Due Process (Joe Dillard #9)(65)
Judge Neese looked at Armstrong.
“Is this true?” she said.
He started to answer, but suddenly, he burst into tears. He sobbed uncontrollably for a full minute. It was so pitiful I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
“I’m sorry,” he said when he finally composed himself. “I haven’t slept in weeks. I just haven’t known what to do. I love the job and I want to continue as the district attorney. Can’t we put a lid on this Barlowe woman?”
“Wait a minute,” Judge Neese said. “I’m far less concerned with Ms. Barlowe than I am with you, Mr. Armstrong. What’s been described here, even with the blackmail, is an egregious breach of ethics. Everything you’ve done in this case screams of prosecutorial misconduct. I’ll have to report you to the Board of Professional Responsibility. If I don’t, then I’ll be in breach of my duty as a judge. You’re probably going to lose your license to practice law, and if the FBI gets wind of this, and I’m going to make sure they do, you could be facing an official misconduct charge.”
“Please don’t do that, your Honor,” Armstrong said as the tears started to flow again. “I made a mistake and I regret it. I’ve regretted it every day since Ms. Barlowe first came to me and told me what she was planning. I just didn’t see any way out.”
“You’re a prosecutor,” the judge said. “You should have involved law enforcement. You could have wired yourself up and stung her, which is apparently what Mr. Dillard has done.”
“And let everyone know I’m bisexual? That I’m having an affair with a man? I didn’t see that as an option.”
“So instead, you allowed three young black men to be arrested, kicked out of school, kicked off of the football team, falsely accused of kidnapping and rape, humiliated in front of the entire country, be incarcerated and have their lives put in jeopardy. You gave interviews to news outlets all over the country and tried to set yourself up as a hero. You can sit there and cry all you want, Mr. Armstrong. You have to accept the consequences of your choices and your actions.”
A long silence followed, with the exception of Armstrong’s sniffling.
“Where do we go from here?” I said quietly.
“As soon as Mr. Armstrong pulls himself together, we’re going back into court.”
We waited a few more minutes before Armstrong was able to gather himself. His eyes were red and anyone who took a close look at him would be able to tell he’d been crying, but at that point, I didn’t feel the least bit sorry for him. The judge was right. He’d brought every bit of this on himself. Armstrong had allowed a terrible injustice to occur. Not only had he allowed it to occur, he was an active participant. I didn’t think things would go well for him when we got back to the courtroom, and I didn’t think they’d go well for him in the future.
When we finally walked out, everyone in the courtroom stood as the bailiff called court back into session. I took a seat at the defense table and Kevin said, “How’d it go?”
“We’re about to find out,” I said.
Judge Neese was flipping through the motion I’d filed. She looked up over her reading glasses a couple of times, sighed heavily, and finally spoke.
“Will the defendants and the prosecution please stand?” she said. “Mr. Dillard, after having heard the testimony presented earlier and after the meeting that just took place in chambers, the court finds that the prosecution of these three young men has, indeed, been in bad faith. It has been nefarious, selective, arbitrary, and, frankly, one of the most egregious examples of prosecutorial misconduct I’ve ever seen. The defendants’ rights under the Fourteenth Amendment have been violated. They have been denied due process. I want to say on the record that this court finds that not only are these young men innocent, but no crime was, in fact, committed. There was no kidnapping. There was no rape. This court will do everything in its power to see that Mr. Armstrong is disbarred and never practices law again. I will also do everything in my power to make sure that Investigator Riddle never works as a law enforcement officer again. I will encourage the Johnson City chief of police to pursue a false report investigation against the alleged victim.
“I know this case has caused deep racial division at a time when racial division was the last thing this community, or any community for that matter, needed. My hope is that the resolution of this case will help to calm the waters a bit and that we can get back to the business of respecting each other and doing what is right in our criminal justice system. Mr. Davidson, Mr. Wright, Mr. Belle, the court orders the cases against each of you dismissed with prejudice. That means you cannot ever be prosecuted for these crimes that didn’t happen, no matter what, and again, I want to emphasize on the record that this court specifically finds that these crimes did not happen. You are free to go. Bailiff, call the jail and have Mr. Wright’s and Mr. Belle’s personal effects sent over here immediately. I don’t want them to spend another second in jail. If they don’t have transportation, I would ask that their lawyers arrange or provide transportation. They can wait in the jury room until their clothing and other effects arrive, change out of those jail uniforms, and leave. Mr. Davidson, Mr. Wright, Mr. Belle, I apologize to each and every one of you for the pain you have endured. If I’d known earlier what I know now, I would have put a stop to this. Court is in recess.”