Judge Steven Rabinowitz turned to the defense table.
“Mr. Jordan. Ready with your opening statement?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Zac stood, patted his client on the shoulder, and stepped out into the well to address the jurors and the court.
“Your Honor, members of the jury, I’d like to tell you about Mr. Clay Warren, the unfortunate defendant who is also a victim.
“My client is an eighteen-year-old who failed to graduate from high school. Until recently he lived with his mother and twelve-year-old sister, Trina, in Crocker-Amazon, and worked a part-time job not far away at the Shell station on Alemany Boulevard. He does not know his father. His mother, who is here today, works as a housekeeper.
“Money is tight in the Warren household.
“Mr. Warren hasn’t told me how he found himself driving a stolen car, running a light, crashing into a patrol car, and witnessing his passenger shoot a police officer to death.
“This young man has never before been charged with any crimes, not even for stealing an apple, before he was involved in the very serious crimes of March 15.
“So what happened on that particular day?”
Zac focused all of his attention on the jurors.
He said, “Let me offer a speculative explanation.”
Yuki stole a look at Clay Warren, at his unchanged, masklike expression, then turned back to watch Zac mount his case.
“It’s self-evident that the man Mr. Warren was driving in the white Chevy was dangerous,” Zac said. “He had a gun, a stolen car, and a million dollars of drugs in the trunk. He killed a police officer in cold blood. Mr. Warren was arrested as an accomplice. I’m going to add ‘unwitting.’ That he was an unwitting accomplice, and he may have been forced to take part in this criminal endeavor.
“After his arrest my client was locked up in the general population of old-time jail in the Hall of Justice. He recently attempted suicide by hanging. Despite being placed under observation, within days he was attacked by one or more prisoners and stabbed repeatedly to his abdomen with a sharp implement and nearly bled to death.
“Since then Mr. Warren has been held in solitary confinement, under constant watch, so that he isn’t murdered and doesn’t kill himself for being victimized by the true criminal, and to the eternal grief of his family.
“One could even say that he has been punished and has paid his debt to society.
“Clay’s life is now hell, and the only way out is through the good graces of the twelve men and women of this jury.”