She recrossed her legs—right over left, trying to get comfortable on the hard wooden benches. David Hoffman’s preliminary hearing was scheduled toward the end of the day’s docket; first, she had been forced to sit through several other routine cases, including the painful exercise of watching Isaiah Haywood defend a man facing his second possession charge. Haywood, resplendent in a shimmering gray pin-striped suit, cuff-linked shirt, and pink tie, pulled out all the stops in his lengthy cross-examination of the arresting officer. As Isaiah grilled the man on his disciplinary record, the judge stifled a few yawns, looked conspicuously at his watch, and reminded Isaiah that it was a crowded docket. When it came time for closing arguments, Isaiah alienated the judge again, insisting that he needed more than the three minutes the judge had allotted. Not a good strategy, Jamie thought, in a case where the judge will render a verdict without the jury. “All right,” a frustrated Judge Chalmers said.
