Try Fear by James Scott Bell Read Free Book Online

it.”
    “Thanks for the history lesson,” I said. “Let’s just go in and have a seat and we’ll see what happens.”
    “I got confidence in you,” Carl said.

20
    K IMBERLY P INCUS WAS dressed in a fire engine red suit with a white blouse. Her hair and makeup were perfect, of course. Her demeanor less than
     collegial.
    “This is a waste of time,” she told me as I joined her at the counsel table. “Why are you doing this?”
    “It’s the system we got, Kim.”
    “It’s Kimberly, and you can call me Ms. Pincus, and I can’t possibly see any point to this except showing off for your client.”
    “I’m stunned,” I said. “You are an officer of the court. We all get to have our day, even those who are accused of misdemeanors.”
    “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
    “Ms. Pincus, I’m shocked. Shocked.”
    The judge entered the courtroom.
    “You’re going to get shocked right out on your ear,” Ms. Pincus said.

21
    I THOUGHT SHE might be right, because Judge Solomon did not seem in a cheery mood. She called the case and said, “So are you really going
     to press your 1538.5?” She was referring to the penal code section dealing with motions to suppress evidence.
    “Yes, Your Honor,” I said. “It was a warrantless stop. As such, it is presumptively invalid. The burden of proof passes to
     Ms. Pincus. She must present evidence that justifies an exception to the warrant requirement.”
    “Ms. Pincus, do you agree?”
    “I agree only that this is a waste of time, Your Honor,” she said.
    “Then all you have to do is provide a justification for the stop, Ms. Pincus, and you can have your precious time back.”
    It sounded to me like Solomon was a little put out with the prosecutor. For whatever reason. Which gave me the slightest bit
     of hope.
    “Call your witness,” the judge said to Kimberly Pincus.
    Patrol Officer John Caldwell of the LAPD took the stand and was sworn. He was a P-2, had been on patrol for three years. He
     looked young and still idealistic. That usually fades for a cop by year five or six.
    That said, he was the kind of officer who would look extra hard for a stop if the conditions were right. And that pre-Christmas
     night on Hollywood Boulevard, they were. You don’t often get a six-foot-five Santa driving your beat.
    The key part of the testimony came when Ms. Pincus asked, “And what did you observe?”
    “The defendant, driving a Camaro, without his seat belt on.”
    “Anything else?”
    “He was wearing what appeared to be a Santa Claus hat, and no shirt.”
    “And what did you do next?”
    “I dropped behind him, and my partner activated the lights and we pulled him over just past Gower. I approached. The driver-side
     window was rolled down. I observed the defendant in the car and detected an alcoholic-beverage smell. I shined my flashlight
     in the car and saw an open bottle on the passenger side. When I asked the defendant if he had had anything to drink, he answered
     no, but his speech was slurred and his eyes were watery. That’s when I ordered him out of the car for the field sobriety tests.”
    Kimberly Pincus turned to the judge. “As the only issue is reasonable suspicion to stop, Your Honor, that concludes my direct
     examination.”
    “You may cross,” Judge Solomon said to me.
    I almost didn’t hear her, as I was flipping fast through my copy of the vehicle code.
    “Mr. Buchanan?” the judge said.
    “If I may have just a moment, Your Honor.”
    “Oh sure,” she said. “We don’t have anything else to do today.”
    “Thank you,” I said, riffling. “Just one sec—”
    And then I found it.

22
    “O FFICER C ALDWELL ,” I said, “you stated that you observed the defendant driving without a seat belt, is that correct?”
    “That’s right,” the officer said.
    “You did not see any erratic driving, isn’t that true?”
    “That’s correct.”
    “In other words, you didn’t suspect that Mr. Richess might be driving