Wednesday, March 15, 2016
Linda Kennedy hung up her phone and stared at her partner, Wilbert Dobbs, in disbelief.
“Who was that?” he asked in his croaky voice.
“That was Jeremy Heston’s father.”
“Heston? The office shooter?”
“Yeah. He asked me to defend his son. Said he doesn’t wanna see him executed.”
“Can they even afford you?”
“I told him my rate and estimated the whole trial could take a year, possibly more. He said he has the money.”
Wilbert leaned back in the chair facing Linda’s desk and scratched his chin. His life’s work had taken its toll, creating bags under his eyes, wrinkles across his face, and turned his hair into a snowy white. He’d founded the defense firm almost forty years ago and had seen every type of case and client imaginable.
As he pushed into his late seventies, Wilbert had started to take a smaller role in the courtroom, and worked more as an adviser to his team of attorneys. They had the energy and drive; he had the wisdom. That combination helped his firm win dozens of cases each year. A case like this, however, might be enough for him to polish his shoes and get back in the game.
“There’s only one way out of this: insanity.” He spoke confidently.
“Why should I even take this?” she asked. “There will be so many other cases to work on during the time this one case will take. I could be helping people who actually need it.”
“Now, now, Linda. You have to look at the big picture here. Sure, he’s guilty and everyone knows it. But think of the exposure. This case will be covered every night on the news. Your face will be all over. Avoiding the death penalty will be huge for your career. You’ll have clients lining up around the block.”
“We have no problem getting clients. We already have a rock-solid reputation.”
“Then do it for the challenge. You’re young still; you can handle this. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. What if you actually got him off on insanity? It’s a moonshot of a chance, but it’s like the lottery: someone has to win it. I’ve won two cases in my life on insanity. It’s truly an art to be able to convince twelve people to acquit someone based on an invisible science, when there’s hard evidence right in front of them. I’ll help you. I may even join your team if you’ll have me.”
He grinned as he looked her straight in the eye. She still looked great for forty-five, despite the silver streaks in her reddish hair. She stared back at Wilbert, her long face crunched in deep thought.
“Well, if you put it that way, what can I say?” Linda smiled. She had never worked on a trial with Wilbert, not directly at least. She had shadowed him in her early days with the firm, and assisted with trial preparation. But trying a case together had never been a possibility. But now, with her established as one of the best defense attorneys in town and him slowly on his way out, this might be her last chance to work with him.
“It won’t be an easy case,” Wilbert said, sitting up straight. “Batchelor is gunning for that governor seat and I guarantee he’ll see this case as his golden ticket. Put the mass murderer on Death Row, win the hearts of the public, and even personally see to it that he isn’t pardoned once elected.”
“You’re right. He’ll never take a plea.”
“No way. This could end up being a nationally televised trial. How often do these mass shooters hang around to face the music? Never. They always kill themselves—but not this guy. You have to be ready for the big stage that’s going to come with this.”
“Where do we even start?” Linda asked, genuinely unsure.
“We can go into more detail once everything is finalized, but an insanity case has very little to do with facts and more about telling a story to the jury. We’ll drill deep down into this young man’s life and find anything that could be stretched to make the jurors believe an insane person has always lived dormant within him.”
“What about a psychologist?”
“Of course. Batchelor will have some hotshot from the state, and we can find one of our own to testify that our guy is nuts, but the jury usually sees through all that. No one witness or piece of evidence wins an insanity case—an attorney does. You have to pique the jury’s interest from the opening statements and aggressively feed that interest. The more they feel he could be one of them, the more likely you are to get him off.”
Linda nodded and rubbed her forehead.
“I know it sounds like a lot,” Wilbert said. “But it’s not as bad as you might think. The hard work starts now. Once you have your story painted, you just need to tell it.”
“I’ve heard he hasn’t spoken a word to his public defender. How am I supposed to defend someone who won’t even talk?”
“He’ll talk,” Wilbert assured her. “He’s leery about who to trust right now, but once he knows that his parents have hired you, he’ll know he can confide in you.”
Linda understood the crossroads awaiting her decision. A successful trial for Jeremy Heston would change her life.
“I’m going to defend Jeremy Heston,” she said to herself, and Wilbert nodded in excitement.
“Hello?” an exhausted voice answered.
“Mr. Heston? This is Linda Kennedy. I wanted to follow up with you regarding your son’s case.”
“Hi, Ms. Kennedy. I appreciate the quick response.”
“Not a problem. I understand this is a difficult time for you, and we need to get a plan in place. I’ve decided to defend your son and look forward to getting started right away.”
“That’s fantastic. We honestly didn’t know who to turn to, but you kept coming up as the best in the state.”
Linda ignored the compliment. “I was hoping to speak with you about the days leading up to this event. Do you have a few moments?”
“I still feel like I’m in a bad dream. Can we plan to meet later this week?” he asked.
“Yes, of course. We’ll be back in court next Monday, where the D.A. will formally press charges against your son. Can we plan to meet this Thursday or Friday?”
“Yes, Friday morning will work.”
“Perfect. I’ll send you the directions to our office and some of the questions I’ll be asking, so you can refresh your memory.”
“Thank you, Ms. Kennedy. Is there any chance my son won’t be executed?”
“Please, call me Linda. And yes, there is a good chance we can spare his life. We’ll be working tirelessly to ensure the death penalty doesn’t happen.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you on Friday.”
Linda dropped her handset into its cradle. Jeremy’s parents must be sick at what their son has done. Linda had no kids, but she was sure no one raised their child to be a mass murderer.
She pulled up Jeremy’s mugshot on her computer. His hair was in brown waves surrounding his pale face. His eyes were wide, almost dilated, and he smirked, his lips tight. He looked every bit the lunatic she wanted him to be.
“What happened to you? Where did it all go wrong?”
She would need to look deep into his past, to see what had led to Jeremy opening fire on his entire office. People didn’t just wake up one day and decide to commit mass murder.