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favorable to an accused on either the issue of guilt or the issue of punishment. When we filed our motion with Judge Pogue, the Franklin home was still sealed as an official crime scene. Our affidavit put the state on notice that we believed the Franklin home contained evidence that would clear Mr.
    Coulter and it also put the state on notice that we believed that Mrs.
    Franklin might destroy that evidence. Soon after we filed our motion, the police unsealed the crime scene and returned the home to Mrs.
    Franklin. We consider that a violation of the state's duty to preserve evidence favorable to an accused."
    "Can we approve an order issued by a judge who lacks the authority to make it?" Justice Arriaga asked.
    "No, but we believe the court should address this issue as if the house was still under seal and an official crime scene. Otherwise, the state can frustrate legitimate motions of this sort by simply unsealing the scene before the court has the opportunity to act.
    "The Due Process Clause codifies the concept of fundamental fairness into our law. It's a wonderful thing to have a jurisprudence based on fairness rather than power. You can see the tension between these two ideas in this case. The state symbolizes power. It used that power to take over the home of a private citizen so it could investigate a crime.
    Once the state was satisfied that it had identified the criminal, it used its power to arrest my client and deprive him of his liberty.
    "These were proper uses of power, Your Honors. Fair uses.
    But the state's final use of its power was unfair. As soon as my client stood up to the state and requested an opportunity to examine the crime scene for evidence that would clear his name, the state exercised its power unjustly.
    "Legal motions should be decided by unbiased judges, not unilaterally by zealous advocates. When the police released the crime scene to thwart our motion, they acted in violation of the concept of fundamental fairness that is the foundation of the Due Process Clause. All Mr.
    Coulter is asking for, Your Honors, is a chance to examine the crime scene. The same thing the state was able to do through the exercise of its power. All he is asking for is a fair shake. Judge Pogue understood that and we ask you to be fair and permit his order to stand."
    Court recessed when the argument ended. Matthew Reynolds watched Abigail Griffen collect her papers and close her attach( case. In a moment, she would be fighting her way through the reporters who were waiting for them outside the courtroom on the third-floor landing. If he was going to talk to her, Reynolds knew it had to be now. Abbie started toward the door. "Mrs. Griffen."
    Abbie turned to find Reynolds following her. With his suit jacket flapping behind him like the wings of an ungainly crow, Reynolds looked like Ichabod Crane in flight from the headless horseman.
    "Thank you for telling the court that you didn't believe I would falsify my affidavit," Reynolds said with a tremor Abbie had not heard when he was arguing. "My reputation means so much to me."
    "No need to thank me, Mr. Reynolds. But I'm curious. That was such an odd accusation to make. Is there bad blood between you and Justice Pope?"
    Reynolds nodded sadly. "I tried a murder case against Arnold Pope when he was the district attorney for Walker County. It was poorly investigated and an innocent man was arrested. Justice Pope had a penchant for trying his cases in the press when he was a prosecutor and he promised a swift conviction."
    "I take it he didn't deliver."
    "No. After the trial, he threatened to indict me for jury tampering."
    "What happened?"
    "The judge told Pope he lost because he should have, and promised to dismiss any jury-tampering indictment Pope obtained. That was the end of it as far as I was concerned, but I guess he still harbors a grudge."
    "I'm sorry to hear that."
    "That's gracious of you, considering that Pope's animosity guarantees you his vote."
    "On the