The Rock

 ONE WEEK LATER-

The trial had just finished it's first week...We had made huge strides in that on cross. We had discredited not three , but six witnesses who had made bogus or contradictory statements...We had challenged the prosecution to produce the murder weapon, the rock that had suddenly mysteriously vanished and placed the whole onus of proof on them....

ADA Jumpshot Jim was on his toes....and back peddling...He didn't have the jury on his side..

Kahlil and I had got all 12 of the jurors we wanted..

ADA James Taylor  was terrible on Voir Dire..... and having a hard time proving one, that our client was even on the scene and two that our client and the dead girl had more than a casual relationship..

The two credible witnesses he did have only confirmed that they had seen our client talking to the victim in the past...Months before her death and one who heard him openly flirting with her.. No more..

Like the lawyer before us, David Rodney..We didn't bother to question CSI, Medical Examiner personel or any cops on the scene..They were only giving facts that was known...That the young lady had been struck across the head with a rock and that she had had sex shortly before she died..by someone wearing a condom, but apparently, some semen was in her panties and saliva was on her bra that was at the time marked "Inconclusive.." Which also could mean, they didn't know if it was our clients or not..

Bee Bee and Sofia had brought that up and capitalized on it...

 So had Ms. Yvette, who had summed it all up...

 ADA James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor looked sick and rattled and at the same time furious at Lt. Tragg for his slip shoddy investigation and demanded he go back over the crime scene and find him a new witness or something..

Lt. Tragg was as usual, livid....Convinced he had presented a strong case....Plus the one piece of evidence both the defense and the prosecution desperately needed...The Bloody rock...the murder weapon had mysteriously vanished sometime during the first trial.

Both attorneys David Rodney and believe it or not, Jeff Pruitt had complained bitterly about that..

One week of trial had gone by...ADA Taylor only had no more than one more day before he would have to close and we hadn't even started on our defense yet.....

So with this kind of success , Success that neither of the attorneys before us had had, We wondered why we all had been called to the office by one of our firm's Partners, Mr. Connor.

''Vettie, Keith, Beatrice, Sofia, Kahlil and Jade....You guys have been doing a wonderful job...You got the original verdict overturned and you've got ADA "Jumpshot Jim", I despise that guy on his heels...From what I can see ,you're on your way to winning this thing....So I guess you're wondering why I called you guys here huh?  Well let's get right to it.. This is Mr. Jeff Pruitt, Attorney and uh ruh an old friend of mine...He was uh ruh once married to my uh sister...and we kind of uh ruh go way back...He uh called in a favor if you will....I have hired him as a consultant on your case.....Now I've explained to him that he is to act as an Observer only...He can give imput....but Yvette, you're still the boss...You still call all of the shots as you see put...He understands that...." said Mr. Connor.

Jeff Pruitt smiled a sly grin...He had found a way in...He had done an end run around us and was now on our team..

"It will be an honor to be on your team...You guys have done an astounding job...Just astounding.." he said..

Yvette looked at Jeff Pruit with white hot hatred...She didn't like being done like this...She didn't like it one bit..But what could she do? A Partner had hired him and put him on the team...She vowed she would never insert herself into someone else's case ever, regardless of who or what it was...

I kind of didn't like what he had done either...He had forced himself on to our team after we had told him that we didn't need or want his help.

Bee Bee was blunt.. "I don't trust him....and I'm not sharing any advance strategy with him..." she said later.

''Me neither..He might run right to the press with it.."said Sofia.

"I agree." said Kahlil..

"He's already been on HARD BOTTOM all week long.."said Jade..

 Our Good Friend, B.L. Benz had both

 ADA James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor

 Lt. Tragg, his first time on in a year or so..

And Attorney Jeff Pruitt, billed as Jessie Luther's former Defense Attorney on giving his spin.

 When we left the building...

 We were ambushed  by the press... Jeff Pruitt had known in advance that he was going to be put on the team and had arranged for the press to be there..

 Jeff Pruitt smiled and mugged for the press...

"Yes..It's true...I've been called in as a consultant on this case, due to my experience as a seasoned Defense Attorney... It will be my pleasure working with Ms. Jones here , who has done an excellent job on defense as well as having done an excellent , no superb job in mentoring these fine young attorneys who have been working with her.." he said, smiling and pulling her to him and hugging her..

Ms Yvette blanched at him doing this and was furious...

 "Will you look at this shit?" I said to myself.

 "I hate it Hot Stuff, But what are we gonna do?" asked Bee Bee..

 "This is crap..he's just postering...He'll turn our trial into a circus."said Sofia.

 ''Well, Connor said Ms. Yvette is still the boss..She still calls the shots."said Kahlil..

"Let's just hope She really is the Boss and not the De facto Boss.."said Jade..

 "Let's set some ground rules here...No more Press Ambushes okay? I don't want anybody talking to the press in advance ..Not until this trial is over, got that?" she said sternly...

"You're the Boss , Boss Lady...heh heh heh?" laughed Jeff Pruitt, He got just what he wanted.






II-

 TWO DAYS LATER -

 "I fired him!  I didn't want him to have anything to do with my case...He'll just louse things up...All he cares about is good press and some TV deal he's got going on in Los Angelas.." said Jessie Luther..

"I know that Jessie...I know...I told him three times that we wouldn't need his help and my associates told him and he went over our heads and went to one of the partners of our firm and got him to hire him as our "consultant"..He can observe and give imput, but I'm still the boss and I'm still running the case...Me and my guys..."said Yvette..

 ''That would be Connor wouldn't it? They were both in Gamblers Anonymous together at one time..Connor kind of slipped off the wagon and he paid his gambling debt off in full....I know because I heard him on the phone talking about it during my first trial, before I even met you guys..When he found out who you worked for...He called in a marker....Awww damn..."said Jessie.

 "He's telling the truth...I dig some digging over the weekend to discover their ties..They do go back a ways...They were young Attorneys together..Worked a few cases together..and bet on the horses and played Poker together...Connor owed our good friend

Eddie Lee a grip...Pruitt paid him off recently for our illustrious partner..."said Jade Lee.

 ''He's not going to ruin our case..Just like he's not here....He's not to be privy to any of our strategy...We aren't to divulge anything to him...He'll find out when the Judge, Jury and ADA do."said Yvette.

 "That's fine by me because I wasn't going to tell him anything anyway..." I said..

 "Me neither because he'd be on HARD BOTTOM Shooting off his mouth.."said Sofia..

 "Yeah or at a press conference shooting off his mouth, giving Jumpshot Jim a heads up."said Bee Bee.

 "Did you see this headline...Jumpshot needs to go to the gym....Young upstarts giving him a full court press...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" laughed Kahlil..

We all laughed..

 Jumpshot Jim tried his best in his closing sumnation...but he neither fooled the jury or himself... All he could hope is that he could somehow stop the bleeding...

He in turn was taking out his frustration on Lt. Tragg...

Who wished he had a pretty blonde ADA sitting next to him instead of this whining pretty boy...

 Jeff Pruitt sat with us in court...He didn't even try to give any imput...Not that we would have listened to him anyway...He wasn't privy to our notes....

He spent the whole time texting his agent in Hollywood..He pitched them a new pilot.."Johnny Law and the Associates"a show about a seasoned white attorney who mentors a team of African Americans, Latinos, Arab and Asian attorneys who take on major cases and social issues of the day...

It was turned down flat as being too cliche' ridden.....

He was furious...He wasn't paying attention to the trial at all and was admonished several times by the Judge...

who threatened to take his phone from him and made him turn it off!




 III-

 We began our defense of  Jessie Luther..

 Yvette argued that our client barely knew the deceased...They had talked, even flirted and had made out once..but that it was than a year before and he barely knew her...That he ran into her and was seen talking to her on the last day of her life was pure coincidence..she reasoned...

 Jessie Luther smiled for the first time...

 I presented three witnesses and three credit card receipts that had him halfway across the city at the exact time of the murder...

 Bee Bee presented a witness who knew the deceased and was with her the night she died who testified that she had been dating another man, a man who's name she did not know..and that they had had a rather nasty break up...She didn't testify in the first trial because no one asked her to, but she did make a statement to the police she said..

 Sofia also produced a witness who told the same story, about another guy...She gave his name, Bruce Hargrove. 

Sofia produced Bruce Hargrove's police record, a 2004 sexual assault conviction, and a 2007, unlawful imprisonment conviction in which he had served 13 months in county jail for...

 Jumpshot Jim was furious..He went very hard on cross examination of all of the witnesses, who had been coached well by us...They didn't crack...and he was even more furious..

Jeff Pruitt was very impressed by us...For the first time, he was paying attention to us, our knowledge of the law, the way we coached and prepared our witnesses...The way we asked good pertinent questions....Our whole approach...He was in awe... He began to advidly watch the proceedings..Almost like he was a law student...This is what he had missed...

Kahlil presented photos of tire tracks found at the scene and casted by detectives... They didn't match Jessie Luther's vehicle at all...This was information, David Rodney was planning to present in his defense...It was information the Prosecution knew about and chose not to mention...

Jumpshot Jim looked very nervous...Not only had he not stopped the bleeding, new sores had opened up.....He had managed to be surprised..Never good for an opposing attorney...

 Dr. Hazel Baylor of the Medical Examiner's Office

 Dr. Goggins of Goggins DNA Laboratories

And Sharon Hopkins, Deputy Special Agent in charge of the FBI/ATF

Had results from the Medical Examiners Office, GOGGINS Independent DNA Laboratories and The FBI lab from Quantico that said the DNA taken from the semen in the panties and saliva from the bra was definitely not a match to Jessie Luther's DNA...

 Ms. Jade walked in..She had an envelope that was addressed to her, with no return address. She whispered to Ms. Yvette..

Ms. Yvette smiled..

 It was the Bloody Rock, the murder weapon that had mysteriously vanished...

 Dr. Goggins testified that she had received it a week ago and her lab had testified it for DNA..

 Sharon Hopkins testified that she then sent it to the FBI Lab for additional testing...both women said that they found the deceased young lady's DNA on it and the partial fingerprint of  Bruce Hargrove on it..

Sharon said that Bruce Hargrove was now being searched for by THE FBI as a suspect in the murder.

 "HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET THAT? IT'S BEEN MISSING FOR WEEKS!! HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET THAT?" said a very surprised Lt. Tragg.

"YES...HOW DID THEY GET THAT? IT SHOULD BE SUPRESSED!" screamed Jumpshot Jim...

"Are you out of your mind Taylor? That's been the focal point of this entire investigation."said the Judge..

With that we rested our case..

IV-

ONE HOUR LATER-

We all stood in court awaiting the verdict...

 "Wow, the jury sure came back fast..."said Yvette.

 "Juries are funny Ms. Yvette, but I think we made our case.."said Bee Bee..

 "Oh Most definitely..." said Sofia.

 "I'd be surprised if we got anything less than an acquittal" I said..Convinced we had done a stelar job, far better than Jeff Pruitt who surprisingly didn't offer any imput at all and just observed..He stayed out of our way...That was a surprise..

 "Well it's all over but the shouting man, how do you feel?" asked Kahlil..

 "Much better than I did last time."said Jessie, who didn't try to hide his disdain for his former attorney Jeff Pruitt, who he felt just stole money from our law firm..He didn't do a damn thing but sit with us and allow his photo to be taken with us..

Jeff Pruitt for his part had a new found admiration for Ms. Yvette and the five of us..

 ADA James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor was praying for a miracle..

The Judge looked at the verdict, laughed and then said to the Bailiff, read the verdict..

"COUNT ONE, Pennsylania versus Jessie Luther.. Conspiracy to committ Murder in the first Degree,
NOT GUILTY!!

COUNT TWO, Pennsylvania versus Jessie Luther, Commision of a crime with an instrument of crime, NOT GUILTY

COUNT THREE, Pennsylvania versus Jessie Luther, MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE...NOT GUILTY!!!

The jury was polled..they all said NOT GUILTY!

"I'd like to thank you all of this jury for a job well done..You are all free to go home...Court is dismissed." said the Judge..

 ''We did it guys...I am so proud of you guys.."said Yvette..

 ''Always nice to win one huh guys?" said Sofia..

 "YES INDEED" I said high fiving Jessie and leaping up in the air with him , bumping shoulders..

 "Yvette, Keith, Sofia, Bee Bee,Kahlil and Jade..You guys are superstars...My friends for life...I owe you guys big time.." laughed a jubilant Jessie...No mention was made of Jeff Pruitt.

 "We told you to just trust us and we'd see you through..

 "Yeah...We knew we could win this.."said Kahlil..

"I know you're relieved.." said Jade...

Just then, handcuffs were snapped on her wrists...

"Heyyyy what's the idea?" said Jade..

 "You Ms. Jade Lee are under arrest for Obstruction Of Justice.. You took unauthorized Evidence out of a Police Evidence locker and used it in this trial...After you're convicted...I'm going to set your P.I. License on fire and watch you lose your American Citizenship.." said an angry Lt. Tragg..

 "I did no such thing...That rock was mailed to me anonymously..." said Jade..

"I'm afraid she's right...Here is the box it came in and it's post dated two weeks ago...It's listed in Discovery....Did either of  you bother to read it?  There is no return address....You have no grounds to arrest her on anything..She is an Investigator and she was performing her duties...Her legal duties for the Attorneys she works for ...and Lt. Tragg as for that missing evidence..If it was truly missing and not purposely hidden, then how do you explain it suddenly turning up? Hmmmmm?"

 "She couldn't have taken, what you claim you didn't have in the first place, now could she? I believe you would have a hard time explaining that to your Captain, The Deputy Of Operations and The D.A.  You might be charged with Obstruction of Justice your damn self Lieutenant....Now take those cuffs off of her...Do it now!"said Jeff Pruitt.

"And uh we'll forget about this whole thing, huh?" said Jeff Pruitt, laughing slyly.....

Lt. Tragg was as red as a beet...He unhandcuffed Ms. Jade..He stomped his foot and went storming out of the courthouse...He wanted to strangle "That pompus shyster." he thought...

 "Heyyy Mr. Pruitt, you're alright afterall." said Kahlil..

 "Thank you so much!" said Jade..

 "Nice save.."said a smiling Bee Bee..

 ''Yeahh.Nice save !" said Sofia.

 "Nice Save!" I said..

 "Come on Mr. Consultant...We 've got a Press Conference to attend.." said Yvette, taking him by the arm.

 "No...YOU GUYS have a press conference to attend...You guys did the heavy lifting...You're real lawyers....I've been playing at it for too long...I'm going to get back in the game and be a real attorney...You guys taught me what real lawyering is about...Go ahead...Enjoy your moment.." he said..

So, Ms. Yvette, me, Bee Bee, Sofia, Kahlil and Jade posed with Jessie and addressed an adoring press..

 ADA James ''Jumpshot Jim"Taylor looked exhausted... He too addressed the press...Saying it was a hard fought battle and both sides were exhausted...He congratulated us... He looked sick..

The press was kinder to him than Lt. Tragg, who didn't stick around for the conference.. Neither did Jeff Pruitt and surprisingly...Nobody asked about either of them.

EPILOUGE-

Attorney Jeff Pruitt wrote another book...A novel, loosely based on this case..It was another best seller. He didn't attempt to go to Hollywood to make a movie of it... He instead got a job with a small South Jersey Law firm...

He Moved to Cherry Hill and began trying cases with a number of Attorneys at first and then eventually by himself..

He became a very good defense attorney in his own right.. Some good had come of his association with us after all..

Bruce Hargrove was captured by the FBI in Denver, Colorado and brought back to Philly to stand trial for murder..The same murder, Jessie Luther had been falsely arrested for.

Lt. Tragg was once again the laughing stock of the department, but in pretty hot water with the Deputy Of Operations, who wanted to know how a key piece of evidence in a murder case wound up missing in the first place,and worse,  How it wound up in the hands of the FBI and how he made so many mistakes in one case...

Lt. Tragg was livid. and enraged....Jade Lee now joined a list that included B.L. Benz, Dabnis Coley, Beverly West, Tad Thornton  and Alonzo Williams.

and honorable mention, Private Investigator, Kevin Morris

People he hated with a passion... The feeling was mutual...None of these individuals cared too much for him either.

 Sometime later we met at a tony soup restaurant

where we had several fashionable soups..

and relaxed...

"Ummmm this soup is good, almost as good as you....Ummmmmmm!" moaned Gary

as he kissed Ms. Yvette..

"I'm enjoying my soup too!" I said softly...

''You seem to be enjoying me just as much." said Bee Bee who removed my hands from under her skirt..

"Not here Hot Stuff, Wait til we get home , then you can do it to your hearts delight.." she said, giggling..

and kissed me passionately as we waited for a refill..

"Ouuu papi....you've got me as hot as this soup.." said Sofia...

''Same here.."said Kahlil..

as they kissed..

"I imagine I'm not at the top of Lieutenant Tragg's popularity list...So I'd better make myself scarce around your precinct huh?" asked Jade..

"He's a big crybaby...All week he's been asking my guys questions....Were you over there? Did you talk to anybody?? Of course no one is helping him...They all hate him...But you're right...Make yourself scarce for awhile until the big crybaby calms down....

"We can just meet at places like this and uh do things like this.." said Lt. Danny Ho

Taking Jade into his arms and kissing her....

After that conversation...Nobody thought about Lt. Tragg anymore..