Early Summer

It was 10:am, A Monday Morning , We, and by we..I meant my wife, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander and her niece, Beverly West-East

had just finished a slew of cases....

I'm their primary investigator, Donnie Ray Alexander, former New Orleans Homicide detective,now living in Philadelphia...A Private Investigator , working for my wife, Olivia and Beverly, her niece, two of the best defense attorneys in the city of Philadelphia for my money...

With us was their Associate Attorney and Beverly's husband, Nelson East,

Now a part of our firm and an attorney who had worked with the two of them as far back as when they all had been Public Defenders...

and rounding out the group was law student and para-legal,

Josie Boyd, who had been with them from the day they opened the doors of their law firm...

Together we were known as the Fab Five. Sometimes my wife and her niece were called "Auntie and Niecey" by ADA's who they had gone up against and Detectives who knew them..

Today we were called in to a meeting at McCluskey/Cozen/ Connor and Pratt... the law firm where our good friends, Yvette Jones and her crew were employed..

When we arrived we saw Yvette, and fellow attorneys Beatrice "Bee Bee" Evans, Keith Jones, Kahlil Ahmed, Sofia Garcia and their investigator ,Jade Lee, who like me was an ex-Homicide Detective seated in a ultra modern conference room..

 "Hey Liv, Beverly, Donnie Ray, Nelson and Josie."said Yvette..

 ''We have Doughnuts, Bagels and Hot Coffee for you.."said Bee Bee..

 Keith Jones poured us each some coffee and put the hot bagels and doughnuts on the table.

"They're from Cakeman Ravens place." he said..

 Kahlil poured us Orange Juice...

"Hey Guys.." he said..

 Sofia Garcia smiled at us warmly...

So Did Jade..

We had been called here by Their founding partner, Attorney William McCluskey...

"Hi Liv and partners...Thank you for coming...As I said...I would explain it all to you once you got here..." he said..

His assistant placed 5 contracts in front of the five of us..

"I am, I mean my firm is hiring you five as consultants...I'm sure you understand....You've hired my associates here as consultants several times.." he said.

''Sure do..In fact just recently.."said a smiling Olivia. She loved Keith Jones, Beatrice Evans, Kahlil Ahmed and Sofia Garcia

 nearly as much as

Yvette did,..They were smart, sharp and idealistic....Just like

Nelson and her niece Beverly had been when she was mentoring them..She loved having such young ,intelligent fearless attorneys around her...They kept her sharp...Yvette felt the same way..

"Okay...read that...If you agree to the terms or pay..just sign it and pass them to my assistant and we will have your pay wired  electronically to your accounts...All five of you.." he said..

''Wow! We work for McCluskey/Cozen/Connor and Pratt" said Nelson, smiling.. Before he had joined our practice , We had hired him as a consultant on several of our cases...He knew the drill..

''Always wanted to work with you guys." joked Beverly, playfully hugging Bee Bee and Sofia, her "little sisters." she called them..

They were always signing one of these for us....Both Bee Bee and Sofia adored Beverly

 and they loved Josie too! They couldn't wait for her to graduate law school and pass the bar...

A Man walked into the room who we all knew...He was the managing partner at the Innocence Project...

Attorney William "Slim" Johnson, Philadelphia Innocence Project.

"Slim Johnson, long time no see." I said..

 "His name is Slim Johnson?"asked Keith Jones..

Kahlil smiled..

So Did Nelson...

William "Slim" Johnson was six foot five and about 260 pounds...

"Hello...for those of you who don't know me...I'm William Johnson...My uh friends call me Slim..." he said..

"Hey slim, It has been a long time."said Olivia.

"Hi Slim." said Beverly...

"Uh ,Hi Mr. Slim." said Yvette.

Olivia ,Beverly and Yvette smiled..

II-

"First Off , How would you guys like an early summer or in this case, Winter Vacation huh?  We are sending you to Honolulu, Hawaii for a few weeks..." he said.
\

"WHAT??" said a surprised Yvette...She wasn't expecting this..

 "Mannnn this gig gets better and better every day..,"said Keith Jones..

 "You aint never lied homie."said Kahlil..

"The five of us went a year and a half ago ,it was great."said Nelson...who never dreamed he'd travel so much until he hooked up with Olivia and Bev and their law firm..

 "Oh Lord...We've got to buy some Bikinis and Bathing suits..and outfits"said Bee Bee.

"Today ,after work."said Sofia...

 "Josie,remember how much fun we had the last time we went to Hawaii?" asked Beverly...

"Oh My God yes...That suite was fire that we were in." said Josie..

"What's the case?" asked Olivia..

"Ah the most important thing...It's two fold..."said Slim Johnson...

"In 2016, former Amherst drug lab chemist Sunny Fairlane was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison after it was discovered that for nearly a decade she stole and used drugs that she was testing. 

In June,2015 an initial group of the drug convictions secured through Ms. Fairlane's testing were dismissed based on documentation that she’d tampered with evidence and that prosecutors knowingly concealed information from the defense counsel as well as the Superior Court about the extent and length of Ms. Fairlane's misconduct and drug abuse. 

Recently San Francisco Attorney, Larry North, who I believe some of you know  filed a position stating the remainder of the convictions linked to Fairlane—Five, we believe—need to also be dismissed with prejudice to “restore integrity to the justice system.” 

The document—filed by the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the ACLU of Hawaii and attorneys Larry North and Robert Copeland—states that the Superior Court found that the attorney general’s office “purposefully withheld exculpatory evidence about the timing and scope of Sunny Fairlane's drug abuse, misled defense counsel about that evidence, and committed a fraud on the court in order to minimize the scope of the scandal.” 

Furthermore attorneys North and Copeland ,who did a fantastic job outline that when Sunny Fairlane was arrested in 2016—after she compromised the evidence in three criminal drug cases and one Capital Murder Case—the Superior Court held an evidentiary hearing. 

At that point, the defense counsel tried to obtain important evidence from the Commonwealth of Hawaii, but the District Attorney’s office suppressed that evidence and falsely told counsel and the court that all exculpatory evidence had already been disclosed. 

In 2016, a six-day evidentiary hearing was held to explore why that evidence was withheld. The Superior Court found that the two assistant district  attorney generals working on the case engaged in misconduct that “improperly influenced and distorted [the court’s] fact finding and legal conclusions and it unfairly hampered the defendants’ presentation of defenses. Their conduct constitutes a fraud upon the court.” 

To make matters worse, states the petition, the Commonwealth has failed to identify and notify those four defendants whose convictions are linked to Fairlanes  testing or to educate them about their rights regarding post-conviction relief. 

For these reasons, states the petition, “These five cases should be vacated and dismissed with prejudice.” 

Also, the prosecutors are called on to fulfill their legal obligations and properly identify and notify the four  defendants affected by Sunny Fairlane's misconduct. 

You can read the the entire petition and the ACLU’s statement on the filing here. The Innocence Project joined the ACLU in filing a friend-of-the-court brief regarding the prosecutorial misconduct issues in the case and later filed bar complaints against the two former prosecutors. 

We called you guys in because we needed outsiders, People not from Hawaii to look into this with Fresh eyes...Decide amongst you who takes what of the four cases... Larry North is busy in San-Francisco and Attorney Copeland may be available to assist you.. but we could use your help.."said Slim Johnson..

Olivia, Beverly,Yvette,Nelson and Keith Jones pored over the documents.....

They passed them to Bee Bee, Sofia  Josie and Kahlil.

They pored over them too for a short while...Getting the gist of the four cases and the complaint against the state of Hawaii.

''Sounds Juicy."said Beverly....

''Drugs and Murder...Right up my old alley.."I said..

"I hear that."said Jade..

Larry North was right...You guys are perfect for this case." said Slim..






III-

"This is right up you guys alley...The kind of activist lawyering you like and excel at and by us partnering with the Innocence Project it's a win win for us...Doesn't make it seem like all we are about is profits and wealthy clients."laughed Mr. McClusky...He passed us all our round trip tickets...

"Check your accounts...your money will be there by the time you arrive in two days.. As for living quarters...We have a nice Air BNB that is owned by one of our attorneys that you'll be using...I've been there...You guys will love it...It's near the beach..." he said..

 "I love it already.."said Beverly..."I have to get my hair done tonight.."she said..

"And we need to buy some Bikini's and other clothing.."said Josie..

'Will we need to pack anything and ship it like Law Books, devices?" I asked..

"No, this place is fully equipped with Law Books and Monitors..You bring your own Laptops and Tablets and phones of course.." said Slim Johnson...

"Good Old Larry North...He always looks out for us...Gets us a good trip.."said Olivia..

"I wonder how he and Teel are doing?  Last time I talked to my dad...he said he saw them together holding hands and kissing in the square...That was a few weeks ago."said Beverly..

"Oh wow...Nice...He's gotten over you...huh?" said Bee Bee..

"He's gotten over you too...I heard while I was on my honeymoon, he had a little thing for you too."laughed Beverly..

'A very little thing...YOU were always number one in his heart."said Bee Bee..

Sofia and Josie cracked up....

Beverly cracked up too....How she loved Bee Bee and Sofia...And would love hanging out with them..

 Olivia hugged Yvette Jones..

"Vettie, did you ever think that you and I would travel like this and make this much money with this lawyer thing?" she asked her good friend..

"Livy....I never imagined....It's you...You're my good luck charm...You're everybody's good luck charm..." said Yvette..

 "Hey Nelson, we are going to be working...We aint gonna party like we did in New Orleans right?" said Keith Jones..

"I know I aint...wow!"said Kahlil..

"Me neither...I'm going to rest a bit..do some work and get my share in...but I'm not gonna overdue it."said Nelson...

I smiled, listening to them....

TWO DAYS LATER-

We all boarded a Mini Bus, which picked us all up and rode us out to the airport....

The 11 of us boarded the plane and laid back...Off to Honolulu....

 "Gary and Paris are coming out tonight...on a later flight.."said Yvette..

"How does Gary get all of that time off?" asked Olivia..

"Because he hardly ever takes a day off..He has a whole lot of vacation and sick time stored up that he has to use.."said Yvette..

''Same thing with Paris...The city is practically making him use up his vacation days.." said Josie..

Beverly and Nelson, Keith and Bee Bee and Kahlil and Sofia were seated in the middle of the plane...They were kissing passionately...

Like horny teenagers....

 I sat in the back on the row with

 Olivia

and Yvette...

Josie and Jade sat in the row directly in front of us..

IV-

The flight was SIX TO SEVEN HOURS....It was nice to leave cold wintery Philadelphia and land in sunny and summer warm Honolulu...

Last time I was here , we had stayed in a nice Hotel downtown with a huge suite that housed all five of us...

I wondered what this Air BNB would look like..

We soon got our answer...It was beautiful....and large....Larger than any we had stayed at...We didn't have to be stacked on top of each other...

It had it's own Laundromat in the basement with enough washing machines and dryers to accommodate all 11 of us...

Olivia and I had the room on the third floor in the front..

Beverly and Nelson were two rooms away...Third Floor also, Front....

Paris , who arrived about two hours after we did and arrived by cab were two rooms away from Beverly and Josie on the side...Third floor..

A Floor below us..

Keith and Bee Bee were a floor beneath us...Front view and

were on the same floor , two rooms over, front....

Jade had a room to herself on the side..

Yvette was on the first floor in the front...

Gary was the last to arrive...

We rented 7 cars...We used them to drive into town and buy groceries..Detergent and Toiletries...

The place had a massive common kitchen that the girls just loved...and a nice common room..

As you can imagine..

We couldn't wait to be alone and settle in..

 a lot of love was being made , a lot of beds were squeaking ...

 "Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu sweet baby....Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

 "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmph…."

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuu."

in at least six out of the seven rooms we occupied...

Our first night in Honolulu...Our Early Summer Vacation.... Tomorrow though...We went to work..



(TO BE CONTINUED)