The next morning, we were all preparing our upcoming hearing for Della Raffman at the Wrongful Conviction Unit in a few days...
We had our entire case files scattered across our conference room table.
"The mail came today Auntay...The results on the tests on those two stains on that floorboard , the key piece of evidence in that case...and guess what? It's Red food dye...not blood...The M.E.'s office, Goggins DNA Laboratories and The FBI lab in Quantico all bare this out... Had this test been made 7 years ago...Mrs Raffman might have gone free.." said Beverly...
"Maybe...but I'm still amazed how Rockland swayed that jury with basically this and a testimony that possibly was perjured....I guess that shows how good and persuasive an orator he is..." said Olivia.. "Speaking of which...I imagine he and your mother are really enjoying themselves...She called me last night, she said neither one of them wants to come back..She sounds blissfully happy...but she has to come back...I miss her.."said Olivia..
''Yeah I miss her too, all that baking she does.." I said.. "So , we have proof that this floor board does not have her husband's blood on it and numerous tests by the police found not one drop of his blood in their house and thus no proof he was ever there the day of the murder." I said.
"No physical proof, but testimony by Sol Rubenstein, who wasn't even supposed to be there that he heard them quarreling and heard two gunshots fired...despite the fact her husband was actually shot three times.. This is more than likely a lie.. " said Nelson.
"Her Husband's credit card shows him having breakfast at Sam Mother's Diner at 9:00 am...Then at 11:00 am , he paid a parking meter in town....I have phone records that show he called Della at 12:35 pm...They spoke for a half an hour....If Sol heard quarreling as he says...He heard a phone conversation. at 1:20 am...Her husband got gas at this gas station and that was his last known transaction...His body was found lying along side his car at 3:00 pm with three bullets from a .38 caliber pistol in him....two in the back and one in the back of the head..along the interstate... The M.E. said that rigor was starting to set in....It was hot that day...98 degrees...which means he could have been dead for a couple of hours when his body was discovered...Hard to pinpoint when..but that's why Tragg and dominic evans believed he was killed somewhere else and put there." I said.
''Or he could have been killed along that interstate and just not found for three hours , who knows?" said Olivia
"Boy they were such numbskulls...I'm amazed they both made detective and one even made rank...."said Beverly , exasperated..
"Someone is at the door...I'll get it." said Josie...
It was Lt. Tragg, who smiled upon seeing Josie..
"How pleasent to be answered by you and not that vile woman." he said..
"And where is she? Fired?" he laughed..
"Lt. Tragg, what brings you here?" asked Olivia, ignoring his question as he walked in and looked around..
"You guys appear to be busy...Big case huh?" he asked..
''Yes in fact we are busy...We have reopened the Della Raffman case. We intend to represent her next week at the Wrongful Conviction Unit...She's presently at the Women's Detention Center..We visited her at Dolly Madison a few days ago...Spent the night...But I'm sure Sol Rubenstein, who sent you here knows that already since he went to the D.A. and unsuccessfully tried to get him to put a muzzle on our case." said Olivia with a sweet smile.
Lt. Tragg was astonished that Olivia was being so straight forward and that she knew even more than he did..He didn't know Sol had talked to John Garcetti about the case.
"Look that case was settled 7 years ago...by a very capable attorney...Why not let sleeping dogs lie?" asked Lt. Tragg.
"Even capable attorneys make mistakes."said Beverly..
"Do you and your aunt ever make mistakes?" asked Lt. Tragg..
"We've told you all you need to know Lieutenant...Now if you'll excuse us...We have work to do."said Olivia, who motioned for him to leave..
There was nothing else he could do...They had given him all the information he came for..He turned and left...
"I still think you're wasting your time." he said as he left.
II-
A strikingly beautiful woman about Olivia and I's age walked into the office about a half hour after Lt. Tragg left...We had been expecting her... She had called Olivia the day before saying she had something that could help us.
"I'm Olivia Bennett-Alexander..And you must be Attorney Beverly Hemlock..."said Olivia.
"I am...I am the daughter of Nathan Hemlock... My Father was the divorce lawyer for Della Raffman.. He handled their divorce...He and my mon split up when I was 12...They had joint custody of me... I followed him into the legal profession...Graduated from Lasalle with a degree in Criminal Justice....worked in his office for five years as his legal secretary and Para-legal and then attended Middleton Law school and passed the bar... He hired me as as associate attorney at his practice.. I watched him handle the divorce and get more and more personally involved with Mrs. Raffman than he should have...He was crazy about her, but she just wanted a divorce..she didn't want the kind of relationship he wanted..We had a guy working for us..Sol Rosenburg...A real horn dog...When he wasn't making inappropriate sexual advances towards me, he was making them towards Mrs. Raffman..She really didn't like him and she told my father, who promptly fired him...He was acting as a P.I. for us...but he had no license..He basically was a go for..He served court summons, went to process service that type of thing...I hear he's actually gone to law school and become an attorney himself now...Good for him. I can only imagine how put upon she felt, having my dad after her and his assistant...It was probably a very delicate situation.." she said.
"Oh I'll bet it was." said Beverly...
"I wouldn't want to have been in her shoes at that time."said Josie
Olivia smiled.
Then Beverly Hemlock produced a ziplock bag with a .38 caliber pistol in it..
"I found this in my father's belongings after he passed away last year....Prostate Cancer...He had been battling it for three years... I had the gun checked out...It wasn't registered to him...I had never known my father to carry a gun... If I were you...I'd have it checked it out...I suspect it'll be a ballistics match to the gun that was never found that killed Harold Raffman...I suspect it was my father, Nathan Hemlock who killed Harold Raffman." she said.
''WHATTT? Why didn't you turn this in to the authorities?" I asked.
"I didn't find it until recently, after my father's death , when I was going through his things...I checked it out...One of the case detectives...Dominic Evans is now in prison himself.. I tried to talk with the other one, uh Lt. Tragg, but I spent the entire afternoon easing his hands from under my skirt and warding off HIS sexual advances...Last week I went looking for ADA Rockland Cambridge...I was told he is out of town...Then I saw an article in the paper about you guys reopening the case...So I came here."she said..
"I'm glad you did."said Olivia.. "That is my husband...He is an ex Homicide Detective , He's our investigator..
"I thought so...He has that cop vibe about him.." said Beverly Hemlock..."That's not an insult..That's a good thing in this case." she continued,,
"This is my niece, Beverly." said Olivia.."She's the co-founding partner of my practice.,"
"Her husband, Attorney Nelson East..Associate Attorney....
And Attorney Josie Boyd. our other Associate Attorney."said Olivia..
"You have a wonderful staff Olivia......I'm willing to testify next week...Sol was lying...He didn't hear any shots from that house...He wasn't even there...He was fuming because she had spurned his sexual advances once again...He just saw an opportunity and he took it.." said Beverly Hemlock.
III-
ONE WEEK LATER-
We were ready to present our argument on behalf of Della Raffman, who was serving life for the murder of her husband..
Jazzy was not taking part in the hearing, but she was helping Karen Page to set up and she was sitting in on the hearing..
So was Kayla.
ADA Karen Page waited patiently for everyone else.. Olivia, Beverly ,Myself, Nelson and Josie walked in with our client, Della Raffman...Sol Rosenberg sat angrily across from us..He glared at the daughter of his former employer, Nathan Hemlock, Beverly Hemlock.. Judge Keith Morrison presided..
''Well Here we are..Let get this show on the road." said Olivia.
"I'm more than ready."said Beverly..
"I believe you guys have more than enough to win this."I said.
"Thanks to you Donnie Ray, you did a sterling investigation...We sure could have used you when we worked as Public Defenders..Liv and I did most of the investigating ourselves." said Nelson.
"You nervous Mrs. Raffman?" asked Josie..
"No, just anxious to be free....I can taste it...I've dreamed about it for about a week now." said Della Raffman.
"I don't believe this...Bev, what the hell are you doing here?" grumbled Sol Rubenstein..
"I'm here to testify for the defense..Unlike you, I plan to tell the truth." said Beverly Hemlock.
"Alright...Precede." said Judge Morrison.
With all of the players present.. The hearing began...
"Hello Della, you look well." said Sol..
"No Thanks to you." said Della.
"Your Honor...ADA Page, Thank you for hearing us out today."said Olivia...Today we can prove that our client is innocent of the crime of murder and her conviction should be voided."said Olivia.
Beverly presented Defense exhibit A. The floor board with the two "blood stains"
"This was the linchpin of the original case...That her husband had been shot inside her house and later moved..Here is several police reports in which luminol was used and not a trace of blood or DNA was found..
We had this board checked by the FBI, The M.E.'s Office and Goggins DNA Labs and they all came to the same conclusion...This is not blood as was stated in the original trial..This is Red Food dye." she said, presenting the original transcripts...
Nelson was up next...
"The Prosecution's expert witness was Samuel Whitlock...and he was no expert....He was a lab assistant who lied about being a Doctor and lied about being a genetics expert...I have the proof here, Offficial papers and his original testimony...When he testified in the original trial..Nobody questioned his credentials..They took his word that the stains were the blood of the defendents late husband, who they claim was murdered inside the house...Unfortunately you won't get to question him, because he's dead....He's been dead for about five years now. He never tested this floorboard...Had he of tested it, he would have known this was food dye and not human blood.. Mr. Raffman was never in that house."said Nelson..
"Harold Raffman's credit card on the last day of his life shows him having breakfast at Sam Mother's Diner at 9:00 am...Then at
11:00 am , he paid a parking meter in town....I have phone records that show he called Della at 12:35 pm...They spoke for a half an hour....If Sol Rubenstein heard quarreling as he says he did in the original trial transcripts...He heard a phone conversation. at 1:20 am...Her husband got gas at this gas station and that was his last known transaction... His body was found lying along side his car at 3:00 pm with three bullets from a .38 caliber pistol in him....two in the back and one in the back of the head..along the interstate... Three miles from his home..The M.E. said that rigor was starting to set in....It was hot that day...98 degrees...which means he could have been dead for a couple of hours when his body was discovered...Hard to pinpoint when..but that's why Sgt.Tragg and Detective Dominic Evans believed he was killed somewhere else and put there."said Olivia staring daggers at Sol Rubenstein.
Josie then was up..
"Mr. Rubenstein...You had a restraining order against you correct?
"Yeah.." he said begrudingly...
"So if that was so...You were not supposed to be within 300 feet of Mrs. Raffman who had spurned your romantic or sexual advances several times...If so...Why were you listening outside her house,?
Why did you testify you heard two shots come from the house...Truth of the matter, you didn't hear two shots or three shots...Truth of the matter, you were nowhere near that house at the time of the murder. Were you?"asked Josie.
"No!" he said quietly..
''What was that?" asked Olivia.
"I said NO!" he said angrily.....
\
"Truth of the matter is you lied..According to your credit card history...You were in a midtown coffee shop that day and I have a young lady here who will testify that you were there that day because you goosed her in the behind and she slapped you and she hasn't forgotten it." said Beverly...
"You perjured yourself time and time again during this trial didn't you ?" asked Nelson..
"I'm invoking my fifth amendment right on the grounds it may incriminate me.." he said begrudgingly...
It didn't matter ,our point was made..
Olivia looked at him and laughed...
"You've already incriminated yourself.." she said.
Then she emptied the contents of a plastic bag on the table.
"This is the .38 caliber pistol that killed Harold Raffman, missing all these years...It was tested and found to be a ballistics match...It was found by the daughter of Mrs. Raffman's divorce attorney, Nate Hemlock....He was probably angry that Mrs. Raffman did not want a deeper relationship with him and he killed her husband...We can't question him about it because he is unfortunately deceased...but his daughter found this amongst his things ,when she was emptying out his office.."said Olivia.,
I had gotten my good friend, Detective Duke Baylor
to run a quick ballistics test on the gun...It came back a positive match...A shame they didn't have this at the time of the original trial.
Della smiled.
"Della I'm so sorry about all this..Who knew that Nate Hemlock killed your husband all this time??I didn't know..I swear!...Look, how bout we go out for a drink after this?? I know a place that makes great steaks,nice and thick and juicy....My treat." said Sol Rubenstein...
"I didn't want you seven years ago...I've been in prison for seven years...Two of them on death row,largely because of you...What makes you think I want anything to do with you now? Are you serious?" she said..
He hung his head...This was not a good day...Humiliated totally at this hearing...exposed as a perjurer. The only reason he couldn't get in any trouble was this was not a court room and the statute of limitations had run out... Thank god he wasn't an attorney at the time of the trial, he mused.
"With what I've heard I agree this conviction was unjust...I am voiding the conviction and Mrs. Raffman ,I'm going to make sure the State of Pennsylvania compensates you duly."said Judge Morrison,. "You are free to go." he said.
"Oh My God, Thank You...Thank You soooooo much....Ohhhhhhhh"said Della Raffman ,crying profusely and hugging Olivia.
"I know these are tears of joy...You're free now and vindicated after seven years.."said Olivia..
She hugged Beverly too...
''And almost being executed.."said Beverly...
She hugged me too, a little longer than I would have liked.
"You did a goooood jobbbb....Ummmm your wife is a lucky woman...ummmmmmmmm." she moaned..
She hugged Nelson too..a little too long..
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" she moaned..
She didn't hug Josie.. but she thanked her profusely....
She thanked Beverly Hemlock too, who had made the difference in our case.
As she did ADA Karen Page..
"Wow! You guys are good...Great job !" said Kayla..
"That's my adoptive mommy."said Jazzy ,hugging Olivia..
"Myyy sweet Jazzy." laughed Olivia..."Hey guys...Let's go to our spot in Camden, and celebrate.."said Olivia..
It was a good idea..and we all filed out...
Sol Rosenburg stood outside of the building..Alone, we had all left and gone in our seperate directions...
He was just glad it was over and there were no reprisals against him.. He sighed and walked towards town...
IV-
SOME WEEKS LATER..
We were at the Chester State Correctional Institution..Visiting with Justin Berkowitz
"Don't you guys get tired of being inside of prisons?" he joked..
"To tell you the truth...Yes...I am tired." I said and smiled..
"Me too!" said Nelson..
"Still Thank you for getting Della Raffman off...My dad's last case...He's in the great hereafter smiling down on you guys...How did uh Rockland take it?" asked Justin..
"He didn't care....He said the case was weak anyway...He's good with it."said Olivia.
"Now the question is...ARE YOU GOOD WITH IT?" asked Beverly...
"You don't have to love Rockland or even like him.." said Josie.
"I get it...but I don't have to be consumed with hatred either...I'm just going to go on with my life, try to get out of here in the next five to ten years or so and pick up the pieces of my life.."said Justin..
As we sat with him in the visiting room of the prison and continued to talk.
EPILOUGE-
Nightfall came a little later...
back at the house
Olivia and I did have our night alone... She wore the lavender see through nightie.. with matching lavender panties that I loved..
She had purchased it from Bridget Jones's shop -Lady Chatterlies Lover, Panties and Bras for the Discriminating Woman.
She had showered and had on a new lotion and fragrance..
She smelled great...as usual...Her skin was baby soft..
I loved it..
We kissed passionately in the middle of the floor of our home...
But soon it was off and we were in bed...
"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuu girllll.." I moaned..
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh husband, ummmmmmmmmmm.."she moaned.. 'Ouuuuuuuuuu Donnie Rayyyy I love you sooo much, sooo much, you don't even understand..."moaned Olivia.... "I love you too Olivia...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my godddd…" I cried out.. "Ummmmmmmmmmmm… ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu you like it daddy?" she cooed.. "I do.." I said.. "Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu I like it too!" she said..
We were making sweet love...Nice and slow and unrushed...
EIGHT TO NINE HOURS passed by and we weren't even close to stopping...
Olivia positioned herself on top of me and began to move up and down..I pulled her hair....
"OHHHHHHHH MY GODDDDDD DONNIE RAYYYYY! I'm so glad all of that is over.." she bellowed..
"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.. so am I and we got paid too!" I moaned.. I didn't know if I was coming or going..
This bed didn't squeak, but the headboard did rattle....
It seemed as if we needed THREE HOURS more of each other to truly get enough..
Later , Olivia sat on the side of the bed, smiling at me...with the sheet wrapped around her...
"Cases like the last one make me feel good about being an Attorney...It's why I wanted to be one in the first place...Thank you for helping me be successful." she said.
She rewarded me with a slow kiss....
''You're welcome baby." I said.
Olivia got up and walked out to the refrigerator...She got a bottle of water....
''Want some?" she asked.
"Yes and I'm not talking about water either." I laughed.
"I know." she laughed..."I wasn't talking about water either." she joked.
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