The Justice Game

69

Jason moved back in front of the jury box. “Larry Jamison is not here today. He caused all of this heartbreak and chaos and loss. But he is not here. Why? Because the SWAT team took him out before he could kill other innocent victims in his vile rage. They used a standard issue Colt CAR-15 to do it. And you won’t see that gun being introduced into evidence in a lawsuit against its maker. It’s a military assault weapon, every bit as deadly as the MD-9-no doubt about that. But it was used to protect innocent life, not take it.”

Jason walked over to his counsel table and stood behind the chair he had been sitting in. “There’s an empty chair at the defense counsel table. Until now, I’ve been sitting here. But I’ve decided I’m not going to sit here anymore. Why? Because this is the number one chair at the defense counsel table, and the person sitting in this chair ought to be a lawyer for Larry Jamison. He’s the one who pulled the trigger.”

Next, Jason leaned over and asked Case McAllister to move down a seat, freeing up the second chair at the defense table. “This chair,” Jason said, “ought to belong to Jarrod Beeson. Right now, he’s a little busy, spending twelve months behind bars for participating in a gunrunning operation. He bought the gun for Larry Jamison, knowing that Jamison couldn’t purchase it on his own. In fact, Beeson bought more than twenty guns from Peninsula Arms and turned right around and sold many of them to criminals.”

Jason stood there for a moment, his hands on the chair in front of him. “This is Beeson’s seat.”

There was only one chair left at the counsel table, the seat now occupied by Case McAllister. Behind the table were several other leather chairs for legal assistants and others helping the lawyers. Jason took two of those chairs and moved them parallel to the counsel table but several feet away, on the opposite side of the table from the jury. He asked Case McAllister to move into one of those seats.

For the rest of trial, Jason and Case would be sitting there, with no table to put their notes on. It would be awkward but it would be a lasting visual reminder of his opening statement.

But Kelly Starling was on her feet. “Judge, I object to this… whatever it is. It’s certainly not an opening statement; it’s more like musical chairs.”

“It’s unusual,” Jason said, “I admit. But I’m not aware of any rule that says we’ve got to sit at the table instead of next to the table.”

“Let’s get on with it,” Garrison said. “Objection overruled.”

“This last chair,” Jason continued, “the last one actually at the table, is for Peninsula Arms. They engaged in numerous straw sales. They have actually been cited three times by the ATF. And they sold this gun to Jarrod Beeson knowing that he would in turn sell it to somebody else who wasn’t a legal purchaser. Yet you won’t hear from the store’s owner or the clerks; they’re all taking the Fifth Amendment.”

Jason surveyed the table and walked back to the jury. “There are only two reasons the plaintiffs are trying to put my client at that table. The first is because my client has money-”

“Objection!”

“Sustained. Watch yourself, Mr. Noble.”

“The second is because my client sold guns to Peninsula Arms even though they allegedly knew the gun dealer had sold some guns illegally. But let me ask you a question. When you buy a car, do you expect the car dealer or car manufacturer to check your driving record and refuse to sell you a car if you’ve got a few speeding tickets? No. You expect the government to suspend your license if you’ve got too many tickets to be driving. But if the government allows you to drive, and you’ve got a valid license, you expect the car dealer to sell you a vehicle. Ford’s job is to sell cars, not police the roads.

“In the same way, it is the responsibility of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms-we commonly refer to them as the ATF-it is the ATF’s job to police the gun stores. It is MD Firearms’s job to manufacture guns-good guns, guns that work as advertised-and then sell those guns to any licensed firearm dealer.”

Jason pointed to the defense table. “I asked you to watch that gun,” he said. “Did you notice that the gun hasn’t moved? It’s not an animate object with a conscience and a sense of good and evil. That gun is simply an object. It can be used for good, like the SWAT team used their guns, or evil, the way Jamison used this particular gun.

“Jamison pulled the trigger. Beeson supplied the black market. Peninsula Arms sold guns illegally. And MD Firearms? All they did was manufacture a lawful product that worked as advertised and then sell it to a licensed firearm dealer operating with the blessing of the federal government.

“Use the left side of your brain, and ask yourself this simple question: Other than the fact that my client has money, why is MD Firearms even sitting in this courtroom?”