life.
Judge Rafferty was so eager to hear her testimony he interrupted the
closing arguments so that she could take the stand. As she walked past
him to take her seat behind the railing, she looked him over closely
and came to the conclusion that it would take very little effort on her
part to get him in the palm of her hand. Rafferty was a heavyset,
middle-aged man with eyeglasses so thick his owlish eyes appeared to be
three times the normal size.
She also noticed he was taken with her. He smiled, he gawked, and she
couldn't have been happier.
She v. as being sworn in by the clerk when the defense attorney leapt
to his feet and demanded the judge's attention.
"Your Honor, this is highly irregular, " he protested. "Couldn't you
wait until the prosecutor and I have finished up and the jury has left
the courtroom to deliberate? My client is being tried on the charge of
attempted murder. The prosecutor is trying to prove that my client
willfully and with malice in mind tried to kill the Maple Hills
sheriff.
This case shouldn't be muddled up with a witness testifying about an
altogether different matter." The judge peered at the upstart over the
top of his glasses. "I'm fully aware of what this case is all about.
Do you think I've been sitting up here twiddling my thumbs and
daydreaming about fishing, Mr. Proctor? Is that what you think I've
been doing? " "No, Your Honor, I don'tţ" The judge wouldn't let him
continue. "What you're saying, Proctor, is that you don't think that
what the witness has to say is relevant, but I say it is. If your
client is who I think he is, then the jury needs to know it because he
would have been fleeing and he would have tried to kill the sheriff and
he would have tried it with what you call malice in mind."
"But, Your Honorţ" "Mr. Proctor, you need to understand. No one tells
me what to do in my own courtroom, and that includes fancy-pants
lawyers like you.
I know you're young and inexperienced and that you think you know just
about everything there is to know, but I make the rules here. Now sit
down and be quiet until I finish with my witness. You understand me?
" "Yes, Your Honor."
"Then why aren't you sitting? " The crowd burst into laughter when
Proctor tripped in his hurry to take his seat.
The judge wasn't amused. He slammed his gavel on the desk and demanded
silence. "I'll have order in my court. If I hear another sound out of
any of you, I'll clear you out.
"Like I said before, I make the rules here, not you. Sit." He
bellowed the command, but by the time he swung around to Rebecca, he
had mellowed considerably.
"I sure would like to cut to the chase and ask you plain out, but I'm
not going to do that. First, I want you to tell the jury who you are
and what happened to you." Her moment had finally arrived. Gripping
her hands together on the railing so the jury could see them, she took
a shuddering breath and began. She told them why she had been in the