Due To Lose One

Victoria Winter's trial began with media fanfare....

It wasn't just the local media this time, but CNN, MSNBC, FOX,ABC, NBC and CBS  carrying this trial...

Lt. Tragg, as photogenic as ever payed it to the hilt...Brand new tailored suit, Nice Haircut...telegenic smile...

He was in his glory as the dogged pursuer of justice the detective who had tracked down the murderer of the famous author of lurid novels..

For the First time, Yvette was on a national, maybe international stage... she and we were going to be known after this trial..Just like our good friends,

 Olivia and Beverly..

 Ms. Yvette looked around...Her mother and Father , Uncle and cousins and Aunts were all in the visitors section waving at her as the cameras popped.

"I hate this...I just want to practice law, not be in the spotlight." she said.

 I on the other hand was loving every minute of it, Smiling for the camera and waving at My Mom and my aunts and some friends of mine from college and the neighborhood.

"It's not so bad Ms. Yvette...Now we too are gonna be known in this town." I said.

 Bee Bee's Mother and father were there.. She was very nervous..

"Now I know how Olivia and Beverly feel, they're always in the news." said Bee Bee.

 "We've been in the news before...In Houston, That Federal Class Action suit, The State supreme court case recently.."said Kahlil..

 "Yes, but nothing like this.We kinda shared the stage with Olivia and Beverly...Now we are on the stage by ourselves." said Sofia.

"No matter what...Be on your A-Game guys...Make it worth it."said Jade.

ADA Yvonne Harris didn't like the attention either and the press bringing up that she was a former winner of the MS. PANTIES pageant as well as a former lingerie model, all before law school and passing the bar made her feel a little embarrassed..

We all just wanted to get the trial started and to get into it..

She whispered to Yvette...

"I don't like all of this hoopla....All they want to talk about is my past...Modeling, winning MS. PANTIES...That was to make extra money to make it through law school." she explained in a moment of vulnerability..

"My room-mate, Olivia Bennett-Alexander modeled too when we were in law school...You do what you have to do." said Yvette,sounding sympathetic.

"You and Olivia Bennett-Alexander were room-mates in law school?" asked Yvonne Harris ,incredulously..

''Sure was...We shared an apartment the entire three years...Olivia is like my best friend.. I love her like a sister." said Yvette..

"I've always admired her and her little niece...You have a good trial.." said Yvonne Harris..

"You as well.." said Yvette with a smile..

Lieutenant Tragg spied them from a distance..

He wondered what those two could possibly be talking about?

Yvette stared out amongst the throngs of people and she spotted Gary..

Standing in the crowd...Cheering her on... He really did love her, she thought....







II-

My dad the Honorable Judge Keith Morrison called the trial to order and it began...

Sounding like a school teacher, ADA Yvonne Harris painted a narrative of a young woman who was trying to get ahead and who would do anything to get ahead..including sleeping with the attorney who brokered the deal between his law firm and her publishing company...and sleeping with the company's hot new author at the same time..

She got promoted to Editor...and she found herself having two men proposing marriage to her...

"Somewhere something went wrong...Maybe Mr. Boxley found out he was being two timed...We don't know....but sometime in the afternoon of may 14th Ms. Winters bashed his head in and waited three hours before reporting it to the police.."

She was good...She had the entire jury convinced that Victoria was guilty of murder as well as a lot of moral crimes..

 Ms. Yvette, dressed to the nines as usual..Always told us to be prepared and she was.. she took ADA Yvonne Harris's entire argument apart like a surgeon...And instead of sounding like a dull, humorless
school marm , she came across as warm and friendly ,like your friend, your girlfriend...your confidant..

She said that we weren't here to judge anybody's morals...she appealed to the women in the jury, asking if any of them had ever had more than one man interested in them?

"You're all attractive women...I know you have...and what if both men for whatever reason was attractive...Did you send them both away or did you consider your options?  She's a young woman, she's not married...And she was honest with one of the men...There is no proof the deceased mr. Boxley even knew about her relationship with the other man..."

"Yes...She was ambitious...she was looking to move up...is that a crime?  She moved up on her own merit..."

The jury ,just that fast has swung from ADA Harris to Yvette Jones's way...

Bee Bee and Sofia looked at Ms. Yvette with the hero worship and adulation they usually reserved for Olivia and Beverly...

I smiled...Ms. Yvette was a very skilled trial lawyer..I had worked closer with her than any of the others...I knew she had skills...

Kahlil nodded and smiled.

III-

The trial began...

ADA Harris was prepared to win....

She paraded the uniformed police officers, the CSI personell and The Forensic guy before the jury...
She used a 40 inch monitor to show the jury the bloody crime scene...

Bee Bee and Kahlil were prepared too and they had a slew of questions about fingerprint evidence(There was none) ,DNA evidence(There was none) amongst other things on cross examination..

My Father was impressed...Even more so that there was no bickering between the attorneys, but a seeming mutual respect almost...He had never seen a more civil trial..but it was just beginning..

The fireworks were coming..

ADA Yvonne Harris closed after three days with a closing so brilliant, I almost wanted to stand up and clap...

Lieutenant smiled..He was convinced that a conviction was a fore gone conclusion...

Then it was our turn...

I had been silent for the first week, but this is where I shined...Yvette allowed me to make the argument for the defense...I had rehearsed a speech then at the last minute, I went from my gut..

The women in the jury dug it...

The people in the visitors section stood up and clapped.  I was like a rock star....After I finished my opening monologue..a few women looked like they wanted to take off their panties and throw them at me!

I had watched film footage of her other trials.. She was always in control.. Never surprised ...I asked Ms. Yvette..

''What happens if she's not in control???...If the whole thing gets away from her?

"That's brilliant....Let's lull her to sleep to false complacency and then let's ramp it up..Throw her off her game and maybe..just maybe..she'll make several key mistakes."said Yvette just the week before when we were working out trial strategy...

My Father admonished them to simmer down and called for order...All the while looking at me and shaking his head and smiling..

I think he knew exactly what I was doing..

 "Bee Bee, your man is a ham you know that?  But I love his opening argument and the way he delivered it.." said Ms. Yvette..

"He is a ham...but he's very convincing...I love what he just did.." said Bee Bee, high fiving Ms. Yvette.

The Circus began..

Sofia called a city councilman , a city councilman who appeared to be very anti LGBTQ..She did her best not to expose his true nature, but the questioning got a little brutal.

.She and ADA Harris sparred verbally and almost to the point that it got personal...

My father had to call them both to sidebar three times...

Finally the City Councilman's lover screamed out-

"STOP HIDING OUR LOVE YOU OLD QUEEN, TELL THEM ABOUT US! TELL THEM YOU WERE WITH ME WHEN THE MURDER OCCURRED!!"

The Jury and the Spectators were titilated...Laughter and ouus and ahhs broke out..

My father laughed so hard ,he had to recess the jury for a few minutes...

Jade nodded approvingly...

Robert Connor was brought forth...He didn't want to be there..but he was brought forth...

I asked him if he recognized himself in the book...The Attorney from the huge law firm...

He said that after reading the book, he did...but that he had only read the book after the death of Boxley..

I didn't mention that the charactor had erectile dysfunction...

But ADA Harris did..She questioned him about his use of Cialis..and she produced his prescription, as I knew she might..

Yvette strongly objected, citing relevance and provided him with an alibi..

"He was in court the time of the murder...I was in court with him..I saw him.." she said.

My Father called a sidebar and asked that Mr. Connor's entire testimony be stricken..

The Circus continued..

I called Harrison Boxley's  estranged wife to the stand...They were seperated and going through a nasty divorce, which she admitted...

She was so angry she screamed...

"BECAUSE OF THAT TROLLIP OVER THERE THAT YOU ARE REPRESENTING!"staring at Victoria.

I presented several letters she wrote threatening Victoria and several texts she sent both Victoria and her soon to be ex-husband..

Now, ADA Harris and I began sparring verbally...

I kept my cool and deffered to her without being harsh....

I found her smiling at me too and giving me sly side glances during the arguments...

Sofia and Bee Bee called the Private Investigator Mrs. Boxley had hired to follow Victoria...

He was her alibi...He testified that Victoria was miles away at the time of the murder...

"Meaning the body was slightly warm when she arrived...but she couldn't have been there correct?" said Kahlil..

ADA Harris was livid..She cited speculation..By now she had lost the jury...and I think she knew it..She had lost control of the trial and made several key mistakes, just as I'd hoped.

"No More questions your honor."said Kahlil slyly...

Now Yvette finished things off..She called Myra Boxley to the stand again and asked her where she was on the day of her husband's murder..

She stated a number of stores..

Ms. Yvette had the credit card and debit card records...

"You were there, but not at the times you stated..There is a whole hour missing that you haven't accounted for.. You have a key for your estranged husband's loft...You let yourself in through the back didn't you? That way you escaped the camera as well as the alarm and you weren't seen leaving, the way my client was when she discovered the body  and ran out the front door..She just missed you didn't she?"said Yvette.

"YOUR HONOR!" screamed ADA Harris.

"Answer The Question Mrs. Boxley."said my dad softly.

But she refused to answer..

"Answer the question or I'll have to hold you in contempt.." he said again..

She refused to say another word.. She sat and shook....

The Bailiffs took her into custody...

Yvette gave her closing argument, once again sounding like a good friend..a close confident...

Rattled and distraught, ADA Harris gave a stern school marmish closing argument.. It turned the Jury off..

ONE HOUR LATER they came back with the verdict..

WE FIND THE DEFENDENT..VICTORIA WINTERS....NOT GUILTY!

 Victoria burst into tears....she hugged Yvette...

"Oh Thank You...Thank You...Thank You sooooo much...This long nightmare is over!" she said.

"All in a days work!" said Yvette.

 "Wow! That was fun..."I said.

 "I see..You were really enjoying yourself up there...Show off.." laughed Bee Bee, who hugged me tightly..

"You got all of those women hot....You got me hotter, hot stuff!" she said, continuing to hold me tight..

 "Wow, she never lost a case...and she lost her first one to us.." said Kahlil..

 "Thanks to the great investigative work from Jade.."said Sofia, hugging Jade.

"It wasn't easy....and we still don't have proof the wife did it..but we were able to cast enough doubt that Victoria didn't do it.." said Jade..

ADA Harris composed herself..

She walked over and shook our hands..

"Nicely done you guys...You took me off my game.. Nobody has ever done that before.. Needless to say, I don't ever want to have to face any of you in court again.." she said....Then she smiled.

"That's a compliment.."

We all shared a laughed..

She posed for a photo with us all..

Just to show no hard feelings...

Lt. Tragg was livid...He couldn't believe he had once again brought in the wrong suspect or rather some damned defense attorneys had made him look like a fool again...

The Philly Press let him have it..

"Skunked again, eh Artie?"

"Can't Bring the Big one in huh?"

"Hey Artie, maybe you ought to go into another line of work. LAW!"

"WHYYYYYYYYYYY YOUUU MAYBE I OUGHT TO RE-ARRANGE YOUR JAW!!" screamed Lt. Tragg as fists began flying and the national news media had him on television fighting local reporters in a mad melee...a press table was knocked over and people scattered...

This trial had truly been a circus...

"Ohhhh Good lord." said ADA Harris.

"Come on...I know another way out of here.."said my father, who looked at me and winked..

He took ADA Harris by the hand and they quietly slipped out of the back door..

 "Let's follow my dad." I said.

 "Good Idea honey bunny." said Bee Bee., who clung to my arm...

 "We are right behind you.." said Kahlil..taking Sofia's hand..

"Come on Ms. Yvette, Ms. Yvette?" said Sofia..

But Ms. Yvette was gone!

Victoria and Jade followed us out the back door..

Police entered the front to quell the melee..

In the Judges Chambers...

Ms. Yvette and Gary were kissing passionately...

A nice ending to a crazy trial..

EPILOUGE-

A few days later...Partner, Attorney Robert Connor walked into our office..

He looked around..

''Where are your people?" he asked.

"They're off...I gave them a few days off. They earned it."said Ms. Yvette.

"They did...So did you...In Fact...I don't want to see you or them around here for a week.. That's an order." he said and smiled and passed Yvette six envelopes...

"That's the bonus I promised You and your team...Good Job...Her company is ecstatic..They're sending more clients the firm's way and I told the partners, it was all you guys,, Yvette, you and your guys are good people...You have a friend in me as well as the others." said Robert Connor..

"Thank You. "said Yvette.. "Are you uh going to uh patch things up with Victoria?" asked Ms. Yvette.

"No...I didn't want to see her imprisoned for life for something I know she wasn't capable of doing.. but that ship has sailed.. Like you said...I'm old enough to be her father...I'm going to find a woman closer to my age...and about the Cialis...I uh..I don't have erectile dysfunction....but I uh used that to uh keep up with Victoria..she was a much younger woman." he said.

"You don't have to explain anything to me...Good Luck to you."said Yvette..

"Thank you...Thank You Again Yvette."said Robert Connor...He walked out of the office slowly..

Yvette put the envelopes in her pocketbook and smiled....