Chapter 4

Half the morning was wasted with a spate of motions by the defense to slow down the wheels of justice. Most of the jurors were bored to tears. Ralph enjoyed the verbal sparring between the polished prosecutors and the well-spoken defense attorneys. He had no doubt that it all had some purpose in their game plan, but Ralph knew it was not endearing the defense team to the jury or to the judge who was on the verge of apoplexy.

Ralph spent his time studying the defendant.

Winston Sullivan III didn’t look well suited to the role of a cold-blooded murderer.

Actually, that was strongly in his favor. Ralph had been accused of some wrong-doing in his youth and he was on the verge of being marked a criminal, just because of the fact, he generally sported a guilty face no matter how innocent he was in reality. He accepted that facet of his personality and did his best to present as blank a look possible in dire circumstances. This Winston person looked like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth and would make a good candidate for political office in any category.

A third lawyer came in with apologies to the judge to join the defense team.

Her name was Tippy something.

Ralph couldn’t help but be amused.

“Tippy?”

Who the hell was called Tippy?

The only Tippy he had ever heard of was an ancient film actress’s mother who was long on looks and a bit short on acting ability. He wasn’t even certain if she was still alive. He remembered his father had a thing for her, much to his mother’s chagrin.

The judge just smiled and watched her plant her scrumptious behind into the hard-backed chair with infinitely delicate grace. All of the male members of the jury were equally as interested in her posterior maneuvering, with the exception of Ralph number one, with his suddenly silly bow tie.

He cooled it immediately, when he saw Gloria looking at him suspiciously from the first row. All he needed was a jealous co-juror to contend with, instead of a nocturnal playmate, when the doors were locked.

Tom, Dick and Larry were fairly drooling with perverted thoughts of their own as the new assistant defense attorney stood up and bent down to extract some impressive looking files from the brief on the floor. For some reason, Ralph knew almost instinctively that it was all for show because other than their ridiculous motions at the beginning, the defense had no proper plan of action other than to keep repeating their client was innocent. At least, now they could do it with benefit of a convincing smile and not a sour-faced frown.

The judge announced that they would be kicking off the trial with opening statements right after an abbreviated lunch break. They usually got a full ninety minutes for lunch because the judge was “old school” and believed it was important to get a good meal in the middle of the day. Most of the female jurors and even some of the men thought that to be extremely old fashioned and a complete waste of time right when things were just starting to warm up in the waxed floor courtroom.

Ralph couldn’t get a good read on the judge.

He was a man in his mid-sixties but with no evidence of an older man’s belly. Ralph figured that just meant he was a scotch drinker and not inclined to six-pack his way to rotund senior living. He wore glasses that broke away in the middle and hung around his neck like some school teacher’s spectacles waiting to be put together for important moments when vision was absolutely necessary. It looked strange to Ralph, but he was in no position to question it in any form or manner. He noticed that the judge had clicked them together the moment the new assistant defense attorney Tippy entered the courtroom and revved up her sleek heart-shaped backside into motion to defend her client.

It gave him away as a man prone to take a risk now and then and that appealed to Ralph. It meant that perhaps the guilty looking young man in the defendant’s corner might have a chance despite the overwhelming forensic evidence and the even broader circumstantial facts of the case. He had a sense that the young lad might have a chance, providing they didn’t discover plausible motivation as the final nail in the defendant’s coffin.

Ralph was surprised that it was the sedate and slow-moving senior member of the defense team that presented the opening statement.

It was delayed for about an hour due to some frivolous motion by the newest defense attorney to dismiss the charges for lack of sufficient evidence. Of course, that was a complete waste of time and the judge let the defense team know his opinion of their lack of finesse by simply barking out the words,

“Motion is denied! Let’s move on, counselors.”

The prosecutors were noticeably confidant about their case and it showed in their concise opening statement that was short on details but filled with strong words about the defendant’s guilt.

On the other hand, the defense’s opening statement was filled with unexpected emotion about their belief in the American justice system and how that would repudiate the charges against their client and return him to his proper place in normal society. Ralph thought the defense did an excellent job, but that both sides had almost totally ignored the case of justice for the victims in the case. If the defendant was truly innocent, it meant a vicious killer was still running around free to bring chaos to some other poor unfortunates with permanent consequences.