Free Temporary Sanity by Rose Connors Page B

you.”
    I roll my eyes at Harry, but the Hammond relatives, it seems, are serious. Buck’s mother steps forward, a petite, gray-haired woman wearing her Sunday best in spite of the snowstorm. She has tears in her eyes. “Please,” she says, taking Patty’s hand in hers, “it might make a difference.”
    The pendulum clock on the wall behind the jury box says it’s almost one-thirty. I have half an hour to prepare the opening statement for the most difficult trial I’ve ever faced.
    “Okay. I’ll open. That means I’d better get to work.”
    The small herd of family members heads for the courtroom doors, but I stop Patty as she passes. “I’m going to need some help from you,” I tell her.
    “From me?”
    “Yes. Get back here a few minutes early and I’ll explain.”
    “Okay,” she says. Nothing surprises Patty Hammond anymore. She’s stopped asking questions.
    Patty and her sad family head down the aisle and I set up at the defense table. Harry waits until the last of the relatives is gone, then leans over and brushes his lips against the back of my neck.
    The tingle down my spine isn’t going to do anything good for my opening statement.
    “Get lost, Harry.” I swat at him. “I have work to do.”
    “Okay.” He laughs. “Lucky for you this old dog needs food. What can I bring you?”
    “Coffee.”
    “Is that all?”
    “Yup.”
    “Nothing to eat?”
    I turn around to face him and his expression makes me laugh. Not eating when offered the opportunity is a concept Harry can’t grasp.
    “Oh, I get it,” he says, headed for the courtroom doors. “You don’t fool me. You’re every bit as hungry as I am.” He smiles at me over his shoulder, then narrows his eyes. “But it’s the hungry lioness who kills.”

Chapter 15
    Jury nullification. I knew the day it happened that Buck Hammond’s defense attorney would ask the jury to nullify the law, to acquit Buck Hammond even though the facts that prove his guilt are uncontroverted. I felt sorry, that day, for the poor lawyer who would end up in that unfortunate position. I would have felt sorrier if I’d known I was that lawyer.
    That’s not our stated defense, of course. Officially, we’re relying on a temporary insanity plea. These jurors may conclude, if they so choose, that Buck Hammond was insane when he pulled the trigger. We’ll present expert testimony to that effect. The jurors might find that Buck was unable, during that isolated time span, to distinguish right from wrong, to conform his behavior to the requirements of the law.
    But generally speaking, jurors don’t like the temporary insanity defense. Neither do I. It’s too convenient, too tidy. More important, Buck Hammond doesn’t like it. He won’t cooperate with that portion of our defense, he says. He’ll tell the jurors he knew exactly what he was doing. He’ll say he knew he was breaking the law, he did it anyway, and given the opportunity, he’d do it again tomorrow. Further evidence of insanity, I might have to argue.
    Not now, though. Now it’s my job to paint with broad strokes, to give these jurors the gut-wrenching facts they should bear in mind as they listen to the prosecution’s witnesses. It’s my job to invite each one of them to stand in Buck Hammond’s shoes as they evaluate the testimony against him. It’s my job to help them reach a conclusion they almost certainly won’t want to accept: Put in Buck’s circumstances, any one of us is capable of pulling the trigger.
    Stanley ended his opening statement with the television footage of the predawn shooting. The panel sat in sober silence as they watched the chopper land at Chatham Municipal Airport amid squad cars, canine units, and television crews. The jurors were motionless as Hector Monteros emerged, cuffed, flanked by U.S. marshals, their weapons drawn. The panel held its collective breath when Monteros descended to the floodlit runway and Buck Hammond stepped from the shadows of the airport’s