Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given - Duane Dog Chapman [10]
Quadra researched the best criminal defense lawyers in Mexico and then flew to Mexico City. One lawyer Quadra spoke to was a legal powerhouse named Alberto Zinser. He was very handsome, well connected, and quite debonair. When Alberto entered a room, you knew he was there. His co-counsel, Eduardo Amerena, was also at the meeting. Alberto relied heavily on Eduardo’s expertise. He was the “get it done” guy, while Alberto was the presence and power. If you engaged Alberto’s services, the message was clear: “We are not messing around.” They weren’t immediately aware of our case, however when Quadra mentioned “The Dog” they shook their heads in recognition of my story, which had become urban legend south of the border.
The three lawyers decided the best course of action would be to analyze our case so they could see firsthand what had gone down so far.
After several days of research, Quadra set up a teleconference with the lawyers and the executives at A&E to give them his assessment.
He explained that the only real hope we had left to win was to push the statute-of-limitations argument, which was our best legal shot at freedom. However, Quadra was clear that our case had to be presented in a very decisive manner or we could lose that argument, too. If that happened, we’d be screwed.
Quadra told A&E that we all ought to meet in San Francisco with Bollard to determine our next steps. Bollard agreed to meet us in San Francisco. The meeting was set for May 23. Quadra’s plan was to show the network how deeply in trouble the stars of their top show really were.
We thought this would help the network feel more comfortable about our desire to switch lawyers. How we presented our story had to be carefully orchestrated and executed if we were going to succeed in convincing them that maybe it was in our best interest to make some drastic changes.
CHAPTER 4
Courtesy of A&E
It had been a crazy couple of years for Beth and me, but at least things with our case were finally beginning to look up. I was still mourning the death of my daughter, Barbara Katie, who was killed in 2006 in a terrible car accident in Alaska, where she had been living with her baby daughter. Barbara Katie died the day before my wedding to Beth, so celebrating our upcoming first anniversary on May 20, 2007, didn’t feel that festive to me. I will always share that blessed day with the sadness that filled my heart after Barbara Katie died.
As a way to dodge my inevitable pain, Beth and I decided to take a romantic road trip up the coast of California, which would get us to San Francisco in time for our big meeting with Bollard, Quadra, and the team from A&E. A break from shooting the show and dealing with the case was definitely in order, so Beth planned our first vacation alone since we became husband and wife to celebrate our anniversary. It had been years since we could leave the island without getting permission, because the Andrew Luster case had still been hanging over our heads there. My every move was being tracked, especially when I traveled.
Beth and I rented a Hummer H2 to take the drive up the coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Two minutes into the trip I noticed the front bumper guard was loose so it made a jittery noise the whole time. To make matters worse, the wind was gusting at speeds of up to fifty mph along the coastline, so the noise got louder as we drove. Beth turned on the radio to try to drown out the constant clanking, but it didn’t really help.
There are parts of Highway 1 that get very narrow, especially along the water, which made driving a Hummer on these roads treacherous.
“Duane, look at the seals!” Beth screamed with utter delight as she saw a family of seals playing on the rocks below the narrow