Actual Innocence

87 DAYS LATER-

We had done a lot in those 87 days..

Jade had done an extraordinary  job in bringing witnesses up, getting new statements and getting signed and taped affidavits...

Jessica  Sanchez and Ms. Yvette had returned to the State Appellate court and successfully gotten them to throw out the Murder one conviction and death sentence from the original trial...No mean feat!

Larry Ray Wiggins was transferred to CFC prison here in Philadelphia to stand trial once again for Murder in the first degree...

This was met by a major celebration in our office..

"You guys did it!"said a jubilant Sofia as Ms. Yvette and Jessica returned to the office..

"You two make quite the team.."said Bee Bee, smiling..

"I'll say." I said clapping..

"Bravo." said Kahlil...

"Pat yourselves on the back...It was a team effort..."said Yvette..( Even though the four of us hadn't gone with them....)

"Yes ...We couldn't have done it without you guys....Where is Josie? I wish she was here.."said Jessica Sanchez..

Yvette smiled..

"She'll be here...and she's bringing friends...That's the surprise I have for you Jessie.."said Yvette..

The elevator doors opened and Josie and her "guests" walked into our office...

"I love this office so much...Ms. Yvette...I never get tired of coming here.."said Beverly West -East...

"Hello everybody.."said Olivia Bennett-Alexander, who was followed by her husband,

 Donnie Ray

 Beverly's husband, Nelson

and Josie Boyd...

Jessica's eyes got as wide as saucers and she began to cry....

"Oh My God!  Aye Mios Dios...Olivia???....Beverly???...Oh My God..?" she exclaimed..

 "Hello Jessica...We should be in awe of you...We saw what you and Vettie did on the news this morning." said Olivia.

"We've heard nothing but good things about you..."said Beverly...

"It is such an honor to finally meet you both...I was a Public Defender before I went to work for the Innocence Project...You all had left...but you guys are like legends down there...You're almost worshiped. "said Jessica.

 "Really? OH MY!! IMAGINE THAT!! " said Beverly.

"Nice to be appreciated.." said Olivia.

"You too Nelson...I remember your lectures.." said Jessica..

"I remember your questions...They were good questions."said Nelson, smiling..

"This is my husband, Donnie Ray Alexander...Former New Orleans Homicide Detective, Now my investigator.."said Olivia.

"Pleased to meet you. Our Friend, B.L. Benz of the show HARD BOTTOM wants you on his show!"said Donnie Ray..

"You play the Trumpet...I've seen you in Josie's."said Jessie..

"That's me."said Donnie Ray..

"And Josie, you helped us soooo much!  Thank You!"said Jessica..

"Thank you guys...It was a great education.."said Josie..

 "Now we have to prepare for this retrial.."said Bee Bee..

 "I wonder if we'll be going up against the original ADA?" asked Sofia..

 "Rockland has been kind of cool with us and we haven't had to face him in court for awhile.."said Kahlil..

''Yeah, he takes these things pretty personal...I'd hate to be NOT cool with him...I was just starting to like him." I said..

"I can put your mind to ease...Rockland will not be prosecuting this case...I got it on good word from my source that D.A. Garcetti's son, Chris Garcetti will be trying this case.." said Yvette..

Everybody knew her un named "source" was her boy friend, D.A.'s investigator, Gary Lockwood..

II-

24 HOURS BEFORE-

District Attorney John Garcetti walked in Rockland's Office..

''Rockland...I guess you heard that the Wiggins Conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered.." he said.

"I did sir and I'm on it...I've been studying all of my original trial transcripts and looking at all of the new exculpatory evidence they claim to have.... I'm ready."said  Rockland..

''Relax...You won't be trying this case...My son is!!!...Come on in here Chris.." said DA Garcetti...

A well dressed young white guy walked into the office..He shook Rockland's hand..

''Mister Cambridge...I know of your work...I'm a fan.." he said. He was every bit the politician his father aspired to be..

''Well uh, I can be your second..I have the original trial transcripts here...We can go over them this afternoon.." aid Rockland ,who was seething with rage at being upended..

''Don't need to...I've been all over it....Thank you for the offer, but I got this...I'll be seeing you...See you tonight pops." said the young man as he left the office...

"That's my boy...Chip off the old block..!" laughed DA. Garcetti… Rockland,Take some time off...Take that pretty girlfriend of yours out to dinner.."laughed DA Garcetti as he walked out of the office..

Rockland was about to explode...when his investigator, Gary Lockwood said to him..

"Boss man...This aint on you now...Remember...You won the original trial!..Anything that happens now is on him and him alone..Not You!"said Gary..

"You're right...You're right..Get me the book on him...Everything..."said Rockland..

Gary returned in a few hours...

Chris Garcetti was the same age as Bee Bee, Sofia, Kahlil and me..

He was the lone child of DA Garcetti's first marriage...Born and raised on the mainline, He graduated from Lower Merion High School...Attended St. Joseph's University here in Philadelphia and then went to Law School at Yale , Graduated, Passed the Bar in Conneticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.. Fluent in French and Spanish, Russian as well..

He went to work for a nice tony law firm in the Philadelphia suburbs...where he got married. He was divorced within a year..His wife claimed infidelity.. He resigned from his job and ventured out to the West Coast where he worked for another Law Firm in Santa Barbara...Got three women pregnant in one year...All three had abortions....Paid for by Daddy of course....

He resigned and came to work for his dad as an Assistant District Attorney ,where he'd won 23 straight cases so far...

He was keeping his nose clean and staying away from the women.

"This arrogant little shit...This philandering loser takes over my case and doesn't want any help...This ought to be good.."said Rockland.

"Good for a laugh right boss?" asked Gary.. as they both enjoyed a hearty laugh..






III-

And so the retrial began...

I can't in all honesty say how this thing would have gone had Rockland Cambridge had prosecuted this trial over...He was smart and tenacious and no walk in the park..but Chris Garcetti was a godsend, to us!

First off on Voir Dire..He was no match for Kahlil and Me..

He had no idea how to read a jury or how to play bait and switch...

We wanted working class White and or Black Jurors of a certain age and income on our jury...We usually don't get every juror we want..We are lucky if we get 6 or maybe 7 if we are good...We got all
12 of the Jurors we wanted..

Bee Bee looked at me as though she was ready to make love this very minute..

Jessica, Yvette and Sofia smiled and nodded in approval..

Jade whispered in Yvette's ear...

Yvette smiled..

Chris was not without talent... Like all good attorneys, he could tell a good story and he told the story, The exact same story that was told in the first trial....but he was no Rockland Cambridge...

Jessica and Yvette told a good story too and they talked about a rush to judgement on the part of the police and how they overlooked at least two other suspects during the investigation...This was the first time this was being brought up...

And he looked a little confused..

As usual, he called up the police and detectives who were on the scene, the CSI and Forensic Experts who were at the first trial..

Ms. Yvette told us...

''We make this case on DNA...DNA solely..." she said..

Bee Bee and I  and Jessica asked them all did they find any semen , any spermicide or any condoms anywhere?

They all said no...we asked them if they found any DNA from the victim or Larry Ray at any common place..

Again, they all said no...

Chris brought up the original witnesses..College students, and people from the meat packing job where Larry Ray was working..

Sofia, Jessica and Kahlil hammered them on conflicting statements they made at the time of the first trial and conflicting statements they were making now..

Chris argued that with the passage of so much time, their memories might be jogged..

Yvette asked them which version of events was true? what they said then or what they were saying now?

Half were unsure...The other half said what they were saying now...

Chris was both confusing half of the jury and losing the other half...

After a week, it was quite obvious that Chris Garcetti was not only losing the jury, but that he was sorely unprepared...He could have used Rockland's help...

Rockland and Gary sat in the courtroom, laughing....

Now it was Jessica and Yvette's turn..

They both made impassioned pleas for Larry Ray's life...They explained that he was by far no angel, but that he was not a killer either..

Chris Garcetti hammered the jury with Larry Ray's criminal record and the letter he wrote and the fact that HE knew the victims panties were red before it was in the press...

Kahlil and I countered that he had had the victim in his RV where they were consentially kissing and he had partially pulled her pants down...So he saw her panties..but that they didn't go any further...Explaining the fibers and hair found in his RV...and on her shoes..

Sofia called several female college students , classmates of his who all said they brought that same brand and color of pantyhose and anybody could have had it...

Yvette and Bee Bee called his estranged ex-wife, who testified that she didn't smoke, but that she was seeing another guy too and that the Newports the police found was his, not Mary Louise's as originally thought....This never came out in the original trial because she was angry at him and wouldn't testify...

Jessica called the then boyfriend who admitted that the cigarettes...The Newports were his and he was afraid Larry Ray would find them and know he'd been there...but by then..He was already in jail...

The DNA evidence or lack of it was raised next...

Yvette and I and Sofia brought in several Coroners who viewed the body and all gave different times of how long the body had been out there in the park...

Chris Garcetti had their original statements, but by now...They all were saying the body had only been out there four to five days before it was found...Which would have made it impossible for Larry Ray to have killed her...He was already in jail for suspicion of Burglary...A charge which was dropped...  He was released from jail, two days after the body was found and promptly arrested again and charged with murder..

Jessica Sanchez gave a passionate and brilliant closing argument and rested the defense's case..

It had been a grueling two week trial.

IV-

FOUR DAYS LATER-

This had been no quick verdict...The Jury was taking a long time and was asking a million questions..

The Judge was stern and wouldn't let them hang the proceedings...he told them to go back..

The jury looked like it was hung at first...7 to acquit, 5 to convict....

After four days they had come to a decision...We stood in the hallway...

 ''Well, we did the absolute best we could."I said.

 ''We did!!...I'll live with whatever happens." said Sofia.. but I knew that was a lie...She felt as anxious as I did..I hugged her...Neither she nor I would be able to live with another man going to his death after we defended them!

 Bee Bee said nothing..She trembled nervously...

Kahlil rubbed her hands softly...

Ms. Yvette looked spent...Totally exhausted...We all put our arms around her...She smiled , Her little soldiers, she thought and managed a weak smile, looking at the four of us.. We had gone to war with her.. She was appreciative of us as colleagues and as friends.

As hard as she had fought the first trial and during the appeals, The four of us and Jessica had knocked holes into the original prosecution theory, big holes...Plus we had had people testify who hadn't testified in the first trial..That had to mean something she thought!!

 Larry Ray looked at Jessica. He said..

"I had the best lawyers money could buy....Yall did the best job you could..If it don't go my way...I aint gonna fight it no more..I'll live and die with it...Thank Yall...Thanks for everything." he said quietly..

"Oh My God.."said Jessica, who was sweating bullets..

 Rockland whispered to Chris Garcetti..

"You should have let me help you...They ate you alive in there, Let's not pretend.. They were prepared...Better prepared than you..." he said.

''You mean better prepared than you!!!..I think you're just jealous counselor...Jealous that I held my own against  not just one, Yvette Jones, who you barely bested yourself several years ago, but six...six talented attorneys....You know I've heard about you..I've heard that you're brilliant, but on the other hand you're an odd sock, a wackadoo.. When you lost to Olivia Bennett-Alexander and Beverly West,

 who I hope to go up against one day , it put you in therapy....You're just jealous and I have to say..It's not becoming...and you're soft...You fell and fell hard for Yvette Jones

 after you beat her..She got to you in every way...She had you whipped!!!

I got this..He's going back to death row and this time he'll get that needle..None of those attorneys look like they'd be up for another long protracted war.. Not Ms. Yvette and certainly not those others...They're exhausted...emotionally and physically...I saw the look on the jury's faces...They didn't buy their impassioned pleas.. They were squarely in my corner....Face it dude...I'm as good if not better than you are." laughed Chris..

"Think so huh?  We'll see. You little snot... Olivia and Beverly would eat you for lunch...They're experienced attorneys.. and by your performance in that courtroom against those six  attorneys.. You just proved that you are not!! Here comes the jury...Remember....I won several years ago...This isn't on me now!" said Rockland..

"Has the jury decided on a verdict?" asked the Judge..

"YES we have your honor.."said the foreman..

"Bailiff!" said the Judge..

"WE THE JURY FIND THE DEFENDENT LARRY RAY WIGGINS, NOT GUILTY OF THE CRIME OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER! he read..

"WHATTTTTTTT? Poll the jury, Poll The gotdamn jury!" yelled Chris Garcetti….who was visibly shocked!!

The jury was polled...All 12 said "NOT GUILTY!" firmly!

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!" screamed Chris Garcetti, who kicked his chair..who pushed his table over, who tossed his jacket in the air and jumped up and down....As The Jurors looked at him in shock and horror!

He kicked the waste bucket over.....

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!  DID YOU IDIOTS ON THIS JURY HEAR ANYTHING I SAID?" he screamed..

"Counselor...Counselor!!! CONTROL YOURSELF!!" screamed the Judge..

"NOOOO...THEY GOT IT WRONG!!! WRONG WRONG WRONGGGGG!!!!" he bellowed.

 "I told you...It aint on you now...You won several years ago...He lost today!"said Gary as the Judge ordered bailiffs to take the screaming ADA to a holding cell until he calmed himself down...

"You're right..."laughed Rockland, who looked on as  Yvette, Jessica, Me, Bee Bee, Kahlil, Sofia and Jade all high fived each other and hugged and cried...

 "Oh My God...It's over..We won.."said Ms. Yvette, who had tears streaming down her face..

 "Ohhhhhhh I can't believe it...I thought we were going to lose.."said Jessica.

 I have to admit..I thought so too..

 Bee Bee looked relieved.. She hugged me and held me tight...

 Kahlil held Sofia tight and kept whispering to her..

"I love you baby.."

 Sofia just blushed and smiled and held on to him too...

Jade had done a great job of finding and rounding up people and getting statements..

Larry Ray Wiggins, Free for the first time in years was grateful

"I know I can't ever be a lawyer...Not with my record, but if the Innocence Project will have me, I want to be an activist , an advocator for other innocent people like me who got shafted by the so called justice system.." he said.

"We'll find something for you..Relax a little, Then call me!"said Jessica..

"I could use a drink right now.." I said..

"We all could.."said Yvette..

Rockland watched us leave and smiled...He felt vindicated for some reason...He skipped out of the courtroom, happier than he had been in a long time..






EPILOUGE-

We hung one on that night at the rooftop Aqua Bar which was becoming a favorite of ours...

It was still warm enough , even with Christmas a few weeks away to relax on the rooftop..They had heaters...

Everyone was there, Ms. Yvette and Gary, Bee Bee and Me, Sofia and Kahlil,Ms. Jade and Danny Ho,our new friend, Jessica Sanchez , Olivia and Donnie Ray, Beverly and Nelson and Josie and Paris..

 "I'm so glad that is all over...It's like closing a book to a bad chapter in  my life..."said Ms. Yvette.

 "I'm glad you feel better."said Gary, hugging her...

 Bee Bee laid her head in my chest as I held on to her tightly...

 "This feels good...I hope for the rest of this year...I stays this way.."I said.

 "Let's just savor this...The good guys won!" said Sofia..

"Who do you think really killed that girl?" Kahlil asked Jade..

"From what I found out...I like his wife for it...She knew about his attraction to her and she called the girl's cell pone several times that day...It could have come out in the trial, but we didn't need to use it.."said Jade.

"Yeah, but since the case is still open..My guys are going to look into it.."said Danny Ho.

"You guys can't know how relieved I am.."said Jessica..

 "Oh yes we can....You did a fantastic job..."said Olivia.

 "Yes..You did.." added Donnie Ray..

 ''Rockland Cambridge would have been a little more difficult..but you guys still had enough stuff to have beaten him." said Beverly..

 "Well I'm glad you didn't have to face him...Garcetti's kid acted worse than Rockland ,when we beat him last.."laughed Nelson...

"He sure did...oh my god, throwing his jacket in the air, kicking the chair,knocking his table over.."laughed Josie.

''WOW!  He really took this seriously..." laughed Paris..

Our drinks arrived...

It was a nice night...Down on the street,

Rockland held Alfreda close to him...

They kissed passionately for a few minutes..

"Rockland...Are you ever going to let me go?  I'd like to go upstairs and see this place before it closes.. Thank you for buying me this new dress and paying for my hair to get done..I've wanted to have something new to wear with my Red Bottom shoes."said Alfreda.

"You deserve it...You deserve even more for putting up with me...I saw today how I must have looked to everybody when I lost a case...I saw a guy act a little worse than me if you can believe that!...I'm going to do better...I promise.."said Rockland..

"Okay...That shows growth....and that earns you another kiss."said Alfreda...

who kissed him softly again ,even longer than before.. Alfreda and Therapy had done wonders for Rockland..

He took her by the hand gently and walked her up the stairs and to the rooftop where the rest of us were celebrating..

FOR MONIQUE P.