Jury of One

45

To argue self-defense or not to argue self-defense. That was the question.

Technically, she could argue both at trial. Alex didn’t shoot the officer, but if he did, it was in self-defense. That was a ridiculous position, practically speaking, but it did allow her to wait out the prosecution’s case before making her decision. That would be a walk through a mine field at trial, but she might be able to pull it off. She had already begun to draft examinations of witnesses. She had written two closing arguments, one arguing that Alex was the wrong guy, the other that he acted with legal justification.

The “innocence” argument was straightforward. There was no credible witness that put the gun in Alex’s hand. The other cop, Sanchez, didn’t see the shooting. The architect, Monica Stoddard, didn’t see who shot Miroballi. The homeless man says he did, but he was not credible. The gunpowder residue test was negative. Alex was there, but he didn’t pull the trigger.

If Alex didn’t shoot Miroballi, then she had to have some explanation that someone else did. The Cannibals? She had to admit that she would never be able to prove that. She was trying to shake the trees but nothing was falling out, and she couldn’t very well march onto their turf and demand that they confess. She needed to point the finger at someone, but she wasn’t exactly full of ideas.

The self-defense argument looked something like this: (1) Alex was being forced by Officer Raymond Miroballi to sell drugs and kick back some money. We know that from Alex’s testimony and from the photographs of them together, taken by the F.B.I. (2) Alex was picked up by the federal government, which was investigating a drug ring run by police officers, and Alex agreed to work for them and against Officer Miroballi. That can be shown from Alex’s testimony and from the F.B.I. agents she would call. (3) Miroballi found out that Alex had flipped. And what did she have to prove that fact? That Miroballi seemed nervous, according to Alex. That he was willing to go along with Alex’s “demand” of a smaller kickback-that he “must” have known because he was never so agreeable in the past. Yeah, that was a real winner.

Supposition laid upon supposition. She couldn’t decide which case was weaker. There were so many holes. Defense attorneys, in theory, didn’t need to fill in all the blanks, because they didn’t have the burden of proof. But the more implausible your story, the more you had to provide corroboration.

Her cell phone rang. “Shelly Trotter.”

There was no response on the other end. In the background of the caller, there were noises. It was busy. She heard a car horn. People yelling in Spanish.

“Hello?” she said.

Then she heard a click. With a cell phone, it was sometimes hard to tell if she had hung up on the caller or vice versa. She looked at the antenna icon on her phone and the signal appeared to be strong. “Hello?” she tried again, but the call had been terminated.

She picked up her land line and dialed the numbers. She looked at her watch. It was past eight o’clock on Sunday.

“You’ve reached Joel Lightner’s cell phone. Please leave a message.”

“Joel, it’s Shelly,” she said. “I need a trace on a call. As fast as you can.”