Angel appeared through the doorway to my right, and I smiled at her as I walked to the podium. She looked away. I thought she’d forgiven me for being so hard on her the day I questioned her about Erlene, but maybe not.
”Let me see the forms,” Judge Green said.
I’d taken plea-agreement forms along with me when I explained the deal to Angel, and she’d signed them. I now handed them to the bailiff, who in turn handed them to Judge Green. The judge didn’t allow lawyers to approach the bench to hand him forms or other evidence. He insisted that everything be passed forward through the bailiff, as though he was repulsed by the idea of having to deal directly with a lowly lawyer.
Judge Green studied the documents for a few minutes. His brow furrowed. When he was finished, he looked over at Frankie Martin and Deacon Baker, both of whom were staring straight ahead.
”Would you care to explain this to me, Mr. Baker?”
”Explain what, Your Honor?”
”The state is reducing a first-degree murder charge to an aggravated assault. You’re agreeing to probation. Did your victim somehow miraculously come back to life?”
”No, Your Honor. He’s still dead.” The reporters laughed. I thought about Junior Tester, and for a moment, I actually felt sorry for him.
”Then why are you allowing this woman to plead as though the victim were still alive?” Green said.
”I think it’s clear we have some problems with the case, Your Honor. This is a compromise plea agreement. An important witness has passed away. There are also some things that have come up in the investigation, things I’m not at liberty to discuss at this time, that convince me that this plea agreement is in everyone’s best interests.”
”Why don’t you just dismiss the case?” Judge Green said. ”You can always refile it if another witness pops up or if your other problems are resolved.
There’s no statute of limitations on murder.”
”We think this is a better way to resolve it. Mr.
Dillard’s client is willing to enter a no-contest plea to aggravated assault.”
”No, I’m not.” The soft voice came directly from my right.
Judge Green turned his attention towards me.
”Did your client say something, Mr. Dillard?”
”I think so.” I looked at Angel. ”What did you say?”
”I don’t want to do this. I changed my mind.”
Baker stood. ”But we had a deal-”
”Be quiet,” Judge Green said. ”Mr. Dillard, what’s going on?”
”I’d be happy to explain it if I knew,” I said.
”When I spoke to Ms. Christian on Friday afternoon, she seemed pleased. She’s apparently changed her mind.”
”You’re wasting my time,” the judge said. ”I don’t like it when people waste my time.”
”This is a complete surprise,” I said. ”If you’ll give me a few minutes to talk to her, maybe we can straighten this out.”
”Don’t bother,” Judge Green said.
”Your Honor,” Baker said, ”Mr. Dillard and I reached a compromise agreement that brings what I believe to be a fair and satisfactory end to this very difficult case.”
”It sounds like Mr. Dillard’s client has other ideas.”
”But she signed the forms,” Deacon said. ”She-”
”It’s not a contract, Mr. Baker. She can change her mind if she wants to. Her plea has to be willing and voluntary, and she obviously is no longer willing. I might have rejected it anyway, but it appears she’s saved me the trouble. Looks like we’re going to trial after all, gentlemen. Court’s in recess.”
Green was almost jaunty as he stepped off the bench. He had to know that Deacon wouldn’t have made such a lousy deal if his case was strong, and if Deacon’s case wasn’t strong, that meant he might lose just before the election. If he lost the case, he’d probably lose the election, and Judge Green would be rid of him.
I went back to the jury room and asked the bailiff to give Angel and me some privacy. She sat down at the table and wouldn’t look at me.
”What’s going on?” I said. ”I thought you were happy with this.”
”I changed my mind,” she said.
”Have you talked to Erlene?” She didn’t answer.
”I’ll take that as a yes. So Erlene told you not to take this plea?”
”She thinks you’re going to win.”
”I appreciate the confidence, but you’re taking a big risk.”
”You will win, won’t you? I’m innocent. Promise me you’ll win.”
I didn’t say anything. I wished I could promise, but I’d been through enough trials to know that I could never predict the outcome.
”We go to trial two weeks from today,” I said.
”I’ll be ready. I’ll come to the jail and we’ll go over everything again. Are you sure about this?”
”Not really,” she said.
I had to admire her courage, even though I thought it might be a bit on the reckless side. But what was more important was that I’d heard the magic words again: ”I’m innocent.” Once again, I believed her.
July 14
11:45 a.m.
Landers quickly found out what Frankie Martin had meant when he said he and Deacon would need Landers’s help if Dillard didn’t accept the ”offer he can’t refuse.” Less than an hour after the plea bargain fell apart, Deacon had called Landers and asked him to come down to the DA’s office. When Landers walked into Deacon’s office and sat down, they told him they’d decided to go to Plan B, which was to try to get Dillard’s sister to help them by snitching on Angel.
”I thought of that a month ago,” Landers said. ”I already took a run at her. She turned me down, but I was planning to go back. Her attitude might be different now that Judge Glass threw the book at her.”
”Great minds think alike,” Baker said. ”I thought of approaching Dillard’s sister as soon as I heard about the six-year sentence. Have they shipped her off to the penitentiary yet?”
”Nah. It’s so damned crowded they don’t have a bed for her yet. She’s on a waiting list. The jail administrator told me she’d probably be around another month or so.”
”I don’t like using jailhouse snitches, but in this case, it looks like we don’t have much choice,” Baker said. ”All the polls my people have taken say the election is going to be close. I can’t afford to lose this trial.”
”What if she won’t go for it?”
”She’ll go for it. We’ll offer to let her out as soon as the trial’s over.”
”What about Judge Green? He’ll never agree.”
”Screw him. I’ll get Judge Glass to sign the agreement. He’s the one who put her in jail, and he hates Dillard. He’d love the idea of Dillard’s sister getting on the stand and frying one of Dillard’s clients. He’ll probably come to court and watch.”
Landers smiled. ”Not bad,” he said.
”I didn’t get elected to this position by being stupid.”
Landers thought of a couple of wiseass responses to the comment but chose to keep his mouth shut.
He rose to leave.
”Wait just a second, Phil,” Baker said. ”There’s one more thing we need to discuss.”
Baker didn’t come right out and say it, but over the next few minutes, he made it clear to Landers that he didn’t give a shit whether Dillard’s sister told the truth in court or not. He said he needed ”direct testimony that Angel Christian confessed to Sarah Dillard that Angel killed John Paul Tester.” Landers was authorized to offer Sarah a get-out-of-jail-free card in return for her ”truthful” testimony.
The more Landers thought about the idea of Dillard’s sister as the star witness against Dillard’s client, the more he liked it. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Dillard’s face when his sister stepped up on the witness stand and helped the state convict Angel Christian of murder. And Dillard would have to go after sis hard on cross-examination. What a fucking show that would be.
Since Baker gave Landers the impression he wasn’t going to be too particular about the truth, Landers figured he’d make the process a little easier. Before they brought Dillard’s sister into the interview room at the jail, he sat down and wrote out a statement, wording it in the way Landers thought would help the most. If Sarah Dillard signed the statement, Landers would leave her a copy and she could use her time in the cell to memorize it. Then, when she took the witness stand at the trial, all she’d have to do was repeat what she’d memorized. It would be perfect.