Sycamore Row

18

Rufus Buckley parked his weathered Cadillac on the other side of the square, as far from Jake’s office as possible. For a moment he sat in his car and remembered how much he loathed the town of Clanton, its courthouse, its voters, and especially his history there. There was a time, not too many years earlier, when the voters adored him and he considered them part of his base, the foundation from which he would launch a statewide race for governor, and from there, well, who knew? He’d been their district attorney, a young hard-charging prosecutor with a gun on each hip, a noose in hand, and no fear of the bad guys. Find ’em, haul ’em in, then watch Rufus string ’em up. He campaigned hard on his 90 percent conviction rate, and his people loved him. Three times they had voted for him in overwhelming numbers, but the last time around, last year with the bitter Hailey verdict still fresh on their minds, the good people of Ford County turned him out. He also lost badly in Tyler, Milburn, and Van Buren Counties, pretty much the entire Twenty-Second District, though his home folks in Polk County limped to the polls and gave him a pathetic sixty-vote margin.

His career as a public servant was over-though, at the age of forty-four, he could at times almost convince himself there was a future, that he was still needed. By whom and for what he wasn’t certain. His wife was threatening to leave if he ever again declared himself a candidate for anything. After ten months of puttering around a small quiet office and watching the paltry traffic on Main Street, Rufus was bored, defeated, depressed, and going out of his mind. The phone call from Booker Sistrunk had been a miracle, and Rufus leapt at the chance to plunge into some controversy. The fact that Jake was the enemy only made the case richer.

He opened the door, got out, and hoped no one would recognize him. How the mighty had fallen.

The Ford County Courthouse opened at 8:00 a.m., and five minutes later Rufus walked through the front door, as he had done so many times before in another life. Back then he was respected, even feared. Now he was ignored, except for the slightly delayed glance from a janitor who almost said, “Say, don’t I know you?” He hustled upstairs and was pleased to find the main courtroom unlocked and unguarded. The hearing was set for 9:00 a.m. and Rufus was the first one there. This was by design because he and Mr. Sistrunk had a plan.

It was only his third visit back since the Hailey trial, and the horror of losing hit low in the bowels. He stopped just inside the large double doors and took in the vastness of the empty, awful courtroom. His knees were spongy and for a second he felt faint. He closed his eyes and heard the voice of the court clerk, Jean Gillespie, read the verdict: “As to each count of the indictment, we the jury find the defendant not guilty by reason of insanity.” What a miscarriage! But you can’t gun down two boys in cold blood and then say you did it because they deserved it. No, you have to find a legal reason for doing so, and insanity was all Jake Brigance had to offer.

Evidently, it was enough. Carl Lee Hailey was as sane as any man when he killed those boys.

Moving forward, Rufus remembered the pandemonium in the courtroom as the Hailey family and all their friends went crazy. Talk about insanity! Seconds later, the mob surrounding the courthouse exploded when a kid yelled to them, “Not guilty! Not guilty!”

At the bar, Rufus managed to collect himself and his thoughts. He had work to do and little time to prepare for it. Like every courtroom, between the bar, or railing, and the judge’s bench there were two large tables. They were identical but radically different. The table on the right was the home of the prosecutor in a criminal case-his old turf-or the plaintiff in a civil case. This table was close to the jury box so that during a trial he, Rufus, always felt nearer to his people. Ten feet away, the other table was the home of the defense, both in criminal and civil cases. In the opinions of most lawyers who spent their careers in courtrooms, seating was important. It conveyed power, or lack thereof. It allowed certain lawyers or litigants to be seen more, or less, by the jurors, who were always watching. On occasion it could set the stage for a David and Goliath struggle as a solitary lawyer and his crippled client faced a throng of corporate suits, or a beaten-down defendant faced the power of the State. Seating was important to comely female lawyers with short skirts and a jury box filled with men, and it was equally important to drugstore cowboys with pointed-toe boots.

As a prosecutor, Rufus never worried about seating because it was never an issue. Will contests, though, were rare, and he and Mr. Sistrunk had made a decision. If possible, they would commandeer the table used by the prosecution and plaintiff, the one closest to the jury, and assert themselves as the true voice of the proponents of the will. Jake Brigance would probably throw punches, but bring it on. It was time to establish proper roles, and since their client was the beneficiary of the quite valid last will and testament of Seth Hubbard, they would stake their claim.

Personally, privately, Rufus wasn’t so sure about this strategy. He was well versed in the legend of the Honorable Reuben V. Atlee, who, like most old, seasoned, and often cranky Chancellors in Mississippi, ruled with an iron fist and was often skeptical of outsiders. Sistrunk, though, was itching for a fight and calling the shots. Regardless of what happened, it would be exciting and he, Rufus, would be in the middle of it.

He quickly rearranged the chairs around the table on the right, leaving three and moving the rest off to one side. He unpacked a thick briefcase and scattered papers and pads all over the table, as if he’d been there for hours with a full day of labor ahead of him. He spoke to Mr. Pate, a courtroom deputy, as he filled pitchers with ice water. Once upon a time he and Mr. Pate would have chatted about the weather, but Rufus was no longer interested in rainfall.

Dumas Lee entered quietly and, recognizing Buckley, went straight for him. He had a camera around his neck and a notepad ready for a quote, but when he asked, “Say, Mr. Buckley, what brings you here?” he was ignored.

“I understand you’re local counsel for Lettie Lang, right?”

“No comment,” Rufus said as he carefully arranged some files, humming.

Things have really changed, Dumas thought. The old Rufus would break his neck to talk to a reporter, and no one stood between Rufus and a camera.

Dumas drifted away and said something to Mr. Pate, who said, “Get that camera outta here.” So Dumas left and went outside where he and a colleague waited hopefully for the possible sighting of a black Rolls-Royce.

Wade Lanier arrived with his associate, Lester Chilcott. They nodded at Buckley, who was too busy to speak, and were amused by his takeover of the plaintiff’s table. They, too, went about the urgent task of unpacking heavy briefcases and preparing for battle. Minutes later, Stillman Rush and Sam Larkin appeared at the bar and said hello to their semi-colleagues. They were on the same side of the courtroom, and would press many of the same arguments, but at this early stage of the conflict they were not yet ready to trust each other. Spectators drifted in and the courtroom buzzed with the low rumble of anxious greetings and gossip. Several uniformed deputies milled about, cracking jokes and saying hello to the visitors. Ian and Ramona and their kids arrived in a pack and sat on the far left, behind their lawyers and as far away as possible from those on the other side. Nosy lawyers loitered about the bench as if they had business before the court. They laughed with the clerks. Drama finally arrived when Booker Sistrunk and his entourage crowded through the door and clogged the aisle and swept into the courtroom as if it had been reserved for them. Arm in arm with Lettie, he led his crowd down the aisle, scowling at everyone else, daring anyone to speak, and, as always, looking for conflict. He parked her on the front row, with Simeon and the kids next to her, and he positioned a thick-necked young black man in a black suit with a black shirt and tie at guard in front of her, as if either assassins or admirers might rush from nowhere. Around Lettie there were various cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, neighbors, along with assorted well-wishers.

Buckley watched this parade and could barely suppress his suspicion. For twelve years he had faced juries in this part of the world. He could pick them, read them, predict them, talk to them and lead them, for the most part, and he knew in an instant that Booker Sistrunk and his Big amp; Black amp; Bad routine would not fly in this courtroom. Seriously, a bodyguard? Lettie was a lousy actress. She had been coached to appear somber, even sad, in mourning, as if her dear departed friend was gone and had left her a rightful inheritance that the greedy white folks now wanted. She tried to look mistreated, abused.

Sistrunk and his partner, Kendrick Bost, walked through the bar and exchanged solemn greetings with their co-counsel, Mr. Buckley. They added to his pile of debris on the coveted table while they totally ignored the lawyers on the other side. The audience grew as the clock approached 8:45.

Jake entered from a side door and immediately noticed his place had already been taken. He shook hands with Wade Lanier, Stillman Rush, and the other lawyers for the contestants. “Looks like we have a bit of a problem,” he said to Stillman, nodding at Buckley and the lawyers from Memphis. “Good luck,” Stillman said.

Jake made the snap decision to avoid a confrontation. He eased out of the courtroom and worked his way back to the judge’s chambers. Herschel Hubbard arrived with his two children and some friends. They sat near Ian and Ramona. As the clock approached 9:00, the courtroom settled down. It was almost perfectly segregated-blacks on one side, whites on the other. Lucien, of course, sat on the black side, back in the rear.

Jake returned and stood alone near a door next to the jury box. He spoke to no one, but instead managed to flip nonchalantly through a document. At 9:05, Mr. Pate barked, “All rise for the court,” and Judge Atlee made his entrance, his old faded black robe trailing behind him. He took his place, said, “Please be seated,” then looked around the courtroom. He looked and looked, frowned and frowned, but said nothing. He glanced at Jake, glared at Buckley and Sistrunk and Bost, and then picked up a sheet of paper. He called the roll of lawyers; all were present and accounted for, a total of ten.

He pulled his microphone even closer and said, “First a bit of housekeeping. Mr. Buckley, you have filed a notice of entry into this matter as local counsel for the Memphis firm of Sistrunk amp; Bost, is that correct?”

Buckley, ever eager to stand and be heard, bounced to his feet and said, “That’s correct, Your Honor. I-”

“And after that it appears as though you and your associated counsel filed a boatload of motions, all to be considered here today. Is that correct?”

“Yes, Your Honor, and I would like to-”

“Excuse me. And Mr. Brigance has filed a motion objecting to your entry into this case based on your lack of experience, skill, and knowledge in these matters, correct?”

“A completely frivolous objection, Your Honor, as you can plainly see. A lawyer in this state is not required to-”

“Excuse me, Mr. Buckley. You filed your notice of entry, Mr. Brigance objected, and so that means I need to rule on his objection. I have not yet done so, and until then you are not properly recognized as an attorney of record in this matter. Follow me?”

“Your Honor, Mr. Brigance’s objection is so frivolous it deserves to be sanctioned. In fact, I am in the process of preparing a demand for sanctions.”

“Don’t waste your time, Mr. Buckley. Sit down and listen to me.” He waited until Buckley sat down. Judge Atlee’s dark eyes narrowed and the deep wrinkles in his forehead grew tighter. He never lost his cool but he could show a flash of anger that frightened every lawyer within fifty yards. “You are not properly before this court, Mr. Buckley, so neither are you, Mr. Sistrunk, nor you, Mr. Bost. However, you have assumed control of my courtroom by taking your positions. You are not the lawyers for this estate. Mr. Brigance is, duly and officially ordered by me. You may one day become the attorneys for the proponents of this will, but you’re not there yet.” His words were slow, pointed, harsh, and quite easy to follow. They echoed around the courtroom and had the complete attention of everyone who heard them.

Jake couldn’t suppress a smile. He had no idea his frivolous, obnoxious, even sophomoric objection to Buckley’s entry would prove to be so useful.

Judge Atlee went on at full throttle. “You’re not officially here, Mr. Buckley. Why have you assumed such a position of authority?”

“Well, Your Honor-”

“Please stand when you address the court!”

Buckley lurched upward, cracking a knee on the table ledge as he struggled for some dignity. “Well, Your Honor, I’ve never seen a case in which a duly licensed lawyer had his appearance objected to on such baseless grounds, and so I figured you would dispense with it on sight and we could proceed to much more pressing matters.”

“You figured wrong, Mr. Buckley, and you assumed you and your Memphis co-counsel could march in here and take control of the proponents’ case. I resent that.”

“Well, Chancellor, I assure the court-”

“Sit down, Mr. Buckley. Gather your things and have a seat over here in the jury box.” Judge Atlee was pointing a long bony finger in Jake’s general direction. Buckley didn’t move. His co-counsel, however, did.

Booker Sistrunk stood, spread his hands wide, and said in his deep, rich, booming voice, “Your Honor, if it please the court, I must say this is rather absurd. This is a routine matter that we can certainly dispose of in short shrift. It does not need this type of overreaction. We’re all reasonable people here, all trying to pursue justice. May I suggest we confront the initial question of Mr. Buckley’s right to enter this case as local counsel? Surely Your Honor can see that the objection filed by young Mr. Brigance here has no merit and should be summarily overruled. You can see this, Judge, right?”

Judge Atlee said nothing and gave nothing away with his eyes. After a few, heavy seconds, he looked down at a clerk and said, “See if Sheriff Walls is in the courthouse.”

That directive might have frightened Rufus Buckley, and it might have amused Jake and the lawyers on the other side, but it angered Booker Sistrunk. He stiffened his spine and said, “Your Honor, I have the right to speak.”

“Not yet, you don’t. Please sit down, Mr. Sistrunk.”

“I object to your tone, Your Honor. I represent the beneficiary of this will, Ms. Lettie Lang, and I have the duty to protect her interests at every turn.”

“Sit down, Mr. Sistrunk.”

“I will not be silenced, Your Honor. Not too many years ago, lawyers like me were not allowed to speak in this very courtroom. For years they could not enter, and once inside they were not allowed to speak.”

“Sit down before I hold you in contempt.”

“Don’t threaten me, Judge,” Sistrunk said as he stepped from behind the table. “I have the right to speak, to advocate for my client, and I will not be silenced by some arcane technicality in your rules of procedure.”

“Sit down before I hold you in contempt.”

Sistrunk took another step forward as the lawyers and everyone else stared in disbelief. “I will not sit down,” he snapped angrily, and Jake thought he was losing his mind. “This is the very reason I filed a motion asking you to recuse yourself. It’s obvious to me and many others that you have a racial bias in this case and there’s no way my client can get a fair trial. This is also the reason we filed a motion demanding a change of venue. Finding an impartial jury in this, this town here, well, it will be impossible. Justice demands that this trial be held in another courtroom in front of another judge.”

“You’re in contempt, Mr. Sistrunk.”

“I don’t care. I’ll do whatever it takes to fight for my client, and if I have to go to federal court to make sure we get a fair trial, then that’s what I’m willing to do. I’ll file a federal lawsuit against anybody who gets in my way.” Two courtroom deputies were slowly making their way toward Sistrunk. Suddenly, he spun and pointed a finger at one. “Don’t touch me unless you want to be named in a federal lawsuit. Stay away!”

“Where is Sheriff Walls?” Judge Atlee asked.

A clerk nodded and said, “Here.” Ozzie was coming through the door. He stormed down the aisle with Deputy Willie Hastings behind him. Judge Atlee rapped his gavel and said, “Mr. Sistrunk, I find you in contempt and order you into the custody of the Ford County sheriff. Sheriff Walls, please take him away.”

“You can’t do this!” Sistrunk yelled. “I’m a duly licensed lawyer, admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. I’m here on behalf of my client. I’m here with local counsel. You can’t do this, Your Honor. This is discriminatory and highly prejudicial to my client.” By then, Ozzie was within striking distance, and ready to pounce if necessary. He was also three inches taller, ten years younger, thirty pounds heavier, armed, and the look on his face left little doubt he would enjoy a good rumble in front of the home crowd. He grabbed Sistrunk’s elbow, and for a brief second there was resistance. Ozzie squeezed and said, “Hands behind your back.”

At that point, Booker Sistrunk was exactly where he wanted to be. With a fine effort at drama, he lowered his head, swung his hands behind his back, and suffered the indignity of being arrested. He looked at Kendrick Bost. Some of those nearby would later claim they saw a nasty little grin; others did not. Surrounded by deputies, Sistrunk was jostled through the bar and down the aisle. As he passed near Lettie, he said loudly, “I’ll get ’em, Lettie. Don’t you worry. These racists will never get your money. Just trust me.” They shoved him farther down the aisle and out the doors.

For reasons no one would ever understand, Rufus Buckley felt compelled to say something. He stood in the deathly silent courtroom and said, “Your Honor, if it please the court, I must say this puts us at a distinct disadvantage.”

Judge Atlee looked at one of the remaining deputies, pointed at Buckley, and said, “Take him too.”

“What?” Buckley gasped.

“I find you in contempt, Mr. Buckley. Please take him away.”

“But why, Your Honor?”

“Because you are contemptuous, along with presumptuous, disrespectful, arrogant, and a lot of other things. Leave!”

They slapped the handcuffs on Rufus, who had turned pale and wild-eyed. He, Rufus Buckley, former district attorney and symbol of the highest standards of law abidance, morality, and ethical conduct, was being hauled away like a common criminal. Jake fought the urge to applaud.

“And put him in the same cell with his co-counsel,” Judge Atlee roared into the microphone as Rufus stutter-stepped down the aisle, his desperate face searching for friends.

When the door slammed, everyone gasped for what little oxygen was left in the room. The lawyers began exchanging humorous glances, certain they had just witnessed something they would never see again. Judge Atlee pretended to be taking notes while everyone tried breathing. Finally, he looked up and said, “Now, Mr. Bost, do you have anything to say?”

Mr. Bost did not. There was plenty on his mind, but given the current mood of the court, he wisely shook his head no.

“Good. Now you have about thirty seconds to clear that table and move yourself right over here to the jury box. Mr. Brigance, would you assume your proper position in my courtroom?”

“Be glad to, Your Honor.”

“On second thought, let’s take a ten-minute recess.”

Ozzie Walls had a sense of humor. In the circular drive behind the courthouse there were four fully decorated patrol cars, all heavily painted with words and numbers and laden with antennas and lights. As he gathered his men around the two contemptuous lawyers in the rear hallway, he made the quick decision that they should ride together. “Put ’em in my car,” he ordered.

“I’ll sue you for this,” Sistrunk threatened for the tenth time.

“We got lawyers,” Ozzie fired back.

“I’ll sue every one of you redneck clowns.”

“And our lawyers are outta jail.”

“In federal court.”

“I love federal court.”

Sistrunk and Buckley were shoved outside and jostled into the rear seat of Ozzie’s big brown Ford. Dumas Lee and a cohort fired away with cameras.

“Let’s give ’em a parade,” Ozzie said to his men. “Lights, no sirens.”

Ozzie got behind the wheel, started the engine, and pulled away, ever so slowly. “You been in the backseat before, Rufus?”

Buckley refused to answer. He sat as low as possible directly behind the sheriff and peered out the window as they crept around the square. Three feet to his right, Booker Sistrunk sat awkwardly with his hands behind him and continued the mouthing: “You oughtta be ashamed of yourself, treating a brother like this.”

“The white guy’s gettin’ the same treatment,” Ozzie said.

“You’re violating my civil rights.”

“And you’re violatin’ mine with your mouth. Now shut up or I’ll lock you under the jail. We got a little basement down there. You seen it, Rufus?”

Again, Rufus chose not to respond.

They looped twice around the square, then zigzagged a few blocks with Ozzie in the lead and followed by the other cars. Ozzie was giving Dumas time to set up at the jail, and when they arrived, the reporter was snapping away. Sistrunk and Buckley were extracted from Ozzie’s car and led slowly along the front walkway and into the jail. They were treated like all fresh arrestees-photographed, fingerprinted, asked a hundred questions for the record, relieved of all belongings, and given a change of clothes.

Forty-five minutes after raising the ire of the Honorable Reuben V. Atlee, Booker Sistrunk and Rufus Buckley, in matching county jail overalls, faded orange with white stripes on the legs, sat on the edges of their metal beds and looked at the black-stained and dripping toilet they were expected to share. A jailer peeked through the bars of their narrow cell and asked, “Get you boys anything?”

“What time is lunch?” Rufus asked.

With Bost banished to the jury box while his cohorts were being processed, the hearing commenced and concluded with amazing speed. With no one present to argue for a change of venue or removal of the judge, those motions were denied. The motion to replace Jake with Rufus Buckley was rejected with hardly a word. Judge Atlee granted the motions for a trial by jury, and gave the parties ninety days to begin and complete discovery. He explained in clear language that the case had top priority with him and he would not allow it to drag on. He asked the attorneys to pull out their calendars and forced them to agree on a trial date of April 3, 1989, almost five months away.

He adjourned the hearing after thirty minutes and disappeared from the bench. The crowd stood and began buzzing while the lawyers huddled and tried to confirm what had just happened. Stillman Rush whispered to Jake, “I guess you’re lucky you’re not in jail.”

“Unbelievable,” Jake said. “You wanna go visit Buckley?”

“Maybe later.”

Kendrick Bost led Lettie and her people off to a corner where he tried to assure them things were going as planned. Most seemed skeptical. He and the bodyguard hurried away as soon as possible and darted across the courthouse lawn. They jumped into the black Rolls-Royce-the bodyguard was also the driver-and sped away to the jail. They were told by Ozzie that visitation had not been approved by the court. Bost cursed, left, and took off in the direction of Oxford, home of the nearest federal courthouse.

Dumas Lee cranked out a thousand words before lunch and faxed the story to a reporter he knew at the Memphis paper. He also wired plenty of photographs. Later in the day, he sent the same materials to the newspapers in Tupelo and Jackson.