The Reversal

statute which since day one the defense, to the prosecution’s consternation, has refused to waive.”
    The judge turned her gaze to Maggie McFierce. It was her turn.
    “Your Honor, this is simply a defense fabrication. The state has not once asked for a delay or opposed the defense’s request for a speedy trial. In fact, the prosecution is ready for trial. So this statement is outlandish and objectionable. The true objection on the part of the prosecution to this motion is to the idea of the defendant being allowed to disguise himself. A trial is a search for truth, and allowing him to use makeup to cover up who he really is would be an affront to the search for truth. Thank you, Your Honor.”
    “Judge, may I respond?” Royce, still standing, said immediately.
    Breitman paused for a moment while she wrote a few notes from Maggie’s brief.
    “That won’t be necessary, Mr. Royce,” she finally said. “I’m going to make a ruling on this and I will allow Mr. Jessup to cover his tattoos. If he chooses to testify on his behalf, the prosecution will not address this issue with him in front of the jury.”
    “Thank you, Your Honor,” Maggie said.
    She sat down without showing any outward sign of disappointment. It was just one ruling among many others and most had gone the prosecution’s way. This loss was minor at worst.
    “Okay,” the judge said. “I think we have covered everything. Anything else from counsel at this time?”
    “Yes, Your Honor,” Royce said as he stood again. “Defense has a new motion we would like to submit.”
    He stepped away from the defense table and brought copies of the new motion first to the judge and then to us, giving Maggie and me individual copies of a one-page motion. Maggie was a fast reader, a skill she had genetically passed on to our daughter, who was reading two books a week on top of her homework.
    “This is bullshit,” she whispered before I had even finished reading the title of the document.
    But I caught up quickly. Royce was adding a new lawyer to the defense team and the motion was to disqualify Maggie from the prosecution because of a conflict of interest. The new lawyer’s name was David Bell.
    Maggie quickly turned around to scan the spectator seats. My eyes followed and there was David Bell, sitting at the end of the second row. I knew him on sight because I had seen him with Maggie in the months after our marriage had ended. One time I had come to her apartment to pick up my daughter and Bell had opened the door.
    Maggie turned back and started to stand to address the court but I put my hand on her shoulder and held her in place.
    “I’m taking this,” I said.
    “No, wait,” she whispered urgently. “Ask for a ten-minute recess. We need to talk about this.”
    “Exactly what I was going to do.”
    I stood and addressed the judge.
    “Your Honor, like you, we just got this. We can take it with us and submit but we would rather argue it right now. If the court could indulge us with a brief recess, I think we would be ready to respond.”
    “Fifteen minutes, Mr. Haller? I have another matter holding. I could handle it and come back to you.”
    “Thank you, Your Honor.”
    This meant we had to leave the table while another prosecutor handled his business before the judge. We pushed our files and Maggie’s laptop to the back of the table to make room, then got up and walked toward the back door of the courtroom. As we passed Bell he raised a hand to get Maggie’s attention but she ignored him and walked by.
    “You want to go upstairs?” Maggie asked as we came through the double doors. She was suggesting that we go up to the DA’s office.
    “There isn’t time to wait for an elevator.”
    “We could take the stairs. It’s only three flights.”
    We walked through the door into the building’s enclosed stairwell but then I grabbed her arm.
    “This is good enough right here,” I said. “Tell me what we do about Bell.”
    “That piece of shit. He’s never defended a criminal case, let alone a murder, in his life.”
    “Yeah, you wouldn’t have made the same mistake twice.”
    She looked pointedly at me.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Never mind, bad joke. Let’s just stay on point.”
    She had her arms folded tightly against her chest.
    “This is the most underhanded thing I’ve ever seen. Royce wants me off the case so he goes to Bell. And Bell… I can’t believe he would do something like this to