The Crossing (2 page)

The glance told Bosch that this was where Haller had found the weakness of the case.

“Your Honor, can you ask the witness to answer the question and not look at the prosecutor for the answer?” Haller prompted.

Judge Yerrid leaned forward again and told Sanchez to answer. Sanchez asked for a repeat of the question and Haller complied.

“It was Christmastime,” Sanchez said. “We always give out turkey tickets at that time of year and I was pulling them over to give them turkey tickets.”

“Turkey tickets?” Haller asked. “What is a turkey ticket?”

B
osch was enjoying the Lincoln Lawyer show. Haller had expertly put all the details of the arrest on the record, had circled back to the Achilles heel of the case, and was about to exploit it big time. Bosch now thought he knew why the prosecutor had been silent throughout the procedure. There was nothing he could do about the facts of the case. It was going to come down to how he argued them to the judge later.

“What are turkey tickets, Officer Sanchez?” Haller asked again.

“Well, there is a chain of markets in South L.A. called Little John’s and every year around Thanksgiving and Christmas they give us these gift certificates for turkeys. And we give them out to people.”

“You mean like a gift?” Haller asked.

“Yes, a gift,” Sanchez said.

“How do you choose who gets these turkey tickets?”

“We look for good deeds, people doing what they are supposed to be doing.”

“You mean drivers obeying the traffic laws?”

“That’s right.”

“So in this case you pulled over Mr. Hennegan because he did the right thing on that turn at the red light?”

“Yes.”

“In other words, you stopped Mr. Hennegan for not breaking the law, correct?”

Sanchez looked at the prosecutor again, hoping for some help. None came and he struggled through an answer.

“We did not know he was breaking the law until his partner bolted and we found the drugs and money.”

Even Bosch saw it as a pathetic stance. But Haller wasn’t letting it go by.

“Officer Sanchez,” he said, “I ask you very specifically, at the moment you put your car’s lights on and sounded the siren in order to pull Mr. Hennegan over, Mr. Hennegan had done nothing you saw to be wrong, nothing illegal. Is that correct?”

Sanchez mumbled his answer.

“Correct.”

“Please say your answer clearly for the record,” Haller said.

“Correct,” Sanchez said in a loud, annoyed tone.

“I have no further questions, Your Honor.”

The judge asked the prosecutor, whom he called Mr. Wright, if he wanted to cross-examine the witness, and Wright elected to pass. The facts were the facts and nothing he could ask could change them. The judge dismissed Officer Sanchez and addressed the lawyers.

“This is your motion, Mr. Haller,” he said. “Are you ready for arguments?”

A brief dispute followed as Haller said he was ready to proceed with oral arguments and Wright suggested that written arguments be submitted instead. Judge Yerrid threw it Haller’s way and said he wanted to hear oral arguments and then decide if written arguments were necessary.

Haller stood and moved to the lectern between the prosecution and defense tables.

“I’ll be brief, Your Honor, as I think the facts of the case are pretty clear. By any measure of those facts, not only is the probable cause to make this traffic stop insufficient, it simply doesn’t even exist. Mr. Hennegan was obeying all traffic laws and not acting suspiciously in any way when Officer Sanchez and his partner put on their lights and siren and forced him to pull to the side of the road.”

Haller had carried a legal tome with him to the lectern. He now looked down at a highlighted section of text and continued.

“Your Honor, the Fourth Amendment requires that a search and seizure be pursuant to a warrant supported by probable cause. However, there are exceptions to the warrant requirement under
Terry
, one of which is that a vehicle may be stopped when there is probable cause to believe that an infraction has been committed or there is reasonable suspicion to believe that the occupants of the vehicle are engaged in a crime. In this instance we have none of the requirements for a
Terry
stop. The Fourth Amendment places strict limitations on the state in its exercise of power and authority. Handing out turkey tickets is not a valid exercise of constitutional authority. Mr. Hennegan committed no traffic offense and by the arresting officer’s own admission was driving in a perfectly legal and correct way when he was forced to pull over. It does not matter what was found to be in the trunk of his car later. The government trampled on his right to be protected from unlawful search and seizure.”

Haller paused, perhaps attempting to gauge if he needed to say more.

“Additionally,” he finally said, “the one hour Mr. Hennegan spent locked in the back of Officer Sanchez’s patrol car constituted an arrest without warrant or probable cause, again a violation of his protections against unlawful search and seizure. Fruit of the poisonous tree, Your Honor. It was a bad stop. Everything that came out of it was therefore tainted. Thank you.”

Haller walked back to his chair and sat down. His client gave no indication that he had listened and understood the argument.

“Mr. Wright?” the judge said.

The prosecutor stood and reluctantly approached the lectern. Bosch had no law degree but he did have a solid working knowledge of the law. It was clear to him that the case against Hennegan was in trouble.

“Your Honor,” Wright began. “Every day of the week police officers have what we call citizen encounters, some of which lead to arrest. As the Supreme Court says in
Terry
, ‘Not all personal intercourse between police officers and citizens involves seizure of persons.’ This was a citizen encounter—the intention of which was to reward good behavior. What turned this in a new direction and provided the probable cause for the actions of the officers was the passenger fleeing the defendant’s vehicle. That was the game changer.”

Wright checked the notes on the yellow pad he had brought with him to the lectern. He found the string and continued.

“The defendant is a drug dealer. The good intentions of these officers should not preclude this case’s going forward. The court has wide discretion in this area and Officer Sanchez and his partner should not be penalized for carrying out their duty to the fullest.”

Wright sat down. Bosch knew his argument had been tantamount to throwing himself on the mercy of the court. Haller stood up to respond.

“Your Honor, if I could make one point. Mr. Wright is Mr. Wrong here. He quoted from
Terry
but left out that when an officer, by means of physical force or show of authority, restrains a citizen, then a seizure has occurred. He seems to have a slide rule with which he likes to move the point of seizure vis-à-vis probable cause. He says there was no seizure until the passenger jumped from Mr. Hennegan’s car and probable cause arose. But that logic does not work, Your Honor. Through the siren and lights on his car, Officer Sanchez forced Mr. Hennegan’s car to the side of the road. And for an arrest of any kind to transpire, there had to be probable cause for that stop. Citizens are free to travel and move about unimpeded in this country. Forcing a citizen to stop and chat is a seizure and a violation of the right to be left alone to lawful pursuits. The bottom line is, a turkey ticket is not probable cause. It is this case that is the turkey, Your Honor. Thank you.”

Proud of his last turn of phrase, Haller returned to his seat. Wright did not get back up to throw out the last word. His argument, what there was of it, had been submitted.

Judge Yerrid leaned forward once again and cleared his voice right into the bench’s microphone, creating a loud blast in the courtroom. Hennegan sat bolt upright, revealing that he had in fact been sleeping through the hearing that might decide his freedom.

“Excuse me,” Yerrid said after the ringing sound receded. “Having heard the testimony and the arguments, the court grants the motion to suppress. The evidence found in the trunk of—”

“Your Honor!” Wright shouted as he jumped up from his seat. “Clarification.”

He held his hands out wide as if he were surprised by a ruling he certainly had to have known was coming.

“Your Honor, the state has no case without the evidence from the trunk of that vehicle. You are saying the drugs and the money are tossed?”

“That’s exactly what I am saying, Mr. Wright. There was no probable cause to make the stop. As Mr. Haller stated, fruit of the poisonous tree.”

Wright now pointed directly at Hennegan.

“Your Honor, the man is a drug dealer. He is part of the plague on our city and society. You are putting him back out on—”

“Mr. Wright!” the judge barked into his microphone. “Do not blame the court for the failings of your case.”

“The state will be filing a notice of appeal within twenty-four hours.”

“It is the state’s right to do so. I will be most interested in seeing if you can make the Fourth Amendment disappear.”

Wright dropped his chin to his chest. Haller took the moment to stand and pour salt on the prosecutor’s wounds.

“Your Honor, I would like to make a motion to dismiss the charges against my client. There is no longer any evidence in support of the filing.”

Yerrid nodded. He knew this was coming. He decided to grant Wright a small dose of mercy.

“I am going to take that under advisement, Mr. Haller, and see if the state actually does file an appeal. Anything else from counsel?”

“No, Your Honor,” Wright said.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Haller said. “My client is currently incarcerated in lieu of half a million dollars’ bail. I ask that he be released on recognizance pending appeal or dismissal.”

“The state objects,” Wright said. “This man’s partner ran. There is no indication Hennegan won’t do the same. As I said, we will be appealing this ruling and returning to prosecute the case.”

“So you say,” the judge said. “I am going to take consideration of bail under advisement as well. Let’s see what the state does after considering the case further. Mr. Haller, you can always request a rehearing on your motions if the District Attorney’s Office moves too slowly.”

Yerrid was telling Wright not to sit on this or he would take action.

“Now if there is nothing else, we’re adjourned here,” the judge said.

Yerrid paused a moment to see if there was anything else from the lawyers, then stood up and left the bench. He disappeared through the door behind the clerk’s desk.

Bosch watched Haller clap Hennegan on the shoulder and lean down to explain to his client the great victory he had just won. Bosch knew the rulings didn’t mean that Hennegan would immediately waltz out of the courtroom or the county jail. Not even close. Now the dealing would begin. The case was no doubt a wounded duck that couldn’t fly. But as long as Hennegan was being held in jail, the prosecutor still had some leverage in negotiating an end to the case. Wright could offer a lesser offense in exchange for a guilty plea. Hennegan would end up looking at months instead of years and the D.A. would still get a conviction.

Bosch knew that was how it worked. The law could bend. If there were lawyers involved, then there was always a deal to be made. The judge knew this, too. He had been faced with an untenable situation. Everyone in the courtroom knew that Hennegan was a drug dealer. But the arrest was bad and therefore the evidence tainted. By keeping Hennegan in county lockup he was allowing a resolution to be worked out that might prevent a drug dealer from walking away. Wright quickly packed his briefcase and turned to leave. As he headed toward the gate, he glanced at Haller and said he would be in touch.

Haller nodded back, and that was when he noticed Bosch for the first time. He quickly finished conferring with his client as the courtroom deputy came over to take Hennegan back to lockup.

Soon afterward, Haller came through the gate to where Bosch sat waiting.

“How much of that did you catch?” he asked.

“Enough,” Bosch said. “I heard ‘Mr. Wright is Mr. Wrong.’”

Haller’s smile went wide.

“I’ve been waiting years to get that guy on a case and be able to say that.”

“I guess I should say congratulations.”

Haller nodded.

“Tell you the truth, that doesn’t happen too often. I can probably count on my two hands how many times I’ve prevailed on a motion to suppress.”

“You tell your client that?”

“Somehow the subtleties of the law are lost on him. He just wants to know when he’s getting out.”

T
hey ate at Traxx in Union Station. It was a nice place that was courthouse close and favored at lunchtime by judges and lawyers. The waitress knew Haller and she didn’t bother giving him a menu. He simply ordered the usual. Bosch took a quick look and ordered a hamburger and French fries, which seemed to disappoint Haller.

On the walk over they had talked about family matters. Bosch and Haller were half brothers and had daughters the same age. In fact, the girls were planning to room together in September at Chapman University down in Orange County. Both had applied to the school without knowing the other’s intention until they celebrated their acceptance letters on the same day on Facebook. From there their plan to be roommates quickly formed. The fathers were happy about this because they knew they would be able to pool their efforts to monitor the girls’ well-being and adjustment to college life.

Now as they sat at the table with a window that looked out on the train station’s cavernous waiting room, it was time to get down to business. Bosch was expecting an update on the case Haller was handling for him. The previous year Bosch had been suspended from the LAPD on a trumped-up beef when he had picked the lock on a captain’s office door so he could look at old police records connected to a murder investigation he was actively working. It was a Sunday and Bosch didn’t want to have to wait for the captain to come in the next day. The infraction was minor but could have been the first step in the firing process.