14th Deadly Sin (Women's Murder Club 14)

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Go get ’em,” Natalie said, her voice carrying in the lull.

There was a smattering of laughter. Yuki pushed back her chair and, propelled by an adrenaline rush, walked to the lectern in the center of the well.

CHAPTER 57

AS YUKI STOOD behind the lectern, she felt warm all over, her heart and adrenal glands giving her a little more rush than she actually needed. But she composed herself and lifted her eyes and said to the jurors, “Good morning, everyone.

“I represent the family of Aaron-Rey Kordell, a fifteen-year-old boy with a below-average IQ who was arrested, then bullied by two very experienced police officers who deprived this young man of sleep for sixteen hours, lied to him about his right to counsel, and induced him to confess to a crime he did not commit. After being coerced into giving a false confession, Aaron-Rey was incarcerated and was murdered while awaiting trial.

“Why was Aaron-Rey coerced? Why did he have to die?

“Because the police had no witnesses, but they had a suspect, and they were going to make sure they nailed him. Which they did.”

Yuki paused to make sure she had the jurors’ attention. Then she continued.

“Here’s what happened in February of this year.

“Aaron-Rey was hanging out at the neighborhood crack house after school. If he had lived in a different neighborhood, maybe he would have spent after-school hours in the gym or at a friend’s house. But this crack house was a block from where he lived with his parents, and to him, it was where he waited until his folks came home from work.

“You will hear from witnesses who will tell you that Aaron-Rey didn’t use drugs. He just liked to be around the big boys at that house, who teased him and made him laugh and sent him out for cigarettes and treated him like a mascot.

“On this particular day, Aaron-Rey was on the top floor of the drug house at 463 Dodge Place when unknown persons robbed and killed three drug dealers on the floor below, then fled the scene, along with all the other people who were in the house at that time.

“Aaron-Rey had an IQ of seventy, which is thirty points below average. He was functional, and he was also exceptionally inquisitive, trusting, and childlike.

“After this shooting occurred and the scores of people ran down the stairs, Aaron-Rey also ran. As he told the police and others, he was on his way out of the house when he found a gun on the stairs, which he stuck into the waistband of his pants, like the big boys do. He had this gun in his possession as he ran east on Turk, a very scared and freaked-out boy of fifteen.

“Two patrolmen in a cruiser witnessed Aaron-Rey running along Turk Street. They turned on their lights and sirens and ran their car up on the sidewalk, after which they tackled Aaron-Rey to the ground.

“And what did Aaron-Rey say, ladies and gentlemen?

“He said, ‘I didn’t do it.’ You will hear these patrolmen tell you that when they asked him what he didn’t do, Aaron-Rey said he didn’t shoot the three men in the drug house.

“Aaron-Rey was brought into the police station for questioning, where two senior narcotics detectives seized on an opportunity to close three homicides in the easiest possible way. Aaron-Rey was slow. And he was gullible. And he was under arrest.

“Over half the day and most of the night, Aaron-Rey Kordell repeatedly denied shooting anyone. But as you will see on the video, Inspectors Whitney and Brand convinced Aaron-Rey to waive his right to counsel and to having his parents present. They bullied, cajoled, and flat-out lied until this boy, by now helplessly confused, finally said, ‘I did it.’

“Once Aaron-Rey made this false admission, he was jailed pending trial and was subsequently murdered in the showers. We can only hope that he died quickly and that he wasn’t in pain.

“This is Aaron-Rey,” Yuki said, holding up a photo of her dead client cuddling with his baby sister. He had been a handsome young man, and the expression on his face showed his affection for his sister.

Yuki said, “Aaron-Rey was sweet. He was innocent. And he could not, did not, kill three hardened crack dealers. He didn’t know how to load and shoot a gun, and the defense will not say otherwise. Furthermore, during all those hours of interrogation, the police never tested Aaron-Rey’s hands or clothes for gunpowder residue. The police did not bring in any of the habitués of that drug house for questioning and did not consider any other suspects. Aaron-Rey was the only one they needed.

“At the end of this trial, you’re going to be asked to decide if Aaron-Rey Kordell’s confession was coerced. If it was coerced, it wasn’t a confession, and you must hold the SFPD and the City of San Francisco accountable for this innocent boy’s cruel, unwarranted, and untimely death.”

CHAPTER 58

PARISI GOT HEAVILY to his feet and, ignoring the lectern, walked directly to the jury box. He smiled, greeted the jurors, and said a few words about how important jury duty was, adding that as the district attorney for the City of San Francisco, he could not do his job without good people deciding verdicts in trials like this one. He noted how important it was to make sure that justice was always done.

Yuki watched him perform, her mind splitting between her good feelings toward Len Parisi—based on five years of working with him, learning from him, and supporting him in her capacity as an assistant DA—and the other side of her brain, which was not yet accustomed to thinking of Len as her enemy, which he surely was.

Furthermore, Len’s calm and personable demeanor made her feel that her own presentation had been borderline hysterical.

Even Natalie seemed transfixed by Red Dog.

Len put his hand on the railing and walked along it, making eye contact with the jurors as he said, “I have to commend opposing counsel for presenting such a pretty picture of Aaron-Rey Kordell, but I’m very sorry to say, that’s not who he was.