Free The Jury by Steve Martini

His great grandfather was one of the railroad barons of the mid-Atlantic states. All I know is that my bill, computed on an hourly basis, is paid every month without question by an accounting firm in the Big Apple, and the checks don't bounce.
    "Maybe if he was out on bail the university would see it differently?" she says.
    I explain to her that the court has already denied bail. And even if they did let him out pending trial, the university would never reinstate him as project director. Not while the case is pending. Crone is charged with killing a fellow employee of the university. This has implications. A possible lawsuit for damages.
    "Oh."
    I can't get into the details, but the fact that Kalista Jordan filed a sexual-harassment claim before she was killed places the employer on thin ice.
    Their lawyers are already conjuring thoughts of civil liability, wrongful death with the university as a party on grounds that they permitted a hostile work environment.
    This leaves only one thought in Doris's mind: that I must win the case, and do it quickly.
    I'm not even sure this will change the landscape. "You should steel yourself to the possibility that none of this may help," I tell her.
    "The funds are probably gone. The study may be too far along for them to change it at this stage."
    "I don't want to think about that." Doris is in denial.
    "We may not be able to get her in, and even if we do, effective gene therapies may be a long way off."
    "I know. But I can't think about that."
    "There's something else," I tell her.
    "The possibility that even if Dr. Crone is acquitted, the university may not reinstate him."
    This is something she hasn't considered.
    "Why not? Why wouldn't they?" Her eyes are now large and round with indignation.
    Crone is the only person in a position to help her child, and I am now telling her that even this may be an illusion.
    "Embarrassment. Public humiliation. The university may want to stay clear of the scandal even if the jury is not convinced that Crone killed the woman. It's a fact that reasonable doubt is not the same
    thing as a social seal of approval. Crone is going to be carrying a lot of baggage when this is over, no matter what happens."
    "So what do we do?" she says.
    "We may have invested too much hope," I tell her.
    "What else can I do?" Parent hanging from a frayed thread.
    I have no answer.
    chapter five he was wrong," says Crone.
    "Who?" Harry is sitting at the table, the one bolted to the floor of the small conference room near Judge Coats's courtroom.
    Crone is busy readying himself for court, running a comb through long wisps of thinning dark hair so that he doesn't look like the mad professor. He peers into a stainless-steel mirror on the wall to make sure his tie is straight, this despite the fact that the ends are uneven. He is not what you would call a natty dresser. Even with these final acts of preening there is a certain professorial slouch in his stance and a slept-in appearance to his clothing. He doesn't wear a suit. Instead, he opts for the less formal appearance of a corduroy sport coat over a plaid shirt, and gray Dockers, none of which he has allowed to be pressed. It is as if seamless trousers and wrinkled cloth were a badge of academic honor, a message to the world, and the jury, that he flies by some other convention. A generation ago this might have been a problem. Today half the jury pool shows up in T-shirts and jeans and has to be scanned for weapons before they are admitted to the jury commissioner's waiting area.
    "The coroner, Max Schwimmer," says Crone.
    "If he's going to testify under oath, then he should get it right. And it's not ten percent."
    "What are you talking about?" says Harry.
    "The percentage of left-handed people in the population. It's more like fifteen, not ten."
    "I'll be sure and make a note," says Harry. He gives me a look out of the corner of one eye as if to say, That's gonna save us. Harry has not warmed to Crone.
    There is something