IBO - Brian R. Lundin (100 books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📗

“I might not be able to get them off, “Eli said.
“You can only do your best, and Malik assured me you would, that’s all I can expect.”
“What are their names and where are they now?” Eli inquired.
“Their names are Charles Conway, Paul Fairchild and William Gates, they are locked up in the Federal Correctional Center in Fort Wayne; their next court date is two weeks from now, anything else you need?”
“Not now but how can I get in contact with you,” Eli asked Boise as he was leaving the office.
“I’ll contact you, anything else?” Mr. Boise asked. “No, I guess not,” Eli, said.
“Thank you for your time attorney; this should cover your retainer fee.”
Boise handed Eli an envelope and left the office. When Eli opened the envelope, it contained $25,000. Eli told Mrs. Gault to contact the Justice Department in Fort Wayne and get all the information she could about the case and to file an attorney appearance motion with the court. Later that evening Eli got a call from Malik.
“How you doing bro?”
“Fine, Malik how you doing?” Eli replied.
“Going along.”
“I had a visit from a friend of yours today, a guy named Boise, you know him?”
“Yes,” Malik said.
“He wants me to represent some of his friends in a federal narcotic case.”
“Are you’re going to do it?” Malik asked.
“I don’t know, I told him this is a federal case and he needed a more experienced lawyer for a case like this.”
“You’ve got to start somewhere,” Malik said.
“I guess you’re right, but you know how I feel about gang bangers.”
“Listen Eli, you are an attorney, and you swore to provide the best defense possible for your client and ensure that all of his rights are protected and he is given his due process, that’s all. Everyone deserves a vigorous, competent defense, even the guilty. If the system fails in this responsibility, how do we force the government to maintain a high level of proof for all cases? When you look at it seriously, really whom are the drug dealers hurting? They don’t force people to use or become addicted to drugs, you remember what Diki said about victimless crimes? Like you, I disapprove of the associated violence, but that’s the way it is. Drug dealers are really providing a public service, they are fulfilling a public need, the drug dealers are entrepreneurs, and selling drugs certainly beat flipping hamburgers at Mc Donald’s for minimum wages. Remember a verdict of not guilty has nothing to do with innocence, highly principled attorneys as if you should make it clear the moral difference between defending and representing. Even a guilty person should be represented; not all of them should be defended. I understood how you feel about gangs because of what happened to your little brother, but life goes on, talk,” Malik hung up the telephone.
Eli had Mrs. Gault prepare all the legal papers, motion for discovery, motion for bond, etc., she also arranged a meeting with his clients.
The following morning Eli met his clients at the Federal Correctional Center in Fort Wayne, addressing the group Eli introduced himself, “My name is Eli Whitney and I have been retained to represent you. Before we get started let set some ground rules, my job is to help you but I can’t do that unless you tell me the truth. I don’t care who you are or what you been doing, my only job is to provide you with the best defense possible. So, if you’re going to lie to me and not be truthful, find someone else. In addition, you should know this is my first federal drug case and maybe you should consider getting a more experienced lawyer. Right now I don’t know what evidence the government has on you, but I don’t want any surprises in court, do we understand each other?”
All of his clients nodded their heads in agreement. Eli called out each name while reading the files. Charles Conway and Paul Fairchild was nineteen years old, William Gates was eighteen years old.
Charles Conway was tall and slim, the orange prison jumpsuit they all were wearing was too small for Charles, and the pants were two short. Paul was short and stubby with a baldhead, and William the youngest, had a baby face and looked scared.
“What gang are you with and what happened leading to your arrest,” Eli asked.
Conway spoke up, “I’m a governor for the State Streets Boys and I have maybe fifty people working for me in Gary, maybe one hundred in Fort Wayne and maybe thirty five or forty in Indianapolis. We made our move into Indiana three years ago.”
“How many keys were you moving in Fort Wayne a week?” Eli asked.
“Maybe four or five,” Conway answered.
“What about Gates and Fairchild?” Eli asked.
“Gates was my regent in Gary and Fairchild was my regent in Indianapolis, I ran Fort Wayne myself,” Conway said.
“What happened during the arrest?” Eli asked Conway.
“I had just gotten home about 3:00 am, changed into my pj's and me and my ole lady had just sit down at the table in the kitchen getting ready to eat some shrimps, when all of a sudden the front and back door flew open. About ten guys wearing those fuckin’ black swat uniforms rushed in screaming and hollering, “FBI, FBI,” and pointing automatic weapons at us, my ole lady started screaming and nearly shit herself.
She tried to run out the room but one of those muthafuckas knocked her out cold. Some of the other assholes threw me on the floor and handcuffed me and took me out, in my pajamas, I nearly froze my ass off.
“What about you?” Gates.
“It was about that same time I guess. I was on my way home when I saw the red lights and heard the police sirens, when I pulled over to let them pass, they jumped out their cars, guns drawn and pulled me out of my ride and made me lay face down on the ground. They handcuffed me and threw me in the back of their ride.”
“You?” Eli asked looking at Fairchild.
“Man, shit, I was at this bitches house getting some head, best head I’ve had in a long time, when these motherfuckas burst into my flat and grabbed the bitch by the hair and pulled her off the dick. They told her to get the fuck out. The dirty motherfuckas wouldn’t even let the bitch put on any clothes, they threw her white ass out buck-naked. I was handcuffed, put in the car, and they bumped my head on the door and took me to the slammer, what I’m pissed about is first, I didn’t get a nut, and I paid the bitch fifty dollars, shit.”

The other men laughed, but Eli suppressed his.
“When were you arrested?”
“About two weeks ago,” Conway said.
“I assumed you were denied bond?”
“Yep,” Conway said.
“ This is what happens next; I will file an appearance for a bond hearing, and try to get you out on bond, which I doubt. After I get all the papers from the government and had time to review them, we will meet again and discuss our case, hang tough,” Eli said leaving the room.
Driving back to his office Eli thought about his mother and little brother and the hellhole that was Cabrini Green. Drugs and gangs had taken over the lives of young black people living there and most of the young black males were uneducated and unemployable. The only way to make any money was to sell drugs. The children had no role models; many of their mothers were crack head and they didn’t know who the fathers of their kids were. The children had to take care of themselves and they turned to the gangs for protection and a sense of family. To them school was a waste of time, if the purposes of an education was to prepare you for the future, these people didn’t believe they had a future, they knew they were either going to wind up in jail or the graveyard, and what was more frightening was they didn’t seem to care. Malik was right, he thought, I’m not a social worker I am a lawyer. I will do my best and forget about moral issues, that all I can do.
Eli’s motion for bond was denied, as he expected, but he was given a two months continuance to prepare his case. The government had video and audiotapes of his clients selling drugs to undercover agents and they had two gang members who had made a deal with them to testify against his clients for a reduced sentence. All three of his clients had extensive criminal records, mainly in Chicago. Conway had been arrested for selling narcotics, battery, and home invasion, Gates had served five years in a state prison for homicide, and Fairchild had served time in state prison for drugs and murder. The government informants were all two-time losers, one more conviction and they were facing life in prison, Eli met with his clients.
“According to the indictment, you guys are charged with violating Title 21 of the United States Code, operating a continuing criminal enterprise, also known as RICO, delivery of crack cocaine and conspiracy to deliver crack cocaine, they also have some of the drug transactions on video and audiotapes. Also they have two of your hommies as their witnesses, one is named John Brown and the other is Billy Edwards, know them.”
Conway answered, “Yeah, Billy worked for me and John Brown worked for Gates, them assholes.”
“Well, they were facing life, what would you do? Both of them was wired and they have audio and video tapes of a meeting Conway had with them on establishing territories, eliminating competition, establishing street prices and a whole lot of other stuff. They also have videotaped of Gates selling kilos to an undercover agent.”
“Who was the agent,” Conway asked.
“I don’t know yet, they are probably saving him for court,” Eli said.
“Do you want me to try to get a deal with the government?" Eli asked.
“If we would plead guilty how much time you talking about?” Conway asked.
“Based on your previous record, probably twenty five years or more and in the federal system you have to do eighty five percent of the sentences, not that day for day stuff like in the state’s system,” Eli answered.
“That’s about twenty year’s right?” Conway asked
“Right again,” Eli answered.
“If we get convicted how many years you think,” Conway asked.
“Probably life,” Eli answered.
“Shit, the way I see it, ain’t a lot of difference between twenty years and life, we probably never will get out of the joint anyway, fuck a deal,” Conway said.
“The