“I’m not worried about going on the stand,” Ronnie interjected defensively. “And as to your question, I think there may be one or two pictures of me drinking, hanging out around a campfire with some friends, and there may be people in the background smoking.”
“May be? And smoking what?” he asked, sharpening his focus on her.
“Yes, smoking pot. It’s far enough in the distance that we could argue it is just cigarettes. But, I don’t smoke pot, and I have never smoked a cigarette in my life. Yes, I have had a drink or two on occasion, at parties, but I respect myself and my body and what I put into it.”
“Okay, Ronnie. I get it. But on the stand, you can’t blow your top and get defensive like you just did, juries don’t like it. It makes you appear belligerent, rude, and angry. Let me worry about what to argue and make the decision on whether or not to put you on the stand. Plus, the police can simply find these people in the pictures, and ask them. If they have any arrests for drug use, well, forget about it. That will look bad, very bad for you that you hang out with people convicted of drug use.”
As he talked, Ronnie knew this route wasn’t a good one. She had to tell him. “Shit, Joey, my ex-boyfriend’s friend, was the one in the background. And he was once arrested for possession. It was a small amount, but . . .” she trailed off realizing how that would look for her. Guilt by association.
“Not good,” he confirmed. “I’d say remove the picture, but I’m sure they already have it. The prosecution had two days last week, and with young people they go straight to social media to begin their search. Teens incriminate themselves constantly with the stuff they put on the net. On Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.” He shook his head at the stupidity of youth. Even with all the warnings and precautions, kids these days revealed way too much via the internet.
He shuffled through some more papers, and pulled out another report. “Let’s talk about the drugs the police found inside your scuba equipment and snorkeling equipment. How did it get there do you think? Their case revolves around this. If there is any plausible way to explain it and provide proof to back it up, they will have to throw out the case. It could have been planted by anyone, cruise ship personnel, customs, wherever you had your tank, and equipment serviced, a drug dealer, anyone, but can you think of someone in particular.”
This is where Ronnie didn’t hold back. “Absolutely. It was Gary. I know it without a doubt,” she added.
All eyes turned to her. Mr. Stimson was looking at her with new interest. Nikko was shocked by this new bit of information. He had assumed someone she didn’t know had planted the drugs. The scumbag.
“How do you know it was this Gary fellow? I see no mention of him in the reports other than he was your boyfriend and the two of you shared a cabin. No drugs were found in his belongings.” Mr. Stimson shut his file, and picked up his pen.
“Gary Caldwell. My ex,” she stated vehemently looking downcast and away from Nikko. “I know it was him because when the police were approaching, and the people in line began to murmur their suspicions because there were so many officers and custom officials with dogs, I turned to Gary, and he looked terrified. He was already backing away.”
“Really?” Her attorney’s voice sounded pleasantly surprised. “Tell me about
Gary?”
“I told this to the police, but they didn’t seem interested,” she confessed.
“They wrote nothing about that in the police report. That I find strange too. I will most certainly be calling the prosecutor today about that. What else should I know about Gary?” Mr. Stimson didn’t sound pleased that the police ignored putting this information in their report of their initial interview with Ronnie. He was taking notes while she spoke.
“Well, he does smoke pot, or did. And his family is connected. They don’t know about him smoking pot on occasion though. Well, not that I know of. But, I have seen him do it a few times. I’d thought he stopped. In fact, I had demanded he stop. It was one of the reasons we broke up last year. His grades were slipping and I suspected he was using again this year. I nearly ended it, but he swore he wasn’t using right before our trip. But, I’d noticed these last few months he had been sleeping more, missing classes, in fact he never would have graduated without me.”
“You didn’t cheat?” her attorney asked, looking up from his pad of paper.
“No! I wouldn’t do that. But before tests and exams I’d review with him, orally tell him what I knew and what I thought would be on the test. He scraped by. I’d also read his papers and give him suggestions.”