ROGUE LAWYER: SUMMARY (PART 1)

Atty. Sebastian Rudd is a famous street lawyer. he is very focused with law, has
no friends other than his bodyguard named, Partner. He does not have a
permanent residence and often lives in motels. He is currently based in the City
of Milo – a corrupt city, where the justice system is dysfunctional. He is currently
handling the case of Gardy. Gardy’s case is a capital type of murder and because
of that, the law requires Atty. Rudd to have a co-counsel. Atty. Trots, is his co-
counsel. He does not believe that Gardy is innocent. Judge Kauffman, a corrupt
judge wants to fabricate facts with the prosecutor – Huver. They don’t want
Gardy and Atty. Rudd. In the case, their current witness is a fundamentalist
preacher that has claimed to have seen Gardy outside the church wearing a
satanic shirt. In Gardy’s defense, he has never been on that church and that his
family is “unchurched” and never goes to church. According to Jimmy Bressup
also known as “The Bishop, Huver and the others already know that they’ve got
the wrong guy but they have already invested in the said case. Atty. Rudd, also
met one of the members of the jury, Glynna Roston, who also believed that the
facts being presented by the prosecution are all false and fabricated. During the
autopsy of one of the girls, they found a single strand of long black hair wrapped
up in the laces around their ankles. The hair analysis expert who tested Gardy’s
hair testified that there was a “match” (obviously false). Atty. Rudd, begged Judge
Kauffman to order DNA testing but he refused because it was too expensive. Atty.
Rudd managed to steal about three-quarters of an inch of the black hair. He sent
the lock of hair, along with a sample of Peeley’s blood, to a DNA lab in California
(it costed around six grand).

Atty. Rudd and Partner goes back to the City of Milo to face another trial. During
the trial, there were loads of people and Julie Fentress – mother of the twins was
there. She was sitting on the front bench, directly behind the prosecutor’s table
and was with her support group. Atty. Rudd noticed that something was off. The
bailiff whispered to him and asked to meet the Judge in the chamber. Judge
Kaufman showed Rudd a two-page affidavit in which the deponent (the liar)
stating that she bumped into Rudd a few days ago during the MMA fights in the
City, and that Rudd discussed the case with her, telling her mother that the State
had no evidence and all their witnesses were lying; she signed it Marlo Wilfang
before a notary public. Atty. Rudd answered that he has never met this woman,
and it is not true that he initiated contact because the woman is the one that
recognized him and not the other way around. He hammered his statement by
saying that all of this was a lie and that she deliberately planned all of it; he even
stated that maybe she prepared the affidavit in Huver’s office, citing perjury and
contempt of court. In their argument, Rudd states that he wants to have a hearing
and that they should call the lady to come to the witness stand so that he can
cross-examine her since she wants to be involved in this trial after all; he also
states that he wants Roston off the jury and he will not proceed with the trial
until Roston is gone. Judge Kauffman puts Glynna Roston in trial, but in his
chambers. She was too scared to speak and started lying immediately; she claims
that she has not discussed the case with her family. After all the cross-
examinations, she left the chambers sobbing. Marlo Wilfang, repeated her little
narrative under the clumsy questioning of Dan Huver; after cross-examination
by Rudd, she was crying and gasping for breath. Wilfang’s story was that, she
came home from the MMA fights late on Friday; when she finally woke up on
Saturday, she called her mother, who immediately called Dan Huver, who knew
exactly what to do; they met in his office on Sunday afternoon, worked out the
language for the affidavit and there.

Rudd was taken to jail because Judge Kaufman cited him for direct contempt.
Rudd was taken to jail with Gardy; he called Judith and she gets pissed; then
called Partner to update him of his status. Judith filed a petition at 5 pm for
habeas corpus in federal court in the City, with an urgent demand for an
immediate hearing. The DNA samples will be taken by the lab the following day.
Rudd spends a night in jail and gets back on court the following morning. He
made it in the morning edition of the Chronicle. Before the trial started, the bailiff
informed Kauffman that he needs to be in the Federal court for a hearing.
Kaufman told Rudd that he is vacating the contempt order, and that one night in
jail is enough to discipline Rudd.

The court starts the trial and they spent the next two hours haggling over
whether or not the State has presented enough proof to keep going; Rudd
repeats the same arguments and Kauffman makes the same rulings; all for the
sake of record. Rudd first witness, a scraggly, troubled kid who looks remarkably
similar to his client; his name is Wilson; a 15 year old who is a school dropout, a
druggie and a homeless kid, although his aunt lets him sleep in her garage
whenever he is sick; Fentress girls went missing around 4 pm on a Wednesday
afternoon; they left school on their bikes but never made it home; a search began
around 6 pm and intensified as the hours passed; by midnight the entire town
was in a panic and everyone was outside with a flashlight; their bodies were
found in the polluted pond around noon the following day. Rudd has 6 witnesses
(Wilson and 5 others), they testify that they were with Gardy on that Wednesday
afternoon from around 2 pm until dark they were at a place called Pit, an
abandoned gravel pit in the middle of some dense woods shout of town; it’s a
scheduled hideout for truants, runaways, homeless kids, druggies, petty felons,
and drunks; it is considered as a haven for the kids nobody wants; Gardy was
there when someone else abducted and murdered the Fentress girls. When
Wilson took the stand, the jurors are suspicious, mainly because of his physical
attributes. Huver bullies Wilson during cross-examination; but Wilson was
composed and calm since Rudd and Wilson practiced for the cross-examination.
Next witness, Lolo, the poor child has lived under bridges in box culverts for as
long as she can remember; she is protected by the boys and she keeps them
satisfied; she is covered in tattoos and she remembers that particular
Wednesday, remembering the cops coming out to the Pit, and remembers Gardy
being there all afternoon.

Discrimination in the justice system of the City of Milo is clear in the case of
Gardy: the witnesses of the prosecution tell lies in a coordinated effort and “look”
legitimate; while the witnesses who know the truth, are discounted immediately
and made to look like fools. Rudd shows the jurors the map of City of Milo. Pit is
far away from the pond; and there is no possible way that Gardy could have been
in both places at the approximate time the girls were murdered. Juror’s didn’t
believe in the point made by Rudd because they stick to the belief that Gardy was
member of a Satanic cult with a history of sexual perversion. There is no physical
proof that the Fentress girls were sexually assaulted. Rudd gets a call from the
DNA lab in San Diego and confirms that Peeley’s blood sample matched the
strand of hair the murderer left behind in the shoelaces he tightly bound around
the ankles of Jenna Fentress.

Rudd meets with Bishop in his office early in the morning, and Bishop calls
Kaufman; they are in Kaufman’s chambers with Huver and the court reporter.
They are demanding Rudd to answer as to how he was able to obtain a blood
sample of Peeley. Huver kept on insisting that Gardy was involved in the murder,
and even theorized that Gardy and Peeley may have planned the murder
together. Kauffman declared recess and said that he wants to see the test results.
During the day, the Kauffman and Huver met in secret. In the rules of procedure,
it prohibits the clandestine meetings. The DNA sample have confirmed the truth,
Kauffman along with Huver dismissed the charges against Gardy and Peeley was
arrested.