Chapters (88)
She met her attorney’s eye, and Bo Haynes nodded at her with a look of confidence on his smooth face. She knew her chances of victory were slim, but she was glad Bo was here.
“Ready?” Bo asked.
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Remember, General. These first couple of days—”
“—are going to be awful. I know. They’ll bring the hammer today and hope they pound us so hard the jury can’t think of anything but my guilt. I know. I’ve been on that side of the table for a long time.”
Bo started to say more, but then Sundance Cassidy entered the courtroom followed by the Honorable Susan Connelly. “Here we go,” he whispered. And then, even though she was ready for them, Helen still felt a charge of adrenaline when Sundance said the two words that announced the start of trial.
“ALL RISE!”
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Abortion.
If there was one word that dominated jury selection, it was abortion. Sack Glover mentioned it at least fifty times during his presentation, and Bo had to question the panel of forty-two people whether they could be fair and impartial to the General if the evidence showed that she had had an abortion.
The majority of the panel said they could, but Bo knew that most people weren’t brave enough to tell a judge that they couldn’t be fair because of a belief. And there were a few souls who actually would lie about it so that they could stay on a jury and use their prejudice and bias against the defendant. He had seen it happen.
Through it all, Helen kept her face and demeanor stoic and professional. By 4:00 p.m., the twelve individuals who would decide the case were seated in the jury box.
There were ten white men forty years of age or older, a white woman in her seventies, and another white woman in her thirties.
Sack Glover’s dream, Bo thought, sizing them up and knowing that many times a case was lost before it started if you got a bad jury. However, every single one of these folks had voted for Helen Lewis each time she had run for district attorney general, though most of those times Helen had run unopposed.
That at least means there’s a chance, he thought, but after Judge Connelly adjourned for the day, saying that opening statements would begin in the morning, he peered at his client, who was not having any of his optimism.
“Best go pick out my coffin,” she said.
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