Free Bear Is Broken by Lachlan Smith Page A

our system,
because our forefathers decreed that before a man can be branded a
criminal, the state must bring an extraordinary amount of proof. Proof
beyond a reasonable doubt.”
    I launched into a fairly standard set piece about Ellis’s decision
not to testify, explaining that he had the right to remain silent, that
the DA was required to prove the case against him and that he was
not obligated to prove himself innocent. Also, that neither he nor
Teddy nor I had to say one word, that we could have sat there with
our arms folded all through the trial. Then I talked about the other
evidence in the case, showing how ultimately everything came back
to Lorlee’s credibility.
    I’d stopped being aware of myself as a person standing in a courtroom
giving a closing statement. Instead, I was wholly the words I was
speaking, the jurors I was persuading; for several minutes now I had
been living not in myself but in their gazes. Their eyes were still on
me, some guarded and hostile, others open and frank, but all engaged,
all listening. Their pens were poised over their notebooks, but they
were not writing. The only person who was writing was Ellis. I heard
the scratch of his pen as he furiously sketched.
    “What you saw revealed here in court was an ugly situation, a
situation that must fill you with distaste. Ellis Bradley was having an
affair with his wife’s best friend, and Sharla was sleeping with her best
friend’s husband. That’s repugnant. But Sharla was Lorlee’s best friend,
and Lorlee had no reason to suspect that Sharla would reveal what
she told her in confidence. What she didn’t know was that Sharla was
Ellis’s lover, and that she couldn’t stand to see Lorlee do that to him.
Remember, too, Lorlee’s stake in the outcome. If Ellis Bradley is convicted,
she’ll get full custody of the children.”
    At last Melanie rose. “Your Honor, that’s completely speculative.”
    Judge Iris looked over her glasses at the jury. “I’ll remind the jurors
that what the lawyers say is not evidence. Proceed.”
    The objection took the wind out of my sails. I ran through a
shortened version of the conclusion I’d planned, a quick summary
of the points I’d made. “When you get back there in the jury room
and start talking about the evidence, and thinking about how what
you’ve heard fits into what you know about human nature from
your life experiences, I’m confident you’ll come to only one conclusion.
I’m confident that you’ll find Mr. Bradley not guilty on
every charge.”
    I walked back to my chair on stiff legs, feeling the way I’d once felt
after I’d hiked up Mount Diablo in the heat of summer with Jeanie and
had to come back down on burned-out quads, my legs wobbling every
step of the way. Ellis gave me a nod, and relief flooded through me.
    Melanie strode confidently around the table to the far side of the
courtroom, lifted the easel and her gigantic writing pad, and carried
them into a position in the well right in front of the jury, placing the
easel at an angle where neither Ellis nor I could see what she wrote
on the pad. I knew my brother would have taken the opportunity to
move both himself and Ellis over to the gallery right beside the jurors,
but after speaking for an hour I didn’t have the energy to budge.
    I checked my cell phone under the table. The hospital hadn’t called.
Teddy must still be alive. I wished, suddenly, that I was with him.
Beside me Ellis was still drawing.
    Melanie was ready. “Ladies and Gentlemen, you’ve just heard the
defense attorney concede that his client is, in his words, a scoundrel
who was sleeping with his wife’s best friend and that the only witness
in Mr. Bradley’s favor is the woman with whom for four years
he cheated and lied. When you look at this situation from your life
experiences, you’ll see at once that Sharla Johnson is the obvious liar,
the kind of woman who would chase after her friend’s husband. What
motive does she have to lie?