The Gods of Guilt(88)

Forsythe objected and asked to approach the judge’s bench. He obviously didn’t want the jury hearing any part of what Valenzuela wanted to say. The judge waved us up and turned on the noise-canceling fan.

“Judge, where is this going?” Forsythe asked. “With his very first witness Mr. Haller is trying to hijack this murder case and take us into another, completely unrelated litigation. I’ve held back on my objections, but now . . . we have to stop this.”

I noted his use of we, as though he and the judge shared the responsibility of keeping me in check.

“Your Honor,” I said, “Mr. Forsythe wants to stop this because he knows exactly where I am going with it—and it’s a place that he knows is going to derail his whole case. The case Gloria Dayton was served on is exceedingly germane to this case and this trial, and the entire defense theory is built on it. I am asking you to let me proceed and soon enough you will understand why the state wants to block this.”

“‘Exceedingly,’ Mr. Haller?”

“Yes, Your Honor, exceedingly.”

She gave it a moment’s thought and then nodded.

“Overruled. You may proceed, Mr. Haller, but get there soon.”

We returned to our positions and I asked Valenzuela the question again.

“Like I said, Moya versus Rollins. Rollins is the warden of the prison in Victorville where Hector Moya’s been for, like, seven or eight years. He’s trying to get out on account that the DEA set him up by planting a—”

Forsythe objected again, which seemed to annoy the judge. He asked for a sidebar once more but the judge said no. He had to state his objection in open court.

“As far as I know, Judge, the witness is not an attorney, but he is giving a legal interpretation of a habeas case and about to offer as fact the allegations that are merely contained in a lawsuit. We all know that anybody can say anything in a lawsuit. Just because it is said doesn’t—”

“Okay, Mr. Forsythe,” the judge said. “I think you’ve made your objection clear to the jury.”

Now I wished he had gotten the sidebar. Forsythe had expertly used the objection to undercut Valenzuela’s testimony before he had even given it. He reminded the jury in real time that Moya vs. Rollins was just a lawsuit that contained allegations, not proven facts.

“I’m going to overrule the objection and let the witness finish his answer,” Leggoe said.

In a slightly deflated tone I told Valenzuela to give his answer again and he summarized the main charge of Moya’s habeas petition—that the gun that ended up putting him away for life had been planted by the DEA.

“Thank you,” I said when the answer was finally out and in the record. “What did you do after you served Giselle Dallinger with that subpoena?”

Valenzuela looked confused by the question.

“I, uh . . . I guess I told Mr. Fulgoni that it was done,” he said.

“Okay, and did you ever see Ms. Dallinger again?” I asked.

“No, not at all. That was it.”

“When did you next hear about Ms. Dallinger after November fifth?”

“It would’ve been about a week later, when I heard that she’d gotten murdered.”

“How did you hear that?”

“Mr. Fulgoni told me.”

“And did you learn anything else about her death?”

“Well, yeah, I read the paper and I saw that a guy had been arrested.”

“You’re talking about Andre La Cosse being arrested for her murder?”

“Yeah, it had it in the paper.”

“And how did you react to that news when you read it?”

“Well, it was like I was relieved, because it meant that we didn’t have nothin’ to do with it.”

“What do you—”

Forsythe objected again, citing relevance. I argued that Valenzuela’s reaction to news of the murder and arrest were relevant because the defense’s case was based on the fact that the subpoena that was served on Gloria Dayton was what motivated her murder. Leggoe allowed me to proceed subject to her determining relevancy after the witness’s testimony was completed. This was a win with an asterisk for me. Even if the judge later struck Valenzuela’s answers from the trial record, she wouldn’t be able to strike them from the memories of the twelve jurors.

“Go ahead, Mr. Valenzuela,” I said. “Tell the jury why you were relieved when you heard that Mr. La Cosse had been arrested in the murder.”

“Well, because it meant it had nothing to do with this other thing. You know, the Moya case.”

“Well, why would you have been worried about that in the first place?”