THE JURY WENT BACK TO DELIBERATE, and after I literally begged, Stanford and the judge allowed David and Rita to sit together at our table while we waited for a verdict.
I was chatting about nothing with Solomon and Virginia Pruitt when the marshal burst into the courtroom and boomed, “Your Honor, the jury has reached a verdict.” You could have heard a pin drop. The jury had only been out twenty-seven minutes.
The judge didn’t seem surprised. I was. And I grew even more worried when not one of the jurors would look me in the eye as they walked in and resumed their seats in the jury box—a longstanding sign of bad news. For a moment, I thought of Hans, but immediately banished the thought that he might have gotten to the jury.
When they were all seated the judge asked, “Madam Foreman, has the jury reached a verdict, and has it been signed as instructed?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Please hand the verdict to the clerk,” he instructed. The clerk accepted it from the foreman and immediately handed it to the judge.
Judge Moorman’s eyebrows raised as he read the piece of paper.
“Oh, shit,” I thought.
He handed the verdict back to the clerk and she read it.
“We the jury find for the defendant. We also have one question. Are we allowed to assess damages against the plaintiffs?”
So much for longstanding signs. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
I had cautioned David not to react one way or the other to the verdict, but it was hard not to when Duke let out a loud cowboy “yahoo!” The judge banged his gavel again, glaring at Duke, who couldn’t help a sheepish grin.
Moorman ignored him and addressed the foreman. “I take it that since the verdict was signed only by you the verdict is unanimous?” She confirmed his supposition.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your service. You ask about damages, but that is not part of your charge. May I remind you not to talk about this case to anyone. You are excused.”
He watched the marshal escort the jury out, gathered his robes and left in a rush, without a word to anyone or even a backward glance. Moorman had clearly been in cahoots with Jordyn at first, yet in the long run several of his rulings had benefited our side. Sometimes the evidence can turn even the most hostile judge. I wondered what… but there was no time for wondering.
Brief pandemonium set in. My side hugged and smiled; Duke even did a little dance. Jordyn’s team quietly packed up. I went over to her table and shook everyone’s hands. It’s what lawyers do, no matter what the outcome. It also gave me the opportunity to remind Stanford that David was still locked up. He said he wished he could set him free, but that he had to let the Attorney General know what had happened first. He promised he’d call as soon as he could.
I congratulated David. He was grateful but understandably apprehensive. “What happens next?”
I answered, “Next? Next is getting you released from jail and the charges officially dropped. It’s time for you to get your life back.”
“They can have the software for all I care,” he said. “As Dr. Thomas said, ‘it doesn’t work.’”
“I’m curious. How did you know it wouldn’t work?”
“Because I left out an entire page of language from my application. They’ll never figure out what’s missing. My favorite college professor taught us to always leave out a page of code when you file for patent protection. That way no one can copy your invention. I’m sure glad I took his advice!”
Brian took Rita’s arm and guided her through a side door of the courtroom. The marshal led David away, hopefully for the last time. Maggie handed me my briefcase, and we walked out of the building into sunshine so bright it was almost blinding. But not so blinding that I didn’t notice Hans standing at the foot of the steps. I turned quickly to shield Maggie and was about to shove her forcibly into the crowd of departing lawyers, when I heard a voice call out, “Jack, stop! It’s okay. I’ve got him.” A woman’s smiling face peeked out from behind Hans who looked totally disgusted. Two burly DC policemen held his arms tightly, and Lisa Eckenrod still had her Glock 43 jammed into the small of his back.
“You owe me skybox tickets to a Commanders’ game,” she said with a big grin.
Hans had been waiting for us to leave the courthouse, but as I later learned, Lisa had been within shouting distance ever since I’d suggested she couldn’t protect me without detection. It dawned on me that she had been the woman who looked familiar to me at Nany O’Brien’s and the restaurant in New Orleans. Remind me not to underestimate her again.
William Stanford turned out to be a man of his word, at least on this issue. He called me bright and early the next morning.
“Jack, can you meet me in the Attorney General’s conference room this afternoon? I’ll make sure your client is there as well. Say around two o’clock and you will be free to consult with David as much as you’d like.”
Maggie and I arrived at the Justice Department a few minutes before two and were escorted upstairs to the AG’s conference room. Virginia Pruitt was chatting with a few of the plaintiffs’ lawyers. William and Jordyn stood aside from the others, still a team. We joined David at the large table. He appeared to be somewhat in awe of his surroundings. Who could blame him? After all, Robert Kennedy had used the room as his office when he was the Attorney General, and his picture still hung over the enormous fireplace at the far end of the room. I was happy to see David in street clothes, no cuffs or shackles.
When everyone had taken a chair, Virginia tapped her water glass with a pen and began. “The attorney general asked me to chair this meeting. First, welcome back to your old haunt, Mr. Patterson. Ms. Matthews, it’s nice to meet you. Mr. Ruple, it’s very nice to see you in street clothes.” That generated a few quiet snickers, which she ignored. “There’s no sense rehashing how this matter came to such a sorry climax. But be clear, changes will be made, and those responsible for this debacle will be held to account.” She turned to look directly at William and Jordyn, who were staring at the carpet. I could almost feel sorry for him. He had obviously been acting on orders from above. Jordyn was a different matter. She only cared about winning.
“Mr. Patterson, I understand a person whose name is Hans has threatened you and your family as well as members of your legal team. The DC police have turned him over to the FBI who are interviewing him. As it turns out, Hans is very cooperative. You may have noticed that some of the plaintiffs are not represented here today. Hans has already provided information sufficient to prevent them or their attorneys from attending. Let me assure you, justice will be served. Is that satisfactory?”
I liked the way this meeting was going. “It is, thank you. And I’m glad you’ve been given the lead.”
She smiled and looked at David. “Mr. Ruple, on behalf of the Department of Justice and the United States government I apologize for the way this matter was handled. Words cannot express my disappointment in certain individuals, corporate entities, and representatives of our government. Such flagrant disregard for both the truth and individual rights will not be tolerated, at least not on my watch. As of this moment, you are free to go, but I hope you will choose to stay. We have one remaining issue to deal with, which I hope we can resolve today.”
“Yes, ma’am,” David replied. “I never intended to create such a problem. The least I can do is try to help straighten out the mess.”
I wanted to give him a bear hug.
“Okay,” she continued, all business now. “If I may be direct, law enforcement needs access to the information your software restricts. And the computer companies need time to find ways to operate without relying on the information your application may be able to restrict. Mr. Patterson was correct when he told the jury that your software could put the plaintiffs out of business and our nation’s economy into a nosedive. I suspect that if I gave you access to any decent computer, you could restore whatever’s missing in your software, and all hell would break loose.”
David had been put through the proverbial wringer over the last few weeks. He was exhausted, and I knew he was ready to abandon his creation, just walk away. I had hoped to suggest a potential solution, but Virginia was addressing the problem to him.
He gave me a sideways glance and said, “Why don’t you ask my lawyer? It seems to me that he’s done a pretty good job so far.” Hmm, maybe not so exhausted after all, I thought, choking back a laugh.
Virginia looked to me. “Any thoughts, Mr. Patterson?”
I asked for a minute to organize my thoughts. Since I’d been awake thinking about the issue for most of the night, it didn’t take long.
“I’m not an expert in valuing software, but perhaps the following would be agreeable to all parties. David agrees to sell the missing language and the software to the government and the plaintiffs for a certain sum. Plaintiffs and the government agree that the software will not become part of the public domain for an agreed upon period of time. The specified time frame will be long enough for the companies to alter their business models, but soon enough to satisfy the antitrust division at Justice. In addition, David agrees not to publish or disclose the existence of his software to anyone else without the consent of both the software companies and DOJ. The companies agree to work with David regarding DOJ’s concern about access to government records. Finally, plaintiffs will come to some resolution with Ms. Pruitt about her antitrust concerns. She hasn’t mentioned these concerns, but they are clearly the elephants in the room.”
Virginia looked at Jordyn, who still represented the companies involved in the debacle. “What do you say, Ms. Duarte?”
Virginia came to sit with us while Jordyn took a few minutes to consult with her co-counsel. After several minutes of whispers and headshaking she said, “I simply don’t have the authority to agree to such a broad and unstructured deal.”
I wondered if she would ever learn to quit while she was ahead.
Virginia responded quickly. “Here’s another idea, Ms. Duarte. Suppose I give Mr. Ruple a computer right now. He can provide the missing computer language to DOJ, we’ll make a separate deal with him along the lines Mr. Patterson suggests, and I will open an antitrust investigation into the companies you represent. You know, the more I think about it, I like that idea better than Mr. Patterson’s.”
“No, no. That wouldn’t work at all,” Jordyn quickly objected. “Let me think. How much are we talking about for the software?”
“I can’t say for sure. I would need to talk to experts like Jacob Lee, but I’d say between ten and twenty million,” I replied.
“That’s blackmail,” she all but shouted. Nope, I shook my head, she would never learn.
“Temper, Ms. Duarte,” I admonished, malice intended. “Call it what you like, but I’d call it a pittance considering what your collective companies make in a year. If I were you, I’d be trying to hire Mr. Ruple to help you come up with a fix, but that idea can wait for another day. We can either agree to work out a price or work with Justice without you. Your choice.”
I was winging it, and it felt good.
Jordyn asked for more time to consult. She returned looking defeated. “We agree to the deal in principle, but the devil is in the details.”
Virginia quickly quashed any plans Jordyn might have to drag out the fine print.
“I intend to personally supervise the development of this agreement and will go over every line of the final document. I expect to see a rough draft of an agreement on my desk within the week. Mr. Patterson, I suggest you consult with Mr. Lee. I believe your hasty estimation of the monetary worth of your client’s work is low. I would pay more than twenty million for the government’s portion of the settlement alone.”
No one had anything more to add, she turned to David with a smile.
“Mr. Ruple. You are free to go.”
