Success, Opulence and Power by Hebru Young (best novel books to read .TXT) 📗

C(2). We have the signed testimony of an individual, along with photo evidence, that proves the defendant, through Edom Group, has supplied illegal military-grade firearms to street gangs across the state of Florida and across several other regions within the UNEA,” said the lead prosecutor.

There was no way of finding out for sure who had cooperated with the NLEU regarding the guns. It could have been our director of armoury or the senior manager. It could have been one of the gang leaders—it could have been almost anyone. This one was going to require a thorough investigation of our own.

“Mr. Abrams, this is pretty much the same as Exhibit A(1), so this witness’s testimony will be admitted into evidence with no option to review. You can review the photographs if you wish,” said the judge.

“Thank you, Your Honour. We are happy with the photographs, and we ask permission to retain copies,” replied Joe.

“As you wish. Mr. Grant, provide the defence with copies of the photographs,” the judge said to the lead prosecutor.

“No problem, Your Honour., replied the lead prosecutor.

The pictures only showed me inspecting the firearms, they didn’t show any witnesses. The prosecution team was feeling confident at this point, made obvious by their demeanour. The lead prosecutor and his co-counsel were delivering evidentiary blows all over the place. Michael and Tracy had this self-righteous vibe about them, what a perfect couple. They made me sick. The judge did as well, I just couldn’t stand it. I wasn’t going to take all this without doing something. I could have them all killed, but that would only draw more attention to me. It was during this hearing that I decided I was going to put round-the-clock surveillance on all three of them. Hopefully we would be able to dig up dirt on them. If we got lucky, they would be discredited, and that would at least prolong the case pending their replacements.

“Your Honour, for the charge of kidnapping, the prosecution presents Exhibit D. We have signed testimony from an individual which reveals that they were taken against their will, following an order from the defendant. The evidence will prove that the instruction to kidnap this individual came directly from Mr. Dominguez,” said the co-prosecutor.

Another one for the co-prosecutor. This was getting ridiculous. So far, six witnesses had been mentioned. Their identities will have to be revealed at some point, and once that happened, I would have them killed. Of course, it would be out of spite at this point, because they would have already given their testimony. However, it would give me satisfaction to know the low-life chirpers had been permanently taken care of.

“Your Honour, for the charge of conspiracy to assassinate a government official, we present Exhibit F. We have in our possession an audio file that will prove the conspiracy to assassinate the governor of Wisconsin. This audio recording contains a dialogue between the defendant and the governor’s aide, conspiring to have the governor killed. The governor’s aide Jonah Edwards has been arrested this morning with the same charge as the defendant,” said the lead prosecutor.

This was not good. The charge that Joe and I were particularly worried about now has concrete evidence to support it. I’m not even sure how they have come up with a recording. Jonah couldn’t have been in on it, since he’d been arrested as well. He must have been under surveillance. Enforcers must have used some sort of long-range recording device to capture our conversation. If I’m found guilty for this, I’ll never get out of prison. We would need to come up with something fast.

“Your Honour, the defence would like to request a copy of the audio file and time to review this evidence,” Joe asked.

“Review it you may, Mr. Abrams, but you will not be getting a copy of the file. You will get half an hour in court today to review the recording,” replied the judge

“Thank you, Your Honour,” said Joe.

I’m not sure what Joe had in mind, but he didn’t seem as worried as I expected him to be. Maybe he knew something I didn’t.

 “Your Honour, upon final review of Exhibit G, the prosecution has decided to drop the charge of murder in the first degree,” said the lead prosecutor.

“What! You woke up and decided that the defendant was no longer guilty? You better have a good reason for this, Mr. Grant,” the judge said raising his voice.

“Your Honour, may we approach the bench?” the lead prosecutor asked.

“What for? We are the only ones here, and the trial hasn’t actually started yet. What the hell is this, amateur hour?” the judge replied angrily.

“Very well, Your Honour. During initial analysis, the fingerprints found on the murder weapon did match those of the defendant. However, upon further analysis, the crime lab has confirmed that the prints found on the murder weapon failed the indentation test. Simply put, the prints were too faint. Considering that a tight grip would have been required to successfully discharge a single round from the weapon, this grip would have generated a more prominent print. So, for this reason, we will have to drop the murder charge,” the lead prosecutor said.

“Are you suggesting that the prints were planted?” asked the judge.

“Yes, Your Honour, it seems that way. The Nation’s Internal Affairs Unit is questioning the officers that showed up to the crime scene. The officer who retrieved the weapon, from the crime scene, is also being questioned,” replied the lead prosecutor.

“I cannot believe this; this is absolutely appalling,” said the judge.

Not that I was worried about this charge in the first place, but I was glad to see it dropped. What was even better was that the flaw that had been found in the murder investigation could be used to our advantage during the trial. If push came to shove, we could claim corruption