The Preliminary Hearings began.
Olivia and Beverly walked into court with our client, Attorney Warren Lloyd, flanked by Nelson, Josie, Bresha and Myself..
Judge Keith Morrison was presiding..
Assistant District Attorney Chris Garcetti was on the Prosecutions side...
Lt. Tragg sat next to him, somewhat calmer , but confident that the state had a rock solid murder case against Warren Lloyd.
Attorney Brenda Jordan, the defendent's current live in girlfriend was at the trial..
Lt. Tragg couldn't take his eyes off of her..
The Preliminary hearing went much like the bail hearing...ADA Chris Garcetti once again argued that Attorney Warren Lloyd brutally and viciously murdered Attorney Anne King and then non-chalantly walked out of the hotel lobby. "He is a cold,calm killer and is a danger to society."he said.
And Olivia argued that this was laughable..."I thought we had gotten past this.." she said.Olivia argued that this was a contradiction..He either is a cold blooded killer or he's not..she argued that there was no way Mr. Lloyd was any kind of psychopathic killer. she had spent much time with him, Had represented him...The only type of "killer" he was ,was a ladykiller." she said.
This was again met with raucous laughter by the Judge and the spectators. My wife knew how to work a room.
Beverly and Nelson listed Warren Lloyd's accomplishments as an Attorney and Officer of the court and argued that there was no way he was violent or a killer.
Chris Garcetti argued that all that notwithstanding.."Something went wrong in that room that night..we have evidence that both Mr. Lloyd and Ms. King were smoking a substantial amount of marijuana and imbibing a substantial amount of alcohol.. Tempers might have flared, something was said and it led to violence..
Olivia, Josie and Bresha argued that this was all speculation and that the Prosecution has no idea what was said or what happened in that apartment that night. The loaded condoms and semen stained panties he presented as evidence only proved that our client had consensual sex with the victim and not that he killed her,.
ONE WEEK LATER-
After spirited debate going on for a week, Judge Morrison said.
''I think there is enough evidence in this case, presented by Assistant District Attorney Garcetti to hold Mr. Lloyd over for trial...It is Friday... Trial will begin at 10:00 AM sharp on Tuesday Morning.. Be on time and be ready for trial." he said.
Chris Garcetti smiled broadly...He felt as though he had won a fundamental victory over Olivia and Beverly, despite the fact that neither side was playing all of it's hands..
Bresha's old law school friend, Terrence Jenkins , newly fired and living with his mother until he could find a new place to live and a job was also in court.. He walked up to me and placed a note in my hand..
He walked away.. What he put in my hand was the name of a private plane and it's location.
"Have somebody check it out..Your key witness is looking to take a powder..and if not there, check out the airport." he said and walked away.
The police surrounded his private jet...Ari Mohhamad must have figured that Terrence would give up his private jet..
Ari Mohhamad took an uber to the Philadelphia Airport only to be met by Me, Gary Lockwood, Investigator for the D.A.'s office and pollice..
'Hiiii Ari...You weren't planning to skip out on a court summons were you? Nahhhhhhh!" I said, smiling..
I've got a nice cozy place to hold you until you testify." said Gary ,laughing.
As police handcuffed Ari and took him into custody.. Listed as a flight risk, he stared at me and said something weird. "You're bad for business , mannnnnnnnnn!"
He looked at me like he wanted to strangle me. His cool vaneer was gone.
At Sam Mother's Diner-
"And you used to date this guy Bree?" asked Beverly
as they had coffees.
''We went out a few times. Nothing serious. After we graduated..Tony got a job in Cherry Hill and I interned with you guys..but Terrence got a job, right out of law school working for that Hotel as Co-Counsel...Nobody understood how he got elevated that fast..but the next thing I know, He had a place in L.A., One Here and One in Dubai, everytime I saw him, he had a brand new car, great clothes and lots of cash..He was really balling, Living here or Los Angelas for six months, living, shopping and partying in Dubai for another six months. It was an enviable life..He offered me that lifestyle several times when he was home if I would marry him or at least share his bed.. I turned him down everytime. I mean , a lot of guys eventually want to get in bed with you when they start taking you out...but he was too obvious and too eager."said Bresha.
"And all of that wealth is gone, just like that huh?" asked Nelson.
''All of it! They emptied all of his personal belongings out of the Los Angelas resident, The Dubai resident and the Philly resident and shipped them to his mother's house. They took the keys to all three of his cars. and put him out in the street with just the clothes on his back. He got a nice severence package and he earned close to one million dollars..so don't feel too bad for him. He's not destitute."said Bresha.
Beverly and Josie cracked up laughing..
"Goofball.,He's not broke.. He got a million dollar severence package..I'd love to be THAT BROKE!" said Beverly ,lovingly as she laughed.
''Nelson is too funny. He's not broke, he just aint got no job!" said Josie.
Bresha, Beverly,Nelson and Josie cracked up laughing.
"Well it's true, after all."said Josie.
II-
The Trial began Monday Morning at 10:00 AM.
Pitting Nelson against Chris Garcetti was cruel..He was no match for Nelson on Voir Dire, unlike some other ADA's who had held their own and still lost to him..
With input by Beverly and Olivia, who drafted and helped him with the questions,
Nelson got for only the second time since I'd known him a clean sweep, all 12 jurors we wanted , we got...
Chris Garcetti felt as though he'd been tricked...been bamboozled , but it was too late the trial had to go on.
Lt. Tragg was furious..He felt as if Chris didn't fight hard enough, didn't object enough and he allowed Nelson with help from Olivia and Beverly to once again have their way.
He looked at how the three of them were smiling..
"They use every legal trick in the book..every Legal trick...They just bend and twist the law at every turn." he snarled under his breath, frustrated and angry.
''We have a jury selected. Trial begins tomorrow at 10:00 AM, be on time and be ready for trial." said Judge Morrison.
Beverly, Nelson, Josie, Bresha and I all put our hands in a circle like a football or Basketball team and yelled "YES" out loud.
Lt. Tragg walked over to where we were standing.
"Laugh now, but you won't be laughing a week from now..We've got a strong case against you and you will be going to prison pal...Hopefully to the Pennsylvania Gas Chamber or getting a needle..I'm going to take off to be there,, believe that." he said.
"VA VA VA VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM" he said under his breath...How he wanted her,
He wanted her again so bad, he could taste her...
I found a letter...It had been printed from a computer... It had the names and addresses of four people I should talk to.. All of these people had been in that hotel on that same floor the night of the murder and none of them had been listed as people Lt. Tragg had talked to.
When we got home..
I had tried to interview these four guys awhile ago and all of them had been missing, out of town, off the grid.. The letter told me where I could find them
The letter told me to check their financial records.. I did and I found out they had been paid a considerable amount of money from a pocket account in the Bahamas that was now closed.
One person was given a new car..For their silence.
Over the next two days, Beverly, Josie and Bresha delivered subpoenas to all four of them..
Ari Mohhamad was in custody and knew nothing of this.
Ari had gotten himself a new attorney, Val Goodman, A Russian Jewish Lawyer who had fought many immigration cases, now fighting for his release from custody..
We all appeared at a seperate hearing after the trial to argue that he be kept in custody...
We showed the judge his private plane as proof that he was a flight risk and that he was a very important subpoened witness in our case.
It was before another Judge, Judge Michael King, who in view of the fact that Ari Mohammad had tried to flee before while under subpoena, agreed that he be held in custody until he testified.
Attorney Goodman argued vehemently and vowed to vowed to appeal.. He had been hired at the last minute and had not had time to prepare for us.. While Olivia, Beverly, Nelson ,Josie and Bresha had prepared at least two days for this hearing. Attorney Goodman was a fish out of water. Ari couldn't afford to fire him though...He needed him.
"By the time his appeal comes through, it will be way too late for Ari."laughed Olivia.
III-
Curley's Bar...
Attorney Brenda Jordan was having drinks with Attorney Yvette Jones.
It's been two weeks and they are making Chris Garcetti
look like a first year law student..It's like they are taking him to school." said Brenda.
Lt. Tragg walked over to their table..
"Hello Vettie, haven't seen you or your youngins in awhile...You guys go into a different line of work or something?" he asked, laughing.
We just aren't crossing paths with you."said Yvette, which was true.. They were working just as hard as us.. but from a new building and on several different cases.
and a new office and with a new position.
"Rightttttttttttttt and run into your arms...You who are cheating on YOUR girlfriend, to see me, right?? I should do that." said Brenda Jordan.
Yvette cracked up laughing...
''I just want to say...I'm sorry about your boyfriend Brenda... but really, you deserve better..He cheated on you with that babe and then choked her to death..I'm thinking she gave him an ultimatum or something or threatened to tell you... but ah...He's getting what he deserves and when this trial is over..you need to forget him." said a confident Lt. Tragg..
"I'm sorry , that was funny." she said.
THREE DAYS LATER-
asking him to explain what happened in that room that night to the jury..
I had a bottle of Champaigne and some glasses in my trunk... I called Brenda, she said she was tired and turning in early... In hindsight, I should've gone home, but I didn't...I called Ann and she said to come on up, but to worry before she fell asleep..
She let me in... We smoked a joint , while we put the Champaigne on ice...Then when it was chilled, we drank the entire bottle, and talked..She told me she was worried about her job..Her boss, Mr. Mohammad , was the son of the Hotel's founding partner...he was a sociopath , she said..He fired people at a whim and those he didn't fire..He made their life a living hell, she said she was on his shit list because she lost this case. Despite the fact she had won three previous cases..She lost this one and he was not pleased at all. She was thinking about quitting.. She said that would be hard, because she liked driving a brand new car every year, flying to and living in Dubai half the year and all of the money she was making. She had also run up quite a debt too and she needed to pay it down before she quit. she was definitely worried about something.
one thing led to another and we wound up in bed, making love....
.plus Nelson and our neighbor Jazzy, a former Assistant District Attorney
We began our defense....
Olivia , Beverly and Nelson gave emotional opening statements proclaiming Lloyd's innocence and they decided to do something out of the ordinary...They put him on the stand, with Josie
"Mr. Lloyd, tell us what happened that night?"said Josie.
"I began my night with some friends, other male Attorneys at Aqua Bar.
We were there for an hour and then we left and wound up at Stoleys....
After Stoleys, we were a little hungry, so we went to the Mermaid Crab Tavern..
we ate and had more drinks....
Anyway , we stopped talking after the bottle was empty and uh ruh..
I got up, took a nice hot shower and was leaving..
She was awake...She said good bye to me and waved...She was alive I tell you, alive." said Warren.
Chris Garcetti went hard at him on cross..but he was dealing with another attorney, not some laymen he could bully.
had coached him.
Warren Lloyd acquitted himself well and the women loved him..He was articulate, glib and relaxed.
We were clearly winning the jury...
They brought up recently fired attorney Terrence Jenkins who testified that Ari Mohhamad paid him to try and sway Bresha Billips to give him information on Olivia and Beverly's trial strategy and that he hoped that if Mr. Lloyd went to prison..he wouldn't have to pay out the 3.5 million dollar settlement.
Ari Mohammad was called to the stand.. He looked at his former Attorney Terrence Jenkins with an icy hatred.
Nelson showed the jury a photo of the hallway where Ari's suite was and a few doors away where Anne King's room was.
He then said to Ari..
"What were you doing that night? were you aware that Ms. King had male company.?"
"I said what I said." he said cooly to Nelson.
Olivia asked for four men to stand up.
"One of these men is in advertising, another is in hardware, and this other guy was a bank teller and as my aunt said, the guy who got the car was working there as room service.That car costs more than he makes in a year... Those four $10.000.00 payouts was for their silence."said Beverly.
"They weren't made by you personally, but uh would you please stand up Mr. Stafford." she said.
Ari was stunned that these four men had been located...Their testimony was dooming him..He was equallu stunned that I had located his bag man, Stafford. He had now perjured himself and was looking more and more like a murder suspect, he put his head into his hands.
counter arguments from Bresha,
backed up by Beverly and Josie.,
Olivia smiled like a proud mother. Starting with NELSON
He stared at me with a cold icy hatred and yet a modicum of respect...He felt as if I had done an incredible investigative job...Far superior to the Homicide Detective assigned to the case, Lt. Tragg.
ADA Chris Garcetti looked exhausted.. He glared angrilly at Lt. Tragg. Once again, he had left out witnesses, Five witnesses to be exact.. He had not thoroughly investigated the other employees the way I had..He had once again dropped the ball on this investigation,leaving him with no ammunation to fight Olivia and Beverly and their associates with. He now knew why none of the ADA's wanted to work with him, including his own girlfriend, ADA April Taylor.
Brenda wasn't paying him any mind.
"That Jury deliberated a lot longer than I thought it ought to.."said Nelson.
"They asked questions three times, I don't know...I'm spooked Auntay. Maybe we didn't pull this one off."said Beverly.
"No, I think we had a very astute jury that wanted to get it right."said Olivia.
"Here comes the jury now." said Bresha.
"I've got butterflies in my stomach."said Josie.
"You too huh?" I said and then smiled at her.
"This should have only taken a half an hour, as great a job as Liv and her team did. TWO DAYS? WHAT DID THEY NEED TO THINK ABOUT FOR TWO DAYS??" asked Warren Lloyd.
"Look kid, relax...If the jury had come back fast, I'd of said Olivia and Beverly won, but they didn't, the jury took two days...That means they had to think about it. That's why they asked questions, they weren't totally convinced by Olivia and Beverly's stunts..Face it kid..you won this...That strutting bastard is on his way to a needle or gas pellets."said an overly confident, Lt. Tragg.
''Think so huh?" said Chris Garcetti, not sure that he'd won the jury over. He gave them a lot of options to consider..Surely they'd convict on one or maybe even two he reasoned.
"YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" said Bresha.
Bresha and Nelson leaped up in the air and high fived..
I stood there laughing at them , happy for their victory!
"I knew they won this case!!! I knew it!" said a jubilant and happy Warren Lloyd.
He grabbed Brenda and spun her around,
Kissing her passionately..
They treated the six of us like rock stars....
Warren Lloyd received his 3.5 million dollar settlement in one lump sum...
He and Brenda celebrated in Cancun..
And now of days
''That and Lt. Tragg becoming completely unhinged lately in Sam Mother's Cafeteria." said Olivia.
''He was even hounding us at our Office/Duplex lately, but a court order..A Cease and Desist order and a couple of stints in the Cooler put a stop to that."I said.
"This is a great place, with great food and a great view, but I'm betting Lt. Tragg is why we all eat here isn't it?" asked Beverly.
"It's a nice alternative." said Nelson.
"It is." said Josie.
Josie's husband, Paris didn't work in this building, but he joined us for lunch today.
''And we get to see each other." said Bresha, sitting on her husband's lap. Tony had been working in this building for a month now.
"YESSSSS" moaned Tony, who was near delirium, holding her tightly and as erect as a board.
"It's certainly one of the reasons we eat here and the fact that it's right in our building, where we work " said Cousin Kayla, who was tickled pink that we were regular lunch guests..
''Makes me no difference, but it is comfortable here and there is a gym right upstairs to work this off."said Ray.
"I love it here and I don't miss Lt. Tragg's constant whining and pontificating."said Jazzy.
"He's a pest...He's been clocked twice..I was about to be the third person to do it."said Dabnis.
"We don't want that...We were there when he got knocked out by Deke Richards, that was horrible."said Jessica.
"Yeah..it was." said Chip.
''Well we love it here." said Yvette.
''Sure do...We all have our own offices, and a gym to work out in and this food here is good."said Keith Jones.
"Yeah it's pretty nice. It's far from the shopping, but that's just a nice walk in the Spring time." said Bee Bee.
"I love the view out here."said Sofia.
"Yeah, me too!" said Kahlil.
"I'm glad we are away from him and he doesn't know where we are and can't come barging into our office anymore like he was starting to do." said Jade.
"At first I hated being down here away from everything ,all alone, then I met Jazzy and Kayla and since then, all of you good folks have moved in and it's like Heaven...I no longer have to worry about Lt. Tragg's grubby little fingers up my skirt, rubbing my legs, trying to pull my panties down.. I don't miss it or him." said Karen.
"This young man is room service, this other young man is a resident who was in the hallway in the morning and this young man was across the hall, This man was next door. they are willing to testify under oath that they saw you in Ms. King's room at 8:00 am, a few minutes after Mr. Lloyd left and that they heard a loud argument between you and Ms. King and a loud thump..." said Olivia.
Beverly and Josie used a 64 inch monitor showing deposits of $10.000.00. into each of their bank accounts shortly afterwords. They also showed the photo of a brand new car ,delivered to one of the men...
They were paid by this man , one of your employees, for them to leave town for awhile and not to tell anyone they saw Mr. Mohammad..They will testify under oath to that."said Josie.
ADA Chris Garcetti objected mightily.. only to have his objections tied up by
and later her niece
BEVERLY
THEN JOSIE
And now BRESHA,
Olivia had taught her young charges to prepare and anticipate their opponents next move and they had done that in trial after trial exceedingly well. She was so proud of all of them.
She turned her attention to Ari.
"I don't expect you to admit you killed Ms. King and disposed of her body..but we now know that contrary to the prosecution's claim, my client was not the last person to see her alive and you were definitely in that room long after he left." said Olivia, closing her defense.
Ari looked at her with a combination of lust and hatred..
Lt. Tragg was oblivious to what had just happened.. he was busy looking at Brenda Jordan.
IV-
TWO DAYS LATER-
We stood in the courtroom , awaiting the jury's verdict.
"I think you had a very astute jury that wanted to get it right."said Brenda, echoing Olivia's sentiments.
"Has the jury come to a decision?" asked Judge Morrison.
"Yes your honor, we have." said the Jury Foreman.
The Bailiff passed the verdict to the Judge , who read it. His face was emotionless..
"Read it" he said.
'' THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE MATTER OF WARREN ERIC LLOYD,
COUNT ONE -MANSLAUGHTER IN THE 3RD DEGREE- NOT GUILTY.
COUNT TWO -MANSLAUGHTER IN THE SECOND DEGREE- NOT GUILTY.
COUNT THREE- MANSLAUGHTER- NOT GUILTY...
COUNT FOUR -MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE-NOT GUILTY
AND THE MOST SERIOUS CHARGE-FIRST DEGREE MURDER- NOT GUILTY
Josie , Olivia and Beverly hugged each other and let out a loud yell...
"WHOOOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" screamed Nelson.
Chris Garcetti was frustrated.. He tossed his jacket up into the air..and kicked the table.
Lt. Tragg once again stood there in total shock..his mouth wide open.. He couldn't believe ADA Garcetti had lost this case..It seemed to him like he had done a credible job. Once again Olivia, her niece and the rest of her crew had used legal gymnastics to confound and confuse the jury he mused.
His thoughts went back to what Olivia said to him weeks before.
"You're going to walk away once again having arrested the wrong man and having the local press make fun of you."said Olivia.
Damn if she hadn't been right again!!... He had indeed arrested the wrong man.. He didn't think about even looking at Ari Mohammad at all.The man was never on his radar as a suspect. He wasn't about to be made fun of by the press. He hung his head and quietly exited the courthouse.
This time the press wanted to interview us, the winners.
But Warren Lloyd was the real star..Basking in his victory, talking about how he hadn't received his 3.5 million dollar settlement yet and how Lt. Tragg had been wrong about his guilt.
"He's wrong about a lot of things isn't he?" he said.
The Press ate it up!
Ari Mohammad was eventually arrested, tried and convicted of Second Degree Murder and sentenced to Life in Prison with the possibility of parole.
EPILOUGE-
Prosecuted successfully by Chris Garcetti with April Taylor as second chair.
Both insisted that Lt. Tragg not be allowed in the courtroom and have nothing whatsoever to do with the trial.
They aren't seeing much of the beach..
When we aren't at home..
We have our meals at the Bridge Building.
with our good friends in their stylish cafeteria.
"It took Vettie and her crew moving into this building to finally get you guys to eat with us regularly huh Liv?" laughed Assistant District Attorney, Karen Page, head of the Wrongful Conviction Unit.
And at Sam Mother's Diner.
Lt. Tragg's usual breakfast of Fried Eggs, sausage, Hash Browns and coffee were served.
"Hey Sam, you seen uh Vettie and her snot nosed youngins in here? I haven't seen them in here in about two months." said Lt. Tragg.
"No, I haven't seen em. Haven't seen Olivia and Beverly and her crew either. They do order food from here by UBER and DOOR DASH...I guess they just eat at home...Haven't seen that Pretty D.A. lady either in about a year." said Sam Mother.
"She works down by Penns Landing in a fancy smancy new building.. Olivia's cousin, Kayla works down there too and so does Jazzy. I have no idea where they eat...but at Penns Landing, I imagine there is a lot of places." said Lt. Tragg.
"You know Artie, You run a lot of people out of here. Starting with Sissy and her detectives..Now these lawyers..They were some of my best customers, all tipped big..Now they hardly come in here.A lot of that is because of you...Arguing with people when they are trying to eat... You've been in four fights in here...You know Artie, you should consider eating somewhere else..Seriously, Give that some thought..You're Bad for Business." said Sam... He wasn't smiling or kidding.
Lt. Tragg sat there with a blank expression on his face. This like everything else went completely over his head.
FOR SLC!
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