13 The Stranger
Outside of Attorney General's office building, there is a broad, high rising garden edging next to the wide steps. Jack sits on it like it's a bench. But Jack sits there not because he likes the landscaping design.
That's where the corrupted prosecutor, Carson Nikazzi, works now. He's waiting for him to come out.
On behalf of the State, Nikazzi has systematically used unethical and illegal methods to prosecute people. He has forged documents. He has made up testimony. He has made the witnesses lie for him. He has hidden evidence that was inconvenient. He stopped any police investigation into anything that would demolish his prosecution. He basically writes his own script for what he wants to happen in the courtroom.
Because of his tactics, he's never lost a case. But 90% of the people he prosecuted are innocent.
You might wonder, is he crazy? Why would he do that? Because it's just so much easier to make up whatever he needs than finding the real evidence. Most importantly, when he fakes everything he wants, he will certainly win all his lawsuits. He especially likes to do that to innocent people who have no power and no money to fight back. And pretty much everyone has no resources to play the legal battle with him.
Carson Nikazzi, a prosecutor who works for the law and for the government, is contributing injustice and damage. Some innocent people died in prison because of his wrongful conviction.
Not only has Nikazzi never been punished, but he also got a promotion. He is now an Assistant Attorney General for the entire state. And he is now just a few months away from his retirement, he will then enjoy generous pension paid for by tax dollars.
This is the first time that Jack and Bob tackles a public employee inside the legal system.
*** ***
{a quick cutaway...}
Before this, Jack and Bob have been tracking down felons or parolees who are still trying to repeat their own crimes. Jack would find them and beat the shit out of them before they can do anything again.
He always warns them:
"The next time I have to come and find you, I will not be this nice and gentle."
"Nice and gentle? You just tried to break my legs and cripple me! How is that nice and gentle?"
"Yeah. Next time I will make sure you can't walk for the rest of your life. Right now you probably can still walk..., after you stay in a bed for a month and not doing any shit. Which is what you deserve! Don't try to repeat your crime. You hear me?" Jack would then kick them in the face one last time.
Jack hasn't really beaten up that many people. He has only beaten just 9 in total.
The most recent one of them is a parolee. He was working as a bar bouncer. And as a bouncer, this parolee had prime opportunity to watch women coming and leaving the bar. This parolee then chose a girl leaving the bar alone. He followed her, attempting to attack her.
Fortunately Jack showed up just in time, because Jack was actually already planning to kick this parolee. The parolee just happened to commit another crime when Jack was following him.
"Yo. Turn around!" Jack caught the parolee.
The parolee then turned around, and immediately, Jack kicked the living hell out of him. The girl being followed was so shocked. But at least she was safe.
*** ***
Now, Jack is about to stop a prosecutor that is causing problem in the justice system. This dirty prosecutor needs to be stopped.
Jack follows Nikazzi quietly to his car. As soon as Nikazzi unlocks the car, Jack opens the passenger side of the door.
"What are you doing?" Nikazzi is shocked to see a stranger getting into his car.
"Kathy Mason needs to see you. Let's go."
"What? What are you talking about?"
Jack makes a "tsk" noise, "Stop playing dumb. I know everything. Get in. You want me to tell everyone you are hiding Kathy Mason?"
Nikazzi seems to think he has been caught. He asks frantically, "Who sent you? The internal affairs investigation? The State troopers?"
Jack smiles, "Just drive. You'll see."
Actually, Jack was lying. He bluffed about Kathy, and he bet Nikazzi wanted to keep Kathy a secret. It worked. Nikazzi is nervous about Kathy.
Jack doesn't even know how Bob finds out that Kathy Mason is hidden by Nikazzi. Jack searched all the online news articles and all he could find was Kathy Mason has been missing for two years.
Kathy Mason was a criminal. She had prior records of stealing money from people. Later on, she worked as a caretaker for an old man, Tom. Within three days of working for old Tom, she forged Tom's signature and cashed out checks on Tom's savings account. She got greedy and finally killed old Tom. She drained the entire life savings from old Tom.
After doing that, she framed old Tom's son for the crime. There was no real evidence, but Kathy told everyone that the son was violent.
Then, Kathy disappeared with all the money. Nikazzi quickly prosecuted the son based on Kathy's rumors about the son. Nikazzi didn't want any more investigation. He wanted to close the case as soon as possible. Because he wanted to win as soon as possible. And Kathy was nowhere to be found at that time. Nikazzi chose to put Tom's son in jail.
Nikazzi later located Kathy and decided to hide her. Nikazzi has to keep Kathy out of public's sight, because Kathy is the living proof that Nikazzi is a corrupted prosecutor. Plus, Nikazzi gets to take a cut of Kathy's stolen money.
Nikazzi drives to a small, old apartment building. They get out of the car and walk up to a first-floor unit.
"Kathy?" Nikazzi knocks on the door.
Jack sees that the door is agape. He pushes it open.
"Mmmmm!" A muffled cry from a woman in her late 50s.
She is sitting on a wooden chair. Her hands are bound and she is gagged with what looks to be socks. She looks terrified and she screams through the socks in her mouth.
Nikazzi is shocked, but he slowly backs away, ready to run out of the door.
Jack quickly pulls Nikazzi back by his elbow. "Where the hell do you think you are going?"
"Why did you do this?" Nikazzi asks, trembling a little, "What do you want?"
Jack scratches his head. He's actually not sure why Kathy is bound. Did someone come in and help him tie up this woman? Well, this makes the job easy.
Jack remains calm, "Obviously.... I need you to come clean with all your crimes. Confess each case that you make up stories to win. You need to tell the public that your cases were questionable. Turn yourself in." Jacks grabs on Nikazzi's arm tightly. He is about to twist his arm.
Nikazzi tries to shake Jack off, but he can't. Jack is a lot stronger than he is.
"Ha. You really think you can twist my arm to make me admit anything? You're out of your mind. Nothing has ever touched me. If I wasn't going to retire soon, I would've been promoted to the Attorney General of the state. There's nothing going to stop me."
"Stop you from what?"
"Stop me from how I present my case, of course. You have no evidence."
"Just tell me this, why don't you want to prosecute the real bad people? It's not even asking much. It's just your job."
"What for? There's no innocent victims in my eye. Your so-called innocent people? They put themselves in those situations, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do anything. And why do I have to waste time on them? They can't help me win my case."
"Ah. I think I have enough evidence right now." Jack tosses Nikazzi to the ground like he's a rag doll. Jack then steps on Nikazzi's chest, preventing him from getting up.
"I got you recorded." Jack pulls his phone out of his pocket. "I almost forgot to hit record. Luckily I did."
"That proves nothing!" Nikazzi shouts. He reaches his arms out in vain.
Suddenly, a closet door opens. A very muscular man with military crew cut hairstyle emerges from the closet. Jack is shocked. He has no idea a stranger is already hiding here.
The stranger starts to slow clapping, "Well done! I'm glad you recorded what he said." This stranger laughs. "We can try to make this prosecutor admit more crimes. I got this woman tied up here. We can get her to say something, too"
Kathy screamed some more through the socks in her mouth.
