Part 30 (1/2)

”It's a good sign,” Rosenthal says.

Aaron knows this is just something lawyers tell their clients to keep them from jumping out of their skin as they wait. He's said it to many a client himself, even as he knew that there is no way of knowing if the switch was from guilty to not guilty or the other way around. Or even if there was a switch at all. It's also quite possible the jury reached a verdict last night and decided to sleep on it, just to make sure no one wanted to change their vote.

Aaron purposefully doesn't make eye contact with any of the twelve jurors as they enter the courtroom. There's no reason to be lulled into thinking that a smile is a vote for acquittal.

It'll be over soon. Less than two minutes.

He imagines he could hold his breath for that long, and a part of him feels like he's doing just that. When everyone is in their place, Judge Siskind strikes her gavel to quiet the gallery.

The silence only adds to the grimness Aaron feels. He turns around to see Cynthia and the twins huddled together, as if they're freezing and sharing bodily warmth.

”Will the defendant please rise?” Judge Siskind says.

Aaron and Rosenthal stand as one. Rosenthal takes Aaron's hand in his and gives it a squeeze. Aaron suspects he means to convey that they're in this together, and yet Aaron has never felt more alone.

”Madame Foreperson, please read the jury's unanimous verdict,” Judge Siskind says.

A gray-haired African-American woman stands. She has reading gla.s.ses perched on her nose and is holding a piece of paper at arm's length, as if she hasn't memorized the verdict she's about to deliver.

Aaron finally looks at the faces of the twelve jurors. None of them look in his direction. Not one.

He shuts his eyes, trying to tune out all sensory experiences. His complete and total focus is on whether he's going to hear the word not.

The foreperson reads in a monotone: ”We, the members of the jury, for our unanimous verdict, hereby declare, on the sole count of the indictment, murder in the second degree, that we find the defendant, Aaron L. Littman, to be . . .” And then she looks up for the briefest second and says, ”Guilty.”

Aaron's knees buckle, and he consciously has to plant his feet to keep himself upright. When his mind flashes on how Cynthia and the girls are reacting, he suddenly becomes faint and tumbles back into his chair.

The court officers converge on him, forming a wedge that makes it difficult for him to move more than a foot from the table. A single word has instantly transformed Aaron into a convicted murderer.

”Poll the jury,” Rosenthal says.

Aaron is thankful that someone has done something, even though he knows this will only make it worse. It was bad enough when the foreperson spoke for them, but now each one will declare Aaron guilty.

”Very well,” Judge Siskind says. ”The defense has requested that each member of the jury state for the record how he or she voted. So, let's go through the jury members, one at a time. Madame Foreperson, you may begin.”

The African-American woman stands again. ”Guilty,” she says, and then she sits down. She's followed by a middle-aged man with a mustache who does the same thing. A younger woman with curly hair, and then a younger man who has shaved his head, and then an older man who is balding all repeat the act. It has the look of a very feeble wave at a sporting event, the orderly rising and sitting, except instead of throwing their hands in the air, each one says, ”Guilty.”

Midway through, Aaron summons the courage to swing around, and it's even worse than he could have imagined. Cynthia is curled into herself, with Lindsay and Samantha draped over her on either side. Aaron can't see any of their faces, but their bodies are convulsing in a way that indicates suffering.

”There you have it, Mr. Rosenthal,” Judge Siskind says when the last juror has spoken. ”The jury's verdict is unanimous. I'm going to-”

”Your Honor,” Rosenthal interrupts, ”at this time, the defense moves for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict and requests to be heard in chambers immediately.”

This is the after-verdict equivalent of requesting a directed verdict, and it's even more rarely granted. If judges are loath to take the decision out of the hands of a jury at the trial's midpoint, they are twice as unlikely to overrule it after a verdict is rendered.

Judge Siskind uses her gavel to quiet the gallery. ”Mr. Rosenthal, your motion is not unexpected, but I'm going to put this matter down for thirty days from today. In the next month, I expect both sides to review the transcript and prepare motion papers. When we reconvene, I will hear arguments concerning sentencing, in the event that I do not grant the defense's Rule Thirty-Three motion to nullify the jury's verdict.”

Rosenthal exhales loudly. It's as if he's expelling the shock of the guilty verdict.

”I know that what Your Honor just proposed is the standard procedure after a guilty verdict,” he says, ”but there is something . . . something that the defense needs to bring to the court's and the prosecution's attention immediately. Accordingly, I renew my request that the court hear from the defense in chambers at this time.”

Judge Siskind looks lost. She likely carefully scripted the trial's conclusion, perhaps even preparing both a guilty and a not-guilty speech, and now Sam Rosenthal is asking her to ad-lib.

”Okay,” she finally says. ”Let's do this now.”

Aaron can finally feel his brain function again. He looks for Rosenthal to provide some type of explanation.

”I would never let you go to jail, Aaron,” Rosenthal says.

61.

Aaron is escorted out of the courtroom by the guards, who do not extend him the courtesy of unlocking his handcuffs. With each step, he experiences the same sickening sense of anxiety that he did before the verdict. He tries to calm himself by saying that the worst has already happened, but that's hardly a soothing thought.

In the outer office of her chambers, Judge Siskind says, ”Do we need to sit down for this, Mr. Rosenthal, or can we do this here?”

”Here is fine,” Rosenthal says without emotion.

The stenographer sets up her machine but tells Judge Siskind she needs a chair before she can begin. Judge Siskind's law clerk, a twentysomething woman with long, black hair, says, ”Here, use mine,” and pushes it in her direction.

Finally, with the court reporter seated but everyone else standing, Judge Siskind says, ”Mr. Rosenthal, I a.s.sume I speak for everyone when I say we're on pins and needles. What is it that you had to discuss so urgently in chambers?”

”I killed Judge Faith Nichols.”

Aaron looks at Rosenthal, but Rosenthal doesn't accept his gaze. He stares straight ahead, looking only at the judge.

No one says anything for a good twenty seconds. The silence is broken by Victoria Donnelly.

”I . . . I don't know what Mr. Rosenthal is trying to get away with here, Your Honor,” she says, ”but what I do know is that the jury has spoken. They found Mr. Littman guilty. This is nothing more than a stunt to somehow persuade the court that the verdict should be set aside. Or maybe it's a ploy for leniency for when you sentence Mr. Littman. Either way, it's wholly improper.”

Judge Siskind doesn't respond at first, but when Rosenthal doesn't rebut Donnelly's charge she prompts him. ”Mr. Rosenthal?”

”It's hardly a stunt, Your Honor,” he says. ”I'm willing to plead guilty and to be sent to prison for my crime.”

”Your Honor,” Donnelly says, now in an almost pleading voice, ”you may not be aware of this, but Mr. Rosenthal and Mr. Littman are very close. Father-son like, is what I've been told. Certainly, many a father would willingly switch places with his son to spare him from prison. Mr. Rosenthal has no family of his own, and while he may think he's doing something n.o.ble, he is not. Justice demands that the guilty be punished, and as we have all seen in the trial, and as the jury has found, Mr. Littman murdered Judge Nichols.”

After what feels to Aaron like an eternity but is really only a few seconds, Judge Siskind says, ”The jury has indeed spoken, and therefore I am ordering Mr. Littman to be remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections, forthwith.”

”Thank you, Your Honor,” Donnelly says, relief across her face.

”Don't thank me just yet, Ms. Donnelly,” Judge Siskind says. ”Mr. Rosenthal . . . I really don't know what to do with you at this point. I don't have any authority to confine you, and so . . . notwithstanding your confession, you are free to go after this hearing, unless Ms. Donnelly's office has the FBI place you under arrest. But, if you truly want to be held accountable for this crime, I will hear from you tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., at which time I would expect you to put forward whatever evidence you have that you, and not Mr. Littman, killed Judge Nichols.”

NOT EVERY JUDGE PERMITS a convicted murderer time with his family. Aaron intends to make the most of it.