The Lincoln Lawyer

matter of the state versus Louis Ross Roulet, I understand from my clerk that we have a motion.”
    Minton stood.
    “Yes, Your Honor.”
    He said nothing further, as if he could not bring himself to speak.
    “Well, Mr. Minton, are you sending it to me telepathically?”
    “No, Your Honor.”
    Minton looked down at Smithson and got the go-ahead nod.
    “The state moves to dismiss all charges against Louis Ross Roulet.”
    The judge nodded as though she had expected the move. I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me and knew it was from Mary Windsor. She knew what was going to happen but had held her emotions in check until she had actually heard it in the courtroom.
    “Is that with or without prejudice?” the judge asked.
    “Dismiss with prejudice.”
    “Are you sure about that, Mr. Minton? That means no comebacks from the state.”
    “Yes, Your Honor, I know,” Minton said with a note of annoyance at the judge’s need to explain the law to him.
    The judge wrote something down and then looked back at Minton.
    “I believe for the record the state needs to offer some sort of explanation for this motion. We have chosen a jury and heard more than two days of testimony. Why is the state doing this at this stage, Mr. Minton?”
    Smithson stood. He was a tall and thin man with a pale complexion. He was a prosecutorial specimen. Nobody wanted a fat man as district attorney and that was exactly what he hoped one day to be. He wore a charcoal gray suit with what had become his trademark: a maroon bow tie with matching handkerchief peeking from the suit’s breast pocket. The word among the defense pros was that a political advisor had told him to start building a recognizable media image so that when the time came to run, the voters would think they already knew him. This was one situation where he didn’t want the media carrying his image to the voters.
    “If I may, Your Honor,” he said.
    “The record will note the appearance of Assistant District Attorney John Smithson, head of the Van Nuys Division. Welcome, Jack. Go right ahead, please.”
    “Judge Fullbright, it has come to my attention that in the interest of justice, the charges against Mr. Roulet should be dropped.”
    He pronounced Roulet’s name wrong.
    “Is that all the explanation you can offer, Jack?” the judge asked.
    Smithson deliberated before answering. While there were no reporters present, the record of the hearing would be public and his words viewable later.
    “Judge, it has come to my attention that there were some irregularities in the investigation and subsequent prosecution. This office is founded upon the belief in the sanctity of our justice system. I personally safeguard that in the Van Nuys Division and take it very, very seriously. And so it is better for us to dismiss a case than to see justice possibly compromised in any way.”
    “Thank you, Mr. Smithson. That is refreshing to hear.”
    The judge wrote another note and then looked back down at us.
    “The state’s motion is granted,” she said. “All charges against Louis Roulet are dismissed with prejudice. Mr. Roulet, you are discharged and free to go.”
    “Thank you, Your Honor,” I said.
    “We still have a jury returning at one o’clock,” Fullbright said. “I will gather them and explain that the case has been resolved. If any of you attorneys wish to come back then, I am sure they will have questions for you. However, it is not required that you be back.”
    I nodded but didn’t say I would be back. I wouldn’t be. The twelve people who had been so important to me for the last week had just dropped off the radar. They were now as meaningless to me as the drivers going the other way on the freeway. They had gone by and I was finished with them.
    The judge left the bench and Smithson was the first one out of the courtroom. He had nothing to say to Minton or me. His first priority was to distance himself from this prosecutorial catastrophe. I looked over and saw Minton’s face had lost all color. I assumed that I would soon see his name in the yellow pages. He would not be retained by the DA and he would join the ranks of the defense pros, his first felony lesson a costly one.
    Roulet was at the rail, leaning over to hug his mother. Dobbs had a hand on his shoulder in a congratulatory gesture, but the family lawyer had not recovered from Windsor ’s harsh rebuke in the hallway.
    When the hugs were over, Roulet turned to me and with hesitation shook my