn't."

"From what I've heard about Silas, he couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag with a Samurai sword. He tanked this other client's case because he wanted him convicted. It wouldn't surprise me if he purposely overlooked something in your case as well. I have to spend pretty much all of my office time on his case, but there's nothing stopping me from taking your case files home and working them on my own time."

"Well, I'd obviously be eternally grateful if you could get me out of here, but, no offense, I'm not going to hold my breath."

"Of course not. I'd never guarantee anything, but that doesn't mean I won't try."

Next up - "Long Days and Appeals"