Roger
If I have to hear Blake Western’s lawyers shout “objection!” one more time, I’m going to punch someone in the nose.
That said, I feel good about this court case as the day begins. Gerald enlisted Nidi Prasad, an up-and-coming lawyer in his firm, to handle the case. She’s tiny but no-nonsense, graduated Harvard Law top of her class. She grilled me in preparation for my testimony, and it wasn’t fun even though I know she’s on my side. I have every confidence in her.
So far, that confidence is paying off. She’s been great at going after witnesses. She’s been like a ninja when it comes to fending off challenges and objections from Western’s people. And there’s been a lot of those.
There have been a string of witnesses. Though Western’s guilt seems evident from their testimony, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.
Dennis, from my construction team, went on the stand, testifying about what he found in the apartments after his people tore them apart. Unfortunately, Western’s lawyers managed to get some of Dennis’ testimony thrown out for being ‘speculative’. He gave me an apologetic shrug on his way out of the courtroom, but I gave him a reassuring thumbs up. He went above and beyond. The, sometimes frustrating, machinations of the law aren’t his fault.
Nidi also called in some paparazzi, including Weasel. It was hard to tell how far their testimonies moved the needle on the case. Nidi told me that, if nothing else, it showed the kind of trash Blake trafficked with. Hopefully, that would reflect badly on his character and set him up to look bad as evidence mounted up.
We spared Natalie from the witness stand. It was discussed, obviously. She and I even argued a little over it. She wanted to get up there and tear Blake apart, which was why Nidi was against her testifying. She feared Natalie’s anger would actually increase sympathy for Western.
I opposed Natalie testifying because I wanted to spare her the pain. We knew I would testify for sure. We knew how ugly that testimony will get. There was no reason to put Natalie through the same if we didn’t have to.
Eventually, Natalie relented. She insisted on being in court throughout the whole trial though.
My testimony went well, for the most part. Nidi had coached me, not only on how to handle her examination, but also how to navigate everything Western’s lawyers were likely to throw at me during their cross-examination.
In short, they threw my entire life in my face. It sucked, especially since Natalie was sitting there in the courtroom, listening to it all. It’s one thing to know your lover knows the general happenings of your illicit past. It’s another to have it spelled out in big bold letters for her.
Western’s lawyers seemed to take glee in asking me about every woman I’d ever slept with or ever been rumored to have slept with. They seemed to really enjoy going into the details of Tabitha and Eddie’s betrayal. They were trying to establish, basically, that I’m a lowlife loser, despite my money and fame.
They almost hadmeconvinced.
They even drilled into the nasty business with Jared Barron and 755. Trying to paint me as erratic, maybe even going through some sort of mental breakdown. They claim I was only trying to distract people from my ‘erratic behavior’ with this lawsuit.
Yeah, because spending hours in a courtroom to save not only my honor but also the honor of the woman I love is such a great escape.
But, like I said, Nidi had me well-coached. By the time I stepped off the witness stand, I felt I’d stymied Western’s lawyers pretty well, even Bud Newhouse, Western’s main attack dog in the court.
Newhouse is six feet tall, but overweight and balding. He dresses in cheap suits and has a bad combover. He looks like a schlub, but it’s clearly all an act. The intent is to make the judge and jury underestimate him. That way, every win throughout the court battle seemed like a monumental victory for his side. You kind of had to admire the subterfuge.
Finally, Nidi calls Blake Western to the stand. To say that he strides up to the witness box smugly wouldn’t give you the full picture. The guy manages to seem both cocky and victimized simultaneously. I’m almost impressed.
Natalie sits behind me, in the audience. I hear her hiss quietly as Western takes the stand.
The bailiff swears him in, and Nidi starts questioning him. After a few initial inquiries, Nidi asks, “Mr. Western, you seem very at ease, considering the gravity of this lawsuit. Any particular reason?”
“Oh,” he says, fiddling nonchalantly with his tie, “because we’re still in America, I believe.” He looks at the flag next to the judge’s bench. “Yep, and in America, Miss Prasad, we have this thing called the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press.”
“And you believe that also gives you the freedom to ruin people’s lives?”
“People ruin their own lives. The First Amendment just gives me the freedom to tellotherpeople about it.”
“I see,” Nidi says, as she grabs a folder from our prosecution table. She takes out several photographs. “Your honor, these are the photographs previously admitted as evidence ‘A’.” She puts the photos under a small camera and blow-ups of them get projected on a TV screen near the front of the courtroom. “Mr. Western, do you recognize these photos from earlier in the trial?”
“I do.”
“What are they?”
“Photos of my old apartment, torn apart by your client for some reason.”
“Not just any reason,” Nidi points out. She projects a new image, a close-up of the inside of a wall. There are circles drawn on parts of the exposed studs. “Can you tell me what these circled objects on the photo are?”
“Cameras,” Western says, cool as a cucumber.