“As for why we didn’t notice sooner,” Steve said while looking at the photos, “I think people just assume certain things all the time. People see what they want to see. Or they don’t see what seems illogical or impossible. Since no one knew about Ashley and Deputy Blackburn’s relationship, no one would ever guess that the deputy is Gabriel’s father. Even if a person briefly thought the two looked similar, it would be easily dismissed and forgotten based only on facts they knew. Beyond that, for all we know everybody in town thinks Deputy Blackburn is the dad, but they wouldn’t share that with an outsider like us and Scottie hasn’t seen him since he was a little baby.
“It’s all finally clear,” Emily said. “I guess your client really didn’t do it. But how do we prove this?”
“I will ask the court to order a DNA test. If the test shows Deputy Blackburn is Gabriel’s father, then that should be enough to save Scottie. At minimum, I think we can get Scottie a new trial based on the fact that the lead investigator in his case was having an affair with his wife, who also happens to be the victim. If I can’t show that situation is an example of a constitutionally prejudicial investigation, then I might as well give up my license and start delivering pizzas again.” Steve grinned. “Best case, we convince the district attorney’s office Deputy Blackburn is the one who killed Ashley. Then, they could drop the charges on Scottie and file against Deputy Blackburn. Scottie would be released almost immediately.”
It didn’t take long for Booger to pick up Steve’s call.
“We found something you have to see.”
“Can’t you just tell me what it is? I’m knee-deep in bodywork here.”
“No. This is something you have to see with your own eyes. Kind of like the handwriting examples earlier this week. We want to see if you see what we see without us putting any preconceived thoughts in your head.”
“All right. Give me some time, and I’ll be on my way. See you soon.”
While they waited, Steve found Emily an Avett Brothers concert T-shirt and pair of athletic shorts for her to wear. After she dressed, she walked into the bathroom while he was brushing his teeth. “I know you are extremely excited about what you discovered, but before we get lost in the moment, I want you to know that I had an amazing time last night.” She put her arms around him and lightly kissed him on the cheek, avoiding the mint-flavored foam on his lips. “I look forward to spending a lot more time with you, Mr. Hanson.”
She reached down and pinched his butt before walking out of the bathroom to wait in the living room for Booger to arrive.
The first thing the investigator noticed when he walked through the front door was Emily’s attire. “You two finally took the leap. Glad to see it. Hopefully, there won’t be any more of that sexual tension floating around you guys.” “Very funny,” Steve said.
“LOL,” Emily spelled out dryly.
After Steve handed him the photographs, Booger stood there in the living room, dumbfounded, as he stared at the two pictures in his hands.
Finally, he shook his head. “I can’t believe I never noticed this before. Looks like it’s time for me to hang up my trench coat and magnifying glass. I never would have missed something so obvious ten years ago.”
“No. You need to keep doing what you’re doing. We never would have gotten this far without you,” Steve said.
Other than the instances where Steve and Emily engaged in their new favorite hobby together, Steve spent the rest of the weekend writing what he hoped would be the penultimate motion in the Scottie case. The motion requested the court order a DNA test comparing the likely paternity of Deputy Andrew Blackburn to Gabriel. In the motion, Steve included all of the evidence they had gathered and found case law supporting his position. He believed it was the most eloquent and persuasive piece of legal writing he had created in his budding legal career.
He filed the motion electronically and waited for a response from the court.
CHAPTER 37
By Thursday, after such a long wait with no response, Steve was beginning to think his motion wasn’t quite the grand legal treatise he had originally imagined. But, in the middle of the afternoon, he finally received an email from the court clerk. Judge Henry entered an order giving the state fifteen days to respond to Steve’s motion and set a hearing for a week after the due date. Normally, a party had thirty days to respond to any motion filed by the opposing party, and the original party would have fifteen days to file a rebuttal brief. Afterward, both parties often had to wait months for oral arguments, or, occasionally, a judge would enter a ruling based solely on the briefs. However, in this instance, Judge Henry stated in his order that, due to the overwhelming possibility an “extreme travesty of justice may have occurred wherein an individual who could be a prime suspect was the lead investigator on a death row inmate’s case,” he was shortening the normal time frames. The judge made it clear he was concerned about hearing what may or may not have occurred in the underlying state court case.
Steve would still have to wait several weeks to get a final answer, but he knew his brief had made an impression on the judge. Not once in the two years he had worked at the court, nor in the time since he had been in private practice, had Steve ever heard of a judge shortening the time for opposing counsel to respond to a party’s motion—not for any reason, ever.
Steve and Emily went to dinner that night, just like they had every night for the past week.
During the course of their meal, Emily said, “I must ask you
something. How do you represent rapists and murderers? I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I helped those types of people.” She paused. “I mean, the only reason I am helping Scottie is because I don’t think he did it, but you have to know that most of the people you represent are guilty.”
“Well, I haven’t represented anyone charged with rape yet. So, I’m not sure if I will feel differently when that happens, but my answer for how can I represent a person charged with murder is simple. I know this is going to sound pretentious, but I truly don’t mean it that way. I honestly mean it from my heart.”
Emily smiled. “I think we are past that. Go ahead.”
“I believe the American legal system created by our constitution is the best in the world. The cornerstone of the system is the adversarial process. In every case, an attorney for each side presents their case to a jury comprised of twelve citizens. Then, that jury determines a just result. I further believe that, in order to derive the full benefits of the system, everyone, rich or poor, must get competent legal counsel when they are accused of a crime. The state almost always has competent counsel, and the defendant should have something equal. I am willing to spend my life’s work trying to be that someone equal.
“I think this rule is even more important when the government is not just trying to put you in prison but actually trying to end your life. Even if there were twenty eyewitnesses and DNA evidence showing a certain individual committed the crime charged, that person still deserves a competent attorney at all stages of the legal process. Look at O.J. Simpson. However you feel about that case, the fact he had money to pay for a great defense is not what got his acquittal. It is what made it a fair fight, but it was not the deciding factor. What got his acquittal were all the errors made by the investigators and prosecutors in the case. If the police, district attorney, and defense lawyers all do their job, most of the time, the guilty will be convicted, and the innocent will be acquitted. Our system is set up to work that way, and it usually does.
“The problem is when the defendant can’t afford competent counsel and the one appointed doesn’t do a good job for him. Then, innocent people go to jail, or guilty people go for twenty years when maybe five is all they deserved. This leads to overcrowding of prisons, which leads to states like ours spending more money on prisons than schools…” Steve noticed Emily’s eyes were beginning to roll back into her head.
“I’m sorry. I need to get off my soapbox,” he said sheepishly. “I can sometimes lose it a little when I start talking about this stuff.”
“It’s okay. I find it interesting.” She reached across the table to touch his arm playfully. “I was just messing with ya.”
Steve laughed. “Anyway, let me just say one last thing, and then we can move on to something more interesting. No matter the evidence, wouldn’t you agree that everyone accused of a crime in the United States of America still deserves a fair trial?”
“Yes… a fair trial and then string ’em up,” Emily said with a devilish smile upon her face. She straightened her gaze to look Steve in the eyes. “Does that mean you are against the death penalty? Or do you just think they deserve a fair trial, and as long as they get that, it’s okay if the jury gives them death?”
Steve shook his head. “I have always been against it. In my heart and soul, I believe it is an archaic punishment. However, it is the law right now, and I respect that aspect of it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The long answer would take all night, and I think I have already bored you once with my long-winded answers.”
“No, I want to hear it. I kind of like your long windedness,” she said with a teasing smile. “Just don’t go too long.”
“Okay. I will give you my best Twitter-esque answer. I can’t promise it will be less than 140 characters, but I will make it short.”
“Okay. Go.”
“In this day and age, I believe there has to be a better way to get people to quit killing other people. Number one, it costs more money to execute someone than to incarcerate them for life. Number two, all of the studies on the subject show the risk of death penalty is not a deterrent. The murder rate per capita is actually higher in states that have the death penalty than the rate of states that don’t. I could go on up through about number forty-seven, but I think those first two make the point.”
“You honestly don’t think it deters people from killing?” Emily asked. “I know I would never kill someone, knowing the penalty exists.”
