B.A. Hammer Returns Ch. 10

The trial began promptly at 10 A.M. The courtroom was full and there was an overflow area for reporters to watch.

Everyone stood as Judge Natasha Cummings entered the courtroom. "Is the prosecution ready to proceed?"

"We are your honor."

"Is the defense ready to proceed?"

"We are your honor."

"Mr. Berrington, do you have an opening statement?"

"I do, your honor." He turns to the jury. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I am aware of the sensational nature of this case because the individual who was murdered was famous. I must ask you to set that aside for this case. Our system of justice demands that we respect every individual, and seek justice for all, not just the famous and influential."

He stood right in front of the jury." We will show that the defendant entered into a profitable scheme with the victim to profit from the victim's position and the defendant's knowledge of his homeland. This scheme ultimately resulted in an argument that ended with the defendant killing his partner. We will show the money the defendant made and the night it all came apart. When we are finished, I am confident you will return the only verdict you can, guilty. Thank you, ladies, and gentlemen."

"Does the defense wish to make an opening statement?"

"Not at this time, your honor."

"Very well, Mr. Berrington, you may call your first witness."

"I call police officer Burt Cameo."

"Officer Cameo, please recite the events of August 20^th last."

"My partner, Wanda Wilson, and I received a call at 11:15 P.M. on that night of a call at an apartment at 17765 Roosevelt Street in Manhattan. We arrived at the scene at 11:20. We entered the building to find the defendant coming out of the elevator and heading toward the front door. We intercepted him and asked him where he was going. He was agitated and unresponsive, so we asked him to take us to the apartment he had just left. It was there we found the body of a man. We called it in and detained the defendant."

"Thank you, officer. Your witness, counselor."

"Thank you, Mr. Berrington." Brick turned to the witness. "Just a couple of clarifications. You say you arrived on scene at 11:20. How long was it until you were in the apartment?"

"No more than five or ten minutes."

"Did you see the back door to the building from the lobby?"

"No sir, we saw no back door."

Brick took a picture of the back door out of his folder and handed it to the officer. "This is the back door of 17765 Roosevelt Street. Manhattan. You say you did not notice this door?"

"That is correct, sir."

"Did either of you search the back of the building?"

"No sir, we had the individual that had come out of the apartment by his own admission."

Brick turned to the judge. "Your honor, I ask that everything after "no sir" is stricken from the record. We don't need the opinions of the officer."

"So ordered. The clerk will strike the rest of the statement."

"I am finished with the witness." Brick sat down.

Mr. Berrington stood up and spoke. "I call Lt. William Ligeti."

The homicide lieutenant took the stand.

"Lt. please tell us what you found upon entering the apartment."

He took out his notes. "I arrived at 11:45 P.M. to find the two officers and the defendant sitting on a couch in the living room. The body was lying on the floor in front of them. The coroner arrived shortly thereafter. I saw a gun lying on the floor next to the body and bagged it for evidence. I observed the body had two bullet holes. I asked the defendant if he knew anything about this. He told me...." Brick interrupted. "You honor I object. The lieutenant has not told us he advised the defendant of his rights. If he solicited testimony out of my client before advising him of his rights, that is a violation."

"Lieutenant, did you advise the defendant of his rights?"

"Not at that time, your honor. I had no reason to believe he was a suspect at that time."

Brick interjected. "But your honor, the police officer stated he had returned the defendant to the apartment and detained him. That would indicate he was suspected of something."

The judge sat for a moment, thinking. "I am going to allow the lieutenant to answer the question. It is reasonable for him to ask opening questions before determining whether the defendant was a suspect. I can always strike it if it crosses the line."

Ligeti referred to his notes. "I asked the defendant if he knew the victim and he said he had met him. I asked him why he was here, and he told me he was there to translate a report. At this time, I read him his rights and asked him about the gun. He said he was knocked out and came too with the gun in his hand. I decided we needed to take him downtown, and I sent him in with the arresting officers. I remained with the coroner and the other investigators."

"Have you tested the gun, lieutenant?"

"Yes, it is the murder weapon. The defendants' prints were on the gun, and he had powder residue on his hands."

"Your witness."

"No questions at this time. I may wish to call him back later."

Berrington said, "No objection. I call Dr. Thomas Smith."

The coroner, Dr. Thomas Smith, took the stand. "Doctor, what are the results of your autopsy?"

"The victim died to a gunshot to the chest at close range. Death was instantaneous."

"Thank you doctor, your witness."

"Doctor, how many bullets were found in the body?"

"There were two bullets."

"Can you determine which bullet cause death?"

"Yes, it was the first bullet."

"Is there any way to determine how long after death was the second bullet fired into the body?"

"Not exactly. However, because there was almost no bleeding from the second bullet, we can determine that the victim was dead before the second bullet entered his body."

"Have you determined the time of death?"

"He had been dead no more than two hours before I saw the body."

"You saw the body at 11:50? "

"That is correct."

"So, no sooner than 9:50 P.M.?"

"More or less."

"How much less? Maybe ten or fifteen minutes?"

"Possibly."

"Then it is possible death occurred at 9:35 P.M. Thank you, doctor."

Berrington stood up. "I call Mary Thomas."

The bank employee took the stand. "Miss Thomas, where are you employed?"

"I work at the First National Bank."

"Have you ever seen the defendant in your bank?"

"Yes, sir. He opened an account on August 15^th of this year."

Berrington took the account card and handed it to her. "This is the card entered into evidence. Is this the defendant's card?"

"Yes, sir."

"Your witness, Mr. Blackstone."

"I will defer my questioning until the experts have testified."

The judge made a note. "Very Well. Your next witness, Mr. Berrington."

"I call Arnold Canary."

Arnold Canary took the stand. "Mr. Canary, what is your specialty?"

"I am a handwriting expert. I have testified for many jurisdictions in the area over the years."

Brick stood up. "I will stipulate that Mr. Canary is well-known as a handwriting expert."

"Thank you, Mr. Blackstone. Now, Mr. Canary, have you examined the bank card?"

"I have. I am certain that the signature on the card is that of Ahmad Aziz."

"Thank you, sir. Your witness."

"Mr. Canary, can you show us on the signature the comparisons of similarities with the defendants signature?"

"Certainly, I would just need something to compare it to?"

"Can you give us the signatures you used to match?"

Canary pulled a couple of papers out of his pocket. "Certainly, here are a couple of notes the defendant signed that I was given by the prosecution."

Brick stopped him. "How about this signature?" He handed Ahmad a piece of paper and Ahmad signed it in front of everyone.

"I guess so." He put the two pieces of paper together and studied them for a few minutes. He circled several areas and pointed them out to Brick and Berrington. "See here, these areas are similar. There are enough areas to confirm this is the defendant's signature."

"Thank you, Mr. Canary."

"I call Wilbur Knapp to the stand."

"Mr. Knapp, state your occupation and employer."

"I am a bank manager for the First National Bank."

"You were subpoenaed to bring certain documents to court. Do you have them with you?"

"I do." He pulled out a printout and handed it to Berrington.

"Will you please tell the court what this is?"

"This is the latest printout of the balance in Mr. Aziz's account."

"Would you please read out the balance."

"Certainly. $51,235"

"Your witness,"

"Mr. Knapp. What is the date of this report?"

"August 21 of this year."

"But that is two months ago. Your honor, I object as not best evidence. I request they run a more recent balance sheet."

"That is a reasonable request. I order you to run a more recent balance sheet and bring it in tomorrow. We are close enough to the end of the date to adjourn until tomorrow at ten am. Court is adjourned."

Everyone stood up as she left the courtroom.

Brick and I walked out of the courtroom to a slew of reporters. Brick told them he thought it had gone okay, but that was all he could say at the moment. When we were alone, he frowned.

"This evidence list could be a problem. I amended it last week, but the two photos are going to be tricky. I need both to shake Thomas and Donald."

He also told me the Senator would be in town the first of next week, and he would see me to answer any questions I might have. The prosecution should be almost done by then. I told Brick I needed more time than that. He would need to talk to the Senator about SDS. I must talk to them before we start. Brick promised to have him call me.

The next day, the Senator called me. "I understand you need to talk to me sooner than next week."

"That's correct, Senator. Thanks for talking to me. First question, do you have any contact with any employee of SDS?"

"I have met a couple of their lobbyists. One is named Bobby Carroll. I have his number somewhere. I will text it to you."

"Thank you. Second question. Is there any way to determine if the wavers to Romania are legit?"

"Yes, unfortunately. Carrington had the authority to sign my name for me. The wavers you are referring to have his signature for me."

"Senator, are you aware the goods going to Romania ended up in Ukraine?"

"Brick told me. I had no idea."

"Thank you, Senator. I shall await your text."

I received the text within the hour and called Bobby Carroll.

He answered immediately. "Mr. Carroll, my name is B.A. Hammer, and I am an associate of Senator Minton. I would like to see you as soon as possible."

"What is this in reference to?"

"It is in reference to the murder case now in New York and Redthorne's possible involvement. I am sure your employers would be interested."

"They might be, depending on what you have."

"Of course, I will let you determine that for yourself if you meet with me."

"I can be in New York in two hours." He gave me an address and I met him there at seven pm.

"Mr. Carroll, the translator did not kill the Senator's aide. We are convinced Redthorne had to kill him because of a side deal that had gone bad. Carrington forged wavers to ship weapons to Romania. They were then forwarded to Ukraine. Here are the balance sheets for the company they set up to do this. Better Worlds LTD." I showed him the balance sheet showing millions of dollars "I can't give you this yet because it hasn't been introduced into the trial. The Senator discovered the plot and contacted us to investigate. Millions of dollars off the books and illegal wavers. It was about to blow up in their face. I just didn't want SDS to be hit with a lot of bad publicity."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I need to squeeze Redthorne into making another mistake. Panicking and killing their contact with Congress wasn't smart. I know SDS has grown nervous lately. Now Redthorne had gunmen try to kill the defense attorney. I don't think this is the kind of publicity SDS is interested in, or am I wrong?"

"No, you are not wrong. I will take this to my bosses and let them decide."

"Fine, whatever they do is fine with me. I just wanted you to know what was coming down the road to Redthorne. I intend to take them down."

Carroll left in a hurry. If that doesn't kill the Redthorne deal, nothing would.

The next morning saw a perplexed Mr. Knapp on the stand. Brick started. "Well, Mr. Knapp, do you have a more recent balance sheet for this account?"

"Yes, but something is wrong. The account is empty."

Berrington jumped out of his chair. "What do you mean EMPTY?"

"Just that, I ran this last night. It shows that everything was taken out of this account on August 25^th."

Does it show where it went?"

"Yes, most of it went to a Nicholas Donald and $10,000 went to the company American Independent Defense."

Berrington was beside himself. "You honor, I need time to investigate this. May we adjourn until tomorrow?"

Brick stood up. "No objection, your honor."

"We are adjourned until ten am tomorrow."

Brick and I walked out of the courtroom into the reporters. Brick said they would have to talk to the DA and we left.

"That ought to cause a few headaches. I also spoke to the man from SDS that the Senator gave me. I let him know Redthorne was about to be blown up in a world class scandal. I think they should be finding out today or tomorrow that SDS is pulling out."

"Good, maybe they will crack, and we can find someone to tell us who really killed Carrington?"