The Mayor of Lexington Avenue (46 page)

The judge looked at Jack. “Response?”

“Your Honor, Tracey James is dead and there is an exception to the hearsay rule when a person is dead. In any case, this letter is not hearsay because it’s not being offered for the truth of its contents. It’s only being offered to show that it was sent and received.”

The judge looked at Jimmy, who clearly didn’t have a clue how to respond. If he had asked the right questions, Jimmy would have learned that Clay Evans left the police department that day with the letter in hand and that the letter Jack had showed Maria was Joaquin’s copy, but Jimmy was too confused to think that fast.

Still, to Jack’s surprise, the judge sustained the objection.

“I’m not going to let it in, Mr. Tobin. This letter is based exclusively on a memo written by Joaquin Sanchez, Ms. James’s investigator, about a conversation he had with a man named Pablo. The memo is clearly hearsay. The conversation these two men had is clearly hearsay. A letter in which Ms. James says this Geronimo person was the killer because it is based on this
incompetent
testimony is also hearsay.”

“But Your Honor,” Jack replied, “I’m not offering it for the truth of the matter.”

The judge smiled at Jack. It was a “gotcha” smile. “Mr. Tobin, I’ve been practicing for almost fifty years. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that exception raised and I still don’t fully understand it. So let’s be a little more concrete in our analysis. You want the letter in so the jury knows that Clay Evans was notified by Tracey James back in May of 1986 that Geronimo Cruz was the killer, but you’re not offering it to show he was the killer, just that Evans was notified, is that accurate?”

“Exactly, Your Honor.”

“Here’s my problem, Mr. Tobin. You want to taint these men with this knowledge even though the knowledge is inadmissible and therefore
incompetent
, but you want to argue that it’s okay because you’re not offering it for the truth of the matter asserted. That’s legal gymnastics, Counselor.”

Jack knew the judge was right. As far as Jimmy DiCarlo was concerned, the two men might as well have been speaking Greek. He had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.

The judge addressed the jury: “Ladies and gentlemen, I have ruled that exhibit number six is inadmissible and I instruct you not to consider any testimony that has previously been given about that letter. It should not be a part of your deliberations in any way.”

He then turned to Jack. “Counsel, you may proceed.”

“Thank you, Your Honor. Ms. Lopez, I’d like to go to the year 1988. What was your position in the police department at that time?”

“I was still a receptionist.”

“Were your job duties the same?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“Did the police department receive a letter from the Del Rio, Texas, police department in the year 1988?”

“Yes. I don’t remember the exact date, but there was this letter from the police department in Del Rio, and since it was my job to open mail, I saw what it was about. They had a Geronimo Cruz under arrest for raping and murdering a woman, and his driver’s license, which was a Florida license, showed a Bass Creek address. The reason they were writing to our police department was to see if he had any record here, or if he was wanted for any crimes in our area. We got inquiry letters like that all the time—it was pretty typical.”

“If it was a typical inquiry letter, why is it that you remember it?”

“Well, it related to the Kelly case and that was the biggest case we’d ever had.”

“How did you know it related to the Kelly case?”

“Well, Geronimo was one of the witnesses who had disappeared after Lucy’s murder. Most people in the barrio felt that Geronimo was the real murderer and that’s why it was significant to me.” Maria had gone too far with the last statement and Jack knew it. If he’d had a chance to prep her she never would have made such a mistake.

Jimmy DiCarlo didn’t miss it. “Objection, Your Honor. I move to strike the answer as nonresponsive and hearsay. Judge, may we approach?” Jimmy was livid.

“Come on,” Judge Stanton said tiredly.

Jimmy practically ran to the sidebar. “This is outrageous, Judge. She just testified for the whole neighborhood. I’m moving for a mistrial.”

The judge looked at Jack, who jumped right in. “I agree that her last statement was improper, Judge. I think you can instruct the jury to disregard it, however. I don’t think a mistrial is appropriate.”

“I don’t either, but Mr. Tobin, be very careful. You don’t want your whole case to go down the tubes.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jimmy wasn’t done. “But Judge, they heard it. You can’t erase it from their memory.”

“I’ve ruled, Mr. DiCarlo. Now let’s proceed. I’ll instruct the jury.”

Jimmy still wouldn’t let it go. “But Judge—”

“The next word, Mr. DiCarlo, and you’ll be held in contempt. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

The lawyers went back to their respective positions and the judge instructed the jury not to consider the last statement. He also admonished Maria. “Ms. Lopez, you are to testify only about what you know, not some scuttlebutt from the neighborhood or anywhere else, do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Proceed, Counsel.”

“What did you do with the letter?”

“I told Detective Brume about it right away.”

“And what did he do?”

“He told me to call the state attorney’s office. I heard him tell the state attorney, Mr. Evans, about the letter. And then he said that he’d be right over and he rushed out of the office to go, I assume, to the state attorney’s office.”

“What happened to the letter?”

“He took it with him.”

“Is that the type of letter that you would normally file somewhere?”

“Yes. Probably in the Kelly file.”

“And did you file that letter?”

“No. I never saw it again.”

The murmurs began anew in the courtroom. Judge Stanton pounded his gavel once more. “Silence!” he yelled again, looking threateningly at the spectators.

Jack sensed the moment. “No further questions, Your Honor.”

“Cross-examination?” He barely had the words out before Jimmy was up and on his way over to Maria.

“Yes, Your Honor,” he said as he moved in on her, getting as close as he could without too obviously crowding her.

“Now, Ms. Lopez, I want to go back to your new employment with Mr. Tobin. Is it accurate to say you went to work for Mr. Tobin on the first day he started as the state attorney for Cobb County?”

“Yes, that’s accurate.”

“And it was the same day you resigned from the police department, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And how long did you work for the police department—fifteen years?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“And you left without giving any notice—that’s pretty harsh, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, looking straight into Jimmy’s face.

“Is it fair to say you didn’t like Mr. Brume?”

“Yes, that’s fair,” she said, looking past Jimmy and glaring at the fat little toad sitting at the defense table.

“And you didn’t like the way he handled the Kelly case, did you?”

“No, I didn’t like it.”

“Specifically, you didn’t like the way Rudy Kelly’s mother, Elena, was treated when she came to the police department back in late January of 1986?”

“No, I didn’t like it.”

“They wouldn’t have treated a white woman with such disrespect, would they?” Jack could have objected but he let the question go. The jury was entitled to the truth.

“No, they would not have,” Maria answered, looking over at Wesley again.

“And you didn’t like the way Mr. Evans prosecuted the Rudy Kelly case either, did you?”

“No.”

“And you told this to Mr. Tobin?”

“Yes, I did.”

“And you told it to him before he became state attorney?”

“Yes.”

“And you and he planned your resignation from the police department
before
he became state attorney, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Because he told you before he became state attorney and before he empaneled a grand jury that he was going to prosecute these two men, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Because he already knew they were guilty?”

“Yes.”

Like most attorneys when they get on a roll in cross-examination, Jimmy DiCarlo didn’t know when to stop. He had hit a double and his runner was on the way to third with a stand-up triple, but Jimmy wanted that home run—so he kept going.

“Where are you living now?”

“On a ranch outside of town.”

“And are you living with Mr. Tobin?” Jack couldn’t believe the question. Maria hesitated.

“It’s not like—”

Jimmy cut her off. “Just yes or no, Ms. Lopez. Are you living with Mr. Tobin?”

“Yes.”

“And are you also living with a Mr. Joaquin Sanchez, who was an associate of Ms. Tracey James?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice catching on the word.

“And is it true that you have been living with Mr. Tobin and Mr. Sanchez since the day you left the police department and went to work for Mr. Tobin?”

“Yes.”

“Now I listened very carefully when you testified about this 1988 letter from the Del Rio police. Did you say Mr. Brume had you call the state attorney’s office after he read the letter?”

“Yes.”

“Did he tell you to get the state attorney’s office on the line?”

“Ye-es,” she said, with a questioning hesitation in her voice.

“Not Mr. Evans?”

“No, I don’t think he said Mr. Evans’s name specifically but I knew—”

Again Jimmy cut her off. “Did you hear Mr. Evans get on the line?”

“No. I had already handed the phone to Mr. Brume.”

“And did you just assume Mr. Brume talked to Mr. Evans, or did you hear Mr. Brume actually say Mr. Evans’s name?”

“I assumed he talked to Mr. Evans because Mr. Evans was the only state attorney who worked on the Kelly case.”

“So you didn’t hear him say Mr. Evans’s name?”

“No.”

“And when Mr. Brume had you get the state attorney’s office on the line, he didn’t tell you the reason, did he?”

“Specifically, no.”

“You just assumed it was because of the letter he had just read, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t hear the content of their conversation, correct?”

“Well, I heard Mr. Brume say he’d be right over, but of course I couldn’t hear—”

“You just heard Mr. Brume say ‘I’ll be right over’?”

“That’s correct.”

“How many state attorneys were there in the Cobb County office in 1988 besides Mr. Evans?”

“Four.”

“And is it accurate that the police department spoke with all these attorneys on a regular basis?”

“Yes.”

“And that would include Mr. Brume? He spoke to all these attorneys on a regular basis, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And he went over to the state attorney’s office to speak to these attorneys as well, didn’t he?”

“From time to time.”

“So he could have been calling one of these other attorneys for a completely separate reason, couldn’t he?”

“I don’t believe so.”

“But you don’t know for sure, do you?”

“Not for sure, no.”

“And you have no specific evidence other than your assumptions, either that Mr. Evans was on the telephone or that Mr. Brume went to see Mr. Evans—and by specific evidence I mean you never heard Mr. Brume specifically tell you to get Mr. Evans on the phone; you never heard Mr. Evans’s voice on the phone; and you never heard Mr. Brume refer to Mr. Evans while he was talking on the phone, is that correct?” Jimmy rattled it all off like a machine gun.

“Yes, it’s correct. I didn’t hear any of those things, but he read the letter and immediately told me to get the state attorney’s office on the line.”

“No further questions, Your Honor.” Jimmy gave an arrogant look across at Jack as he walked back to his chair, as if to say,
That’s the way you cross-examine someone.
But the look didn’t faze Jack one bit. He was already rising when Judge Stanton said, “Redirect?”

“Yes, Your Honor. Thank you.” Jack was by Maria but he was looking towards the defense table, right at Jimmy DiCarlo. “Ms. Lopez, counsel for the defendants just asked you if you have been living with me since you came to work for me, and you replied affirmatively. Is there a reason why you moved in with me?”

Jimmy was up in an instant. “Objection, Your Honor. May we approach?”

“Come on, come on.” Judge Stanton put on his exasperated look but he was clearly eager to hear what was coming. The whole room seemed to be leaning forward, straining to eavesdrop.

“Judge, this is irrelevant,” Jimmy said as he was still on his way to the bench. “I don’t know what she’s going to say, but I think it could be prejudicial.”

“‘I think it could be prejudicial’—that’s an objection I haven’t heard before. What’s your response, Mr. Tobin?”

“Well, Judge, this is a door that Mr. DiCarlo opened. I did not ask a single question about where Ms. Lopez lives. Mr. DiCarlo wants to leave the jury with the impression that Ms. Lopez, Mr. Sanchez and I are living in some bizarre illicit relationship without allowing her to explain why she has been at my house—because it might be prejudicial to his clients. He should have thought of that before he asked the question and tried to smear all of us.”

“I agree,” the judge remarked. “Mr. DiCarlo, you opened this door. We are now obligated to see where it leads. Objection overruled.”

Jack walked back to the podium. Jimmy returned to the defense table and Clay Evans’s angry glare.

Jack repeated his question. “Ms. Lopez, is there a reason you moved in with me?”

“Yes. I was afraid. Your investigator, Nancy Shea, had been to visit me, and I’d told her what I testified to here in court. She was killed right after she left my house.”

The courtroom erupted, and the jury looked stunned. Several reporters jumped to their feet and started to clamber over their colleagues for the aisle; within seconds it was a stampede, and Judge Stanton could do nothing to stop them. After hammering the gavel several times and shouting “Silence!” at the top of his lungs to no avail, he ordered the bailiffs to clear the courtroom.