Juror #3(57)

“What happened when you knocked on that door?”

“No answer. So I used my key and I opened it.”

“Then what?”

She exhaled audibly. “I peeked in. Only opened the door partway. I said, ‘Housekeeping,’ like they tell us to.”

“Was there any response?”

“No. No one said nothing.”

“Then what happened?”

She turned to face the jury again. “I stepped inside and you can’t believe what I seen.”

“Objection,” I said, but the judge waved me down.

“Just tell the jury what you saw, ma’am,” Judge Ashley said.

She dropped her voice to a husky whisper. “I saw there was a black girl’s arms tied to the headboard of the bed, with duct tape. And a white man was on top of her.”

“What did you observe about the man in room 113?”

“He was naked with no sheet or blanket or nothing.”

“Ms. Gomez, what, if anything, were the people in bed doing?”

“Well, they don’t move, so at first I thought they were asleep. But the man’s face was so white, maybe they are not breathing. Maybe they’re dead. But I must have made a noise because he opened his eyes, he lifted his head. I thought he looked like a ghost. He scared me so much I couldn’t even move, not at first.”

“What happened next?”

“I looked at that man’s face and I wanted to scream, but I was too afraid…of what he’d do to me. So I shut the door behind me. And I called the manager. He came up to see, then he called the police on 911.”

“Ms. Gomez, the man you saw in the hotel room, lying on top of the girl in bed, is he in the courtroom today?”

“Yes,” she said, with a voice that rang with assurance.

“Would you point him out for the jury?”

She pointed a finger at Lee, her face twisted with loathing. “Him.”

Isaac Keet bowed his head. “No further questions.”

As Keet walked back to the prosecution’s counsel table, Judge Ashley said, “Ms. Bozarth, your witness.”

I leaned in to Lee and whispered, “Anything in particular you want me to ask?”

He bent his head to my ear. “Leave her alone. Don’t cross-examine her.”

I shot him a look of surprise. “Why not?”

“There’s nothing to be gained by it, and she’s poisoned against me. Get her off the stand and out of here.”

I understood his sentiment, but I had a point to make. Lee had been unconscious, unmoving, and therefore harmless when Juana Gomez saw him. I intended to make her admit it.

So I ignored my client. Picking up my notes, I walked around the defense table and leaned against the front of it. Lee poked me from behind and said “Don’t” in a dangerous whisper. Too late.

“Ms. Gomez, describe the defendant’s condition when you first saw him.”

Her brow puckered. “Huh?”

I was taken aback. Her English had been strong during Keet’s direct examination. “His condition. Didn’t you say he appeared to be sleeping?”

“Appears? I don’t understand.”

I took a step closer. “Ma’am, you said in your testimony on direct examination that the man in the hotel room wasn’t moving, his eyes were closed, and he didn’t respond in any way. Isn’t that correct?”

She was silent. After a second, she shrugged her shoulders.

I felt a wave of heat roll up my neck. Juana Gomez seemed determined to mess with me.

“Did he appear to be unconscious?”

“Conscience?” She shook her head. “That man have no conscience.”

I heard Keet chuckle. Snapping my head toward the judge, I said, “Objection, Your Honor. I request the jury be asked to disregard.”

“Sustained. Disregard the last answer, ladies and gentlemen.”

I walked all the way to the witness stand and eyeballed the housekeeper. “Ms. Gomez. The man in the hotel room—he wasn’t moving, barely breathing. So when you saw him, he wasn’t harming anyone. Correct?”

No answer. I raised my voice.

“Isn’t that right?”

In a sulky voice, she said, “Yeah. When I saw him.”

“And when you made the noise, and he did awaken, what was his condition at that time?”

I wanted to paint a picture of Lee’s vulnerable state, to set the stage for his incapacitation. We needed to establish that he was unable to do any harm. It was within my grasp, inches away, if I could just pull it out of Juana Gomez’s mouth.

She cocked her head. “Conditions?”

“Yes, condition. How did he act? What did he do?”

“Oh, him.” She sneered and turned to face the jury one last time. “He scream and cry like a little girl.”





Chapter 52



AS GOMEZ DISAPPEARED from the courtroom, Judge Ashley picked up his gavel.

“We’ll break for lunch. Court is adjourned until one o’clock.” He slammed the gavel on the bench, and Lee and I rose and stood while the judge departed into his chambers, the hem of his black robe flapping.

Lee turned on me and grabbed my upper arm. “Why didn’t you do what I told you to do?”