Alex Cross's Trial

Excerpt

Chapter 1

"LET HER HANG until she's dead!"

"Take her out and hang her now! I'll do it myself!"

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Judge Otis L. Warren wielded his gavel with such fury I
thought he might smash a hole in the top of his bench.

"Quiet in the court!" the judge shouted. "Settle down, or by
God I will hold every last one of you sons of bitches in contempt."

Bam! Bam! Bam!

It was no use. Warren's courtroom was overflowing with
disgruntled white citizens who wanted nothing more than to
see my client hang. Two of them on the left side began a chant that was soon taken up by others:

We don't care where. We don't care how.
We just wanna hang Gracie Johnson now!

The shouts from some among the white majority sent such
a shiver of fear through the colored balcony that one woman
fainted and had to be carried out.

Another bang of the gavel. Judge Warren stood and shouted,
"Mr. Loomis, escort all those in the colored section out of my courtroom and out of the building."

I couldn't hold my tongue another second.

"Your Honor, I object! I don't see any of the colored folks
being rowdy or disrespectful. The ones making the fuss are
the white men in front."

Judge Warren glared over his glasses at me. His expression
intimidated the room into silence.

"Mr. Corbett, it is my job to decide how to keep order in
my court. It is your job to counsel your client - and let me tell you, from where I sit, she needs all the help she can get."

I couldn't disagree.

What I once thought would be an easy victory in the case
of District of Columbia v. Johnson was swiftly turning into a
disaster for Gracie and her increasingly helpless attorney, Benjamin E. Corbett: that being myself.

Gracie Johnson was on trial for the murder of Lydia Davenport, a wealthy white woman who was active in Washington
society at a level high enough to cause a nosebleed. Worse,
Gracie was a black woman accused of killing her wealthy white
employer.

The year was 1906. Before it was all over, I was afraid they
were going to hang Gracie.

I had to be careful they didn't hang me while they were at it.

(c) James Patterson