they've been around trying cases, these attorneys are fundamentally
incapable of distrusting their clients. Don't misunderstand me:
There's plenty of distrust to go around for police, victims, witnesses,
and prosecutors. But they always believe their clients.
Lisa Lopez was the truest of the true believers. Everyone knows that
police sometimes make mistakes, overstep their bounds, and even engage
in grossly unethical and illegal acts of malice. Yet somehow these
relatively rare instances of misconduct happened to transpire in 95
percent of Lisa Lopez's cases. And, of course, all her mistreated
clients were also innocent.
Lopez stepped forward and obtained the court's permission to meet with
Derringer and review the complaint and affidavit before she argued the
release motion.
For the next fifteen minutes, I pretended to review the file while I
looked at Lopez and Derringer huddled together like teammates on a high
school debate team. I determined he was articulate, because Lisa was
scribbling frantically on her legal pad. In a crunch, most attorneys
will cut the client off when it's obvious the time would be better
spent reviewing documents.
Lisa was impressive. When the judge took us back on the record, you
would've thought she'd had the case for a week.
"Your honor, this case is grossly overcharged. Ms. Kincaid's
affidavit lacks any direct evidence that anyone attempted to kill the
alleged victim in this case. Moreover, Mr. Derringer shouldn't even
be here. They've got the wrong guy. My client cooperated with police.
He told them he was at his brother's house at the time of the incident.
His brother has corroborated that information. Finally, Mr. Derringer
is not a flight risk. He was born and raised in southeast Portland,
and his family still lives here. There simply is no basis to hold him
without bail. We ask that he be released on his own recognizance."
"Ms. Kincaid?"
The key is to establish a good reason to hold on to the defendant
without showing more cards than you need to. "The defendant poses a
risk to the public that cannot be overstated. He is a paroled sex
offender who is only four months out of prison. His prior offense was
an attempt to sodomize a fifteen-year-old girl. In this case, he is
charged with kidnapping a thirteen-year-old girl, violating her with a
foreign object, and then directing his unidentified accomplice to rape
and sodomize her. According to his parole officer, the defendant's
only employment since his release from prison has been through
temporary agencies. If released, he is not only a flight risk, he also
poses an enhanced safety risk to the community."
"Alright, I've heard enough. How 'bout I split the baby on this one.
I'll make him eligible for release on enhanced bail of four hundred
thousand dollars. If he posts bail, he will be released to Close
Street Supervision."
"Your honor, the State also requests that you grant our motion to
withhold the victim's name, telephone number, and address from the
defense." Oregon's discovery laws require the State to notify the
defense of every potential witness's name and location information,
unless the court finds good cause to withhold discovery. "She is a
child witness, and the nature of this offense makes her vulnerable to
intimidation. The risk of contact with the victim is aggravated in
this case, where an unknown and unindicted co-conspirator remains at
large."
Nothing was ever easy with Lisa. "I object to the State's motion,
Judge. The prosecution's entire case rests on this girl's
identification of my client. Obviously, I need to know who she is and
what her history is. I also have a right and an obligation to contact
her to see if she'll talk to my investigator."
The docket was crowded today, and Weidemann was taking a typically
Solomonic approach to keep it moving. The problem with this was that
it prompted sneaky lawyers like me and Lisa Lopez to argue for more
than what we actually wanted so we'd get a bigger chunk of the pie.
All I really wanted was to keep Kendra Martin's address from Derringer.
I've never seen a case where the court protected the victim's identity.
And Lisa had been around long enough to know that no judge was going
to hand over the victim's home address once a DA had argued that she
might be at risk. Yet here we were, arguing.
The result was predictable. "The State will disclose the victim's
identity to the defense. As for the victim's location information,
reasonable information will be provided to Ms. Lopez so she can
prepare for trial. She will not, however, be permitted to divulge the
location information to Mr. Derringer."
Once the contested issues were addressed, Lopez recited the usual
waivers and invocations of rights for the record. Derringer invoked
his Sixth Amendment right to counsel, meaning we couldn't question him
without Lopez's presence. And he waived his speedy trial rights.
Technically, there's a statute that gives defendants the right to be
tried within thirty days unless they're released on their own
recognizance. No one wants to go to trial that quickly, so defendants
routinely waive their speedy trial rights at arraignment once the
pretrial release decision has been made.
I made the appropriate notes in my file, picked up the paperwork from
the court clerk, and left, satisfied. With that high a bail, Derringer
would need to post $40,000 cash to get out. Even if his family was
willing to put up their own money for him, I doubted they had it. Worst
case was that he'd be out on Close Street Supervision. If I called in
a favor, they'd use electronic monitoring to put him on house arrest
pending trial. It would also be some consolation that we could watch
the house and get a phone tap to try to find the second guy.
Lisa caught up with me on the stairs outside the courtroom and gave me
a thumbs up. "Thanks for the case, Samantha. My alibi versus your
heroin-shooting prostitute? Looks like a winner."
"I'm sure your client will be happy to have served as trial practice
for you when he's serving twenty years with a reputation as a child
molester who can't even get it up. Just a tip, but you might want to
check out Derringer's brother before you hang your hat on him."
I was going to have to tell her about the problems with Derringer's
alibi witness eventually, so I might as well do it now to knock her
down a few pegs. As is the case with most bluster, I didn't know if it
would work, but it was worth a shot. Lopez was right. The case would
be tough without additional evidence. I walked back to the courthouse
praying that MCT would find me something more.
Spending the first seven hours of my day on a case I hadn't even known
about until this morning had taken its toll. By the time I got back to