The Lincoln Lawyer

Mick arrives early to court, relieved not to see the detectives anywhere. Minton is attempting to set up a screen for a PowerPoint presentation, which Mick feels is unnecessary and clumsy in the space. Mick asks the bailiff to scan the list of inmates bused to court today, to surreptitiously see whether Corliss is the rebuttal witness for the prosecution. Indeed, Corliss is on the list, which is exactly what Mick wants.

Mick runs into Maggie in the cafeteria. She is too busy to watch him in court today, although she did peek in at him yesterday. He is flattered.

Detective Kurlen angrily asks Mick why he has received a subpoena to appear as a rebuttal witness in the Roulet trial. Mick reveals to the reader that the subpoena is fake—Mick doesn’t intend to call Kurlen to the stand, but just needs him in the courtroom.

Trial begins at 9:30. Detectives Kurlen, Sobel, and Lankford are present. Minton calls Corliss to the stand and Mick pretends to be shocked, asking the judge who this witness is. In a planned outburst, Roulet yells out that he never spoke to Corliss in jail. Minton claims that he only learned about this witness yesterday, as he was not the original prosecutor assigned to the case. Minton argues to the judge that Corliss will rebut Roulet’s testimony. Mick argues that because this witness is a jailhouse snitch, Mick needs a week to investigate his claims and his reputation. The judge rules that Corliss may testify, but Mick may place a last-minute call to an investigator.

Rather than calling an investigator, Mick calls Lorna and tells her bring a printout and a tape to the courtroom at 10:15 am.

The trial resumes. Mick recognizes Corliss as the man who asked for Mick’s business card when Mick first met Roulet in the holding pen. Corliss testifies that he is currently serving time for burglary and possession of drugs in an inmate treatment facility. He is a heroin addict who has now been clean for 60 days. Corliss testifies that he met Roulet in the Van Nuys jail two months ago, and when they were in a cell together, Roulet told him he was in jail “for giving a bitch exactly what she deserved” (436). Mick has ten minutes to cross-examine before Lorna arrives, so he asks Corliss about his previous arrests. Mick paints a picture of Corliss as a man who survives by scamming the justice system: Corliss routinely snitches on other inmates to get his sentences reduced. Mick implores Corliss to explain why Roulet would have just walked up to him to say he “gave a bitch exactly what she deserved” (439). Corliss explains that this was part of a larger conversation: Roulet also told him about another crime he’d committed—about getting away with murdering a woman.

Mick pretends to be shocked, even though this is exactly what he wanted Corliss to say. Roulet freezes in his seat, and the prosecutor goes rigid. Mick has just managed to get the prosecution’s witness to deliver the information that he could not. 

Minton performs a re-direct of Corliss. Corliss says that Roulet bragged about killing a girl who “danced in some joint where she was like in a snake pit” (442). Roulet grabs Mick’s arm and they begin to argue under their breath. Roulet accuses Mick of feeding the witness this information, and Mick accuses Roulet of setting him up.

Just as Minton finishes, Lorna arrives. She hands a tape and a thick stack of papers to Mick and pretends to whisper something in his ear. He tells her to stay away from the courthouse after dropping these items off. Mick tells Roulet not to worry, because the information he has will prove that Corliss is a liar. He asks Roulet what else Corliss might know. Roulet is angry at the suggestion that he would be stupid enough to brag to a stranger.

Mick calls Corliss back to the stand, and notices that Detectives Kurlen and Lankford are gone. Mick asks Corliss to describe when and where he spoke with Roulet. Corliss claims to have talked to him in the holding pen the same day that Mick met Roulet. Mick produces a video recording of Roulet’s every move in the jail—at no point do Corliss and Roulet speak. Corliss explains that he was coming down from drugs that morning, so he probably misremembered the specifics. Mick points out that in a case from the ‘80s, Corliss testified that a man confessed to him about raping a woman. Eight years after that man was convicted based on Corliss’s testimony, DNA evidence exonerated him. Corliss as a known jailhouse snitch, whom police would place in holding cells to get information they needed or wanted, even if Corliss made it up. Mick asks Corliss whether “any prosecutor or police officer ask[ed] you to get close to Mr. Roulet and get him to confide in you?” (451). Corliss says no.

The judge calls an early lunch and excuses the jury. As soon as they have left the room, she drops her fake smile and demands to see Mick and Minton in her chambers. 

In chambers, angry with Minton for not properly researching the untrustworthy Corliss, Judge Fullbright asks, “Mr. Minton, what the fuck have you done to my trial?” (453). Minton tries to blame Corliss on Maggie, but Mick stands up for her. Judge Fullbright tells Minton that “putting that man on the stand in my opinion was gross prosecutorial misconduct” (454). Minton swears that he didn’t know about Corliss’s background. Mick reveals to the judge that the prosecution slipped the defense false evidence in the beginning of the trial (the photo of the fake murder weapon). Furious, the judge tells Minton to come back in 30 minutes with his boss.