Indicted (Bad Judgment #1) Read Free

or they think they found, evidence against him. That evidence was presented to a federal grand jury. The grand jury reviewed the evidence and decided to charge Walker.
    “Walker will hear the charges against him tomorrow morning for the first time at the Indictment. I will enter my name as Counsel of Record. The judge will probably schedule the arraignment for later this week.” He paused for a second. “You with me?” he asked, and we all nodded, including a begrudging Norris.
    “The next hearing, the Arraignment, is when Walker will enter his plea of guilty or not guilty. Then there’s the question as to whether he needs to be held until the trial, but we’ll argue against that, of course. We’ll aim for house arrest.
    “After that is discovery. That’s the longest portion of pre-trial, when we request and review documents from the government, and the government does the same with us. There may or may not be a preliminary hearing — we can waive it if we want to — but we’ll get to that part later. And then there’s the trial, of course, unless we plead out.”
    I wrote all of this down carefully in my notes, even though I’d studied federal procedure in law school and had gotten an A in the course. It took on more of an urgency in the current setting. I needed to do better than just a regular old A, unless it stood for “Acquittal,” which would be eminently acceptable.
    “I want you to read the statement Walker gave me earlier, and also to look up other cases. Write a brief memo and get it to me tonight. We’ll regroup tomorrow, after the hearing,” David said.
    I was writing some more notes and Alexa and Mandy were talking softly when a piercing, cold voice made me jump. “What are you waiting for?” Norris Phaland snapped at us. It was the first time he’d ever spoken to me. I immediately hoped it was the last. I grabbed my things and headed quickly to my office, happy to get away from him and his beady little eyes.
    “This is exciting,” Mandy said as we headed down the hall. “A celebrity case!”
    Alexa strode confidently next to her, beaming. “It’s the best thing ever ,” Alexa said. “We needed a sexy client around here. Broden Walker’s totally hot. Finally. I was getting tired of all the sixty-year old bankers looking at my tits. Walker can look all he wants.”
    I didn’t want to think about Alexa’s boobs — I couldn’t stand to think of them as tits — or Broden Walker looking at them, and I didn’t share the other girls’ enthusiasm. Federal grand juries did not indict CEOs for fun; the government must have some serious evidence to bring so many charges against Walker.
    “I’m nervous,” I blurted. My stomach twisted painfully. “Blue Securities is a big deal. We can’t screw this up.”
    Alexa snorted at me. “Don’t you ever relax?” she asked. “Broden Walker is a hot big deal. We’ll work our asses off to keep him out of jail. And then he’ll love us forever.”
    “I’m just so excited that you used the words ass, love, and Broden Walker in the same sentence,” Mandy squealed, clapping her hands together in apparent glee. I’d never seen her like this before; she was flushed and giddy.
    “Maybe we can read him The Model Penal Code at some point,” she said. They both whooped with laughter.
    “Especially if he’s a bad boy,” Alexa said.
    “Oooh, I hope he’s a bad boy!” Mandy said, with way too much enthusiasm.
    When did everybody I work with become a slut? I wondered.
    “Ha-ha, very funny,” I said. “What if he’s been so bad that we can’t keep him out of jail?” I asked, my brow furrowed. “What if he’s guilty? Or worse, what if he’s innocent and we can’t get him off?” I asked them, almost hysterically. “Then the case will be a monumental failure, followed by a lengthy prison sentence. That’s the opposite of sexy.” And then David would probably fire all three of us, to boot.
    They both looked at me for a beat, the