Collision Course (A Josh Williams Novel) (31 page)

Rodericks was glaring, but unable to respond before the door closed behind her.

Hawk smiled, noticed Rodericks looking at him, shrugged his shoulders, and continued organizing his notes.

Rodericks motioned for the US Marshall to come to the bench, handed him a note, and sent him from the courtroom.

Rodericks
came into the courtroom after lunch, loudly dropping his files onto the desk he said, "Gentlemen, please approach the bench, now!"

Hawk looked over at Collucci, and then followed him to the bench.

"I have been informed that Lieutenant Hamlin has filed a notice of complaint with the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court," looking at Hawk, "were you aware of any of this Mr. Bennett?"

"No sir, your honor. I know she was upset about your comments from the bench but if she told me of her intentions I would have discouraged her from such a course." Hawk answered.

"Well, if her intention was to intimidate me it failed. This trial will go on. I would suggest, Mr. Bennett, that it would be better for all concerned, particularly the defendant, if Hamlin did not appear in the courtroom for the remainder of the trial."

Collucci could not help smiling at this little turn of events. Hamlin may have unintentionally turned the Judge to the government's side.

"Well, your Honor, I can convey that message but I don't see how I can force her to comply. She's a rather determined individual."

"And so are you Mr. Bennett, do your best to keep her from my court." Rodericks replied, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

When Hawk returned to his seat he leaned over to Josh, "Our friend Chris decided to light a fire under the Judge."

Josh looked confused.

"She filed a complaint with the Circuit Court," taking in Josh's smile, "I am glad you find this amusing, this Judge is not a fan of ours. This isn't going to help."

"You know what, fuck him," Josh answered. “The prick deserves it for what he said about her. I'm glad she did it."

"Well, we'll see how glad you are when you're up there and he gets a shot at you. This isn't going to make it any easier."

Collucci interrupted their conversation announcing, "The government calls Cheryan Pincince."

The young woman entered the courtroom. She looked around nervously. The clerk motioned for her to come to the front of the courtroom. As she stood there taking the oath, she kept glancing over at Josh. Settling into the witness stand, she appeared terrified.

Collucci walked to stand near her. "Now, Miss, would you please state your name and occupation for the record?"

Cheryan glanced around and in a barely audible voice said, "My name is Cheryan."

The clerk interrupted and asked her to speak louder.

Rodericks looked over at her, "Young lady, there is nothing to be nervous about. Please speak loud enough so we can hear your answers. If you do not understand the question just ask them to clarify it for you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," she replied gaining a little confidence and relaxing.

"My name is Cheryan Pincince. I am eighteen years old. I am unemployed. I decided working at a convenience store is not for me. I am enrolled in a Certified Nursing Assistant program."

"Thank you," Collucci said, "you are doing fine. Now I am going to ask you some questions about the incident at your former place of employment. Just answer as best you can, and like the Judge said, if you do not understand the question let me know and I will try to help you. Okay?"

Cheryan nodded, and then quickly said, "Yes, I understand."

Collucci could see the jury was taken by this young woman. He was going to make some major points with her.

"Now Ms. Pincince, were you working at the Cumberland Farms, Taunton Avenue on March 15th of this year?"

"Yes, I was"

"How long have you been working there?"

"I got there around 9 AM."

"Ah, I mean, how long have you been employed there?"

"Oh. About a year. I started right after my Sixteenth birthday."

After Collucci took her through the preliminaries, he asked "Now on that day, did anything unusual happen?"

"You mean beside Mr. Subedar and CK being shot?"

Bits of laughter in the court until Rodericks' glare calmed the noise.

"I will ask this another way, please describe when you first realized something was wrong?"

Fleming shook her head at this performance.
She thought. How does a person like this become the US Attorney? He cannot even do a decent job of questioning his own witness. Maybe it was time to consider a change.

"Well, like I told the officers, I thought it was weird that CK was there. He and I never work at the same time."

The response caught Collucci off-guard, "Okay, go on."

"Then Mr. Subedar told me if anything went on I was to just hide behind the counter. That was really weird." She looked nervously at the jury then put her head down.

Collucci was frustrated. "Okay, Ms. Pincince, let me try it this way. When did you first see Ventraglia and Machado enter the store?"

"Well, first I saw Machado, I didn't know his name then," She began to answer, "I found out later they call him JoJo, but anyway he was wearing a blue hoodie and he was standing at the end of the parking lot looking up and down the street. He looked back at me and then started walking toward the store. That's when Ven…Ventrag…"

"Ventraglia?" Collucci offered.

"Yes. Ventraglia came in and yelled something. Mr. Subedar was at the end of one of the counters and he started yelling. I heard a shot and I dove down. I heard a real loud noise and then I heard CK yelling. Right after that, I heard another loud noise. I think it was the shotgun. Then the guy JoJo was on top of me," Pincince started to sob, "he, he told me he wouldn't let anyone hurt me."

Collucci nodded as he watched the jury, "Okay, now take your time. What did Machado, ah JoJo, do?"

"Well, he got up and I heard him and Ventraglia saying something about getting the money. That's when Ventraglia saw me. He started to point the gun at me," pausing to take a breath, "JoJo told him to stop but he said 'the bitch is a witness'. Sorry, but that's what he said," looking up at the Judge.

"That's fine, you just continue along. Don't worry about the words." Rodericks said.

"JoJo was arguing. Telling him not to do it. JoJo grabbed the shotgun and hit Ventraglia. He went down to his knees. He came back up yelling and I saw JoJo karate kick him in the head. I think it knocked him out."

"Okay, then what happened?"

"JoJo came over and told me to run." She replied.

"And what did you do?"

"I ran, faster than I could even imagine." Bringing more laughter to the court.

"Did you see JoJo after that?"

"No, I just ran and called 911 on my cell phone. I wasn't even thinking straight. I ran up the street and then around the back of the store. I don't know why. As I was going by the store, a car came flying at me. I stopped; the car turned, jumped the curb, and hit a pole. The driver fell out and I realized it was Ventraglia. He was lying on the ground. I lost it. I ran over and started kicking him. I know I shouldn't have," shaking her head, sobbing, "but he tried to kill me. The cops got there and pulled me away."

"No need to apologize, Ms. Pincince. I think we all might have reacted the same way," smiling at the jury.

Fleming sat in her seat thinking,
no, you would not. You don't have the balls. You would have shit your pants.

"I have no further questions, your Honor."

"Mr. Bennett, would it be a problem if we took a 20 minute recess to let the witness compose herself?" Rodericks asked.

"Not at all your Honor, not at all."

"Very well, 20 minute recess," banging the gavel. Pincince almost jumped out of her seat at the noise. Fleming came over and took the young girl to a conference room. Collucci ignored the gesture and continued writing notes.

Hawk and Josh were talking when Josh made a head motion for Hawk to look at the back of the courtroom. Chris Hamlin came in and sat in the back row.

Hawk motioned for Chris to come over. As she did, she could see Josh smiling and making a throat slashing motion behind Hawk.

"Well, well if it isn't our idiot ally that decided making a complaint against the sitting Chief Judge of the United States District Court of Rhode Island, mid-trial I might add, was a good idea." Hawk said, "What the hell were you thinking? Or more to the point, why did you stop thinking before you did something stupid?"

"If you thought for one minute I was going to let that pompous son-of-a-bitch condescend to me like that you should be the one using your brain. I am going to make his life miserable. Cranky old self-righteous bastard." Chris replied.

Josh added, "Do you mean Hawk or Useless, which cranky old bastard?"

"I am glad you find this amusing, perhaps it will be different when Chris, formerly of EPPD, is delivering the discount soap she gets as a new employee of CVS to the federal prison selected for you with the influence of Judge Useless." Hawk said.

"Well, it's done. Nothing you can do about it now. The prick had it coming." Chris replied.

"Okay, okay. I know he probably overstepped his bounds there, but couldn't you have waited until after the trial?"

Chris just stood staring, not even blinking.

"No, I suppose not." Hawk said. "Okay, but you do have to do one more thing I say."

"I suppose I can do that," Chris answered.

"Really? You agree to do this right?" Hawk asked

"Within reason, and it doesn't involve you being naked at any point." Chris smiled.

"I am going to puke," Josh said, "there's an image I didn't need."

Hawk shook his head, "remind me to be busy next time you two come looking for help. Okay, here is what you do. Get the hell out of this courtroom; get the hell out of the building. Now. Please."

"But...”

"Nope, that's the deal, now go!"

Chris looked at Josh who nodded, "it is probably best for now. After the jury is out you can come back and torture Rodericks if you like."

"Okay, I'll go. For now." Chris said, "But if that bastard does anything else I will be sitting in the front row staring him down." Turning around, she walked out the door.

"I love that woman," Hawk said, "but she is the biggest pain in the ass."

"I know what you mean." Josh concurred.

As Chris left the courtroom, the Marshal announced the Judge’s return.

“Mr. Bennett, I see I can depend on you to follow directions. I noticed Lieutenant Hamlin leaving the courtroom. Please keep it that way."

Hawk nodded, and then leaned over to Josh, “If our friend heard that she'd march right back in, wouldn't she?"

"No doubt," Josh replied, "No doubt."

Chris was a very private person, there was much about her only a few people knew, and no one knew it all. In addition to being a great cop, she was very well off financially. Actually, she was more than that; she was rich beyond most cops’ wildest imagination.

While she may have been a disappointment to her family in the grandchildren department, she paid attention to her father's investment advice. Between her own investments, and her inheritance, she could afford to challenge Federal Judges. She would not even notice the missing money if she left the PD.

Judge Rodericks might take some satisfaction in her absence, but it was nothing to do with her being the least bit intimidated. She knew how to pick her battles. She would undoubtedly win the war.

“
Okay
, Mr. Bennett, shall we recall Ms. Pincince to the stand?" Rodericks asked.

"Yes sir," Hawk replied.

Cheryan retook the stand. Rodericks reminded her she was still under oath.

"I understand," she answered, the break obviously having its intended affect.

“Good afternoon Ms. Pincince, I only have a few questions for you." Hawk said gently.

"Okay."

"Now you testified that you saw Machado standing near the road looking up and down the street. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Why did you notice this?"

Pincince paused a moment then said, "Well, I noticed him right after Mr. Subedar told me to just hide if something happened. I thought that was weird. Then I saw this black guy, I mean JoJo, standing there like he was watching for something. I just thought it was all weird, I don't know. I never saw anybody stand there and do that before."

"Okay, now was the fact he was black part of the reason you thought it was odd?"

"Well, no, I mean, not really. Mr. Subedar always said to watch the black guys when they came in, but I never really paid him any attention. He didn't trust anybody. It's just, I don't know, I can't explain, between Mr. Subedar telling me to hide if something happened, and then a guy acting weird at the end of the parking lot, just made me nervous." She looked over at the jury then back down at her hands.

"Okay, now you said he, Machado, started walking toward you?"

"Yeah, he looked at me and seemed surprised to see me. He started to walk toward the store. That's when Ventraglia came in and started yelling," she paused a moment, taking a deep breath, "that's when I heard the shot and ducked down."

"Now, I want to call your attention to after Machado entered the store. Did you hear him say anything?"

"There was a lot of yelling and I couldn't really hear anything because of the two really loud noises, I guess they were from the shotgun. JoJo was on top of me and he told me he wouldn't let anyone hurt me."

Pincince started to sob again, "He saved my life."

"You're doing fine," Hawk tried to soothe her, "I only have a couple more questions."

Cheryan looked up, "Thank you, I'll be fine."

"Okay after Machado stood up did he say anything?"

"He was arguing with Ventraglia. Ventraglia pointed the shotgun at me. JoJo took it away and knocked him out. That's when he told me to run."

Hawk paused a moment, looked over at Collucci, then back at Pincince.

"One or two more questions if I may," looking at Pincince's statement to the police. "Have you ever seen Machado before this happened?"

"No, I don't think so. A lot of people come in the store but I don't remember him."

"How do you know they called him JoJo?"

Cheryan looked up nervously, looking at Collucci. Hawk noticed him shaking his head, so did some of the jury. Hawk moved to block her view.

"I am not supposed to say." She replied.

Rodericks beat Hawk to the punch, "You're not supposed to say? Young lady, unless the answer to the question is against your interest in a criminal matter, you will answer the question. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes I do. But, I want to answer, well when I was talking to Mr. Collucci about my testimony, he told me to call him JoJo. He said it made him more of a nice guy for the jury. He told me not to tell anyone about this."

"Thank you, nothing further." Hawk turned, looking a Collucci, winked at him, and returned to his seat.

"Re-direct, Mr. Collucci?" Rodericks asked.

"No sir, noting further."

"You are excused, Ms. Pincince."

Cheryan stood and walked out. She glanced briefly at Josh and smiled, quickly making her way out of the courtroom.

Fleming watched with bemusement as the jury exchanged glances with each other.

"The government has nothing further your honor. At this time the government rests." Collucci slumped into his seat.

"Very well, Mr. Bennett?"

"Your Honor I have a motion to argue before we present our case. With the court's permission I'd like to argue now and, depending on how the court rules on the motion, begin with our first witness this afternoon."

“First things first, Mr. Bennett.” Turning to the Deputy US Marshal, Rodericks ordered, “Will the Marshal remove the jury please.”

As the door closed behind the last juror, Rodericks looked at Collucci.

“Please explain to me how your coaching of the witness doesn’t equate with suborning perjury?”

Collucci stood. “Your Honor, the witness must have misunderstood me. I never said any such thing about how she should characterize her knowledge of Mr. Machado.”

Reaching for a drink of water, he continued. “In my trial preparation with her, I referred to Machado as JoJo to make it more comfortable. She was never told to misrepresent those discussions.”

Rodericks stared at Collucci for a long moment, “The court is not entirely persuaded by the government’s characterization of these discussions. We will take this under further advisement for potential future actions.” Rising from the bench and heading into chambers.

Hawk smiled at Collucci, “Oh my, Robbie boy. I think you may be the first guy Useless actually sanctions. That wouldn’t be a helpful campaign boost, would it?”