Page 35 of The Happy Month

“What are you getting at?”

“They wouldn’t have offered him such a good deal if they had a good case.”

“They had a good case. They convicted him.” He set his jaw. Already this was making him angry.

“Looking at the pre-trial motions, you asked for several continuances. Can you tell me why?”

“I was giving Larry time to accept the plea deal.”

“It didn’t come with a time limit?”

“Of course, it did. They always say that. But if we asked before the trial started, they would have put it back on the table.”

“Let’s move on to testimony. Starting with Detective David Harper.”

“Is this about ineffective assistance of counsel? Is that what you’re trying to claim?”

“I’m sure you know that a writ of habeas corpus based solely on ineffective assistance of counsel rarely works.”

“What else do you have?”

“We’ll get to that,” she said. By this point, I was sure he’d put the idea that she was dumb right out of his head. “Can you tell me why a detective was testifying? Wouldn’tan officer have been first on scene? Why do you think they put a detective on the stand?”

“I’m sure it was meant to save time. The detective could testify to the case more fully than an officer.”

“The responding officer’s report is in the file you brought?”

“I believe so.”

“You didn’t go through the file to refresh your memory?”

“You led me to believe the deposition would be narrow in scope. I didn’t feel I had to reacquaint myself with the entire file.”

“You made a copy of the materials you’ve provided to us?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Detective Harper claimed that Larry Wilkes appeared remorseful when he arrived on scene. If the responding officer’s assessment disagreed with the detective that would be a reason to keep him off the stand. Do you think that was possible?”

“If I thought that I would have done something about it at the time.”

“To your credit, you did object to the word remorseful twice. Did you consider calling a rebuttal witness?”

“You’re assuming there was one.”

“Let’s move on to Andy Showalter. You questioned him on why he got a gun for Larry.”

“I did.”

“You didn’t get a satisfactory answer and then failed to pursue it. Can you explain that?”

“I don’t have the transcript. You know how much they cost. I would not have gotten one then, or now.”

“Andy Showalter and Larry Wilkes were both white teenagers who would probably have been scared of going to Compton at the time. What would the advantage have been to having Andy get the gun instead of Larry getting it himself?”

“Are you kidding? It’s always good for a murderer to distance himself from the murder weapon.”

“You asked Andy why he did it and he said he wanted to be friends. That doesn’t seem a strong motive. You made a snide remark but didn’t really pursue it. Was there a reason you didn’t?”