Blackmail Over Death In New Orleans

Olivia looked hopeful , Over the next two days,She wrote a preliminary draft to take before a judge to stay the execution or throw it out all together.

Beverly and Nelson reviewed it and worked on it with her...Explaining to Josie the little nuances of the law and new evidence..

Josie was a quick study and she picked up fast....I could definitely see her becoming more than a para legal one day....Becoming an attorney...

I peered out the window of our hotel....I saw something eye opening...

The attorney, Molly, who had driven us out to the prison and my friend...former ADA , Ronald Tackett were kissing passionately in front of the hotel...

"Thank you baby for pinch hitting for me the other day...I really appreciated it.." he said..

"Not a problem....You showed me how much last night...and again this morning...Ouuuu,I almost didn't make it here." she said and giggled...

They kissed again...

"I'll show you again tonight okay..." he whispered in her ear....

A short stubby white man , wearing the ugliest shirt I have ever seen...A shirt that screamed tourist said to them...

"Well you two keep it down...You hear??  I need my sleep after a night of drinking." he said.. ''All that cooing and moaning...it's un called for." he said.

"Excuse me?" said Molly..

"You heard me... Keep the noise down..." he said..

"Ignore him Molly, come on...we've got to see our friends.." said Ronnie..

Beverly saw me smiling...

''What are you smiling about Donnie Ray??Daydreaming about Auntay??" she asked..

I looked at her and smiled...but didn't answer...

Olivia looked at me with loving eyes and smiled...

''Somebody's at the door, I'll get it.." said Nelson...

It was Ronnie and Molly....

 "Hey Guys...I know you're up here working hard.....We brought you some food..." he said..

Molly looked around our room...

She saw Four Laptops, several smartphones, several tablets...

and our law books...

''Wow, you guys have a mini office right here in this room...I'm impressed...." she said...

They brought enough New Orleans delicacies to make me home sick....Red Beans over Rice, Crawfish, Some Po Boys...Mannnnnnnnn....

"Oh My Godddd...Look at all this food..."said Olivia..

"Mmmmmmmmmmm it's delicious....I can't keep up a steady diet like this...It'll all go to my hips.." said Beverly...

''I know girl...me too...We better find a gym around here.." said Josie..

"No problem from me about your hips ." joked Nelson....as he dug in...

As he ate...Ronnie asked me..

"So where are we?"

"Olivia, Beverly ,Nelson and Josie are planning to go to a lower court tomorrow to argue for either a stay or for the conviction to be thrown out altogether on these facts....If that fails, we got a list of three other judges to go before..We did our research..His prints and His DNA are not on the murder weapon....His DNA was not even at the murder scene..The ADA was told this....The blood that was on his shirt is his and another guy, who I located...He's ironically locked up in county right now...They were fighting that very afternoon..He wore a coat to cover up the blood...because an assault beef would have violated him, sent him back to jail...He was newly paroled...Beverly and I found the bar he was fighting in and some witnesses who remember the fight and the exact time..They said they were never called to testify"I said.

"The important thing is...He was nowhere near that woman's apartment...He was six blocks away in a bar fight....Her blood and DNA is not on him at all..They could have found all that out and eliminated him as a suspect five years ago...They didn't want to...This was slipshod detective work." said Olivia...

"The fingernail clippings and hair they found at the scene are not a match for him either...The hair belongs to a white male, unidentified...so do the fingernail clippings...We have DNA proof of that.."said Beverly....

"All of this should have been brought up in the first trial...What happened.?" asked Nelson..

"He fired both of his Public Defenders and insisted on defending himself...It was easy for him to get convicted.....He had only a summary knowledge of the law...He had educated himself on law while incarcerated two separate times.He was somewhat of a jailhouse lawyer...But not good enough to defend himself against capital murder charges..A seasoned Attorney like Hayley Cogswell had him for lunch."said Molly...

"His Mother and Sister petitioned the Innocence Project right?" said Josie..

''Right and at the time I was backed up with other cases....So I put Molly on it...She happened to read an Op -Ed piece about you two winning several of these death row appeals

and she called our associate in Philly...Slim Johnson.Who told us he was on a review board and had named you three Super Lawyers 2017...I knew then and there we wanted you three to help us out" said Ronnie.

"I understand, Mr. East , who works for another Law firm has helped you two from time to time.." said Molly.

Nelson blushed...

"He's excellent with juries, Jury selection, reading juries...and a very capable attorney.." said Beverly...

Molly looked at Beverly...

''How Long you two been seeing each other?" she asked..

"That obvious huh? He's been in love with my niece since he met her...The day she came to work at the Public defender's Office with me...and now....well now she's crazy about him.." said Olivia..

"Truthfully?  He loves both of em...He can't stay away from them." I laughed and we all joined in laughing...

''What about the two witnesses...His ex-cellie and the ex-girlfriend?" asked Ronnie..

''The ex-cellie is dead..Right after he pocketed that $10.000... He was found shot to death in a seedy motel in Baton Rouge..His Killer is himself on death row...It was unrelated dispute over money. The girlfriend...I haven't located yet...but she's right here in New Orleans...I'll find her..." I said..

''Damn man...This food was right on time.." I said..

Ronnie smiled...

"You guys are as good as I thought....Livy, Molly will go with you ,Beverly,Nelson and Josie tomorrow...Donnie Ray...You and me are gonna kick up a few hackles...Like in the old days.." said Ronnie..

"Oh yeah!" I said.

Directly Across the street from us...A man stood in the window snapping photos of our room..

It was Former  Detective , Now Investigator Danny Granger..  He called his boss Hayley Cogswell..

''Danny Boyyyy what's up?"He asked...

"They're all over Alexander's room... Molly Thomas, Ronnie Tackett , Donnie Ray Alexander, Olivia Bennett-Alexander and Beverly West sir. Oh yeah , two others." said Graber..

''Who are those other two?" asked Hayley.

''The Guy is a Philly Attorney named Nelson East...The skirt is a Para Legal named Josie Boyd...Works for The Alexanders and West."

''Did you have a problem getting in their rooms?" asked Hayley Cogswell.

"Not at all...The desk clerk gave me the key to all three of their rooms just like you said he would.."said Graber..

"Of course he did...and when I get around to it...I'll drop that drug possession charge on him and his wife..Heh heh  heh...What did you find out?" asked Hayley..

"Nothing in West and East's room or the para legal...but in the Alexander's room ,I found a list of four judges from Appellate courts they plan to petition in the next few days.." he said and gave him their names..

"Ohhhh I know these boys...Send this one the photos of him and those hookers in his room at the Christmas Party...Tell him his wife might be awful interested in those photos, Send this one the photo of him and that Male attorney who was clerking for him last year and doing a little extra after hours...Huh Huh..and this guy...We got photos of him and six girls....on six different ocassions doing what they shouldn't oughta...He's a very active fella..Hahahahaha ,and this last guy....Tell him we can make those money laundering charges go away.." said Hayley Cogswell..

"Got'cha boss...I'm on it..Heh heh heh..This ought to send them packing and back to Philadelphia." laughed Graber.

II-

The next days were rough ones for Olivia and Beverly...

She, with Beverly, Nelson and Molly argued in four lower courts before four judges that there was new evidence and that there should at least be a stay of execution or the entire conviction should be thrown out...

 ''Your Honor..His prints and His DNA are not on the murder weapon....The blood that was on his shirt is his and another guy, who I located...He's ironically locked up in county right now...They were fighting that very afternoon..He wore a coat to cover up the blood...because an assault beef would have violated him, sent him back to jail...He was newly paroled.." argued Olivia..

 "The fingernail clippings and hair they found at the scene are not a match for him either...The hair belongs to a white male, unidentified...so do the fingernail clippings...We have DNA proof of that.."said Beverly....

 "The Case Detective did a very sloppy investigation and rushed to judgement..All of this was in evidence...Any first year detective could have seen this evidence.."argued Nelson...

Turns out it was a first year Detective and it was his first murder case and he didn't have a seasoned partner as I had found out...

"He fired both of his Public Defenders and insisted on defending himself...It was easy for him to get convicted.....He had only a summary knowledge of the law...He had educated himself on law while incarcerated two separate times.He was somewhat of a jailhouse lawyer...But not good enough to defend himself in capital murder charges.."said Molly...

For the next four days they argued this before two local appellate courts and two state  appellate courts and all four judges turned them down, they refused to throw out the original conviction and refused to even think about  a stay of execution...

"I wonder how many innocent people get executed under this court system ?" asked Beverly...

"More than what needs to be.." said Olivia..

"So what do we do now?" asked Molly...

''We go to federal court." said Olivia..

"There is a federal district judge in this area....He's a bit of a Maverick, Sympathetic to liberal causes..I did some research and I found him yesterday" said Josie..who passed Olivia a piece of paper with his name and address on it..

"See why I insisted she come along?" said Olivia ,smiling.."I want Donnie Ray to do a complete make up on this Judge...When we go before him,I don't want to be blind sided...Those four judges we went before all had dirty little secrets...One was with a hooker, one is a closeted gay man, another one is a married man with two kids who has had affairs with six women...Sounds like my ex-husband....and the other is suspected of money laundering.." she said.

"Hayley Cogswell must have  had something on all of these guys...I wouldn't put it past him to have called them on the days we were arguing before them. said Molly.

"But how did he know what judges we were going to use..?" asked Nelson.

"He was in our rooms....He had to be? Remember the day I came home and I felt as if someone had been rooting around in our drawers Nelson...?  It had to be him.." said Beverly...

''Yeah, I felt like somebody had been rooting around in our things too...and that list of Judges and their addresses and phone numbers was in a note book right on our table for anyone to see and copy.If we knew about their backgrounds...I'm certain Cogswell new it too!" said Olivia.

"Cogswell is too smart to get his hands dirty...He would have had to have sent his boy,Dan Graber in here to do his dirty work." said Molly...

Later on that day after having been told of yet a fourth judge turning them down and of their suspicions, I got to the bottom of our mystery...

''Well ,I know who was in our rooms and how he got in." I said.

''You do?" asked Olivia.

"Who?" asked Beverly...

''The man who lives next door , who's always banging on the walls...told me he  saw Dan Graber  come in our rooms the other day...He said the Desk Clerk let him in...He identified a photo I had of him...The Desk Clerk and His Wife are under indictment for drug possession....They got a call and get this ,from a woman who said for him to co-operate with Mr. Graber to the fullest and if he did so...The D.A.'s office would be grateful, grateful enough to drop drug possession charges against him and his wife..Wanna make a bet,your four judges got a call also?" I said.

"The fix is in..Cogswell owns this town...He got to everybody.."said Beverly...

''Not to everybody Beverly..by the way Donnie Ray, did you check him out?  Any skelatons in his closet?" asked Olivia..

"Clean as the board of health...Don't leave his name address or phone number laying around...Just in case our boy pays us another visit.." I said.


III-

My very best sex with Olivia was when she was passionate about something or angry...During those days when they were getting denied by those four judges...The sex was off the hook, much to the chagrin of whoever was living next door..

"Ouuuuuuu sweet baby..sweet sweet baby.." cooed Olivia..

"Oh my god...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I moaned..

 "Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu Donnie Ray, you are driving mama crazyy.."Olivia yelled..

"YOU TWO ARE DRIVING ME CRAZY..GO TO SLEEP, KNOCK OFF ALL THAT RACKETTT! PLEASEEEE?"he begged this time...

"Ummmmmmmmmm give it to me strong, give it to mama...."screamed Olivia...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh my goddd!" was all I could say...

SEVEN TO EIGHT HOURS OF PASSIONATE LOVEMAKING PASSED BY IDLY!

 Our bed was now squeaking, something it hadn't done all week..

"Ouuuuuuuuuu Donnie Ray...Oh my lord..knock it out the box....Ouuuuuuuuuuuu.." Olivia screamed..

"I'M CALLIN THE DAMN COPS.....NOW THIS DON'T MAKE NO DAMN SENSE!!!  EVERY NIGHT YOU TWO WITH THE COOIN AND MOANIN....YOU'RE LIKE TWO CATS IN HEAT!" came the voice of the man next door to us..

 "Oh my god...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I moaned..

"Ouuuuuuu sweet baby..sweet sweet baby.." cooed Olivia..

He still didn't like the sex sounds ,even though he now knew who we were!

Olivia and I came together in a fury, both of our bodies trembling, drenched with sweat.....Tears running down Olivia's face....and me nearly out of breath!!!

***********************************************************************************

''Every thing is set Donnie Ray....Pretend you're a vice cop..."laughed Ronnie Tackett.

 "Before I was Homicide, I did work Vice and Bunco squad." I laughed.

As I had said...Mark Washington's  ex-cellie who falsely testified against him was now deceased...He had been dead almost five years...He was in and out of jail on drug beefs and charges of petty theft and a reputation as a stool pigeon...He had perjured himself in another trial and have served time in county for it..

His ex-girlfriend was a Hooker named Brenda Robinson with a whopping 17 arrests...Neither of these witnesses were the most credible...

I found her ,working one of the hotel-bars in the French Quarter.....She was a very attractive and shapely woman..body wise.. Her face however was starting to show the years of drug abuse and wear and tear and no amount of make up could hide that..I pretended to be a john and lured her to a room upstairs in a hotel we had staked out.....where

Ronald Tackett was sitting...

''ADA Taggert!!" she exclaimed....She recognized him....She didn't realize he was no longer an ADA, but an Attorney in Private Practice...

''Still Up to your old tricks eh Brenda?..What is this...18 times?" he asked..

"Awww come on Tackett." she said.

''I'm not here to bust you....I need answers..." he said.

''Answers about what?" she asked.

"You testified in the Mark Washington trial..You said he told you to hide a bloody shirt...and that he told you he killed a white woman during a robbery.....We know that that wasn't true..."I said...

'That was five years ago.." she said.

''He's scheduled for execution in two weeks..His prints and His DNA are not on the murder weapon....The blood that was on his shirt is his and another guy, who I located...He's ironically locked up in county right now...They were fighting that very afternoon..He wore a coat to cover up the blood...because an assault beef would have violated him, sent him back to jail...He was newly paroled.. We have proof that this is true..We even found the bartender who will attest that he was six blocks from the scene of the crime..He wasn't even with you that night...You lied....Perjury and your record will get you sent up for some serious time..Come on...Make this right Brenda." said Ronnie.

"I WANT THE TRUTH!!! SPILL IT!" I yelled..

She cracked faster than I have ever seen anybody crack..

" Okayyyyy, I lied....I lied...ADA Hayley Cogswell told me to tell that story...

He told me if I didn't, he have me violated and sent back to jail, to real prison , not women's county lock up...I'd been up there once..I didn't want to go back...He's a big deal around here and he's running for State's Attorney you know..."she said..

"And the ten thousand dollar reward made it all the more sweeter..So you gave up your boyfriend.." I said.

''We weren't that close...I mean yeah, we'd slept together a few times...but that was it..He wasn't my man....Just a guy I knew."she said..

"If we can prove he willingly held back evidence, we can get him censored and derail any plans that corrupt creep has of being States Attorney..." I said.

''No Judge around here is going to go against them...He has stuff on all of them appellate judges...They won't buck him.." she said.

Which explained why Olivia, Beverly ,Nelson and Molly had been unsuccessful with their appeal..

They were busy drafting a new appeal to take before a Federal Judge at this very moment..

Brenda held her head down and sighed...

"There is more..." she said.

''What?" asked Ronnie Tackett..

''I perjured myself in four other cases...for him... Two of the people I didn't even know...Had never seen them before..After I testified and the guys got convicted...He expunged my records..." she said..

Before the night was over she talked long and hard about the four other cases she perjured herself in for him...in detail...

In all it was eight cases , 7 men and one woman who went to prison...on her testimony...

She didn't know that this room was wired for sound and video and that her entire testimony had been recorded, just in case she changed her story or lied and said we co-oerced her or misrepresented ourselves...

We also had her sign a written legal deposition ,stating all of these things...He couldn't hurt her now..She wasn't on parole and hadn't been arrested in four years...

I asked her for an address and phone number and told her not to leave town, that we'd be talking to her..Just like I did when I was a homicide detective in this town...

Had she of known we were just a defense attorney and a Private investigator , no doubt she would have never of spilled her guts to us...but she thought we were cops..

Olivia was ecstatic when we presented this information to her...

"We have more than enough compelling evidence now to go before a Judge..." she said..

She kissed me passionately for close to an hour and took my clothes off...

"I'm compelled to love you like nobody's business.." she whispered to me while blowing softly in my ear...

"You always do baby..." I said.

She made love to me like her life depended on it....

 "Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu babyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.."I moaned....

''Yesssssssssssss, you are hitting mama's spots...Wouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! MMMMMMMMMMMM!!!"she moaned...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Olivia....Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." I moaned....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu my goodness...Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" she cooed.

 "Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu , Donnie Ray... ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." moaned Olivia....

"Oh My God!  Oh My God!  Oh My God! Olivia! Oh My God....You're driving me crazy...."I yelled...

The next SIX HOURS was intense and crazy in that bedroom!!

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh MISTER ALEXANDER . Oh My God!   Oh My God! Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss! Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" she moaned..

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I moaned loudly

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my god....Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh Donnie Ray!"

 "Oh my god...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I moaned..

"Ouuuuuuu sweet baby..sweet sweet baby.." cooed Olivia..
"WILL YOU TWO KNOCK IT OFF IN THERE? SHUTTTTTTTTT UP!" came a voice from next door!


We ignored him..
IV-

U.S. District Judge Ray Marshall was a charactor... He wore a cowboy hat into court, He had a handle bar mustache and he carried a colt.45 revolver, loaded..  He suffered no fools..

In a Republican State, he was a Liberal , registered Democrat....and a Maverick....He had once been a feared Assistant District Attorney , who then became an incredible Defense Attorney...before becoming a Judge...He knew his law...Meaning no one was going to B.S. him in his court...

Because we didn't have him listed in any of our records...Neither Hayley Cogswell nor Danny Graber knew we were planning to see him...Plus...They didn't have anything on him...I did a background check on him...His record was sterling!

I'm sure Hayley Cogswell thought after the last weeks defeats we were just going to pack up and go back to Philly.. Not so....

Olivia, Beverly, Nelson,Molly and Ronnie argued their case and presented their evidence before him.....

He was flabbergasted....

"This is reprehensible...I'm throwing this conviction out and demanding Mark Washington be released immediately,pending a new trial...What kind of law are they practicing in the Big Easy?" he asked.

Josie looked at me...

''THEY DID IT!!!"she said..

"Yes they did!!!" I said..

Mark Washington, just weeks from execution had been released from prison to his family earlier the next day and the press was out in force...

Olivia ,Beverly and I, Nelson and Josie posed for photos with Mark, His sister and his mother..He felt great being free after five years on Death Row.

He took photos with his lead Attorney,Molly Thomas and shook hands with former ADA ,now Defense Attorney, Ronnie Tackett

who had co-ordinated his defense team...

With the conviction thrown out...The state could just drop the charges or decide to try him all over again...They had 90 days to refile...Hayley Cogswell was livid!!!!

ADA Hayley Cogswell when reached for comment said -"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE, A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE....I WILL TRY HIM AGAIN AND GET THE SAME RESULTS...I WILL GET JUSTICE FOR MS. GAY..." he swore..

Back at our hotel...The mood was celebratory.

''I want to go out dancing tonight.." said Olivia.

''Me too!"said Beverly...

''Let's go get dressed.."said Nelson to Beverly...

''I'm going to my room...Call me when you guys are ready." said Josie..

But our celebration was cut short by a telephone call I got..

''Hello.."I said... It was Ronnie Tackett...

''Donnie Ray...Bad news...It's Brenda...Brenda Robinson!!!She's dead! She's been murdered." he said.

Just Another Murder in New Orleans! Why wasn't I surprised?


(CONCLUSION NEXT)