A Good Marriage(64)
“And, Your Honor, first degree?” I asked. “On what possible grounds?”
The premeditation involved in first-degree murder conflicted directly with the crime of passion theory Wendy Wallace had just laid out. Obviously, they could pursue any theory they liked, but there was the chance—with Judge Yu on my side—that I could at least use my objection to do a little reconnaissance. What did Wendy Wallace know that I did not?
“As counsel well knows, we are at liberty to amend the indictment to include second-degree or other lesser offenses at a later time,” Wendy Wallace replied smoothly as she sauntered back to the prosecution table. We know this happened, unless we decide this completely different thing happened. Such were the mental gymnastics permitted by our justice system. “We are also under no obligation to share grand jury evidence with defense counsel at this time.”
“But you are obligated to share some of your evidence with me,” the judge countered brusquely. She didn’t like being strong-armed by Wendy Wallace any more than I did. Luckily, she had the power to do something about it. “Given the context of everything else that’s gone on here, I think defense counsel can be privy to your theory in broad strokes.”
Wendy Wallace didn’t seem the least bit bothered, which suggested her case was even stronger than I knew. “Very well. We’ve received a preliminary forensics report confirming that the defendant’s fingerprints and the victim’s blood were found on the murder weapon. We also have evidence that Amanda Grayson was having an extramarital affair, providing ample motive for the defendant to kill his wife.”
“Your Honor, the prosecution has no actual evidence of an alleged affair,” I protested, hoping that Wendy Wallace might give up a name. While an affair might have been proof of Zach’s motive, it would also have handed me another possible suspect: Amanda’s lover. Maybe this supposed paramour was even the person stalking her?
“Witnesses saw Amanda Grayson heading ‘upstairs’ with a lover at the sex party she and Mr. Grayson attended right before her death. And, as counsel well knows, premeditation need not occur weeks in advance. Hours or even minutes suffice.” Wendy Wallace was certainly correct about that. But surely she also knew who it was that Amanda had been with that night, and there was a reason she wasn’t mentioning it. It must have been a weakness in her case. “And the defendant refuses to account for his whereabouts at the time of the murder. So we have motive, opportunity, and physical evidence that ties the defendant to the crime—certainly adequate for a first-degree indictment. Perhaps he’d like to say where he was, and we could get this all cleared up.”
Zach claimed he’d been walking on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Maude was a much better alibi, even with the complications it presented. But I hadn’t even had the chance to speak with Zach about it yet. Besides, Wendy Wallace was baiting me, and I wasn’t falling for it. Maybe she already knew about Maude and wanted me to say something. And to what end? It wouldn’t get Zach bail. Alibis went to whether a defendant was guilty, not whether he was likely to flee.
The same was true of Amanda having a stalker. I could raise it now and hope the suggestion of an alternate suspect might curry favor with Judge Yu, but it wasn’t actually relevant to bail. The prosecution had gotten their murder indictment, and so that train had left the station. I needed to focus on the narrow issue at hand.
“Your Honor, can we return to the issue of bail?” I pressed. And now, a frontal assault on Wendy Wallace. It was all I had left. “The decision to remand my client was an erroneous one based on prosecutorial misconduct.”
“Misconduct?” Wendy Wallace laughed icily, but didn’t seem remotely rattled. “That’s absurd.”
“The prosecution deliberately introduced photos of a murder scene, which were not relevant to the issue of bail on an unrelated charge. That initial erroneous bail determination should not be allowed to remain in effect simply because the prosecution has now amended its charges.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Paul nod. I had done a solid job laying out our argument.
Judge Yu took an annoyed breath, then paged again through the brief in front of her, which she was already clearly very familiar with. “The prosecution’s tactics in this case certainly leave much to be desired. It’s clear to me that Mr. Grayson should not have been held initially. I also have grave concerns about the circumstances that led to his arrest.” Judge Yu shot another look at Wendy Wallace. “However, I cannot prevent the State from lawfully amending the indictment now. So here’s what we’re going to do. Let’s start again, right now, in my courtroom. I will hear arguments on bail. The charge is murder in the first degree.”
This was Judge Yu being generous, giving me a chance.
“Your Honor, my client has a young son, a business, deep ties to this community,” I reiterated. “He has no criminal record and there is no evidence indicating he ever contemplated flight. There is absolutely no legitimate reason Zach Grayson should not be granted reasonable bail.”
That was my best argument: principled, clean, straightforward. Unfortunately, it was still a loser.
“And what’s ‘reasonable bail’ in the case of a multimillionaire like your client?” Wendy Wallace asked. “What dollar figure would he not be willing to walk away from? Your Honor, Zach Grayson’s son isn’t even living with him at the moment. He’s already off in California, shipped conveniently out of state so that Mr. Grayson can retrieve him and be easily on his way to some distant foreign locale. Two weeks ago, Mr. Grayson even asked his assistant to look into flights to Brazil.”