The Reversal

get to the exhibits.”
    The judge proceeded to outline how she wanted voir dire to proceed. Though each side would be allowed to question prospective jurors, she said she would strictly limit the time for each side. She wanted to start a momentum that would carry into the trial. She also limited each side to only twelve peremptory challenges—juror rejections without cause—and said she wanted to pick six alternates because it was her practice to be quick with the hook on jurors who misbehaved, were chronically late or had the audacity to fall asleep during testimony.
    “I like a good supply of alternates because we usually need them,” she said.
    The low number of peremptory challenges and the high number of alternates brought objections from both the prosecution and the defense. The judge grudgingly gave each side two more challenges but warned that she would not allow voir dire to get bogged down.
    “I want jury selection completed by the end of the day Friday. If you slow me down, then I will slow you down. I will hold the panel and every lawyer in here until Friday night if I have to. I want opening statements first thing Monday. Any objection to that?”
    Both sides seemed properly cowed by the judge. She was clearly exerting command of her own courtroom. She next outlined the trial schedule, stating that testimony would begin each morning at nine sharp and continue until five with a ninety-minute lunch and morning and afternoon breaks of fifteen minutes each.
    “That leaves a solid six hours a day of testimony,” she said. “Any more and I find the jurors start losing interest. So I keep it to six a day. It will be up to you to be in here and ready to go each morning when I step through the door at nine. Any questions?”
    There were none. Breitman then asked each side for estimates on how long their case would take to present. Haller said he would need no more than four days, depending on the length of the cross-examinations of his witnesses. This was already a shot directed at Royce and his plans to attack Sarah Ann Gleason.
    For his part, Royce said he needed only two days. The judge then did her own math, adding four and two and coming up with five.
    “Well, I’m thinking an hour each for opening statements on Monday morning. I think that means we’ll finish Friday afternoon and go right to closing arguments the following Monday.”
    Neither side objected to her math. The point was clear. Keep it moving. Find ways to cut time. Of course a trial was a fluid thing and there were many unknowns. Neither side would be held to what was said at this hearing, but each lawyer knew that there might be consequences from the judge if they didn’t keep a continuous velocity to their presentations.
    “Finally, we come to exhibits and electronics,” Breitman said. “I trust that everyone has looked over each other’s lists. Any objections to these?”
    Both Haller and Royce stood up. The judge nodded at Royce.
    “You first, Mr. Royce.”
    “Yes, Judge, the defense has an objection to the prosecution’s plans to project numerous images of Melissa Landy’s body on the courtroom’s overhead screens. This practice is not only barbaric but exploitative and prejudicial.”
    The judge swiveled in her seat and looked at Haller, who was still standing.
    “Your Honor, it is the prosecution’s duty to produce the body. To show the crime that brings us here. The last thing we want to do is be exploitative or prejudicial. I will grant Mr. Royce that it is a fine line, but we do not plan to step across it.”
    Royce came back with one more shot.
    “This case is twenty-four years old. In nineteen eighty-six there were no overhead screens, none of this Hollywood stuff. I think it infringes on my client’s right to a fair trial.”
    Haller was ready with his own comeback.
    “The age of the case has nothing to do with this issue, but the defense is perfectly willing to present these exhibits the way they would’ve—”
    McPherson had grabbed his sleeve to interrupt him. He bent down and she whispered in his ear. He then quickly straightened up.
    “Excuse me, Your Honor, I misspoke. The prosecution is more than willing to present these exhibits in the manner they would have been presented to the jury in nineteen eighty-six. We would be happy to hand out color photographs to the jurors. But in earlier conversation the court indicated that she did not like this practice.”
    “Yes, I find that handing these