They talked some more that day, Jaywalker and Barnett, but not all that much more. It was already apparent to Jaywalker that, like most cases, this one wasnt going to trial. It couldnt. Sooner or later Alonzo Barnett was going to have to plead guilty, even if it meant copping to an A-2 felony and accepting a minimum sentence of eight years to life. And since there was little likelihood that a parole board was going to give him yet another chance, Barnett might not die in prison, but he was going to be one very old man by the time he came out the other end of the meat grinder.
But that realization by no means ended Jaywalkers job. Just as hed been the first of four lawyers to bother to read the charges to Barnett, so would he be the first to listen to the rest of the mans story, and to come to know him as an individual and not just a defendant. He would make it his business to draw Barnett out and make him talk, make him explain just why an intelligent-sounding man who had to have known better had succumbed yet again to the lure of easy money. Jaywalker would describe in detail the trial process itself, since despite all Barnetts arrests and convictions hed never been through a trial, having pleaded guilty each time. Jaywalker would point out the futility of changing that pattern now, and the dire consequences of being convicted after trial, when all bets were off.
In a word, he would become a friend.
Only not now.
Having resisted taking a plea for a year and a half, Barnett evidently had his reasons, whatever they were and however foolish they might be, for wanting to go to trial this time. For Jaywalker to begin that conversation now, at the very first meeting between lawyer and client, would have been totally counterproductive. It would have marked Lawyer Number 4 as no different from Numbers 1, 2 and 3. It would have undermined the very foundation of something Jaywalker needed to build between himself and his client.
Something called trust.
So they talked some more, but about other things. Jaywalker learned that Barnett had two young daughters who were somewhere in foster care. That hed been a heroin addict beginning at age fifteen, but had been clean for almost eight years now. That, like Jaywalker, he was a Yankees fan. That not only had he taught himself how to read and write, but that hed begun composing poems, a sample of which he agreed to show Jaywalker sometime.
They didnt teach you in law school to ask about that kind of stuff. You didnt need it in order to pass the bar exam or to hang up a shingle on the outside of your office door. Nor did the supervisors at Legal Aid talk about it. But it mattered; it mattered hugely. And even back then, back in 1986, without ever having been taught about it, Jaywalker knew and understood that. And the best thing about doing it was that it cost absolutely nothing, just like saying please or thank you, or pausing for a second to hold a door open for someone a few steps behind you. So the only thing about doing all that stuff that mystified Jaywalker was that nobody else seemed to realize how terribly, terribly important it was.
He didnt go home after meeting with Barnett, or to court or his office. Instead he went back around the corner and walked south, downtown. He passed both entrances to 10 °Centre Street on his left. Even though the district attorneys office was located there-albeit listed under the side street address of One Hogan Place-Jaywalker knew he wouldnt find the assistant D.A. in charge of Alonzo Barnetts case there. No, hed noticed from a telephone number on the file that the case was assigned to someone in Special Narcotics.
Despite the promising name, Special Narcotics are not high-quality drugs. Created with an infusion of municipal, state and federal funds in 1971 to help deal with the citys mushrooming drug problem, the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York was, and continues to be, located one block farther south, at 8 °Centre Street. Its chief function is to handle a portion of the thousands of drug cases that would otherwise overwhelm the regular district attorneys office. Its headed by a Special Narcotics Prosecutor and staffed by a fluctuating number of lawyers who act as assistant district attorneys. Except that they handle nothing but drug cases.
Twenty minutes later, Jaywalker was sitting in a medium-sized office across the desk from the A.D.A. in charge of the prosecution of Alonzo Barnett. It was a medium-sized office rather than a small one, because the assistant also happened to be a supervisor, one of a half dozen who oversaw ten or fifteen other assistants and reported directly to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor himself. Though these days that would be herself.
Times change.
The name of the assistant was Daniel Pulaski. He was a good-looking man in his forties, careful with his three-piece suits and his slicked-back dark hair. He was also, at least according to the general consensus of the local defense bar, a Class A prick.
Jaywalker has never had qualms about going up against a prosecutor with sharp elbows. In fact, when it comes time to go to trial, he generally prefers that his adversaries are able to take care of themselves. Hes found over the years that weak prosecutors tend to arouse the sympathies of both judges and juries, sympathies that Jaywalker would far sooner have directed at the defendant.
But theres sharp, and then theres nasty. And at least by reputation, Daniel Pulaski fell squarely into the latter category. That said, Jaywalker had never tried a case against him. Hed stood up opposite him on a few matters in court, but none of them had ended up going to trial, or even to an evidentiary hearing, for that matter. So he was willing to suspend judgment on Pulaski for the moment, and even determined to give the man the benefit of doubt, at least until he demonstrated he didnt deserve it.
But theres sharp, and then theres nasty. And at least by reputation, Daniel Pulaski fell squarely into the latter category. That said, Jaywalker had never tried a case against him. Hed stood up opposite him on a few matters in court, but none of them had ended up going to trial, or even to an evidentiary hearing, for that matter. So he was willing to suspend judgment on Pulaski for the moment, and even determined to give the man the benefit of doubt, at least until he demonstrated he didnt deserve it.
It wouldnt take long.
So, said Pulaski, I see youre the latest flavor-of-the-month for Alonzo the Malingerer.
Im his new lawyer, Jaywalker deadpanned. If thats what you mean.
Right, said Pulaski, checking his wristwatch in what struck Jaywalker as a crude parody of impatience. And, he wondered, who wore cuff links these days? Especially gold cuff links?
If this is a bad time-
No, no, said Pulaski. Its as good a time as any. What can I do for you?
Well, said Jaywalker, I was hoping you might have copies of papers for me, discovery material. That sort of stuff.
Listen, Mr. Jaywalker-
Jay.
Mr. Jay-
Just Jay.
Whatever. The point is, youre this scumbags fourth lawyer. Im out of copies and have better things to do than run off more of them. You want copies, why dont you go see your predecessors?
I guess I can do that, Jaywalker conceded. I just thought that since it seems like you and I might have to try this case, we might start off on the right-
Were not going to try this case, said Pulaski. Your guy is going to jerk you around for six months, just like he did with all the others. Then hes going to say he cant communicate with you and ask the judge to give him a new lawyer. We both know that.
Actually, said Jaywalker, he seems to be communicating with me pretty well.
Youve met him?
Jaywalker nodded matter-of-factly. Pulaski countered with a look of surprise. Evidently he didnt know any lawyers who went to the trouble of going to the jail and visiting their assigned clients even before their cases came on in court.
So if youve met him, said Pulaski, maybe you can tell me what hes waiting for before he takes his plea.
As I said earlier, Im not at all sure hes going to take a plea. It wasnt exactly the truth. Jaywalker was actually pretty sure Barnett would come around, sooner or later. But Pulaskis certainty about that had been enough to prompt Jaywalker to suggest he was mistaken.
You understand, said Pulaski, that eight to life is the best he can possibly get under the law, dont you? And thats on a plea, to an A-2. He goes to trial, the minimum starts at fifteen.
We both know that, said Jaywalker. But he doesnt seem particularly interested.
Then fuck him. He can go to trial and get twenty-five to life, for all I care. Itll be my pleasure. Followed by another look at the wristwatch, this one even more deliberate and more dismissive than the first.
The meeting, for all intents and purposes, was over. Nine minutes after it had begun.
Well, thought Jaywalker, at least hed managed to get through it without throwing a punch at Pulaski, a temptation hed succumbed to three years earlier. The target hadnt been Pulaski that time. It had been an A.D.A. in Brooklyn, an ex-cop named Jimmy Spagnelli, whod accused Jaywalker of being overzealous in the way hed gone after an arson investigator on the witness stand. Jaywalker had ignored the insult, accepting it as a compliment in disguise. But Spagnelli hadnt wanted to let it go at that, and a moment later he called Jaywalker a low-life shyster. Jaywalkers Jewish half had reacted by taking offense at that, and his Irish half had reacted by clocking Spagnelli with a right hook. Unfortunately, it had landed a bit high on the side of Spagnellis head, clearly not a vital organ. For Jaywalker, the result had been a broken hand and a two-year suspension from practicing in Brooklyn.
Kind of like losing his driving privileges in Lithuania.
Over the course of the next three days, Jaywalker did precisely what Daniel Pulaski had left him no recourse but to do. He met in turn with each of Alonzo Barnetts three previous lawyers, collecting copies of court documents, motion papers and discovery materials. By the end of the week hed put together the bare bones of a file. And during the course of amassing it, hed gained a few insights into Barnetts reluctance to take a plea, but only a few. Among the highlights were Hes self-destructive, Hes a psycho, and I dunno, beats the shit outa me.