Plea of Insanity Read Free Page B

say that she’d been blessed with some pretty good divisions and nice judges. Even in County Court – where she’d first started out in misdemeanor crimes and criminal traffic before moving offices across the street to felonies and Circuit – the judges had at least been respectful. Maybe they weren’t all learned scholars, but straight out of law school herself then, she’d had a lot to learn about the Rules of Evidence, too. Then the honeymoon had ended, reality had set in, and for the past long, four months, she’d been stuck here in Siberia with no end in sight.
    It wasn’t just that her judge was difficult; he was impossible. On good days they still did not like each other – a fact which was not all that surprising, because Farley didn’t like anyone, and he particularly didn’t like women – but it was definitely stressful. She supposed life could be easier for her if she did what most prosecutors in his division did: nothing. Simply let the judge have his tantrums, and object just loud enough for the court reporter to hear when he made a ruling that was outrageous or just completely wrong. Let the State Attorney’s Legal Division decide what messes they wanted to clean up on appeal. But, unfortunately, Julia wasn’t the type who could just do nothing. So every day became a battle. And Farley wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. As a sitting retired judge, he couldn’t even be booted off the bench by a zealous opponent or an outraged public at the polls. Only the Chief Judge – his brother-in-law – could move him. And until he died, the best Julia could hope for would be to move her way up and out of Siberia to an A-spot in someone else’s division, or pray for an assignment to a specialized unit. Neither of which was going to happen right at this particular moment.
    Farley tapped his pen loudly on the bench. The packed courtroom now sensed trouble, and the light chaotic buzz peppered to a stop. Suddenly everyone was very interested in what the judge had to say. Probably because he wasn’t going to be saying it to them.
    ‘ I seem to have the problem, then, Your Honor,’ Julia said, clearing her throat. She finally looked up. ‘Apparently, my victim on Powers is now unavailable.’
    ‘But you announced ready for trial on this on Thursday.’ A deep frown sliced across the judge’s already wrinkle-crowded face, forcing his white, wiry Albert Einstein eyebrows together.
    ‘I did, Your Honor. You see, my availability sheet at that time said the victim was ready, but since then she’s apparently indicated a reluctance to go forward. I’m going to need to have her personally subpoenaed—’
    ‘That should have been done already.’
    ‘Judge, we set Powers as number twelve for trial today. If you could just reset this till later in the week, we can go forward on Ivaroni or Singer this morning. I’m definitely ready to go on those. I can then have—’
    ‘You announced ready, State. That meant you were ready for trial. I’m not resetting this. You’re either ready or you’re not. If you’re not, I’m dismissing.’
    The Public Defender, Scott Andrews, smiled at the defense podium. One less case on his docket, and the chances of the State re-filing an Aggravated Battery without a victim were pretty much non-existent.
    Julia felt everyone watching her. From the corner of her eye she spotted the defendant, Letray Powers, in the box, a big gold grin on his pockmarked face. He raised a chained hand and high-fived the inmate seated next to him. Sporting at least 250 pounds on his six-foot frame, his muscles showed even through the baggy orange jail jumpsuit that he wore. Julia looked down at the pink arrest form, and remembered how Letray had taken a razor blade to his pregnant girlfriend’s face. Her jaw clenched. Here we go again, she thought, and looked back up at Farley. ‘Then the State is ready for trial, Your Honor,’ she announced, almost defiantly.
    ‘Did I just hear you right?’