Lassiter 06 - Fool Me Twice Read Online Free PDF Page B

paperwork. Rosa Suarez touched a hand to a
silver barrette pinning back her dark hair and began reading in a
bored voice: “In the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, in and for Dade
County, Florida, Criminal Division, Case Number Ninety-four,
Thirteen, Twenty-one, State of Florida versus Louis Xavier Baroso,
we, the jury, find the defendant, Louis Xavier Baroso, not guilty
on all counts. So say we all.”
    All right! That jolt of exhilaration, the
momentary joy of victory. It always fades so quickly, I wanted to
savor it.
    Next to me, Blinky sighed and grabbed my
hand with a sweaty, hearty shake. Rosa Suarez cleared her throat:
“In the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, in and for Dade County, Florida,
Criminal Division, Case Number Ninety-four, Thirteen, Twenty-two,
State of Florida versus Kyle Lynn Hornback, we, the jury, find the
defendant Kyle Lynn Hornback not guilty on counts one, three, and
four ...”
    Uh-oh.
    “ ...and guilty on count
two, fraud, in violation of Section 817.29 of the Florida statutes.
So say we all.”
    Hornback’s hand slammed the defense table.
“What the fuck!”
    Socolow shook his head. He wanted Baroso;
Hornback was just along for the ride.
    I thumbed through the indictment, trying to
figure it out. Not guilty of grand larceny, not guilty of
racketeering, not guilty of a scheme to defraud, but guilty of
common law gross fraud. It’s an 1868 law that prohibits “cheating”
and sits in the musty tomes next to the statute that forbids
cutting off the head of sheep before they’re dressed. Just goes to
show why prosecutors charge everything in the book. Throw enough
mud on the wall, some will stick.
    H. T. Patterson didn’t flinch. “Your Honor,
we ask that the jury be polled.”
    “ Very well,” Judge Gold
said, nodding judiciously, and turning toward the jury box. “The
clerk has just read your verdict in which you have found Mr.
Hornback guilty of gross fraud as alleged in count two of the
indictment. Is that your verdict, so say you all?”
    “ You all,” chimed the
tattoo artist and the body piercer in perfect harmony.
    The judge rolled his eyes to the heavens.
“Maybe we better do this individually.”
    It took another couple of minutes, but each
juror affirmed the verdict. The judge finished by thanking the
jurors for their patience and wisdom, then handed out certificates
attesting to the splendid performance of their civic duties. He
told Blinky he was a free man and postponed sentencing for
Hornback, pending a presentence investigation of his background.
Over Socolow’s objections, he allowed Hornback to remain free on
bond until the sentencing date. The jurors filed out of the
courtroom, and the judge ducked out the back door. The stenographer
folded up her machine, cracked her knuckles, and left. The clerk
gathered up loose papers, stuffed them in a file, and followed.
    Abe Socolow packed his briefcase, stopped by
the defense table, gave me a friendly pop on the shoulder, and
said, “Go figure, huh, Jake?” That was as close to a compliment as
I would get.
    “ I figure it was a
compromise,” I told him. “Some wanted to acquit them both, some
wanted to convict them both. You made Hornback look bad on cross,
and they remembered that. Blinky never testified, so the lingering
image was Hornback fidgeting on the stand. Just reinforces my
long-standing rule against letting defendants testify.”
    Socolow smiled grimly. “You
mean letting guilty defendants testify.”
    “ Let’s just say I don’t
want a client to testify if he’s subject to impeachment on
cross.”
    “ You got a way with words,”
Socolow said, hoisting his briefcase toward the door.
    The rest of us sat there, the four horsemen
of the defense, H. T. Patterson and his unhappy client, Blinky
Baroso and little old me.
    “ I don’t believe this
shit.” It was Hornback, his handsome face flushed. He got to his
feet and was leaning over Blinky. “You owe me, man. You coulda
gotten me off if you’d pleaded out.
    “