you hear me? I’m making it my personal business to see that he’s sent to the chair.’
‘I came up here to withdraw from the case. You could reduce this to a manslaughter charge. Wilson’s already in for life. You could –’
‘No way! He’s guilty of murder plain and simple!’
Jennifer tried to control her anger. ‘I thought the jury was supposed to decide that.’
Robert Di Silva smiled at her without mirth. ‘You don’t know how heartwarming it is to have an expert like you walk into my office and explain the law to me.’
‘Can’t we forget our personal problems? I –’
‘Not as long as I live. Say hello to your pal Michael Moretti for me.’
Half an hour later, Jennifer was having coffee with Ken Bailey.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ Jennifer confessed. ‘I thought if I got off the case Abraham Wilson would stand a better chance. But Di Silva won’t make a dèal. He’s not after Wilson – he’s after me.’
Ken Bailey looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Maybe he’s trying to psych you out. He wants you running scared.’
‘I am running scared.’ She took a sip of her coffee. It tasted bitter. ‘It’s a bad case. You should see Abraham Wilson. All the jury will have to do is look at him and they’ll vote to convict.’
‘When does the trial come up?’
‘In four weeks.’
‘Anything I can do to help?’
‘Uh-huh. Put out a contract on Di Silva.’
‘Do you think there’s any chance you can get Wilson an acquittal?’
‘Looking at it from the pessimist’s point of view, I’m trying my first case against the smartest District Attorney in the country, who has a vendetta against me, and my client is a convicted black killer who killed again in front of a hundred and twenty witnesses.’
‘Terrific. What’s the optimist’s point of view?’
‘I could get hit by a truck this afternoon.’
The trial date was only three weeks away now. Jennifer arranged for Abraham Wilson to be transferred to the prison at Riker’s Island. He was put in the House of Detention for Men, the largest and oldest jail on the island. Ninety-five percent of his prison mates were there awaiting trial for felonies: murder, arson, rape, armed robbery and sodomy.
No private cars were allowed on the island, and Jennifer was transported in a small green bus to the gray brick control building where she showed her identification. There were two armed guards in a green booth to the left of the building, and beyond that a gate where all unauthorized visitors were stopped. From the control building, Jennifer was driven down Hazen Street, the little road that went through the prison grounds, to the Anna M. Kross Center Building, where Abraham Wilson was brought to see her in the counsel room, with its eight cubicles reserved for attorney-client meetings.
Walking down the long corridor on her way to meet with Abraham Wilson, Jennifer thought: This must be like the waiting room to hell. There was an incredible cacophony. The prison was made of brick and steel and stone and tile. Steel gates were constantly opening and clanging shut. There were more than one hundred men in each cellblock, talking and yelling at the same time, with two television sets tuned to different channels and a music system playing country rock. Three hundred guards were assigned to the building, and their bellowing could be heard over the prison symphony.
A guard had told Jennifer, ‘Prison society is the politest society in the world. If a prisoner ever brushes up against another one, he immediately says, “Excuse me.” Prisoners have a lot on their minds and the least little thing …’
Jennifer sat across from Abraham Wilson and she thought: This man’s life is in my hands. If he dies, it will be because I failed him. She looked into his eyes and saw the despair there.
‘I’m going to do everything I can,’ Jennifer promised.
Three days before the Abraham Wilson trial was to begin, Jennifer learned that the presiding judge was to be the Honorable Lawrence Waldman, who had presided over the Michael Moretti trial and had tried to get Jennifer disbarred.
At four o’clock on a Monday morning in late September of 1970, the day the trial of Abraham Wilson was to begin, Jennifer awakened feeling tired and heavy-eyed. She had slept badly, her mind filled with dreams of the trial. In one of the dreams, Robert Di Silva had put her in the witness box and asked her about Michael Moretti. Each time Jennifer tried to answer the questions, the jurors interrupted her with a chant: Liar! Liar! Liar!
Each dream was different, but they were all similar. In the last one, Abraham Wilson was strapped in the electric chair. As Jennifer leaned over to console him, he spat in her face. Jennifer awoke trembling, and it was impossible for her to go back to sleep. She sat up in a chair until dawn and watched the sun come up. She was too nervous to eat. She wished she could have slept the night before. She wished that she were not so tense. She wished that this day was over.
As she bathed and dressed she had a premonition of doom. She felt like wearing black, but she chose a green Chanel copy she had bought on sale at Loehmann’s.
At eight-thirty, Jennifer Parker arrived at the Criminal Courts Building to begin the defense in the case of The People of the State of New York against Abraham Wilson. There was a crowd outside the entrance and Jennifer’s first thought was that there had been an accident. She saw a battery of television cameras and microphones, and before Jennifer realized what was happening, she was surrounded by reporters.
A reporter said, ‘Miss Parker, this is your first time in court, isn’t it, since you fouled up the Michael Moretti case for the District Attorney?’
Ken Bailey had warned her. She was the central attraction, not her client. The reporters were not there as objective observers; they were there as birds of prey and she was to be their carrion.
A young woman in jeans pushed a microphone up to Jennifer’s face. ‘Is it true that District Attorney Di Silva is out to get you?’
‘No comment.’ Jennifer began to fight her way toward the entrance of the building.
‘The District Attorney issued a statement last night that he thinks you shouldn’t be allowed to practice law in the New York courts. Would you like to say anything about that?’
‘No comment.’ Jennifer had almost reached the entrance.
‘Last year Judge Waldman tried to get you disbarred. Are you going to ask him to disqualify himself from –?’
Jennifer was inside the courthouse.
The trial was scheduled to take place in Room 37. The corridor outside was crowded with people trying to get in, but the courtroom was already full. It was buzzing with noise and there was a carnival atmosphere in the air. There were extra rows reserved for members of the press. Di Silva saw to that, Jennifer thought.
Abraham Wilson was seated at the defense table, towering over everyone around him like an evil mountain. He was dressed in a dark blue suit that was too small for him, and a white shirt and blue tie that Jennifer had bought him. They did not help. Abraham Wilson looked like an ugly killer in a dark blue suit. He might just as well have worn his prison clothes, Jennifer thought, discouraged.
Wilson was staring defiantly around the courtroom, glowering at everyone who