The Justice Game

Part V: The Trial
59

June 29

The package arrived on Monday morning, one week before trial. The printed message inside was short and cryptic: Glad you haven’t settled. Thought you might need some help with Ed Poole. Maybe you could turn these over to his wife’s divorce attorney when you’re done. Luthor

Among other things, the package contained bank statements for the last few months from what looked like an offshore account in Poole’s name. The account balance showed nearly $300,000 at the beginning of June. There were sporadic deposits into the account and a $10,000 wire payment each month from the account to a bank in the United States. The recipient account was listed on the statement.

There was also a bill for a cell phone registered to Poole. Luthor had highlighted several phone calls and text messages to a number that Poole had called at least once a day, sometimes talking for twenty or thirty minutes. The phone bill was from the previous fall.

Kelly had deposed Poole a few weeks after Jason named him as an expert. Poole came across as folksy and patronizing, a former chief of police trying to educate a naive young D.C. attorney on the harsh realities of law enforcement. Criminals could get guns anytime and anywhere they wanted, according to Poole. Dealers like Peninsula Arms didn’t help, but if Kelly thought that closing down one dealership would have prevented Jamison from getting a firearm, then she was living in a dream world. Poole had seen underhanded dealers come and go in the Atlanta market for years. It didn’t make one bit of difference in the gun trade.

Poole even cited a few facts to back up his opinions. He was particularly fond of a Justice Department study based on interviews with nearly 18,000 state and federal inmates. More than 80 percent had obtained their guns through friends or family members or had bought them on the street. Only 9 percent of the guns used by criminals had been purchased at retail outlets illegally, either through straw purchases or otherwise. In addition, a relatively small number of guns used in crimes were what the media referred to as “semi-automatic assault weapons.” That number was about 8 percent.

And so it went, the personable former chief of police spewing out statistics and homespun Southern advice while Jason Noble could hardly suppress a smile.

Kelly knew she would have her hands full with Poole at trial. For that reason, the documents from Luthor intrigued her. But she was also skeptical. Evidence from Poole’s divorce case probably wouldn’t be admissible to impeach him as a witness.

Still, it was at least worth a few phone calls.

Kelly’s first call was to the number highlighted on the phone bill. A female voice answered, and Kelly asked for Angela, Poole’s estranged wife. The woman on the other line hesitated before she told Kelly it was the wrong number. “Who is this?” Kelly asked. “A wrong number,” the woman repeated.

Kelly’s second call was to Angela Poole’s divorce lawyer. Kelly told her about the documents, and the lawyer asked Kelly to scan them and send them as a PDF file.

Within the hour, the lawyer called back. “We thought he was hiding assets,” she said. “These documents give us everything we need to prove it. Poole didn’t include this account in his list of assets. The phone number is Poole’s mistress. We already had that information. I’ve got my investigator on it, but I’ll bet the wire transfers go to her account.”

Just like that, Kelly had some serious ammunition for cross. Poole had lied to the divorce court about his assets. Plus, who knew the source of the money getting deposited into that offshore account? She wondered if Poole had reported that income to the IRS.

But now Kelly also had a dilemma. Technically, Jason Noble had filed discovery requests demanding all documents that Kelly intended to use at trial. But with these particular documents, it would be a lot more effective if she could hold them back and surprise Poole on cross-examination. Sure, it would be a little sleazy, and the judge might chew her out, but only after she had embarrassed Poole on the stand. Some courts would even overlook her duty to disclose documents that were well known to the witness and used only for cross-examination.

She had no doubt what Jason would do if the shoe were on the other foot. He would withhold the documents, ambush the witness at trial, and then feign shock when the judge lectured him about it.

Which, of course, didn’t make it right. Kelly ran her hands through her short blonde hair, reminded herself to get a haircut before trial, and tried to balance her ethical responsibility with her duty to zealously represent her client.

After a few minutes, she gave her client a call. Blake Crawford was the one with the most at stake. Why not let him weigh in on the decision?