The JAG Officer's Wife

"Twenty-two years. Fifteen as a patrolman and the last seven as a detective."

"Detective, can you relate to the jury the events of the morning in question?"

"My partner, Detective Brenda Lucas, and I were in the middle of investigating a claim of a stolen car when our dispatcher directed us to an address in which an alleged assault had taken place. We arrived at 1212 Conway Lane and discovered a male who had been badly beaten. He was being attended to by the owner of the house, Catherine Keel. The EMTs had not yet arrived on the scene, but we were advised that they were en route."

"Detective Mann, in your professional opinion, what could cause the type of injuries that you saw on Mr. Cain?"

"A club. Something like a baseball bat or maybe an axe handle."

Roland next had Mann walk the jury through his investigation, starting with his interview with Cat Keel.

"So, Mrs. Keel was not aware her husband was in Ferguson?"

"No, she was not. She thought that her husband was still in Korea. It was a couple of days later, after I attempted to contact him in Korea that I learned that he was back home in Ferguson."

"Did you think it unusual that he was in Ferguson but had failed to make contact with his wife and son?"

"You could say that," Detective Mann replied dryly. "It raised raised red flags."

"You interviewed Mr. Keel at his brother's house, did you not?"

"I did."

"Was Mr. Keel aware of his wife's affair?"

"He stated that he was aware."

"How did Mr. Keel find out about his wife's affair?" Cruz asked.

"He stated that while watching the high school championship game he witnessed his wife kiss Coach Cain. He stated that from the video he was watching, he knew that his son was aware of his wife's affair."

"Detective Mann, did Mr. Keel explicitly state that was when he discovered his wife's affair?"

Mann thought for a minute before replying. "No; no, he didn't now that you mention it. He avoided lying by avoiding the question and I didn't catch him at it." Mann looked embarrassed by the admission.

Rollie next entered into evidence the recordings from Leland and Betty Lou Keel's home security system before walking the jury through the recordings.

"Detective Mann, as a police professional, what is your opinion about the recordings?"

"On the surface, they appear normal enough. One way to look at them is that they're just everyday activities, repeated each day with minor variations. The other way to look at them is that the Keels are very clever. They're trying to create doubt and muddle any sort of investigation that might look closely at their activities."

"Did you ask them about that?" Cruz asked.

"I did. Several times. And each time, they said the same thing, 'The video speaks for itself.'"

Next Roland introduced the recording taken by the doorbell camera of Bobby Lee Gearson.

"In your professional opinion, what is the import of this video?" Cruz asked.

"Same thing as the Keel's video. On the surface, all above board and honest, but full of misdirection ending with Mr. Gearson covering up the only camera with a view of the Keel's house."

"Did you find this suspicious?"

Mann snorted a sardonic laugh. "I've found everything those four, five now with the son, have done to be suspicious."

"And when you asked Mr. Gearson about this, what did he say?"

"I did ask him. He was operating from the Keel's playbook. He said, 'The video speaks for itself."

The final video introduced was the recording that Danny had sent to his relatives letting them know when the pep rally was going to take place.

"What was your opinion of that video, Detective?"

"I felt sorry for the kid. He's reaching out to his relatives and they've all cut him off because he knew about his mother's affair with his coach and didn't say anything about it to anyone."

"When did Danny Keel text that video to his family?" Cruz asked.

"One week before the attack on Coach Cain."

"Did you notice what Danny Keel was wearing in the video?"

"A black hoodie and dark jeans. It seems that everyone in his family owns a black hoodie," Mann observed, dryly as the jury chuckled at the witness's statement.

"As part of your investigation, did you verify that Danny Keel had attended the pep rally on the day that Coach Cain was attacked?"

"I did verify that fact."

"How did you verify it?" Cruz asked.

"I asked the high school principal; he verified that Danny was there the whole time and assisted him since he, the principal, had to take over Coach Cain's role in his absence.

"You could also have verified that Danny was there by going to the website of the Ferguson newspaper," Roland said as he handed Mann a copy of the newspaper. On the front page was a large photo of the football team at the pep rally. Danny was standing next to the high school principal.

"Detective Mann, can you describe what Danny Keel is wearing in that photo?"

The jury could see Mann's eye bulge out and his mouth drop open as he sat stunned, staring at the newspaper. "He's wearing a black hoodie and dark jeans. Just like everyone else in his family that day."

"Did you verify the activities of Danny Keel in the time leading up to the pep rally?"

Detective Mann shook his head. "No, we knew he was at school and had no reason to think that he might have left the campus." The detective paused and glared at the defendant's table. "That's on me; I knew his dad was tricky, I should have figured that the apple didn't fall far from that tree."

Lynn objected and the judge ruled Mann's statement stricken from the record, but it was a bell that could not be un-rung.

"Detective Mann, going back to the video that Danny sent to his relatives, could it have been confirmation of a plan that had previously been agreed upon? A plan in which Danny told his relatives what to wear on that specific day and to have alibis. Could you have been looking for the wrong person all along?"

"OBJECTION," Lynn roared, but it was too late. The jury had turned its collective eyes on Danny.

+++

"How did he figure it out?" Danny asked. The group was meeting in the law offices of Keel and Dunaway that same evening. The remains of several pizzas were growing cold as they discussed the day's testimony.

"It appears that Roland Cruz, Esquire is a lot sharper than people give him credit for," Lynn answered. "He figured out that all the actions of your dad, uncle, Betty Lou, and Bobby Lee were a smokescreen to allow you to go after Cain. Maybe you guys were too smart for your own good. He either hasn't figured out that Betty Lou dropped a bicycle off a block away from the school or he can't prove it so he's not touching it."

"What's our next step?" Betty Lou asked

"I make a settlement offer with Cain," Grant said.

"NO!" Everyone said in unison.

"We stand together," Betty Lou said as Danny, Leland, and Bobby Lee nodded assent.

"How badly did today hurt us?" Danny asked Lynn.

"It left a mark; no doubt about that. But Cat actually helped us out more than she did Cain. The sexual predator comment was gold." Lynn looked at Grant a bit side-eyed. "How did you feel about her testimony?"

Grant shrugged. "I'm glad she was able to get the sexual predator comment in, but as far as how did her testimony affect me overall? It didn't. She'll always be in my life as Danny's mother, but that's it." He grabbed Lynn's left hand and brought it to his lips as he smiled at his law partner.

"Tomorrow Cain will testify and then I'm sure that Cruz will rest the plaintiff's case. We should get through our witness list pretty quickly, so the trial will probably wrap up tomorrow afternoon. For better or worse, we should have a verdict by the day after tomorrow." The group sat in subdued silence as they contemplated the end of the trial and the possible verdict.

+++

As expected, the first witness called the next morning was Randy Cain, the former head coach of the Ferguson Wildcats football team. After being sworn in, Rollie Cruz began his questioning.

"Coach Cain..." he began which caused an immediate reaction at the defendant's table.

"OBJECTION," Lynn stated. "Mr. Cain is not presently employed as a coach. I would remind Mr. Cruz that Mr. Cain's employment was terminated because of his affair with a married teacher."

The judge thought for a minute before shaking his head. "Counselor, I'm overruling your objection. Mr. Cain has in the past been a coach. I used to coach my son's little league team years ago. When I run into any of his teammates, I am still referred to as "Coach Bowman." At this time, I'll allow the plaintiff the use of the honorific of 'Coach'."

As Cruz turned to gloat at the defense counsel, he was momentarily taken aback by Lynn Dunaway's amused expression.

"To continue...Coach Cain, can you describe to the court your relationship with Catherine Keel?"

Cain managed a sad expression. "I loved her. I didn't want to fall in love with a married woman, but sometimes your heart leads you to places that you shouldn't go. I know it was wrong and I am deeply sorry to her husband for my part in the affair." Randy paused to look at Grant with what he thought was a sincere apologetic look. "I was wrong, but that doesn't justify what they did to me!" Cain angrily pointed at the defense table as he shouted,

Cruz patted the air with both hands as if to calm Cain down. "Were your feelings reciprocated by Mrs. Keel?"

"Yes, or at least I thought they were. She would tell me that she loved me but anytime I would suggest she divorce her husband to marry me, she would shut me down. We would talk about her husband while we were, you know...after sex; but if she thought I was putting him down or something she would get mad at me. She wouldn't allow me to say anything bad about him which I thought was ridiculous. I mean, we'd have sex for two hours and I know she was having fun because she'd be completely wrung out; but the minute that I would say something about it being better than sex with her husband, she would get all up in my face." Cain shook his head and looked sadly at Cat who was seated in the back of the courtroom. "The only thing I did wrong was fall in love with the wrong person and then try to do the right thing." Cain had a sad and forlorn look on his face as he turned to the jury.

Cruz glanced at the jury and was not convinced that they were sympathetic to his client, but from experience, he knew juries were notoriously difficult to gauge.

"How was your relationship with her son Danny," Cruz asked.

"Great!" said Cain. "It was his first year at Ferguson High and it was my first year as head coach. Danny came in with a lot of raw talent, and I think I was able to harness that potential and turn him into one of the best high school quarterbacks in the state. Maybe the entire country. We had a very close player/coach relationship and I thought he considered me as almost a stepfather. I see now that I was wrong about that. If Danny's the one that assaulted me, I guess I never really knew him."

At that point, Cruz rested his case and Lynn Dunaway began her questioning.

"Mr. Cain, what is your definition of a man?"

Cruz immediately objected asking the relevance of the question. At the judge's question, Lynn explained that it would soon become clear. The judge allowed the question but told Lynn she was on a short leash.

"My definition of a man is someone who his teammates can always depend on to have their back and be there for them. Someone who always gives 110%. Someone who lives his life in a way so that he can hold his head up and be proud that he did his best for himself and his team."

"Mr. Cain, this is so important to you that you even have this sign over the locker room exit, correct?" Lynn handed a photo to Cain in which a sign read, 'Play like men today'.

"Yes," Cain said, beginning to have an uncomfortable feeling about where the questioning was going.

"When the players leave the locker room, they touch the sign on their way out, don't they."

"They do."

"Mr. Cain, would you say that any part of that very eloquent description of what it means to be a man was in any way represented in your relationship with Danny Keel?"

Cain glared at Lynn as he sat in silence after she asked her question.

"Judge, could you please direct the witness to answer my question?"

Before the judge could speak, Randy barked out, "No. Is that what you wanted to hear? No, my actions were not in line with how a man should act. But I made the mistake of falling in love with a woman who I thought loved me back."

"A married woman," Lynn emphasized.

"Yes, a married woman," Cain said, his bitterness obvious.

"Mr. Cain, tell us about the time you beat up Danny Keel."

The change in direction momentarily confused Cain. "What? I never beat Danny up. You mean the time that I thought he was mad and was going to attack me? That was just a minor dustup; there was no assault."

"Thank you for putting that on the record Mr. Cain. You have made much of your mentorship of Danny and turning him into the quarterback he is now. Did you receive coaching offers from colleges and universities after Ferguson won the state title?"

"Yes, I received several offers," Cain replied. "Because of the assault, they've all been rescinded."

"Really, Mr. Cain? Because of the assault?" Lynn walked to the defendant's table and grabbed some papers, bringing them to the witness stand and handing them to Cain. "Are these copies of your offer letters?" she asked.

After looking over the letters for a minute, Cain agreed that they were his offer letters from several colleges.

"Mr. Cain, each one of these offer letters seems to be contingent upon you being able to recruit Danny Keel. Is that accurate?"

Cain's face burned with embarrassment. How did this bitch get copies of the letters, he wondered. "Yes, that's accurate," he snapped.

"Danny was intent on going to West Point, just like his father. He had in fact, been recommended by his congressman and had been approved. You kept insisting that Cat Keel try to discourage him from attending there and instead go with you to a college where you would be hired. Isn't that correct?"

"Yes, but I knew that it was better for him, too. If he played for a D1 school, that would get him into the NFL and let him make millions. He would be set for life!"

"And if you followed him into the NFL as a coach, you'd be set for life as well, wouldn't you? It seems that your reputation as a coach was only as strong as your relationship with Danny Keel, wasn't it?"

Cain again glared at Lynn as she turned to the judge and said, "I have no more questions for this witness, your honor."

+++

Upon returning from lunch, it was time for Lynn to call her first witness; Danny Keel.

After being sworn in, Danny took his seat on the witness stand.

"Danny, when did you first become aware of your mother's affair with Randy Cain?"

"I don't remember the exact date, but it was pretty soon after it began. Like within a day or two."

"And what did you do after finding out?"

"I Facetimed my dad to let him know what was going on." There was a loud gasp from the spectator section as Cat realized that her son's loyalty to his father outweighed his loyalty to his cheating mother.

"What was your dad's reaction?"

"He didn't believe me at first. After that, he was in shock for a bit. Then he went stone cold and said he would get back to me after thinking about some things. We spoke a few days later and he told me to follow Mr. Cain's and Mom's lead for a while. So that's what I did. When my mother realized that I knew, she told me to keep quiet about it and it would blow over after a while, but if I told Dad, he would divorce her and destroy our family."

While asking questions, Lynn had sidled over so that she was next to the jurors and could see that they were sympathetic to Danny.

"Danny, your mother mentioned a "minor confrontation" which in his testimony Mr. Cain referred to as a dustup. Can you describe for the jury that incident?"

"I was sitting at the breakfast nook in the kitchen. My mother and Mr. Cain either didn't know or didn't care that I was home. Mr. Cain came out of my mother's bedroom naked. It was obvious that he had just had sex with my mother. Mr. Cain was smirking at me and making some rude comments about how great sex with my mother was and what a great piece of ass she was. I stood up and took a step towards him and he did a leg sweep, knocking my feet out from under me. I hit the kitchen floor so hard it knocked the breath out of me and when my head hit the stone floor, I almost blacked out. He then made a couple of comments about her being 'prime pussy' before going back into the bedroom."

Once again there were gasps and sobs from the spectator section as Cat realized her role in the horrific disrespect shown to her family by Randy Cain.

Rollie Cruz could only look on in horror as any sympathy for Randy Cain among the members of the jury had long since fled.

"Danny much has been made of a video you made asking your family members to come to your pep rally. The plaintiffs have indicated that you, a high school student, were the ringleader of some sort of grand conspiracy to assault Mr. Cain and then cover it up. I guess they think you came up with this plan during homeroom or maybe in the school cafeteria." Lynn waited for the laughter to die down and she again noticed several of the jury members looking fondly at Danny.

"Can you tell us about this video?" Lynn asked as the video played on the courtroom monitor.

Danny looked earnestly at the jury. "I know you've heard this a lot during this trial, but the video really does speak for itself."

With that, Lynn had no more questions for Danny and turned the questioning over to Rollie Cruz who only had one question for Danny:

"Danny, do you know who attached Randy Cain in the street outside your house?"

Danny glanced at his father before looking at Rollie Cruz and then replied, "Yes, I do."

Rollie was momentarily speechless at the admission before gathering his wits and asking, "Who attacked Randy Cain?"

"I did. I beat the hell out of him for attacking me earlier and for having an affair with my mother."

A gasp was again heard from the spectators as Cat cried out, "No Danny!" The judge banged his gavel to admonish and quiet the spectators in the courtroom.

Cruz smiled triumphantly before mockingly bowing his head towards Lynn. "No more questions for this witness."

As Danny left the witness box, Lynn called as her next witness, Grant Keel.

After walking Grant through the previous testimony, Lynn asked him for his thoughts about the video of Cain's assault taken by the Keel's doorbell camera.

"The video speaks for itself," Grant replied, to chuckles from the jury.

"Do you know who assaulted Randy Cain outside your residence?" Lynn asked.

"Yes, I do. It was me," Grant said. "I beat the hell out of him for attacking Danny and for having an affair with my wife."

"OBJECTION!" roared Rollie Cruz from the plaintiff's table. "Your Honor, Danny Keel has already admitted to the assault. The defendants are just trying to confuse the jury!"

"Mr. Cruz, you're the one who set the precedent for asking that question to witnesses. Your objection is overruled."

Cruz only had one question for Grant. "Who's lying; you are your son?"

Grant shrugged. "Saying neither one of us is equivalent to saying both of us, wouldn't you say counselor?"

Cruz blinked slowly in confusion at the answer. As he tried to unravel the mental knot that Grant Keel had tied him in, several members of the jury chuckled.

Lynn dismissed Grant from the witness stand and called the next witness, Leland Keel.

Questioning for Keel followed the same pattern as Grant's questioning. After verifying the accuracy of the recording and stating, "The recording speaks for itself," Lynn asked Leland the Big Question: