When did you say that?
I’m saying it now, Hoyt said. How old are you anyway?
What?
How old a woman are you? You’re pretty good-looking for a lawyer.
She stared across the table at him. She took up a pen and began tapping it on the table. Listen. Mr. Raines.
Yes ma’am, he said. You got my entire attention. He grinned at her and leaned forward.
You know what, she said, I don’t think I do. Because you need to stop playing these stupid games. I don’t need this from you. I’ve got seven other cases to deal with this morning besides yours. You keep this up and we don’t get this resolved today, I’ll see you next month and you can go back downstairs and sit in jail till then. Now do you think you heard that?
Hell. He sat up straight and pulled down the cuffs of his coveralls onto his thin wrists. Take it easy, will you? You’re all strung up here. I never meant nothing. You’re just a good-looking woman, that’s all I’m saying. I haven’t even seen a woman for a month.
That’s only one of your problems, isn’t it.
Yeah, he said. But not for long. Soon as I get out of here I’ll take care of it.
She studied the expression on his face. She thought of saying something to him but then just shook her head. All right, she said. I’ve already spoken to the district attorney and I’ve negotiated the option of two plea agreements on your behalf.
What am I pleaing to?
What do you plead?
Yeah. What do I plead.
You plead guilty to a charge of misdemeanor child abuse. As stated in the police report. With the stipulation that there would be no additional jail time. You agree to have no more contact with the two children and to stay away from their parents’ house. Do you accept all of these conditions?
You think I want to go back to that place after all the trouble they got me into?
That’s not what I asked you.
All right, yes, I accept them. Yes, I’m not going back there again and I won’t contact those kids no more. Does that suit you? What else have you got to say?
Before you’re released the judge will set a period of probation.
How long is that going to be?
A year, maybe two. That’s one possibility. The positive for you in this option is that you’ll be getting out of jail today. The negative is that if you violate your probation you’ll potentially receive a flat jail sentence because of it. Do you understand what I’ve said so far?
Yeah. What else?
Then there’s the other possibility. The charge could be reduced to attempt to commit child abuse. If you accept this option you leave the sentencing to the judge. The positive here for you is that if you violate your probation you’d probably have less jail time in the future. The negative is that you might not get out of jail today. Depending on what sentence the judge hands down.
She stopped and looked at him.
What? he said.
You understand what I’ve just told you.
It’s not that difficult. I got it.
Which option do you want me to negotiate?
I already said what I want. I want out of jail today.
Then you enter a plea of guilty. And you sign this form I’ll give you.
I have to sign something?
You need to commit yourself before we go into court.
She removed two sheets of paper from his file and turned the top sheet so they could both see it, then leaned over and began to read each section aloud, looking up at him frequently as she went through them. The Advisement Per Colorado Rule of Criminal Procedure, Rules Five and Eleven, Plea of Guilty stated his rights and the terms he would agree to in waiving his right to a trial, made sure that he understood the elements of the offense, that he was entering a guilty plea voluntarily, and that he wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Those are the terms, she said. If you understand the terms and agree to them, you sign it.
What’s that other paper you’ve got there?
Standard Conditions.
What’s that?
It’s a list of conditions you’ll be expected to adhere to while you’re on probation.
Like what?
She read through these aloud too. Sixteen conditions saying he would not violate any law or harass any prosecution witness, that he’d maintain a permanent residence, that he wouldn’t leave the state of Colorado without permission, that he’d get a job or at least try to get one, that he wouldn’t use alcohol to excess or other dangerous drug.
I don’t have to sign that?
No, there’s nothing here to sign. This is simply for your information, so you can make an informed decision. You only have to know about it and understand it.
Okay.
Then you’re ready to sign this form of Advisement?
If it gets me out of here, I’ll sign anything.
No. Now wait a minute, she said. You’re not signing just anything. You have to understand exactly what you’re signing.
I understand that. Give me your pen.
You’re sure.
You want me to sign this thing, don’t you.
That’s entirely up to you.
You going to let me use that pen or not? I don’t have one of my own. They’re afraid I’m going to stab somebody.
She handed him the pen and he looked at her and then ducked his head over the paper and printed and signed his name on the two lines and wrote the date beside them. There you go, he said. He pushed the paper across the table.
She took up both sheets of paper and put them in his folder.
What am I suppose to do now?
You wait with the sheriff’s deputy in the courtroom until you’re called.
She rose from the table and took her stack of case files under her arm and went out the door. He watched her leave, looking at her skirt and legs. The deputy waiting outside in the hallway came in, accompanied by the second inmate, and put the cuffs on Hoyt’s wrists again and walked the two of them down the wide corridor to the courtroom to wait for their cases to come up. The second inmate wore shackles on his ankles in addition to his handcuffs, and shuffled along slowly.
There were several people in the courtroom already, sitting and talking. The deputy led Hoyt and the other inmate to a bench near the back, and they sat and watched as more people entered and filed into the rows of benches.
After a while Hoyt leaned toward the sheriff’s deputy. I got to take a piss, he said.
How come you never thought of that earlier?
I never had any reason to think of it earlier.
Get up then, the deputy said. Let’s go. You too, he said to the other inmate. Before they get this thing started.
How come I got to go?
Because I said so. I ain’t about to leave you here.
They went out into the corridor past the lawyers talking to clients and past other people standing in groups below the tall narrow windows. They went down the wooden stairway to the main floor, the other inmate turning sideways taking one step at a time, then the deputy led them into the public rest room behind the staircase. Try not to piss yourself, he said to Hoyt.
Ain’t you going to unzip me? Hoyt said. I know you been wanting to.
I wouldn’t touch you with a goddamn cow prod, you sorry son of a bitch.
You’re missing your chance here.
I’m going to tell you something, Raines. Not everybody in Holt County thinks you’re real cute.
There’s some that do. Some of these women I could name.
Nobody I know of.
You don’t know the right ones.
That must be it. Now hurry the fuck up there.
The other man used the urinal too and they went back upstairs to the courtroom and sat down and waited. The D.A. came in and the young red-haired public defender took her place opposite him at the table in front of the benches where some of the other lawyers were already seated. The bailiff came in and checked the thermostat, tapping the little cage with his finger and peering at it before he sat down. Finally the clerk entered from a side door and called: All rise, and the judge came in, a short heavy dark-haired man in a black robe, and everybody stood until he was seated behind his high desk, then the clerk said: Be seated, and the judge called the first case.