Chapter 380

The good news was that the Defense wrapped up their case just a few minutes after the judge usually called for the lunch break. They’d done their best to refute Garrison’s claims and discredit his witnesses, but it had all been done at such a slow pace that it felt hard to even listen for when the really important points were being made.

The bad news was that there were still Closing Statements to be made, which meant once lunch came back it would be Garrison’s turn again to run through all the evidence presented for the judge one last time.

As he’d asked you earlier, you, Sabrina, Gemma and Eric waited for Garrison until he was done giving directives to the associates who had sat second and third seat with him. Then he crossed over to speak with the lawyers of the defence. They spoke for almost twenty minutes, leaving the three of you waiting longer than morning recess had lasted, and then he finally shook hands with the lead attorney and wandered back towards you.

“Did you just make a settlement, sir?” Sabrina asked.

“No, no,” Garrison said with a little self-satisfied smirk. “It’s way too late for that for them. We’ll talk about it at lunch, come on.”

The judge had ordered an extra-long lunch, so you had plenty of time to head out of the courthouse. Garrison led you a couple of blocks over and into a dingy little pub that looked more like it was closed than open on the outside and had some sort of an Irish name that was illegible since it probably needed to be repainted in the 90s. The waitress seemed to recognize your boss and waved from where she was working at the bar, and Garrison nodded and led the four of you into the back sitting area. The place was cleaner on the inside than it looked on the outside, and as you were settling around a circular table the waitress came back with single-panel menus. “How you doin’, hon?” she asked Garrison.

“Just fine, Fran,” Garrison said.

You all ordered drinks, Garrison ordering a beer first and winking at the rest of you, so you followed suit. Soon you all had a beer in front of you and your food orders put in.

“Alright,” Garrison said, clasping his hands on the table. “Before we get into the case, we have something else we need to discuss. Eric, John, do you both give your consent to talk about yesterday in front of Gemma and Sabrina?” You both agreed immediately and he nodded. “Good. Here’s an update, then - Devin Zachery, aka. the artist known as ‘DeezChains,’ has been charged with assault in the second degree against John, battery against Eric, and several other charges that may or may not stick. Disturbing the peace, public drunkenness, etc. Those will likely get pleaded down, but the battery is key here. Now, obviously, that is handled by the DA and a prosecutor will be assigned so the firm and I won’t be touching any of it. We can, however, represent you if you’re called in to give a deposition - it’s unlikely to get anywhere beyond that unless Devin Zachery doesn’t listen to any legal advice whatsoever and decides to not cut a plea deal. With all the witnesses and everything being caught on camera, it’s a cut-and-dry case that will likely mean he’ll be on probation for a while, maybe some house arrest.”