Chapters (89)
“Yes, Judge.” Will rose and stood at the lectern. He was reading off a sheet where he’d written his questions. The Art of Jury Trial as War, chapter 27: “Never read from anything. You should be looking at the witness and glancing at the judge or jury when there’s something important being said that you want them to take note of.” Also, dirty little trick that works most of the time, when you want someone to say yes to something, you nod. When you want them to say no, you shake your head. I’ve gotten affirmative answers from people on questions they should’ve said “I don’t know” to just because of a little head nod. The unconscious mind: what a trip.
“So you said you were nervous?” Will said.
“Yes.”
“But I mean, you’ve been pulled over by cops before.”
He thought a second. “No. Not really.”
“You’ve never been pulled over by a cop?”
“I don’t think so. I mean, I think I had a speeding ticket in high school. I don’t remember.”
“But you didn’t tell Trooper Harvey you were nervous that night.”
“Yeah I did.”
“You did? Then why isn’t it in his reports?”
“I don’t know. But I told him. I told him several times actually. He must’ve not written it in there.”
The Art of Jury Trial as War, chapter 6: “You never, never, ever ask an open-ended question of a witness unless you know the answer.” Every question is a yes or a no, and you tell your story through those yes and no answers. Basically, you wanted the witness to barely be a participant in what you were doing. I once had a DEA agent after a cross tell me that he didn’t even see why he showed up.
I leaned forward to Jia and said, “He’s losing.”
She nodded. “We anticipated losing.”
“What? Why would you do that?”
“It’s a bad search.”
“So?”
“So there’s no Perry Mason moments. Unless we can get him to confess the drugs were his, there’s not much we can do.”
I rose. “Your Honor, sorry to interrupt, Tatum Graham. Hi. I’m the new guy over at the County Attorney’s Office. I’m their supervisor and will be taking over the questioning for a moment if I may.”
He shrugged. “It’s your dime, Mr. Graham.”
I walked over to Will and said, “Watch.”
Turning to Chad, I could see the little grin on his face as he stared at me. He knew he was winning and this case was getting tossed. I grinned back at him, took a second, and then said, “You carry a knife, right?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Hunting knife or combat knife?”
He glanced at his lawyer. “Hunting knife.”
“In your boot or a strap on your hip?”
“In a strap.”