When It Rains , It Pours

We all took a seat in Curly's Bar that night... Curly Howard, a  retired Homicide Detective owned the place..It was a very nice establishment, while a cop bar, hosted Attorneys and other professionals as well.

"I guess you can have a little peace and quiet counselor with Artie gone for awhile huh?" asked Curley..

"Yes...I am savoring every minute of this month.." said Karen..

"I heard that even when he comes back on land...He's going to be on desk duty for awhile..so he'll be off the streets and out of your hair.." said Curly, laughing...

"Yes indeed."said Karen..."These are my friends.."she said..

"Nobody has to introduce me to them... ,

Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander

her niece , Attorney Beverly West,

"Mr. Olivia, Donnie Ray Alexander....You used to be on the job..A Homicide Detective before becoming a P.I. right?" he asked.

"That's right." I said.  Curly had the Homicide Detective's skill for remembering details..A skill his boy, Lt. Tragg seemed to lack.

"And you, Attorney Nelson East, Beverly's husband

and you young lady, I know you're one of Olivia's attorneys, but I don't believe I know your name." he said.

"Josie...Josie Boyd..."said Josie..

"Ohhhh okay..." he said.

"And this...

This is Ms. Jazzy, I remember when you were an Assistant District Attorney, Hell of a lawyer...You're in Private Practice now huh?" asked Curly...

"Yes I am...I'm on loan to Karen's WRONGFUL CONVICTION UNIT." she said..

He looked at Dabnis...

"And you...You sued the Police Department and Artie,,behind uh Judge Reynolds...wowww...Artie hates your guts..Be careful around him, That's all I'm gonna say..Oh and congratulations on your marriage to Ms. Jazzy here..."said Curly with a smile..

'What are you guys havin…?" he asked..

''We all would like your thick and fine New York Strip steaks.."said Karen.. "Put it on my bill."said Karen..

Curly laughed..

"You mean the city's bill." he said.

 "Citris Martini"said Olivia.

 "Citris Martini"said Beverly..

"Citris Martini."said Josie..

 "Mango Martini" said Jazzy

"Mango Martini." said Karen..

"Beer for me." I said.

 "Yeah Beer for me.too!" said Nelson

"Yeah Beer for me too!" said Dabnis.

"YO!  Eight New York Strips, Three Citris Martinis, Two Mango Martinis and Beers for the Gents."said Curly.

II-

 "Oh My God, this food is delish.."said Beverly..

 "Yes indeed." said Olivia..

"I told you and the guys are enjoying their food , Nelson and Dabnis haven't uttered a word."said Karen.

Josie and Jasmine, once biter adversaries in court were like new best friends..They looked at Nelson and Dabnis chowing down and laughed.

Nelson and Dabnis paid them no mind...

''You all did a stellar job gathering new never before seen evidence..and structuring your argument..I can't believe Arnold Patch...If he were alive right now...I'd take him to the Ethics board just for all of the blatant stuff he purposely did with this case."said ADA Karen Page..

"I never had the pleasure of meeting this man....what was he like?" I asked.

"He wasn't a very nice man....I remember my first meeting with him...When I first started out as an ADA.." said Jasmine Coley...

"You're the girl that came over from the Public Defender's Office?" he said.

"I'm not a Girl sir...I'm well over the age of 21..I can drink and vote.." I said..

"Lose the attitude, you people are sooo sensitive.." he said.

"What do you mean by YOU people?" I asked ,already disgusted..

"Alright ,I'll make it plain...YOU AFRICAN-AMERICANS...Always looking to play the race card and use it as an excuse ,a crutch for why you didn't get something you felt you deserved..Well around here..WE EARN OUR KEEP! YOU GOT THAT?" he said.

"I fully intend to.." I said.

"Where did you go to school?" he asked.

"I graduated from Penn Law." I said.,

"Really?? ,Hmmmm Affirmative Action really worked out for you, huh? " he said..

"Now I was really steamed.."said Jasmine..

"It's a Joke...If you're going to work for me...you'd better develop a thicker skin missy." he said.

"Oh Wowwwww!" I said.

 "I went up against him three times...I beat him all three times...The first time was with Larry North and Nelson..The second and third time was with Nelson and my Niecey Poo!" said Olivia.

 "Olivia taught me how to be prepared and not to be surprised..  She did her own investigating..We couldn't always afford to hire an investigator...She wasn't surprised by any of his tricks...and she mopped the floor up with him..."said a proud Nelson.

"The in court battles between him and Auntay were so fierce that the Judge had to call them both to side bar three times...and it got worse, once I got involved...Very heated.. Three battles , three acquitalls and then the after trial lecture from "Big Daddy" said Beverly sarcastically...

"You three have really become a thorn in my side...You let three criminals go..." he said.

"They have the presumption of innocence until proven guilty....You didn't prove any of my clients guilty and you tried to hide a lot of exculpratory evidence, which you know isn't right."said Olivia.

"It's a wonder nobody has taken you before the Ethics Board."said Beverly.

"This your niece? She needs to learn a little respect.."said ADA Patch..

"Respect for who? You clearly have no respect for the law."said Nelson...

"I surely hope the three of you never attempt to work for the D.A.'s office..While I' here...you're not going to have it good over here." he said.

 "You don't have to worry about that." said Beverly..

 "Yeah, Really...I would never want to work anywhere near you."said Olivia.

"That makes three of us." said Nelson.

"Oh My God, he was an ogre...Racist, sexist...wow!"said Josie..

 "I could have never of worked for him.."said Dabnis..

"I'm glad he was gone by the time I started.." said Karen...

"He was part of the previous administration before Gil Garcetti." said Jazzy...

"I was his second on the Jason Biggs case..One of the cases we overturned , I met with him after a day in court.."said Jasmine..

"What is it Ms. Jenkins..?" he asked..

"This case... There are things wrong with it...Things you are overlooking.. I think this guy is innocent.." I said.

"Oh you do huh?" he said..

"Listen..."Well The murder weapon has never been tested for DNA evidence. Requests for DNA testing of crime scene evidence, including of a belt that was used as the murder weapon,  The three forensic experts have  submitted affidavits stating that Laura’s original time of death is inaccurate, which makes the prosecution’s timeline of Jason's allegedly killing her implausible.

2. Jason Biggs and Laura Lee Lyles  were having a consensual sexual relationship. Several people have said so and you haven't called any of them...

3. Renowned forensic pathologists, including Doc Gibbons, M.D., Werner Speights, M.D., Hazel Baylor, M.D., and Cyril  White, M.D., have all concluded that Jason's guilt is medically and scientifically impossible. The prosecution’s only forensic evidence linking Jason to the crime was semen taken from Laura’s body, which was attributed to the consensual relationship between them. 

4. For months after the murder, Jimmy Farmer, Laura’s fiancé, was the prime suspect in the case. A recording of one of the police investigators indicates that Jimmy was suspected in Laura’s murder, and he was believed to be motivated by her relationship with another man. 

5. Jimmy’s best friend at the time of the crime,  Sheriff’s Officer Curtis Moody, has now revealed that Jimmy gave an inconsistent account of where he was on the night of the murder. Jimmy had told his friend he was out drinking on the night Laura was murdered. But he later stated he was with Laura in the apartment they shared during what we now know was the actual time of her death, based on Dr. Gibons updated testimony, which contradicts his initial claim. Why aren't we taking to him?

When asked to explain this discrepancy, Jimmy declined to testify because his answers might further incriminate him.

6. Two witnesses have recently come forward and submitted signed affidavits that add to the mounting evidence against Jimmy Farmer. These affidavits include testimony from an insurance salesperson who stated that Jimmy threatened to kill Laura while applying for life insurance. The second witness was a Deputy in the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at the time of the murder to whom Jimmy made an alarming and incriminating statement regarding Laura's body at her funeral.

7. Jimmy Farmer looks good to me for this murder."
I said.

 "Ms. Jenkins let me remind you...You work for the District Attorneys Office. You are no longer a Public Defender...Our job is to put people in jail..Not get them out.." he said,

"Guilty people...I don't think this guy is guilty."said Jasmine..

"You're off this case...Turn over your notes...I'll have another ADA in here tomorrow..." he said.

"You're throwing me off the case?" I asked.

"That's what I said...I didn't stutter." he said.

"Oh My God...What an asshole."said ADA Karen Page..

"He never gave me a good evaluation.... Despite my 98 percent conviction rate later...Finally I asked to be assigned to someone else.. I was told.."You no longer need to be assigned to ADA Patch...You're good enough to be on your own..." by the D.A.  That was the best day of my life..."said Jazzy..

He had the nerve to say..

"I did not like the remarks you wrote about me and passed to the D.A. They were not objective at all." He said.

"Oh and yours were?  I think you've always felt threatened by me, a Young African-American Female Attorney , just as smart as you and might be...just might be BETTER than you!" I said.

He was furious at the way I talked to him...

"You're lucky you are now on your own...I was going to vote to have you removed." he said.

"I wish  I could vote to have YOU removed." I said.

"In your dreams sweet cheeks." he said..and walked away in a huff. That was the last time I ever saw him.." said Jazzy.

"A Year later, I turned in my resignation and headed for my present law firm....I was so glad to be away from him I didn't know what to do.. They had the nerve to invite me to his retirement party...I never came..Good riddance." said Jasmine.

We all finished our meal and our drinks and just sat...

III-

"Tell me about the end." I asked.

"Last Year....It was discovered that he had accepted kickbacks from an Organized Crime figure as a reward for getting this guys enemies convicted and getting them stiff sentences...as well as asking for lenient sentences for this guys cronies."said Nelson.

"This guy testified in front of a grand jury and named names...Patch was named in a Federal Indictment!"said Beverly..

"He came before the Ethics board and was disbarred. Even though he was retired, he still was a partner in a South Jersey Law firm..He was looking at indictment..A Federal Indictment that would have sent him to prison ,probably for the rest of his miserable life...He was trying to fight it and his disbarrment.."said Olivia.

" He had a wife who was 25 years younger than him...She filed for divorce and left him....Got a huge settlement in the prenup they signed..And a number of women Attorneys who worked for him in the D.A.'s office, including me filed a class action law suit against him for Sexual Harrassment and creating a Toxic Workplace.To make matters worse, all three of his Attorneys quit, claiming non-payment of fees.." said Jazzy...

"Wowwwwwww.. When it rains, it pours.huh?" I said.

"I'll say..."said Josie.

"Damn, Dude was under indictment by the Feds...His wife left him , he was disbarred and facing a class action suit...and then his lawyers bailed on him....Damn!"said Dabnis..

"So what happened?" asked Karen Page.

"Well, on New Years Day of this year...He sat in his condo in the bathtub....

.He filled up a tub full of hot soapy water...He sat in it and he slit his wrists and bled out...They found him the next day...Dead as a doorknob, water just splashing out of the tub..." said Nelson..

''From what I heard it was a gruesome scene..

I know one of the Crime Scene Investigators...He told me it was the nastiest thing he had seen yet...Patch was just sitting there in the tub naked...his eyes wide open...Cold, bloody water all over the bathroom floor, running down the hallway,down the steps..."said Nelson..

"Imagining him naked...Dead or Alive is gruesome enough for me.."said Jazzy to raucous laughter from all of us....

 "Ohhhhh My God...What the hell?" said Lt. Tragg..

"It looks like a suicide..He slit both of his wrists...and sat down in a tub of hot soapy water and bled out..We found a bottle of Shenley Gin and Jameson's Whiskey in the hallway and the knife on the floor of the bathroom..."said Dr. Hazel Baylor...

"Geez, what a mess...Poor Guy got disbarred...The Feds were about to indict him, his wife left him and some broads he used to work with were suing him...Poor guy...This was one of the finest men I knew..My dad and my uncle said he was a straight up guy....Geeeeeez.."said Lt. Tragg..

"Okay guys..get him out of that tub...Bag him up....Get him out of here..Geeeeeeeeeeeez, what a mess."said Lt. Tragg..

They put him on a stretcher and wheeled him out..

Carried him out to the wagon on his way to the morgue...His was the first recorded Suicide of the year." said Nelson..



IV-

"Wow that was great dinner time conversation...What about the case?" asked Olivia..

"You guys have more than enough...Tomorrow...I'm calling Dolly Madison and arranging to have Phyllis transferred to Womens Correctional here in Philly...Then I have to find a Judge...You guys are done..You can rest a few days...Good work." said Karen.

 "Let's Go To a movie tomorrow sweetie."said Nelson..

 "Sounds good to me." said Nelson...

"I'm going to find Paris and we are going to do something "said Josie..

 "What do you want to do, besides screw my brains out/" asked Olivia, tongue in cheek..

"Reed Nelson and his quintet are playing at a Wine sip in Bayside...Want to go to that/" I asked.

''Why I'd love to Mr. Alexander." said Olivia..

 "Let me try the last of that Mango Martini."said Dabnis..

"Here baby!" said Jazzy..

passing him the glass.

A light rain began to pour outside..

As we headed for our Cars...  and on the riverfront..

"It's coming down Lieutenant..."said the other policemen...

"Yeah, seems like it's always raining on me.."said a morose Lt. Tragg..

(CONCLUSION NEXT)