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

Judge Quirk said, “Do you want to cross-examine the witness, Mr. Parisi?”

CHAPTER 71

LEN PARISI, DA of San Francisco and co-counsel with Moorehouse and Rogers, who were paid to defend the City against lawsuits, got up from his seat and walked across the well to the witness, Inspector Stan Whitney.

“Inspector Whitney,” Parisi said. “Did you believe you had grounds to arrest Aaron-Rey Kordell for shooting the three drug dealers?”

“Absolutely.”

“Did you believe Mr. Kordell killed three men?”

“He’s innocent until proven guilty. But he was our number one suspect and I believed he did shoot them. He not only named the dead men, but he was carrying a weapon when he was arrested fleeing from the scene of the crime.”

“Did you hit Mr. Kordell in order to get him to confess?”

“No, I did not.”

“Did you physically intimidate him?”

“No.”

“Did you read him his rights?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you get him to sign a waiver of his right to an attorney?”

“Because we just wanted to make it absolutely clear that we gave him every opportunity to have an attorney and he decided he didn’t want a lawyer. His decision.”

“And what about access to his parents?”

“There was a note on the arresting officers’ report not to call the parents.”

“Do you know why?” Parisi asked.

“He told the arresting officers he was eighteen. It’s common for kids not to want their parents to know whatever it is they’ve done.”

“Did you know Aaron-Rey’s age?”

“No. He had no priors and no ID.”

Parisi turned so that he was facing the jurors and asked, “Why do you think this was a properly obtained confession, Inspector Whitney?”

Whitney said, “Because we used the tools at our disposal. We wanted a confession, yes, but we didn’t do anything outside the law. Mr. Kordell said he killed those three scumbags, and in my opinion, that was the truth.”

“Thank you, Inspector. I have nothing else for this witness,” said Parisi.

There was some shifting in seats and some murmured conversation as Parisi returned to the defense table.

The judge said, “Quiet.” He banged his gavel, and when the room settled down, he said, “Redirect, Ms. Castellano?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Yuki stepped out from behind the table, passing Parisi without looking at him on the way to the witness box.

She faced Whitney square on and said, “Inspector Whitney, will you agree that before Aaron-Rey said he shot those ‘scumbags,’ he said he didn’t shoot anyone?”

“Like everyone else we ever had in the box.”