High Crimes

“Good. Now, I’m dead serious about this. You raise this issue in front of the members — that’s the jury, by the way, since you don’t seem quite familiar with the rules of our court-martial system — you’re gonna spend time in the Quantico brig yourself. And I don’t know how these things work in Cambridge, Professor, but in these parts, warning is not mandatory. And you got no right of appeal. You hear me?”

Claire stood. “You can’t enforce that. I’m a civilian, which means I’m not subject to your jurisdiction. And you certainly can’t throw me in a military brig.”

“You wanna try me?”

Claire and the judge stared at each other for several long seconds, and then Claire sat.

Grimes covered his eyes with his hand and sank down in his seat.

“Now,” Judge Farrell said, “are you prepared to enter pleas on behalf of your client?”

“Yes, sir,” Claire said with crisp disdain, rising. “We are.”

“Accused, please rise.” Tom got to his feet.

“Your Honor,” Claire said, “through counsel, Sergeant First Class Ronald M. Kubik pleads, to all charges and specifications, not guilty.”

“Very well. I understand your pleas, and you may be seated.”

They sat. Claire clasped Tom’s hand and gave it a firm squeeze. Tom gave a squeeze in reply. She whispered, “All right, we’re done here.”

“Some rough going, huh?” he whispered back.

“Worse than I expected. This judge just doesn’t give a shit.”

“Counsel,” Judge Farrell called out, “are you prepared to conduct voir dire?”

“What?” Claire exclaimed.

“I said, are you ready to bring in the members?”

Claire turned to Grimes, who was as astonished as she was.

Tom blurted out, too loud: “The trial’s not supposed to start for another three weeks!”

“Yes, sir,” Waldron said, “we’re ready.”

Claire leaped to her feet. “No, Your Honor, we most certainly are not. It was our understanding that this trial was not to begin for another three weeks. This is a capital-murder trial, the charges are extremely serious in nature, and defense is not prepared to cross-examine witnesses. We’re still in the midst of our investigation.”

“What are you sayin’, it was your ‘understanding’?” Farrell shot back with narrowed eyes.

Grimes stood. “We were told that informally by the Staff Judge Advocate’s Office, Your Honor.” Claire had never before heard such anxiety, such timorousness, in his voice.

“Yeah, well, you may have that agreement with the Staff Judge Advocate’s Office,” Judge Farrell said, “but I’m the military judge, and I control the docket.”

“Your Honor,” Claire said, “we’ve just had a motion session this morning. We obviously couldn’t prepare our case without knowing what your rulings would be on our evidence. Your rulings on the admissibility or nonadmissibility of certain evidence sculpt our case. There are certain witnesses we haven’t had an opportunity to question at all. Other witnesses, we need more investigation to corroborate or contradict their testimony.”

“Counsel,” Judge Farrell said frostily, “you’ve had plenty of time to prepare.”

It took all of her restraint not to lash out at the judge. “Your Honor, the defense has not been dilatory. We have planned our case based on the scheduling that was informally decided — that is, three weeks between arraignment and trial. I will say, too, that we’ve tried repeatedly to question the primary witness against my client, the chief of staff of the army, and he has repeatedly refused our requests. Therefore, we are absolutely not prepared to present our case today, and we are not prepared to question witnesses. We would in fact request a month in which to prepare for this trial.”

“Your request is denied,” Judge Farrell said flatly.

Waldron stood and said, “Your Honor, the Staff Judge Advocate has communicated to us that General William Marks has decided to make himself available to defense counsel for an interview.”

Claire looked at Grimes. This was a thunderbolt. She got up. “In which case, Your Honor, we respectfully request two weeks to prepare for and conduct this interview before trial begins.”

“Denied,” Judge Farrell said.

“Your Honor,” Grimes put in, “defense will accept the delay in speedy trial. The accused has been arraigned, so speedy trial is no longer a consideration. All that’s at issue now is whether our client gets a fair trial, and he’s not gonna get a fair trial if counsel’s not prepared.”

“Well, counsel,” Judge Farrell said, “defense counsel shoulda been prepared, and if you’re not, it’s not this court’s fault. This case is going to trial today.”

Grimes sank into his chair, stunned. Tom turned to him wide-eyed, and whispered, “Is he serious?”

“This is a military court,” Grimes muttered. “They got the right. Only in a military court.”

“Son of a buck!” Embry whispered in disbelief.

“Your Honor,” Claire said, still standing, “once again we object to proceeding today.”

“Your objection is noted and overruled, counsel. Are you prepared for voir dire?”

“We are, Your Honor,” Waldron called out.