Matchmaker Bandit Novel Pt. 05

His voice beginning to crack, the sheriff answered, "I did."

"When?" From the condition of the bag, she thought to herself, it must have been quite some time ago.

He remained silent, too ashamed to speak.

"Johnny, how long have you had the knife?" Cindy asked.

The sheriff looked at Cindy and summoned the courage to tell her, "I found it just before the end of the trial."

"Why didn't you tell someone Johnny?" The woman enquired of her cousin.

He raised his eyes to look at her and said, "I did. I told Jack, Randal and 'Doc'. They told me to loose it. 'Doc' threatened to take my house away and have Jack fire me. He said that they'd make the knife disappear anyway. Liz had just had the Scott and 'Doc' held the note on my house. I couldn't afford to lose my job. God help me, I swear couldn't see any way out!"

"Why are you telling us about it now?" Becky asked skeptically.

He looked at her and replied sincerely, "I haven't had a decent night's sleep in the past fifteen years and I've lost my family because I started drinking over this. I almost ate a bullet over it. Yesterday, I went to the D.A. and told him about it but he's too god damn concerned with his career to make it right. So now I'm coming to you. I want to make it right."

Cindy stood up and was going to take the bag containing the knife from his hands when Becky stopped her, "Don't touch that!"

"But why? It's the proof you need to clear Ethan?" Cindy said to Becky, and she stopped and held her hand in mid-air.

Becky got a very serious look on her face as she replied, "Because it will break the chain of custody. Isn't that right Johnny? Then it will be useless!"

"She's right! My god, I can't believe what I almost did!" Replied the lawman as he withdrew his hand quickly.

Just then Dr. Mercer spoke up and said, "For those of us who are legally illiterate, will one of you please explain what's going on?"

Then, she realized what she'd said and had to fight hard to keep from laughing out loud. Mark Jennings didn't show as much restraint and started laughing hysterically. It seemed to break the tension in the air until Becky and Cindy looked at him sternly.

"Basically, the chain of custody is a chronological record of where the knife has been and who has had it. It started when I found the knife, placed in this bag, and marked the bag. If I give this knife to someone and don't document it, then the chain of custody is broken and the knife's value as evidence is suspect. There would be no real way to prove that the knife presented as evidence is actually the knife I found. And even it you could prove it was the same knife, there's no way to prove it hadn't been tampered with." The sheriff explained.

Cindy looked at him and said, "Well, you have it. We've all seen it. What are you going to do with it?"

"I'll tell you what were going to do with it." Becky interjected, "As soon as I find Ethan an attorney; Johnny, and I are going to drive up to Decatur and hand it over to the state crime lab for analysis. Then, Johnny's going to give an affidavit in which he details everything he just told us." She paused for a few seconds while she thought, "What I can't figure out is what do we do about the gun? They still have Ethan for possession of a stolen weapon and that makes him look guilty. Sammy and Bert are in the state prison at Columbus. I'm sure they've been running their mouths about it but I can't even get the warden to talk to me. It would be nice to know what they've been saying. It might give us a lead to go on. The only problem is, all the lawyers in Columbus I've tried didn't get anywhere. I'd like to try someone else, but frankly, I have no idea who's good and who isn't."

Dr. Jennings spoke up just then, "I think I might be able to help you with that. My nurse told me her boyfriend had some problems with his ex-wife a while back and the lawyer he found was very creative in solving them. I don't know if this is the kind of thing he can handle but it's worth a try. What do you think?"

"I'll take all the help I can get." Replied Becky.

Cindy said to her cousin, "What about you Johnny, anything you can do to help?"

He considered it for a second and then said, "I'll make a call to the warden in Columbus and see if he will talk to me."

"No better yet, see if he will talk to Ethan's lawyer. That way we keep you out of it. We need to keep you away from potential witnesses. There's going to be enough questions about your motivations as it is without someone questioning the credibility of witnesses because you had contact with them. We're going to have enough trouble with your credibility as it is when everyone finds out you've been sitting on the knife all these years. The D.A. might try to say you pressured them to lie to back up your story." Insisted Becky.

They all went into Dr. Jennings office and stood around impatiently while he called his nurse to ask her for the name and phone number of the attorney her husband used.

Five minutes later they had Howard Booth on the speakerphone and were recalling the whole story for him.

When they were finished, the voice of the lawyer came over said, "Becky, Sheriff Wilkins, I'll meet you at the state crime lab. After we've handed over the knife, we'll all go to my office and I'll get an affidavit from you. Then I want you to call the warden in Columbus and see if he will talk to me as Becky suggested." He paused a second and then asked, "Sheriff, how much trouble do you think this D.A. you talked to will be?"

"None at all." Replied the sheriff smiling.

Everyone present looked at him in surprise as silence filled the room.

It was broken by the voice of the attorney coming from the phone, "Okay, I'll bite. Why is that?"

"I suspected he might react that way so I made sure that the security cameras were running when I talked to him!" The lawman answered, still grinning.

Two days later, the knife was safely at the crime lab and Johnny had given his affidavit. Johnny and Becky were in the attorney's office listening while the man talked to the warden of the Columbus State Prison.

Candidly the warden said, "The two Oglethorpe boys started bragging about it as soon as they got hear but they shut up after some of the other inmates started using them for punching bags. They haven't said a word about it since then, too afraid to talk about it. Hell, I had to move them to maximum security just to keep them from being killed. The whole prison knows about it; I just assumed you knew too."

He had already told them everything the two brothers had said.

"I just took over the case. Is there anything else you can tell us?" Asked the attorney.

There was a short pause before the warden replied, "Just this, I don't think you are going to get those two to recant their testimony. Even if they did, the D.A. will probably just say they're doing it to try to get out of maximum security. You'll probably better off talking to the guy they bought the pistol from, if he's still alive that is."

"Thanks warden, I appreciate your candor. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now."

Then the voice of the warden came one last time over the phone, "Yes there is. Do me a favor and let me know how it's going from time to time. The first ten years after Barns got here, he had it pretty bad. If he really is innocent, I want him out of here as fast as possible."

"Will do warden, thanks again. Bye." And then the lawyer pushed the button on the speakerphone ending the conversation. When they looked up, Becky was sitting there in tears. He turned to her and said, "It won't be much longer now, I know it's been a long time, but just be patient just a little longer. You'll have him back soon."

The lawyer turned to Johnny and said, "Sheriff, you know anything about this James Rollins character?"

"Yeah he used to be the town's bootlegger for several years until he was almost killed in a car accident. After that he got religion and became a preacher. Also, before he found God he used to be shacked up with my cousin Cindy. He's the one that helped her straighten out her life after she got pregnant." Replied the sheriff.

The lawyer thought a few seconds, "What about this Cindy woman, think she could get him to talk to us?"

Becky spoke up, "I can answer that. I'm pretty sure she will!"

"Know where we can reach him?"

"Sure, he has a small church just outside of town, holds service every Wednesday and Sunday", replied Johnny.

That Wednesday, Howard Booth, Becky and Cindy all met at the small church run by the ex-bootlegger turned preacher James Rollins. With the service over, except for the preacher's car, the parking lot was almost empty.

The preacher didn't even resemble the man Becky had seen years ago. Gone were his pot belly and most of his hair. There was a deep scar running down the left side of his face from just under his left eye to his jaw. Becky noticed the man now walked with a slight limp on his right side and didn't seem to use his right arm very much.

"It's been a long time Cindy; how are you doing? Let's go inside so you can introduce me to your friends." Asked the minister as he led them into the small rural church. When they were all inside, he motioned for them to have a seat on one of the pews.

Cindy said to him, "You remember Becky don't you? This is Howard Booth; he's an attorney from Atlanta representing Ethan Barns. They want to talk to you about that gun you sold Sammy."

"I had forgotten all about that. It was a long time ago and I was a different man then. I'm not proud of the things I did back then and I guess I try not to think about my old life too much." The preacher confessed as he stepped back a few paces and sat down on one of the steps leading to the pulpit.

Cindy looked the man directly in the eyes and said, "Sammy and Bert have been bragging that they came out to your trailer just after the shooting and pressured you to report the gun stolen. Is that the way you remember it?" She knew he wouldn't lie to her. He was right; he really wasn't the man he used to be.

James thought about it a few seconds.

"Don't you remember? You were there that day. After you answered the door, you called me and told me that they wanted to talk to me. I remember being mad because they had you wake me up early that day." He replied.

Cindy suddenly looked embarrassed; "I must've already been too drunk at the time. I don't remember any of it. Was I in the room when the three of you talked?"

"No, after I went to the door, you went back to the bedroom and turned on the TV. By the time they left, you had finished off half a bottle of Scotch. That's probably why you don't remember any of it." He told her. He remembered how she had hit on her cousin but decided to leave that part out.

Becky asked, "So what really did happen that day?"

"Well, they pretty much told the truth. They came out to the trailer and told me that if I didn't report the gun stolen they were going to tell everyone that I traded the gun to Ethan for some beer that I was going to sell in the high school parking." The preacher starting rubbing his right hand nervously, he was obviously uncomfortable talking about it.

It was then that the attorney asked, "Would you be willing to say that under oath reverend?"

"Yes." Replied James.

The lawyer said to him quite seriously, "Do you understand that you can be charged not only with perjury but also with filing a false police report?"

"Yes, I understand, but it's time the truth were told. I did a lot worse than that when I was young. If that's all I have to pay for, I'll consider myself blessed. Will tomorrow morning be okay?"

Delighted, the attorney answered, "That will be fine. Will you be able to ride with us up to my office in Atlanta?"

The next morning they all met in the office of the attorney. In the lobby, Becky, Cindy and the sheriff waited patiently. Two hours later, with the affidavit completed, Howard Booth came out of the conference room and began speaking, "I'll file the motion with the Georgia Supreme Court tomorrow and get us on the calendar, then I'm going to call the D.A. of yours sheriff and have him come up here for a meeting. After that, it's just a matter of time before we get a hearing.

When the others were gone, Howard Booth went into his office and placed a call to Roger Foster, the county D.A. and asked the prosecutor to meet him in his office the following day after lunch. Howard told the man that he had important information regarding a case that he could only disclose in person. "Make sure and bring Sheriff Wilkins along, will you? This concerns him too." He added.

At about 1:32 P.M. the unsuspecting prosecutor walked into Howard's office and sat comfortably in a chair next to the sheriff.

Wasting no time, Howard pushed the play button on the remote for the DVD player and the video of sheriff's conversation with Foster began playing. When it was finished, Foster rose to his feet and began shouting, "Where did you get that video?" Then he realized how the lawyer had gotten it and turned to the sheriff and said, "If you've shown this to anyone else I'll…"

He was cut off in mid-sentence.

"Sit down! Shut up! I'll tell you exactly what you're going to do!" Howard bellowed back at the man. It took the county prosecutor by surprise and very slowly he sat back down.

"Even though you don't deserve it, I'm going to give you a way out of this mess." Howard paused a second to allow the man time to cool down.

"You and I are going to file a joint motion for appeal with the Court first thing tomorrow morning. When it comes up, you're going tell the court that you can personally verify the credibility of not only every witness but also that of the evidence. Furthermore, you're going to say that you were with the sheriff here when he found the knife behind an evidence rack at the police station. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. On your recommendation, the county is going to settle quietly with Mr. Barns for ten and a half million dollars. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Foster started to protest, "But when word of the sheriff's part in this gets out, I'll have every con the county ever put away filing appeals from now until the end of time."

"I hate it for you! At least you wont be in jail." Responded Howard, he made no attempt to hide his contempt for the prosecutor.

Foster was red faced, "But it'll bankrupt the county! It doesn't have that much money!"

"Shut up! I'm not finished yet! The Harris family bled that town dry for too damn long. It's about time they gave something back. So here is what your going to do, you are going to contact them and tell them that if they don't make a sizable donation of say, twenty million dollars, to the county, I'm going to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the State Attorney General's Office, the U.S. Attorney General's Office and the I.R.S. and make sure every thing they have done for the last thirty years gets put under a microscope. You can tell them that I already have sworn affidavits from several former employees, everyone of which is just dieing to be put on the stand and testify about what they know. Before you leave, the sheriff here is going to tell some of the juicer things he knows about them to help you convince them." Howard was serious about everything he told the man except that part about the affidavits. It was a blatant lie, but he had a feeling that the Harris family wouldn't want to take the chance that he didn't.

"Just incase any you or the Harris family get any cute ideas, remember this, I've made ten copies of this video and given them to some people I know. Not one of them knows that the others have the video. So if anyone did figure out whom one of them was and decided to 'persuade' them to disclose the names of the others, they'd be wasting their time.

Do I have to tell you what will happen if anything happens to myself or anyone else that has the video? "

Foster knew when he was beaten. He simply nodded affirmatively.

Four hours later, Foster had enough dirt on the Harris family to put most of them away for twenty years. And, after having familiarized with the case by Howard and Johnny, he could easily handle it when the time came.

Once he had time to cool off, Foster realized that it was the best solution for everyone. Even though he hated to admit it, Howard had been right. The Harris's had sucked the life out of the county for years and crushed everyone that ever got in their way.

He wasn't as lazy as the sheriff and Howard thought he was though. The only real thing he had been worried about was that the appeals would bankrupt the town.

That night, after the sheriff and he checked into a hotel. He sat down with the man and attempted to determine the potential damage to the county. He was amazed to find out that the situation was far better than he had thought. It seemed that the sheriff's uncle, the old sheriff, had been for many years at odds with 'Doc' because he refused to let the old man have any real influence over the sheriff's department. Other than a few people being pressured by the sheriff's office to leave town and looking the other way when ever a member of the Harris family got into trouble, of course, the department was actually clean. In the end, the county would come out ahead from the affair.

After they each returned to their room, Foster spent the rest of the night trying to figure out if there was a way he could patch up his working relationship with the sheriff. He really did respect the man, and it didn't do very well to have to work with a sheriff that hated your guts. He decided that the best thing to do was to simply go to the lawman and tell the sheriff the real reason he had not wanted to pursue the case. Then, hope for the best.

Chapter Eleven -- "The Appeal"

Friday, May 29 2008

"The court has before it a sworn affidavit from the current sheriff, then deputy, of Magnolia, in which he recants his previous testimony and states under oath that he found evidence germane to the defense's case the before the original trail had concluded and was pressured by both the prosecuting attorney and the sheriff at that time to, and I quote 'loose that evidence and never mention it again'." The judged paused before continuing, "You have also presented to the court a copy of the forensics report from the state crime lab that clearly states that the only prints on the knife were those of the deceased. Does the state wish to challenge the validity of this evidence?"

Oglethorpe answered meekly, "No, Your Honor."

"How long have you known about this?" One of the other justices enquired.

The man lied, "My office was made aware of it two weeks ago, Your Honor. It took that long to verify its authenticity." He had known about it for at least a month ever since Johnny had come to him and asked him to reopen the case. He was just glad that Johnny had omitted that fact in his sworn testimony.

"Does your office have any credible evidence to support the state's previous assertion that the petitioner is guilty of the crime he was convicted?" Came the voice of one of the female justices.

The D.A. answered truthfully, "No, Your Honor."

"Then we're prepared to rule." The Chief Justice said before taking a long breath, "We accept the claim by the county and the appellant that the defendant was denied his right to a fair trial as he was entitled to under Article Six of the United States Constitution.

The Court finds that the appellant has demonstrated that there was sufficient creditable evidence available to the prosecution at the time that would have supported the defense's assertion that the decedent was killed in self defense. The court also finds that the then prosecutor actively conspired to withhold evidence germane to the defendant's case from the defendant's attorney. Therefore, we set aside the original verdict and rule in favor of the appellant. Since the county admits that it can produce no evidence to support its original claim that the appellant is guilty of the crime he was charged with, we grant the appellant's motion for acquittal and order his immediate release."