"TABOR!!! COME ON!! IT'S TIME!!" said the guard...He is handcuffed and walked down the aisle
towards the little green room...
Other inmates on the row call out to him...
"Hey Chris..if you uh get to heaven say hello to my sister and my mom's man..Tel her it won't be long until I see her." said the inmate.
'What makes you think he's going to Heaven...He's a lawyer." said another inmate.
"Keep ya head up Chris!" shouts another inmate..
He tries to hold it together...He thinks of the last meal he had the night before..
''We tried to tell you to take this seriously...We tried to tell you to let us help you...Now look Chris..
Beverly , My Husband, Nelson , Josie and Bree are in Harrisburg appealing to the Governor to stay your sentence." she said.
They had lost in State Appellate court a record five times trying to get his sentence tossed out..
Olivia's phone rang....
They were kissing passionately...
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh William, I'm ready to take my clothes off and make love to you right now!" she moaned..
He began to struggle..
"NO NOOOOO!!! NO NOOOO! I'M INNOCENT!!! NO NOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed.
"Come on Tabor, you're making this worse." said a guard..
"FOR WHO?" he screamed.
as they strapped him to the gurney and inserted the needles in his arms..one would send a drug that relaxed his muscles to the point he could no longer breathe..The second drug would put him to sleep and the third drug would stop his heart..
The whole thing would take about 15 minutes..
"NO NOOOOO!!! NO NOOOO! I'M INNOCENT!!! NO NOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed.
He woke up in a pool of sweat.....
He was in his hotel room in Cherry Hill...He was alone.. He had been with Ellen Sonnett all night
She had apparently left...There wasn't a trace of her in the room... He looked at the clock.
It was 8:30 am...His trial began at 11:00 Am in Philly.. He had to get a shower and get dressed..
He immediately hopped in the shower.
II-
He got in his car after checking out and sped across the bridge toward Philadelphia.
As he drove , he remembered the conversation from the night before..
Chris Tabor and Ellen Sonnett were sitting in a corner,
kissing passionately....
He looked up in shock....
"OLIVIA!!!!!" he said..
"Hi Ellen, it's been awhile hasn't it?" said Olivia.
"Hello Olivia, It has been awhile...I see you and Yvette are still close...I saw you both in the news a few weeks ago...She was representing you and that cute Niece of yours...Very successfully I must add." said Ellen.
''What? You...You Two know each other?" said Chris Tabor in total shock!
"Ohhhh yes... Three years of PENN LAW SCHOOL , isn't that right Liv?" laughed Ellen...
''Yes indeed." laughed Olivia.
"LET ME REPEAT MYSELF!!!I DON'T CARE...I DON'T WANT HER NAME MENTIONED....IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?? SHE IS NOT TO BE MENTIONED AT THIS TRIAL!" he screamed.
He stared at all of us..
Me, Nelson, Beverly, Josie and Bresha..
We all walked out....
Chris Tabor sat there looking like a petulant child... The Cat was out of the bag...It was too late to fire us..He knew it..and he knew we knew it...and it was dawning on him that if we lost this case..He could very well be heading to the little green room at
Green Hill State Prison....
As he drove across the Bridge..he thought..
had hired the best defense attorneys money could buy and he'd treated them horribly..hadn't co-operated with them at all and damn near insulted them and yet they were still working dilligently on his defense..He was a complete idiot...He had spent the entire time, drinking and screwing the wife of the man who ironically enough was lying on him and steering him towards death row..
or a great investigator like Donnie Ray.
He didn't deserve good lawyers like Olivia, Beverly, Nelson, Josie and Bresha..
As he headed across the Bridge to Philadelphia, he thought...
"I've got to make this up to them somehow...someway.." he said.. "Before it's too late." he thought.
III-
"We are fighting the science...daring them to produce one bit of physical evidence..DNA, Prints of any kind..or a murder weapon" said Josie.
Chris Tabor clapped....Not only was he on time..He was in a nice suit...His hair was in place and he smelled great...Apparently he hadn't been drinking and was completely sober.
"You know, I owe you guys an apology...You guys are the greatest and I've been a complete asshole this entire time...You do whatever you gotta do...If you have to mention Ellen's name, mention it..I'm not goin to Death row for anybody, especially her lying husband.." said Chris...
He had finally come around..
"I've worked very hard on prepping for this case, while you have done next to nothing...Now you want to jettison all of my hard work?" asked April Taylor..
"Baby...Baby...I'm tellin you...We got a hammer, let's use it..A quick strike...A quick strike.. William Sonnett is our guy...He's a respectable man without a blemish...People will relate to him, People will believe him...Trust me babe...Now let me run this." pleaded Jumpshot Jim.
"Okayyyy Mr. Jumpshot Jim...The Ball is in your court...to use your basketball vernacular..Take your shot." said April..
Outside the courtroom, ADA April Taylor and he ex-husband, James "Jumpshot Jim "Taylor were having another disagreement about how to run the trial...
"April, will you listen to me.. All of those witnesses, All of the Hotel staff 's testimonies are useless...They didn't see him and they can't place him at the scene..Same with the police and forensic people...They don't have a print or DNA...It's a waste of time to bore people with useless testimony...Testimony that Olivia and her team is prepared to tear apart... Let's get this over ,nice and quick and nice and tight....We call our star witness.. They can't refute his testimony...He'll wipe em out...They have no defense..None...worse comes to worse , we get held over for trial and then we pull all of that out...I'm tellin you...We got a hammer, we might as well smash Olivia and Beverly over the head with this....I've been so waiting for this moment...heh heh heh! To stick it to those two.. "laughed Jumpshot Jim..
''When I win this case...I want you to lose the corny keystone copper and come to my place...with your latest babydoll and panty set..either under your clothes or in an overnight bag." he said.
"In your dreams cowboy. I believe you've seen me in my underwear for the final time, barring a miracle. I told you this wasn't going to happen again.. That was a one off." she said.
"Scared huh?" he asked, laughing.
IV-
I remember Olivia telling me and her young associates.. That no two trials are alike and always prepare yourselves for a surprise a twist...That's why she always made Beverly, Nelson, Josie and Bree prepare,prepare and prepare..."Know the law, know the simular or alike cases, be able to recite them verse for verse, study witness statements, prior testimony, study autopsy and police reports...Know it like it's second nature..." She would drill into them. That's also why she depended on the information I gave them on everybody involved..And with all that there still could be a surprise she said.
We sat in court with Chris today, who looked scared as hell..
Judge Michael King was presiding...He knew us...He expected a battle royale..Two of the D.A.'s bright and shining stars up against us...As an Attorney himself, he was excited about it.. Even he was going to be surprised today!..
ADA April Taylor sat in between her ex-husband, James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor and Lt. Tragg, her current boyfriend..You could cut the tension with a knife.. April looked disgusted...Lt. Tragg rubbed her shapely legs..Lt. Tragg attempted to slip his hand up her skirt, but she removed his hands right away...
"KNOCK IT OFF! NOT NOW!" NOT TODAY!! she said angrilly.
Lt. Tragg looked embarrassed and hurt...
She expected the brilliant April Taylor to start bringing witnesses and to show crime scene photos and such...
Beverly, Nelson, Josie and Bresha were prepared with cross examination , They were anticipating her objections and everything.. They would not face her today...or for the duration of this trial..
"Mrs. Bennett-Alexander is wrong...We have one witness, one witness who can place her client at the scene of the crime...We call Mr. William Sonnett." he said, smiling arrogantly at us...
and are a High Powered litigator at Berkshire and Fitch am I correct?" asked Jumpshot Jim.
"I did work for Berkshire and Fitch, I'm in Private Practice now."he said.
"And you're 100 percent certain it was Mr. Tabor..?" asked Jumpshot Jim..
"WHATTTT?" said Judge King.. "Mrs. Bennett-Alexander do you wish to argue a defense?" he asked, astounded at what he had just seen..
So do seven other people I have here ,who are prepared to testify that they didn't hear anything.., nor did they see my client at anytime..If the prosecution had called the 30 so witnesses they had lined up they would have testified to the same thing that they didn't hear any gunshots or see my client..Just you! I'd also like to know why you waited 45 minutes before you actually called the police..That's not immediately afterwords. If my niece and her husband and my other associates would come forward..." she said.
Josie came up with a copy of the police log that showed Bill Sonnett's call was made to Homicide and not 911, 45 minutes after the murder...Just as Olivia said.. She showed it to the jurors.
Bresha had both of Chris's Bridge toll receipts, Coming and going for the night....She showed them to the jury.
''I was such a fool...All I had to do was tell you guys where I was that night.."said Chris Tabor.
"That's right! You made me do extra work." I said and then smiled.
"You really are good, you're worth every dime Olivia must pay you." said a very contrite Chris Tabor.
"They're for the Holiday Inn in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.... This is a photo of his car in the parking lot..and a credit card bill for a Vietnamese Bar and Restaurant, he and a young lady friend dined at in Cherry Hill... Chris Tabor wasn't even in Philadelphia that night... I have 14 people,including the man who checked him and his lady friend in the Cherry Hill Holiday Inn, room service ,et al who are here and will testify that he and a young lady friend were in Cherry Hill from 7:30 pm until 8:45 AM the next morning when they both checked out..and his car did not move from that space. So Who did you see at the Hilton on Penns Landing? You certainly didn't see my client." asked Olivia.
"Perjury is very serious....So let me ask you a question...A question you would not answer the other day ..What were YOU DOING IN THAT BUILDING ON THAT FLOOR? You weren't registered in the hotel...Nobody remembers you entering..You didn't have a room, WHY WERE YOU ON THAT FLOOR?" asked Olivia.
"Answer the question." said Judge King..
He was as red as a beet... He didn't utter a word...
'That's alright, I think I know why...You\re a petty man...you don't like anybody having anything that you consider yours.. Angelica Dallas was your mistress for many years until she met Chris Tabor, then she became his girlfriend...You were furious...And then she left him to be with Bob Sullerson...You hired the Ace Detective Agency to follow them, photograph them and report back to you... You also hired them to follow your wife...You knew she had been seeing Chris Tabor behind your back for about a year...You were incensed.. That Saturday Night you wanted to even all of the scores..You probably used a silencer to kill Angelica Dallas and Bob Sullerson, then you waited a whole 45 minutes before calling Homicide, not 911 like most people would have done..You wanted Homicide and you wanted them to know Chris Tabor did it...You had no idea he was in Cherry Hill with your wife at that moment.
"YES! You got it right....I killed both of them...and I called Homicide, .and I even pulled a few strings , called in a few favors and got two of the D.A.'s shining stars put on the case ,hoping they'd make a quick prosecution and send that bastard to Death Row..I didn't figure on you though... Didn't figure he'd get you to defend him..DAMN IT!!" he snarled..
"Oh My God..It's over, Just like that...It's Over!" laughed a jubilant Chris Tabor...They did it in one day..No trial..They are great!!" he said.
''Come here Baby!"I said and grabbed Olivia..
"Ouuuuuuuuuuu!" she said..
and kissed her passionately....
"AUNTAY KNOCKED IT OUT THE BOX!!" said Beverly...
"DIDN'T SHE NOW?" said Josie..
"OUUU I WANT TO BE HER!" said Bresha.
William Sonnett was disbarred and successfully prosecuted by April Taylor for double homicide.
This really crushed his enormous ego...which was already taking a beating , even on social media.
After a stint in Rehab for Drug and Alcohol Abuse, she and Chris Tabor got married...
"Ummmmmmm we'd better go back in the conference room before we are missed." I said in between kisses..
"You should stay in here a few minutes until you calm down...Everybody doesn't have to know you're aroused." giggled Olivia.
Beverly and Nelson came up with blown up copies of Chris Tabor's credit card bill for the night and parking receipts...They showed the Judge and the jury...
William Sonnett smiled weakly...He hadn't expected this....Up until now..He had been told that they didn't have a solid alibi for Chris Tabor either..He had been woefully mis informed...
Both Jumpshot Jim and Lt. Tragg's mouths flew wide open....They didn't think we had an alibi for Chris Tabor either...They were shocked.
April glared at them both and shook her head...She knew this was coming.
He smiled, but didn't say anything..
"ANSWER THE QUESTION OR I WILL CHARGE YOU WITH CONTEMPT!" bellowed Judge King.
Am I right?" asked Olivia..
"The Defense rests your honor!" said Olivia..
This was certainly the fastest case we had ever tried..First day of the preliminary and just like that...It appeared to be over!
"BAILLIFS ,TAKE THAT MAN INTO CUSTODY!!!!" snarled Judge King.. " Mr. Tabor, you're free to go." he said.. He looked at Olivia and smiled...even winked.. He loved her and her niece and their whole crew..Great lawyers he thought.
"I told you.." said Todd Dellums.
"In Time Bree, give it time!" said Nelson, who was also smiling.. They had just witnessed true artistry today in the courtroom..
"You're not going to see any new Panties or Babydoll on me tonight or any other night cowboy!" whispered April Taylor to Jumpshot Jim.
He looked like he'd swallowed a canary....Then he turned in anger to Lt. Tragg, who he blamed for all of this.
"NO! YOU DID A GOOD JOB OF THAT YOURSELF LOSER!!! I'LL KNOCK YOU THE HELL OUT!!" snarled Lt. Tragg.
"It's not all his fault, there is equal blame to go around here... You didn't help me , you didn't work on this case at all..and then you came up with the stupidest strategy I've ever seen... even Judge King looked at you sideways...I never want to work on a case with either of you ever again.."said April,
"I know right ? Auntay!" said Beverly..
"I Imagine it's going to get funky in here in a minute" said Nelson.
"Yeah, let's head for the side door." said Josie.
''Right behind you." said Bree.
"YOUUUUUUUUU..Once again you brought in a weak case..One witness, who turns out to be a liar and a homicidal maniac...You have got to be the worst detective on the force.."snarled Jumpshot Jim..
"YOU MADE ME LOOK LIKE A FOOL!" he said to Lt. Tragg.
who grabbed her things and walked out..
''WOW, she didn't look like a happy customer!"I said.
"I imagine she's not happy...One Intelligent person trapped between two boobs.."said Olivia.
Another bizzare case behind us.
EPILOUGE-
He was convicted and sentenced to Two life sentences without parole.....She didn't ask for the Death Penalty.
The Fallout from the Tabor Case was long and far reaching..James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor was ridiculed
in the media mercilessly and blamed for presenting the "worst prosecution ever.." They said he phoned it in and
Olivia Bennett Alexander "took him to school"
"She didn't need Beverly or the others " they said.
Naturally, the press ridiculed Lt. Tragg for once again bringing in a weak case.....and he was the laughing stock of the police force..and as usual this ribbing turned into an all out brawl with fists flying, tables being turned over and people running for the exits...
"I don't know what was worse..The prosecution or the weak case Lt. Tragg brought in"said Judge King
On HARD BOTTOM...with our good friend, B.L. Benz.. on which he had replaced Lt. Tragg as a frequent guest
Of course this was entertainment for Olivia and I, Beverly and Nelson, Josie, Bree,Alfreda and Rockland..
We all sat back in the office, watching the whole thing on television and laughing our heads off!
Ellen Sonnett divorced William Sonnett and received a nice hefty Pre Nup settlement...
She used Olivia's lawyer, Zoey Easter.
Olivia and I were in our kitchen kissing passionately
FOR CAITLIN HODGE-
1 comment:
Loved This Title and this story!
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