Authors: Derek Blass
“
What do you mean?”
“
The emergency you are referring to, it was saving Mr. Smith?”
“
We had reliable information that Sergeant Shaver was holding a person as a hostage.”
“
Mr. Smith.”
“
Yes.”
“
And isn't it true that Mr. Smith had tried to kill you before you went to save him?”
“
That is true.”
“
What you are trying to tell me and the jurors is that you forced your way into Sergeant Shaver's house to save a man that had tried to kill you?”
“
Whether he tried to kill me or not is irrelevant. It was a hostage situation.”
“
It wasn't just a convenient way to arrest Mr. Shaver?”
Mason stood up and said, “Objection, Your Honor, argumentative.”
“
Sustained. The jury will disregard counsel's last question.”
“
In your opinion then, Officer Martinez, you didn't violate any rules when arresting Sergeant Shaver without a warrant?”
“
That is...”
“
When you stormed Sergeant Shaver's house with flashbangs and automatic rifles.”
“
If you let me finish, no, I didn't violate any rules.”
“
How many people were there when you effected this illegal arrest?”
“
None, because there wasn't an illegal arrest.”
“
How many people were there, Officer Martinez?”
Martinez let out a sigh and looked up towards the ceiling as he counted. “I think, about eight people.”
“
Were any of them officers?”
“
No, as I said before.”
“
In fact, weren't some of them criminals?”
“
I don't know any of their backgrounds.” Cruz did not like how the cross examination was going. He tensed in his seat.
“
Was there a Luis Gutierrez in your group?”
“
I don't recall anyone with that name.”
“
Were you aware that he had been convicted in Mexico of a double homicide, but was released early due to his political connections?”
“
Like I said, I don't remember all of the people that were there.”
“
How about Simon Morales?”
“
Nope.”
“
Did you know he was one of the F.B.I.'s most wanted drug runners operating at the Tijuana border?”
“
No.”
“
If you didn't know these people, who was your connection to the criminal underbelly of Mexico?”
“
I didn't know everyone there.”
“
But you knew a man named Raul Solis, correct?”
“
Yes, he is my brother-in-law.”
“
Was he the one that brought those criminals along to illegally arrest Sergeant Shaver?”
“
Objection, Your Honor!” Mason yelled. “This cross examination has gone on like this long enough. Counsel's questions are argumentative and ignore the answers that Officer Martinez is giving.”
“
I am simply ascertaining who Officer Martinez took with him to perform this illegal arrest, Your Honor. If he had used other police officers, as required, this wouldn't be an issue.”
“
I'm going to overrule the objection, but let's get on with this, Mr. Sphinx,” Judge Melburn said in a raspy voice. It was a napping voice.
“
My last question, Officer Martinez. What rule didn't you violate in the time between when Mr. Rodriguez was killed and you arrested Sergeant Shaver?” Cruz sat up in his seat. This was a tremendous gamble on Sphinx's part, to ask such an open-ended question. Martinez contemplated the question.
“
I maintained my integrity and made sure that the man who murdered Mr. Rodriguez is sitting here on trial today.” Sphinx calmly picked up his stack of papers and sat down.
“
The State's next witness?” Judge Melburn asked.
Mason rose from his chair and leaned on the counsel table. “The State rests, Your Honor.” It was a difficult thing to say, especially where there just weren't many witnesses to call.
“
The defense?”
Sphinx leaned over to Shaver and whispered something. Shaver shook his head and the conversation continued between the two. “Your Honor, can the defense request a brief recess, please? Five minutes is all we need.”
“
Five minutes. Everyone remain where you are, no milling about.” Judge Melburn went back into his chambers. Sphinx approached one of the court's bailiffs and asked to be allowed to speak with Shaver outside of the courtroom, in confidence. The bailiff looked at some of the other bailiffs who shrugged their shoulders. Sphinx grabbed Shaver by the bicep and led him out into the hallway.
“
Shaver,” Sphinx started, “You don't need to say a thing. There is enough reasonable doubt in this case for you to be acquitted ten times over!” Sphinx looked back at the courtroom to make sure no one was around to hear the conversation. “I
promise
, you can
only screw things up from here
. Trust me and give this to the jury now!”
“
I want my story to come out, Sphinx. I want the chance to say something!”
“
You'll get that fucking chance when you are acquitted and you go onto every fucking morning, afternoon and evening show in the fucking world!” Sphinx yelled. He was raining spit as he spoke. “This is
not
the time to speak up!”
“
But what about my story?”
Sphinx pulled Shaver farther away from the doors to the courtroom. “Your
story
?! You mean the story that you shot that old man in cold blood? The story that you may have killed the cameraman that caught you shooting the old man? The story that you may have killed other police officers, and that you may have called for hits from your prison cell?
Those fucking stories, Shaver?!
”
Shaver smiled and said, “You don't believe all that, do you?”
Sphinx pulled his head back from Shaver. “I've worked with a lot of sick fucks, but you're at the top of that list.”
“
I'll take that as a compliment.”
“
Don't. I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to get you acquitted, that's my job. At most, our interests are temporarily aligned. But don't confuse that for friendship or camaraderie. I'm not like you.”
Shaver's face turned red, he thrust his hand out and grabbed Sphinx by the collar. He pushed Sphinx back against the cold hallway wall and said, “Kidnapping people isn't a crime? I know the things you've done, Mr. Sphinx. You're far from clean. Spare me your
fucking
lectures.”
Shaver let Sphinx go and walked back into the courtroom. Sphinx adjusted his clothes. “Fucking asshole,” he muttered as he turned to head back in himself. They entered the courtroom just as Judge Melburn was taking his seat at the bench.
“
Has the five-minute recess brought any enlightenment to the defense?” he asked.
Sphinx looked at Shaver. Cruz had been watching the interplay and guessed that Shaver wanted to testify. He was an attention monger like that.
“
The defense calls Sergeant Shaver, Your Honor.” Mason had been hunched over his counsel table until Sphinx's words reached his ears. Some higher power had just provided a chance for redemption.
Sphinx stood up and moved slowly to the podium. His face had lost most of its color, and he fidgeted with documents while Shaver was sworn in. Sphinx raised his head and realized that everyone was looking at him, the courtroom silent and ominous. He cleared his throat and said, “Sergeant, tell the jury a little about yourself.”
The two did a forced dance through Shaver's direct examination. Performing a direct examination of your own client when you are a criminal defense attorney, is almost unheard of, and certainly not practiced much. Shaver explained his time on the force and how he rose from a beat to a gang unit to S.W.A.T.
Sphinx exhaled some of his pent-up air because Shaver was actually doing a decent job. He was credible, and had seemingly softened some of his rough edges for this moment.
“
Why was your S.W.A.T. team called out to the Rodriguez's house that day?”
“
Obviously, we don't get called out for every domestic violence call,” Shaver started. “But, when there's a potential hostage situation, including arms, that's when they get us out there.”
“
And you guys can be first responders?”
“
Not often—we usually support the first responders. But, on the day we went to the Rodriguez's house, the regular cops were spread thin with other things in the city. We got there fast, and we were the first.”
“
Describe the protocol when responding to an armed hostage situation.”
“
We treat it like a mini-war. Diversion, confusion, and hopefully submission without needing to discharge our weapons. So, we create sub-teams, get into position, breach with diversionary tactics like flashbangs, and raid the building.”
“
Is that what you did in this situation?”
“
It's exactly what we did.”
“
What did you find when you got into the house?”
“
The threat was supposed to be from the daughter's husband—but he wasn't there. It was just the daughter and her father. We still had to secure the area though, so I asked the father to get up from a bed he was lying on. I did that several times but he didn't respond.”
“
What was his daughter saying?”
“
I had no idea. I don't speak that language.”
Sphinx winced. “By that language, you mean Spanish, right?”
“
Yeah, sorry, Spanish.”
“
What was she doing while talking to you?”
“
She wasn't talking, she was screaming. Real animated. I didn't understand a thing she said, and her father still wouldn't move. He had his hands under a blanket and I started to get concerned that he may have something under there.”
“
What do you mean?”
“
He could have had a knife, a gun, anything. You can never be sure,” Shaver directed this last statement at the jurors.
“
When Mr. Rodriguez would not respond to you, what did you do?”
“
I tried to poke him, to get him to move. I just wanted him to respond. The daughter became more emotional when I started doing this, and it felt like things were getting a little bit out of control. So I was going to cuff her and then deal with the father. When I reached down to handle her, Officer Martinez lunged at me. At the same time, I saw the old man finally move, and Martinez discharged his gun in our struggle.”
“
How many times?”
“
I don't remember the actual number of bullets fired, but I do know that three of those shots hit the target.”
“
Mr. Rodriguez, you mean.”
“
Yes, three shots hit—Mr. Rodriguez. Unfortunately.”
“
You said unfortunately. Do you regret what happened?”
“
I do. I regret that we couldn't communicate with the family better, and I regret that he was shot.”
“
After this all occurred, what did you do?”
“
Followed the required procedure. Turned my gun in to inventory, wrote a report on the incident. Everything should have been normal, except that Officers Martinez and Williams split off from the team at that point.”
“
Now, we haven't heard much about Officer Williams. Who was he?”
“
A black cop in our team.”
Sphinx saw one of the jurors, the engineer, frown at Shaver's response. His luck had run long enough, it was time to wrap up the examination before Shaver said something devastating.
“
Was Officer Williams a part of the group that ended up hunting you down at your house to arrest you?”
Shaver furrowed his eyebrows. “Well, no, but before that Williams and Martinez...”
“
He wasn't a part of that group then,” Sphinx said, trying to cut Shaver off and get him to follow the lead.
“
Like I was saying, Williams and Martinez split off, and then Williams was involved in the murder of one of my other officers.”
“
That part really had nothing to do with the Rodriguez case though, right? And, it's probably part of an ongoing investigation so you can't talk about it?”
“
Who's to say what I can and can't do anymore? I've been locked up in jail since that unlawful arrest at my house. An investigation? No idea whether that's happened or happening.”
“
I think that wraps up my examination, Your Honor.”
“
Hold on, because I'm not done,” Shaver said. “Those two...officers...” Shaver managed to push out, “...attacked and killed Officer Lindsey. Then Officer Martinez hired a gang of criminals to chase me down to my house. I was shot multiple times,” Shaver said as he actually stood up and pointed to where he was shot.
“
Are you finished?” Sphinx said.
“
I just wanted to say that I've been a good cop for a long time—over a decade. Never been involved in anything like this.”
“
Thank you, Sergeant,” Judge Melburn said. “The prosecution, I assume you have some questions of Sergeant Shaver?”