Page 125 of The Proving Ground

Once the marshal was gone and the door to chambers was closed, Ruhlin focused on the Mason brothers, giving them the same scowl she had directed earlier at me.

“Is there anything you men wish to say to me?” she asked.

“Your Honor, we had nothing to do with this,” Mitchell Mason said.

“Nothing,” Marcus Mason added.

“Then who did?” Ruhlin pressed.

“This could have been set up by them,” Mitchell said, pointing to me. “So this would happen, so we’d get the blame.”

I shook my head.

“You know, Judge, I was just about to say that I give them the benefit of the doubt,” I said. “But then they have to go and try to throw me under the bus.”

“All I will say at this time is that I will be in contact with the US Marshals Service and call for a full investigation of this matter,” Ruhlin said. “Jury tampering will not be tolerated by this court. In the meantime, I will be dismissing juror eleven and we will proceed Monday if the other jurors remain healthy.”

I held my hands up in confusion.

“Your Honor, you’re penalizing the plaintiff for being the injured party here,” I said.

“How do you see that, Mr. Haller?” Ruhlin asked.

“If the court recalls, during jury selection the defense clearly didn’t want juror eleven, a Black woman, on the panel. It was only when I objected and the court agreed with me that they reversed their position. So what they couldn’t do then, they just succeeded in doing now. Maybe that was their thinking all along:If we can’t get a mistrial, we’ll pick off the jurors we don’t like.”

“Your Honor, I vigorously object,” Marcus Mason yelped. “Thirty seconds ago he was giving us the benefit of the doubt. Now he’s accusing us of this crazy scheme to get one juror kicked off the panel. It’s preposterous and insulting and I object.”

“We’re not in front of the jury, Mr. Mason,” Ruhlin said. “Noneed to object. But are you saying you would accept number eleven staying on the jury?”

“No, she’s been tainted by this whole thing,” Marcus said. “She can’t stay on the jury. No matter who set this in motion, we can’t lose sight of the fact that a member of the plaintiff’s team crossed a line and knocked on a juror’s door. It means she’s gotta go.”

“The fact that this was clearly a setup means she should stay,” I said.

Ruhlin didn’t respond as she considered the arguments.

“The weekend is upon us,” she finally said. “When juror eleven is healthy, I will question her about this. You will have my decision on all this Monday morning.”

“Your Honor, may I speak?” I asked.

“If you can be brief,” Ruhlin said.

“There is still the issue that obviously someone would have had to follow this juror home to set this whole thing up,” I said. “This concerns me. How many other jurors were followed home? How many are being watched?”

“I can assure you, that will be part of the investigation by the US Marshals Service,” the judge said. “But, Mr. Haller, this reminds me—you made an alarming statement a few minutes ago about attempted bribery. Please tell me more.”

“Victor Wendt, the founder of Tidalwaiv, came to see me at my office yesterday,” I said. “He was accompanied by both Mr. Masons but insisted on meeting me privately in my office while they waited outside. He had a briefcase with him and he showed me its contents. Two million dollars in cash. Hundred-dollar bills. He said it was mine if I convinced my client to take the last settlement offer proffered by the company. I said no.”

“Your Honor, this didn’t happen,” Marcus said. “He can’t prove any of that and he knows it.”

“Well, he might have knocked out my cameras to make it impossible to prove visually,” I said. “But, Judge, I would invite you to ask the Masons to confirm that they accompanied their client to my office yesterday.”

Ruhlin squinted at the Masons. Before she took me up on my suggestion, Marcus Mason spoke.

“Your Honor, Mr. Wendt may have met privately with plaintiff’s counsel, but that proves nothing,” he said. “He was, in fact, there to personally ask counsel to reconsider the offer to settle the case. There was no money, no bribe. That is pure invention by counsel.”

I waved off the statement and the entire argument. I knew this would go nowhere. It was time to move on. I had done what I could to throw shade on the actions of the defense team and their client.

The judge also knew it was time to move on.