Read Online Beyond Justice by Joshua Graham - Free Book Online Page A

contain myself, I bolted up from my chair and said, "It wasn’t mine!"  The chair fell back and hit the floor.
    "Bailiff," Crawford said.  The deputy leaned in my direction with his hand conspicuously resting on his gun.  I sat back down in my chair after Dave propped it back up.
    "Sam, please.  Keep calm," he whispered.
    Rachel glanced over to me.  Then back to Crawford.  "Your honor. My client denies the allegations.  There’s no definitive proof that the downloaded images are actually his."
    Walden smiled.  "It was in his own network directory."
    "Sticking to the case at hand," she said, "my client has no priors."
    "One out of four," Walden said, containing the chuckle.  "Not bad."
    "All right," said Crawford.  "Bail is set at three point five million dollars." He lifted his gavel and just before he rapped it down, Rachel interrupted.
    "Your honor, the Eighth Amendment requires that the bail not be excessive."
    "Excuse me?" His left eyebrow cocked upwards.
    "Bail should not be used to punish a person for being suspected of committing—"
    "Believe it or not, Counsel, I am familiar with the Eighth Amendment," Crawford said, his pitch rising.
    Walden stood there, resting his chin in the sling between his thumb and index finger, his elbow on his other hand.  He was smiling as Rachel rolled out more and more rope to hang herself with. 
    Rachel went on.  "But the purpose of bail is to afford an arrested person freedom until actually convicted of a crime, and the bail amount must be no more than is reasonably necessary to keep him from fleeing, before a case is over."
    Crawford, leaned forward, lowered his bifocals and glared.  "You’re obviously a little wet behind the ears, Ms. Cheng, and that’s all right..." No, it’s not, I thought.  I’m dead.  "But let me give you a bit of advice—would that be okay?"
    Rachel nodded.
    "Do not lecture the court on the Constitution!"
    She kept her head up with a hint of defiance. Swallowed.  "I apologize, your honor.  But it seems to me that you're setting bail as preventive detention."
    Walden struggled to keep a straight face. 
    Eyes widened again, the judge glared at her with incredulity.  "Keep this up and I’ll bump it to four million."  Crawford raised his gavel.
    "At this time," Rachel said, wincing as though the gavel was about to land on her head, "I would like to move for a probable cause hearing."
    Both Walden and Crawford threw their hands up, rolling their eyes.  "Oh for the love of—"
    "Ms. Cheng," Crawford growled and then drew a long breath.  "I am not known for my patience."
    "Oh my God," I murmured.  The void in my chest was matched only by the sinking feeling in my gut.  I put my head down into my arms on the table, but Dave reached over the rail and yanked me back up by the elbow.
    "Keep your head up," he said, releasing me before the bailiff noticed.
    I plastered on my ‘dignified’ face.
    "Prosecutorial misconduct, your honor," said Rachel.  "My client’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights were violated."
    "You have evidence?" Crawford said.
    "Yes."
    Walden turned around and looked at Detective Pearson, who sat expressionless.
    "Go on, then," Crawford said.
    Rachel came back to the desk and pulled some papers from her briefcase. "Trust me?" she whispered.
    Did I have a choice?  I nodded, tentatively. 
    She patted my arm and approached the bench.  Walden rolled his eyes again.  I wondered if they might roll right out of his head.
    Rachel took a deep breath, then began. "Though my client was read his Miranda rights, he was not given access to a phone or an attorney for several hours.  At least two attempts at interrogations were made, despite the fact that my client had in fact stated that he wanted an attorney.  The District Attorney’s office sent Kenneth Dodd, DDA, in an attempt to extract a statement by knowingly and willfully misrepresenting himself as a State appointed defense attorney."
    Walden cleared his throat.  "A