A Darkness More Than Night - Michael Connelly [87]
“Bullshit! You’re a fucking liar!”
It was Storey. He had stood up and was pointing at Bosch. Fowkkes had his hand on him and was trying to pull him back into his place. A deputy sheriff, who had been positioned at a desk to the rear of the defense table was up and moving toward Storey from behind.
“The defendant will sit DOWN!” the judge boomed from the bench at the same moment he brought the gavel down.
“He’s fucking lying!”
“Deputy, sit him down!”
The deputy moved in, put both hands on Storey’s shoulders from behind and roughly pulled him back down into his seat. The judge pointed another deputy toward the jury.
“Remove the jury.”
While the jurors were quickly hustled into the deliberation room, Storey continued to struggle with the deputy and Fowkkes. As soon as the jurors were gone he seemed to relax his efforts and then calmed. Bosch looked over at the reporters, trying to see if any of them had noted how Storey’s demonstration ended as soon as the jurors were out of sight.
“Mr. Storey!” the judge yelled from a standing position. “That behavior and language is not acceptable in this courtroom. Mr. Fowkkes, if you can’t control your client, my people will. One more outburst and I will have him gagged and chained to that chair. Am I clear on this?”
“Absolutely, Your Honor. I apolo —”
“That is a zero tolerance rule. Any outburst from here on out and he’ll be shackled. I don’t care who he is or who his friends are.”
“Yes, Your Honor. We understand.”
“I am taking five minutes and then we’ll start again.” The judge abruptly left the bench, his feet resounding loudly as he quickly took the three steps down. He disappeared through a door to the rear hallway that led to his chambers.
Bosch looked over at Langwiser and her eyes betrayed her delight at what had just happened. To Bosch it was a trade-off. On one hand the jurors saw the defendant acting angry and out of control — possibly exhibiting the same rage that had led to murder. But on the other hand, he was registering his objection to what was happening to him in the courtroom. And that could register an empathic response from the jurors. Storey had to reach only one of them in order to walk.
Before the trial Langwiser had predicted that they would draw Storey into an outburst. Bosch had thought she was wrong. He thought Storey was too cool and calculating. Unless, of course, the outburst was a calculated move. Storey was a man who directed dramatic scenes and characters for a living. Bosch knew he should have seen that a time might come when he would be unwittingly used as a supporting actor in one of those scenes.
25
The judge returned to the bench two minutes after leaving and Bosch wondered if he had retreated to his chambers to put a holster on under the robes. As soon as he sat down Houghton looked at the defense table. Storey was sitting with his face somberly pointed down at the sketch pad in front of him.
“Are we ready?” the judge asked.
All parties murmured they were ready. The judge called for the jury and they were brought in, most of them looking directly at Storey as they entered.
“Okay, folks, we’re going to try this again,” Judge Houghton said. “The exclamations you heard a few minutes ago from the defendant are to be ignored. They are not evidence, they are not anything. If Mr. Storey wants to personally deny the charges or anything else said about him in testimony, he’ll get that chance.”
Bosch watched Langwiser’s eyes dance. The judge’s comments were his way of slapping back at the defense. He was setting up the expectation that Storey would testify during the defense phase. If he didn’t, then it could be a letdown for the jurors.
The judge turned it back over to Langwiser, who continued her questioning of Bosch.
“Before we were interrupted, you were testifying about your conversation with the defendant at the door to his house.”
“Yes.”
“You quoted the defendant as saying, ‘And I’ll get away with it,’ is that correct?”
“Correct.”
“And you took this comment to be referring