STATE vs. LASSITER (The Jake Lassiter Series) by Levine Paul

Author:Levine, Paul [Levine, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nittany Valley Productions, Inc.
Published: 2013-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

18

Three Elements of the Crime

“At least they’re not seeking the death penalty,” my lawyer Willow Marsh said.

“‘Course not. I’m white. And educated. And reasonably wealthy. I’m also accused of killing a cheating girlfriend, which in some quarters is excusable homicide.”

“Are you really that cynical?”

I shrugged, something I seldom do, because of a torn rotator cuff from the old days. “Everybody knows the system is biased on grounds of race and class with a whiff of gender bias thrown in.”

We were having lunch at a Spanish joint on northwest 12th Avenue, now called Ronald Reagan Avenue, because the former President once ate a Cuban sandwich there. I was also doing a post-mortem on Willow’s opening statement.

She had been cool in demeanor, calm in delivery and textbook in style. She reminded the jurors that the state had the burden or proof, that the defense did not have to present a case – though we would – and jurors should not begin to deliberate, much less make up their minds, until all evidence has been heard.

That’s important because the state goes first. A defendant doesn’t want a dozen know-it-alls turning off their hearing aids once the state rests. There was an alarming study a few years back showing that many jurors don’t even wait that long. Many make up their minds at the end of opening statements!

Willow had then moved to the magical phrase “reasonable doubt,” the last refuge of the innocent man, or at least one who is “not guilty” in the eyes of the law. She stressed that the state’s evidence cannot merely suggest that her saintly client was guilty. It must prove every element of the crime of murder beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.

“And the state will fail,” Willow predicted, “because the evidence will show that Jake Lassiter, a hard-working and honest lawyer, entrusted his clients’ funds to the management and care of Pamela Baylins. It was Ms. Baylins, not Mr. Lassiter, who skimmed those funds in hundreds of unauthorized transactions. It was Mr. Lassiter, not Ms. Baylins, who was going to the state attorney. And it was a third party, not Mr. Lassiter, who killed Ms. Baylins.”

Willow explained the “locked door” conundrum. No key card was used to enter the hotel room once I left. Obviously, Pamela opened the door from the inside for a visitor. It could have been a hotel employee or an intruder masquerading as one. It could have been someone she knew. But certainly, the lack of forced entry or key entry did not necessarily point to murder by good old, presumed innocent Jake Lassiter.

Willow then read the jury instruction on murder. That is something more likely to be done in closing argument, after the evidence is in, and just before the jury hears the judge’s charges. But just as Emilia had ventured into argument, Willow tiptoed into the law.

“Her Honor will instruct you as follows: ‘Before you can find the Defendant guilty of first degree premeditated murder, the state must prove three elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

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