Fatal Convictions

82

Shannon Reese bounced up even before Deegan had settled into her chair. “Just to be clear, what you’ve shown us are text messages and not phone calls; is that correct?” Shannon asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“So you don’t technically know who sent them; you just know that they came from Khalid Mobassar’s phone?”

“That’s also correct, ma’am.”

“Have you run the phone for fingerprints?”

“No, ma’am. The phone turned up missing.”

Shannon raised her eyebrows, and Special Agent Long apparently thought he ought to elaborate. “We have photographs showing the phone in the possession of Mr. Mobassar on dates before and after the text messages in question. We also have recorded phone conversations from Mr. Mobassar both before and after the text messages, some from the very day the text messages were sent. The phone did not turn up missing until several weeks later.”

Shannon gave the officer a quizzical look. “I’m sorry. Did I ask you when the phone turned up missing?”

Special Agent Long gave her a glittering smile, dimples in full display, and Alex thought the guy could have had a career in Hollywood. “No, ma’am. But I thought it might be helpful information to the jury.”

A few of the jurors smiled along with the witness, but Shannon didn’t seem amused. “Maybe you could let the lawyers be the judge of that and just answer the questions.”

“Objection!”

“Sustained.”

Shannon walked back to her counsel table and picked up a document. She asked if she could approach the witness. Once granted permission, she handed a copy of the document to Taj Deegan and the original to Special Agent Long. She turned so that she was facing more toward the jury than the witness.

“Can you tell me what that document is?”

Long looked confused. “It appears to be a copy of the Wikipedia page about the Patriot Act.”

Deegan stood, her tone indicating confusion. “Objection, Your Honor. There’s no relevance to a Wikipedia page on the Patriot Act. Even if there was, there’s been no foundation laid as to its accuracy.”

Judge Rosenthal leaned forward on his elbows and looked down at Shannon. “Are you serious? You want to introduce a Wikipedia page as an exhibit?”

“Does that mean that the objection is sustained?” Shannon asked innocently.

“Absolutely.”

Shannon bit her lip and acted like she was thinking for a moment. “Then let me ask it this way-are the provisions of the Patriot Act a secret?”

Long looked more confused than before. “Of course not. They’re part of the United States code.”

“And anybody who can read the U.S. code-or even Wikipedia for that matter-would know that the federal government can tap the phones and intercept e-mails and text messages of people who have even loose connections with suspected terrorist organizations. Is that right?”

“Objection; calls for speculation.”

“Sustained.”

Who cares? Alex thought. Point made.

“Let’s talk about the cell phone that received the text messages,” Shannon said. “That phone was registered under a fictitious name. Is that correct?”

Long didn’t seem like the epitome of confidence anymore. “That was my testimony.”

“Is it difficult to register a cell phone under a fictitious name?”

Again Taj Deegan objected, and Rosenthal sustained the objection.

“Well, it’s safe to say that at least somebody associated with the killings of Ja’dah Mahdi and Martin Burns knew how to register a cell phone to a fictitious name; is that correct?” Shannon asked.

Taj Deegan was on her feet again but apparently could think of no reasonable objection. She sat down.

“Yeah. I think that’s clear.”

“Can you think of any reason why my client, knowing that his mosque was providing funds to humanitarian organizations helping to rebuild Beirut, and knowing that his phone was probably tapped under the Patriot Act-”

“Objection!” Taj Deegan yelled, cutting Shannon off midsentence.

“Sustained,” Rosenthal said quickly.

Shannon stood there for a moment, as if she couldn’t figure out what to do next. “May I have a minute?” she asked the judge.

“One minute.”

She walked to her counsel table and huddled up with Alex. “Do you think the jury got the gist of what I was implying?” she whispered.

“You can never be too sure,” Alex said.

Shannon gave him a cold stare. “Easy for you to say.”

She returned to the center of the courtroom and crossed her arms for a moment, deep in thought. “In your experience, Special Agent Long, do criminals typically like to get caught?”

Long shook his head as if Shannon were an idiot. “Of course not.”

Shannon took a deep breath and then spit the next question out as quickly as possible. “Then why would my client use his own cell phone knowing that it was probably tapped?”

“Objection!”

Rosenthal banged his gavel and stared at Shannon Reese, clearly perturbed. “I told you that question was objectionable.” He turned to the jury. “Please disregard that question. Counsel will have sufficient time to argue her case during the closing argument.”

Shannon turned and looked at Alex. He gave her a subtle nod. I’m pretty sure they got it that time.

“No further questions,” she said cheerfully.

When Shannon sat down, Taj Deegan stood and announced she had only one question on redirect.

“Do you have any reason to believe that Mr. Mobassar, a Muslim cleric who specializes in Islamic studies, was intimately familiar with the details of the Patriot Act?”

“Absolutely not.”

Shannon leaned over and whispered to Alex, “Unless he could read Wikipedia.”