The Wrong Man

24

“Okay, everybody, stop what you’re doing on Stoller. A new game plan, and we don’t have much time. Twenty days, to be exact.”

Bradley John, Joel Lightner, and Shauna Tasker had joined me in the conference room. It was time to dole out new instructions for a sprint to the finish.

“Bradley, I want case law on the prosecution’s burden of proof in insanity cases and inconsistent defenses. I know it’s out there and I know what it says, but I want the most recent case law and I want a memo I can convert to a brief if need be.”

“Got it,” said Bradley.

“Joel, do background on the victim, Kathy Rubinkowski. I’ll look through the discovery, but we already know it’s light. They got their man the first night, and since he was a homeless guy with a screw loose, they must have figured they didn’t need motive. I have nothing on this woman. That’s what you have to find me. Who gained from Kathy Rubinkowski’s murder?”

“Who’s drafting the subpoenas?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No subpoenas. This is under the radar. Whatever you can get through your charm and good looks. Shauna,” I said. “Take whatever research Bradley’s come up with on the insanity defense on the use of hypotheticals and amnesia and turn it into a motion in limine.”

“I thought I was doing that,” said Bradley.

“Man up, kid. I don’t have time for a learning curve right now.”

“You’re not seriously going with inconsistent defenses,” Shauna said.

“They’re not technically inconsistent,” I said. But what a defense strategy I was putting together. Tom didn’t kill her, but if he did, he was insane. But it probably wouldn’t get that far. I’d see what the next twenty days would bring and pursue a defense of innocence as far as it would take me. I could always fall back on insanity. Point was, I didn’t have to make that decision yet. I could wait until the defense put on its case if need be.

I clapped my hands together. “Get me good stuff, people.”

Everyone scattered. It was mid-afternoon now, the morning having been spent at the Boyd Center with my client. I took the discovery file on Kathy Rubinkowski and started to read.