He Said

Kyle stood up slowly and ran a hand through his hair. He stepped forward casually, slipping his hands into his pockets. There were a few judges Andrea knew who would have rebuked a lawyer for doing that in their courtroom, but Kyle always seemed to know how far he could push things and get away with it. She had to admit, it made him look relaxed and confident, like winning this case was going to be easy and the verdict a foregone conclusion.

Hopefully the jury would be smart enough to see through his bravado. Andrea had seen far too many jurors who didn't.

Not for the first time, Andrea thought about how unfair it was that male lawyers didn't have to worry a tenth as much about how they dressed compared to women. A white shirt, sharp suit and well tied tie, and they were done. And the only thing they had to worry about changing each day was switching out their tie!

Meanwhile, female lawyers had to worry about looking professional without looking frumpy, attractive without looking prideful, sexy without looking provocative. You didn't want to look like you were trying too hard, but heaven help you if you didn't look like you had tried hard enough. The longest Andrea ever spent doing her makeup was when she was trying to look like she wasn't wearing any. You could trust that the slightest mistake wouldn't go unnoticed. Working in a building full of lawyers who built their careers on paying attention to details would guarantee that, and potentially be the start of a rumor or reputation that would follow you the rest of your career.

But the men? What man didn't look good in a nice suit?!

It was irritating how good Kyle looked in his suit.

Andrea wasn't an expert on tailoring, but she could tell that he must have his suits custom made, and that he apparently had enough that it seemed like he could go for a month without wearing the same suit twice. Every one of them looked crafted to accentuate his physique, to complement his dusky skin tone, to bring out the blue of his eyes…

…Not that Andrea paid attention to such things. Who cared what color his eyes were? The point was that men like Kyle had it easy, he'd look good in almost any suit. An expensive bespoke tailored suit? That was almost cheating.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I want to thank you for your patience and your attention these last few days. There are a lot of complicated details to this case, and your ability to absorb these facts, to consider and weigh them in the process of making your decision is an essential aspect of your service here today, and I am grateful that you have given it the attentiveness and consideration that it deserves."

Kyle always liked to flatter the jurors, emphasize how selfless they were for their service, how smart and attentive they were, even in trials when half the jury had fallen asleep during the more tedious parts of the case. Just another of those depressingly obvious ploys Andrea hated to see used.

You would think that the jurors would be smart enough to see through the transparent attempt to butter them up, but Andrea was disappointed to see that it looked like it was working on at least a couple of them.

'What a stupid reason to influence your decision when you had someone's life in your hands,' she thought, 'to lean towards the lawyer who said the nicest things about you.' Andrea wondered if it only became so obvious after seeing the same technique used again and again and again…

She glanced at the judge to see if he was going to call Kyle out. She had heard once that Kyle had lost an otherwise open-and-shut case earlier in his career when he had spent so long praising the jurors' wisdom and worth that the judge interrupted Kyle's argument to reprimand him for his behavior, and then instructed the jury they were to disregard Kyle's entire closing argument up to that point. She actually had tried to find the records of the case, but never located one that matched the story, so it might have just been made up gossip, but she always secretly hoped she might get to see it happen in one of her own cases with him.

No such luck. Either through honed instinct or long practice, laying thick flattery on a jury without drawing the wrath of the judge was another skill Kyle seemed to have perfected. For as long as Andrea had had the misfortune to know him, he seemed to be able to know when he was pushing the judge's patience without even looking.

"Your responsibility as you prepare to deliberate your verdict on this case, is to discern truth, and to serve justice. While punishing someone who was innocent might be a failure of justice, so too would allowing the guilty to escape the consequences of their actions. For the sake of society, to protect the innocent and the law abiding, it is essential that those who do not respect the law are brought to justice."

Kyle considered each member of the jury using his best fake-sincere expression, the one that seemed to say, 'You have so much power in your hands right now, we're so lucky to have amazing people like you making this decision. I have so much respect for what you are about to do, and I'm trusting you to make the right choice.' At least Andrea knew it was fake, she knew the jury probably thought he was being sincere.

If she had any doubt that it was an act, as he turned away from the jury box to pick up some papers, while his back was turned to them he flashed her a grin and a wink. It was there for only a moment before he had put back on his earnest sincere mask in time to turn back to the jury.

Andrea kept her expression impassive. The first case he'd done that to her, she had thought she must have imagined it. It was so quick, so subtle, and so inappropriate she couldn't believe it was real.

Even the second time, she wondered if it was a twitch or a tic. Once she was certain that it wasn't just her imagination, she found it enraging! It wasn't every case she and Kyle faced off against each other, but she had to believe that he was doing it just to rile her up.

She would have thought that it was an attempt to throw her off if he didn't always save it for closing arguments, until she realized that she was getting so distracted wondering if it was coming or not that she was getting riled up earlier on in cases whether he winked or not.

Andrea had him figured out now, though. That wink meant that he thought that he had the verdict locked up, that he was bound to win. Maybe it was head games, but it was also straight up gloating, and letting it get under her skin meant letting him win. She'd learned to not let her feelings show the tiniest bit.

'I hardly even worry about whether that closing wink is coming or not,' she thought. 'Besides, there've been plenty of times he's winked and gone on to lose the case!' Those victories were always the most satisfying!

Holding the papers up to leaf through them theatrically, Kyle went on, "We've discussed a lot of evidence in the course of this case. Physical evidence, circumstantial evidence, character testimony, eyewitness testimony… a lot of facts and figures and times and dates and hearsay and contradictions…"

'Here we go,' Andrea thought. This would no doubt be where Kyle would encourage them to trust their instincts and make an emotional plea to not let the evidence distract them from going with their gut.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it is in times like this, with so much to consider and weigh as to be almost overwhelming, that it can be tempting to let it all go and decide the merits of the case on intuition, on emotion, on a hunch… but this is the last thing you should do today. In your deliberations and in delivering your verdict, it must be on the basis of facts! Of evidence! Of truth!" Kyle slapped the papers in his hands to emphasize each word. "To do anything less is to do a disservice to justice!"

'That certainly wasn't what I expected to hear,' thought Andrea.