Apex Predator (35 page)

The General was nodding in understanding, “So the only thing in question will be why you did it. I’m certainly not a lawyer and I don’t understand how these things work, but I would think that in that case, when it’s clear that you did it, how you did it and that you intended to do it, the only way to mount a defense would be to argue insanity or some other condition that drove you to do what you did.”

Steven shook his head emphatically, “That’s what you’d think, but that’s where this science, what I found, makes all the difference.”

The General now had an expression of genuine puzzlement on his face, “I don’t think I follow you, son. I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”

Steven leaned forward in his chair, clearly energized with what he had to share with the man, “The charge of murder, the way it is written, says that in order to be convicted of murder the prosecution has to prove that whoever is being charged killed another human being and that they did it with malice and premeditation.

“We just went over the fact that who did it and how won’t be in question and neither will the issue of premeditation. I planned to do it and I intend on saying precisely that, that I intended on doing it.”

Steven paused to see if the old man was getting what he was trying to say. At first he still looked completely lost, but Steven could see the gears turning.

He was working through the problem, and Steven could see he almost had it, but it kept eluding him. “I don’t see it, I don’t see how you’d defend yourself without arguing some sort of temporary insanity.”

Steven leaned closer and proceeded to work him through it, “Okay so the law says that to be convicted a human being had to have killed another human being with malice and premeditation, right? And we just went over the fact that who did it and how are not in question, nor is whether it was premeditated. That leaves one single element that is in question.”

The General looked at Steven, still with that quizzical look on his face, and then it hit like a ton of bricks. His eyes flew wide open and he slapped the table with the palm of his hand, “He wasn’t human! You’re planning on arguing that you can’t be convicted because the son of a bitch wasn’t human! I’ll be goddamned!”

Steven let him take it all in before saying anything.

He was shaking his head in amazement when all of a sudden he thought of something, “Is that even allowed, Steven? I mean, are you allowed to bring into question whether someone was a member of the human species?”

Steven answered the question, now hearing it asked he was struck by how farfetched it truly sounded, but he’d known he would be asked that question sooner or later. “I don’t know for sure, but from a legal standpoint I don’t see why not. I have found science, solid, credible science, that supports the idea that there is a separate species from humans on the face of the earth. The man I shot was almost certainly a part of that species, so I think it’s a valid argument. Whether a judge or more likely a jury buys it is quite another story.

“And the reality is that it won’t matter whether I can prove he was one of these things, as long as I can prove that he could have been, I’d be in good shape. In this country, you don’t have to prove that you’re innocent, you just have to bring doubt about your guilt. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work.”

The General, now back behind his desk, replied, “I know, but has anybody ever made that argument in court? Doesn’t the law basically assume the fact that if someone is killed, they were human?”

Steven, now back to pacing, answered, “No, to answer your question, nobody has made the argument before, but I don’t know if a similar set of circumstances has ever come up. When I was thinking about this, I wondered the same thing. I wondered if anyone had ever had the same set of circumstances and I couldn’t find anything, but what I did find was scores of cases where a judge or a family makes the determination that someone is no longer human and they pull the plug on them.”

The old man looked lost, “I don’t get it. What does that have to do with what you are arguing?”

Steven sat across from him, “Think about it. There is a human, let’s say, that because of an aneurysm or some other brain injury they are brain dead. Let’s say that they remain that way for years and after all that time their family makes the decision to pull the plug. They would go to court and make an argument to allow them to pull the plug on their family member. After listening to the doctors and their opinion, the court would grant the request. The family would then pull all life-sustaining measures and the person would eventually die.

“So, in that case, the court would make the decision to end the life of what we know was a human being, but legally their life can be ended because of that legal determination, but it is still homicide.”

The General was still not getting it, “I understand, Steven, but that’s different. In that case, the person would be brain dead. They would just be a collection of organs and they would not be the person their family knew and loved.”

Steven exclaimed, “Exactly! In that case, the court would make the determination that the individual was no longer human. Whatever it was that made them human was contained in their brain. It wasn’t the fact that they had arms and legs and a head, it was something else and that something else was gone.

“Look, I’m not saying it’s the same thing or anything like what I am proposing, I’m just pointing out that the law does make such determinations. My argument is simply that Riche’s behavior, his atrocities, the care he took, everything indicates that he was something not human.

“I have found the science that points to the fact that he was something other than human or at the very least that he
could have been
something other than human.

“Trust me, I know this isn’t going to be easy, and to be honest I don’t even know if I’ll be able to find a lawyer that will help me with it, but I’m going to try.”

The General was nodding, he might not have understood everything that Steven was trying to explain to him, but he knew that Steven was headed into the eye of a storm and he knew he was going to need help doing it. “Remember the card I gave you, Max Zeidler, give him a call. If anybody can make this fly, it’ll be him.”

Steven nodded, “I was planning on heading to his office from here. I just wanted to make sure you heard it from me first, and I wanted to make sure that you knew it wasn’t some sort of stunt, that you knew I thought this through.”

The old man got up as Steven was getting ready to leave. “You don’t have to worry about that. In all the time that I’ve known you, I’ve never known you to make rash decisions. I hope this all works out the way you want, son. It’s going to be a heavy price to pay, no matter how it goes.”

Steven shook his hand, “I know, sir, I know how much you’ve done for me and I will never forget it. I know one thing, whatever ends up happening, this science, this threat will be known to the world. Whatever happens to me, once it’s out, I will have accomplished my goal.”

The General now took on a concerned tone and look, “Wait a minute, are you saying you don’t care what happens to you? That you’re willing to give yourself up to get this science out there?”

Steven stopped and turned around, “No, don’t get me wrong, that’s not what I mean at all. I’m going to defend myself with everything at my disposal. I’m nobody’s hero, sir, and I’m definitely nobody’s martyr.”

The General smiled and held Steven’s arm as he shook his hand, “Good man. Now, call Zeidler. I’ll give him a call to give him the heads up. The bastard charges us enough.”

Steven returned the gesture, “Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.”

He left his boss’s office and went to make a call he knew he had to make before he got on his way.

Grady was going over case files that he’d been unable to get to with everything else going on when his cell phone rang. His first inclination was to just let it go to voicemail, but he decided instead to look and see who was calling him.

When he saw who it was, he picked up immediately, “Hello, Mr. Loomis. I’m not going to ask how you got my cell phone number.”

On his end, Loomis smiled, “I suspect you probably know why I am calling.”

Not knowing who was listening and knowing that Loomis could have the phone line tapped, Grady was careful in how he replied, “Well, I think I may have an idea, but I don’t want to assume anything. You know what happens to people who assume.”

Loomis smiled on the other end, “Well, I wanted to call you to let you know that your idea is correct. I will be talking to my people shortly and we will all be coming in to have a cup of coffee with you and Detective Mullins.”

Grady could see that Loomis was also being very cautious with what he said over the phone.

Loomis went on, “We should be there in about an hour and we can talk about how things have gone.”

Grady was still trying to absorb the statement. Steven Loomis was calling him to tell him that he was going to turn himself in. He was going to contact an attorney and then head into the station, and if Grady was reading him right, he was planning on giving a full statement.

Of course Grady couldn’t be sure of what Loomis was going to say, so he kept his optimism in check. “Great. We will have a fresh pot of coffee ready and waiting. I will let Captain Freeman know…”

Loomis interrupted him, “Detective Grady, if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to chat with you and Detective Mullins. If you need to tell your captain, so be it, but I would like to speak with you and Detective Mullins only, please.”

Grady winced. He knew he had to tell Freeman and he knew he would want to be in on the interrogation, no matter what. “Mr. Loomis, I don’t know if that will be possible. Captain Freeman is going to want to be part of the conversation.”

Loomis replied calmly, “I understand that, but if you want to have a full conversation, you will explain to the captain that it will only happen with you and Detective Mullins in the room. He can watch the tape later, but my only request is that it be you and Mullins in the room.

“I really think you will probably want this conversation to be as complete and specific as it can be, and I would hate for my people to have to keep interrupting because there is someone in the room that shouldn’t be there.”

Loomis could not have made it plainer: ‘You want a full confession? You will make sure Freeman is not in the room.’ Grady was sure Freeman was going to scream bloody murder, but he also knew there was no better way to save resources and manpower than to get a full confession from the person that had committed the crime. He would go to the chief if he had to in order to make it happen.

“I think we can arrange for that to happen.”

Loomis answered, “I knew you could, detective, I wouldn’t have asked otherwise. I will see you in an hour.”

Grady hung up his cell phone and immediately dialed his office phone to call Mark Mullins, “Mark, can you please come in here? Yeah, I mean right now…just got off the phone with our guy.”

Mullins held the receiver with a puzzled look for two seconds and then it dawned on him, “Shit! I’ll be right there!”

Mullins practically flew to Grady’s office and came in, shut the door and sat down on the chair in front of the desk.

“So, what did he say?”

Grady was leaning back on his chair, still trying to settle fully into the situation. “He was very careful about what he said, I was too. He basically said he needed to talk to his people and that once he did that he wanted to come here and have a chat with you and me only. He was very clear that he wouldn’t talk if there was somebody else in the room.”

Mullins was smiling. He was already anticipating Grady telling Freeman he couldn’t be in on the biggest investigation going. He knew he would make a stink about it, but he also knew Freeman would concede in the face of losing a full confession. “Man, Freeman is going to blow a gasket.”

Grady was also smiling sideways, “I know and I don’t care. This is the best and most efficient way to resolve the case of the Riche shooting, and I know the chief will back us up to get that confession.”

Mullins answered, “Not to mention it lets us off the hook, officially I mean.”

Grady was nodding, “I agree, unless Loomis decides to come clean all the way himself. He doesn’t strike me as someone who would do that, based on the conversation I had with him before this call. He knows it’s our ass if he spills everything he knows.”

Mullins replied, “Yeah, he doesn’t strike me as that kind of guy, either. If he just comes in and owns up to the shooting, it means we don’t ever have to say anything about what happened.”

Grady put his hands behind his head and leaned back, “That it does, that it does.”

After hanging up, Loomis picked up his coat and briefcase and
headed down to the street to hail a cab to the offices of the lawyer he’d been referred to and to begin his journey in earnest.

At Max Zeidler’s office, a sense of controlled chaos was the norm, but today that controlled chaos was multiplied tenfold. Every intern, assistant, paralegal and young associate was busy looking up citations, case law, appellate decisions, and anything else that had to do with insanity and temporary insanity defenses. The criteria for a temporary insanity defense in New York were very tight. Bottom line was that for it to be used successfully, the defendant must have been in such a state of mind that he or she did not believe that what they were doing was wrong or criminal and nothing about their behavior could point to them being aware of any wrongdoing. It was very clear that for such a defense to work the defense attorney had to unequivocally prove that his client was factually and completely insane during the commission of the crime. What made it more difficult than a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity was the temporary element. Basically, the jury would need to be convinced that the insanity was temporary and only present during the time of the commission of the crime and that once that passed, the defendant returned to a normal state of mind.