Chapter 3

Danny had gotten himself into another bar fight. This time it had been a biker over at Ziggy's who hadn't known enough not to tell my brother, right to his face, that he had been one of the many men, over the years, who had put the horns on Danny.

It was one thing to know that the woman you'd married was a cheating slut, and Danny had certainly been made aware of that fact often enough through the years. It was quite another to have to endure some retarded ass hole's lewd comments while giving the whole bar a blow by blow description of what he and Kaitlyn had once gotten up to in the parking lot over at the Indian casino.

Now, as a normal thing, I'd never describe my brother as being a man much given to violence. Still, with the right kind of provocation, almost anyone can be motivated to engage in fisticuffs. Danny not only punched the biker into a state of unconsciousness, something that no one at the bar would have made any fuss about, but he also managed to drive his pickup over the unconscious man's right leg after the altercation had supposedly ended.

The biker had ended up getting his leg amputated about three inches above his ankle, and Danny now found himself a guest of the San Bernardino County jail. I had retained the services of a young criminal defense attorney on Danny's behalf, and he and I were in the office of a local bail bondsman, signing papers pledging collateral for the bail the judge had set in the case.

I thought a hundred grand was excessive for bond in this case, but I was pretty certain that Danny wouldn't try to jump bail once he was out. It was costing me ten thousand dollars to make his bail though, and I'd never see any of that back, no matter how the case eventually turned out.

This was the first serious criminal matter that Danny had ever been arrested for. He'd had a few minor misdemeanors over the years, but never a serious felony like he was now facing. I'd spoken to him right before his arraignment, and Danny swore he'd had no idea that he'd run over the guy's leg when he'd taken off in his truck. He hadn't been happy when the assistant D.A. had read off the charges he was facing. The lawyer for Danny said he could be looking at three to seven years on the worst count against him, and another two or three years of enhancements being added for the other two charges they'd tacked on.

It took another two hours, after the bail was posted, for Danny to be processed out of the jail. The deputy at the jail apologized for how long it took to get him out, but told us that weekend nights were bad due to the overcrowding at the jail. I drove him home in my Lincoln, promising him that we'd get the best deal for him we could make. I'd never seen Danny as worried as he was during the drive over to his house trailer.

I dropped him off in front of the trailer, not wanting to have to go in with him. I really didn't want to be forced to listen to he and Kaitlyn arguing about who was more to blame for this mess they were in. There was plenty of blame for both of them, but none of that would help Danny get out of the serious mess he'd gotten himself into.

I knew a guy who claimed to have a lot of influence down at the courthouse. He never spoke about how things could be arranged, or the actual process that took place after he'd been paid to intercede. I knew another guy who had promised me that this guy really could help people who'd gotten jammed up with the law.

The lawyer I'd hired for Danny seemed to have a very defeatist attitude about the case. He had been the one to first recommend that Danny make some kind of deal. After thinking about what had happened at the arraignment, I came to the conclusion that this lawyer wasn't what we needed if we were going to try to keep Danny from doing serious prison time. When I'd first gone to him on Danny's behalf, he was talking about getting Danny off with maybe thirty to ninety days in the county lock up. That was before we found out the biker's foot had been amputated though.

"Mr. Masters, I'm glad you came by to have this little talk with me. It is still very early days with your brother's case. The earlier in the process my associates and I become involved, the more we can usually do to effect a more favorable outcome. Giving that retainer to the young counsel to represent your brother at the arraignment won't have any detrimental bearing on how your brother's case is ultimately resolved."

"The other lawyer, he said he thinks Danny might do up to ten years behind these charges, unless he takes some kind of plea bargain."

"Any time someone involved in one of these incidents suffers a large loss, be it an eye, an arm, leg, or one of their internal organs, the severity of potential outcomes invariably rises. Ten years seems rather on the high side for what is being charged here. My best estimate is that, under normal circumstances, your brother would be sentenced to five years or even less. Two years is probably the most lenient outcome he could hope for under normal conditions, facing these level of charges."

"Are you telling me that Danny would only get two years if I hire you to help him?"

"No such thing! In the first place, I'm not an attorney, so you can't hire me to put on your brother's defense. What I'm saying is, absent my involvement, your brother should expect something on the order of two to five years in the state penitentiary."

"That's better than Danny's lawyer was saying."

"Well, you have to understand, a defense attorney, like anyone else, wants to look good after his client sees the results of his efforts."

"You say that Danny would probably get between two to five years without your help. you didn't tell me what he could expect to get if you did become involved?"

"Excellent. I can already see that you have a good understanding of how these situations can be manipulated. To answer your question, the final outcome really depends on what level of financial incentive is available for me to apply to his case's ultimate resolution. I'm not being coy with you, Mr. Masters. There truly is a sliding scale at work here. Let me give you a for instance. If I had, say, ten thousand dollars to work with, I have zero doubts about promising you that your brother would receive the most lenient sentencing terms that you and I previously discussed. That is to say, two years. He'd be out in sixteen months, and I could probably have some input as to where he'd be placed after undergoing his intake and preliminary classification."