“Thank you, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Roth, call the next case.” Just then a deputy came in.
“Sorry to interrupt, Your Honor, but Judge Wilson is ordering Ms. Ginsberg downstairs to talk to a defendant.”
“Tell him she’s busy,” Judge Channing snapped.
“It’s kind of important, Your Honor. They brought in the defendants on that West Two Ten case for some kind of emergency hearing and there’s a guy in there who she was representing. The PD he has now is out in the districts and since she was the last counsel of record and they have to do the hearing, he needs her to at least talk to him until his lawyer can get here.”
“Alright then,” Judge Channing conceded. “She can go down to talk to him and explain what’s happening until his lawyer gets here. I’ll take Mr. Roth and Ms. Albright’s cases first. But I’m going to need her back here when they’re done.”
“That should be fine, Your Honor. Mark Patterson is the guy’s lawyer now, and he called to say he’s on his way in.”
“Okay, Ms. Ginsberg. You’re excused for now.” I looked nervously at Braden. He did not look happy at all. Just what I did not need a few days before our huge engagement party. I sighed and grabbed my notebook.
“I’ll be right back.” Famous last words.
In retrospect, something felt off from the very beginning. I met up with two senior defenders, Tom and Rob, who filled me in quickly on the hearing. When the deputy buzzed us in he seemed distracted, and I heard raised voices somewhere within and what sounded like a scuffle. I tensed up instinctively but we kept walking toward the interview rooms because those sounds weren’t exactly foreign in lock-up. We had just made it there when all hell broke loose. I was confused at first and I didn’t understand what was happening. There was shouting and people were running and pushing. We turned and started back for the door but then I saw a blur of bodies in motion blocking it. I heard a gunshot and my heart almost stopped. Tom and Rob shoved me into an interview room. Holy shit! We weren’t going to be getting out of there.
“What’s going on?” I asked, feeling terrified.
“I don’t know, Gab, but there wasn’t any way we were going to get through that door with the fight that was going on there,” Tom answered.
“Who was that fighting?”
“Looked like two deputies and two West Ten Sixers,” Rob said.
“Oh my God.” My stomach felt like it dropped to my feet. It was the gang members and they were out of their cells.
“Just stay calm Gabrielle,” Tom said. “People had to have heard the gunshot and they’re going to send reinforcements here really soon.”
“What if they start a shoot-out? We’re like sitting ducks in here.” I wasn’t handling this well.
“Only one deputy would be armed so there should only be one gun,” Rob replied.
“Yeah, but who has it?” I was starting to shake. This had to be a nightmare. This kind of thing didn’t really happen, did it?
The door burst open then and a guy in prison clothes ducked inside with us and slammed it again. He looked up at us and got startled. Putting his hand over his heart, he took a deep breath. If he was a gang member, he wasn’t one of the braver ones.
“Ya’ll scared the shit out of me! I didn’t know this room was occupied, but it’s gonna be a little more occupied, because I ain’t goin’ back out there!”
“What’s going on out there?” Tom asked. I could still hear shouting and crashing sounds but thankfully there were no more gunshots.
“What the f**k you think’s goin’ on? Bunch gangbangers going f**kin’ apeshit!”
“You’re not West Six Ten?” Rob asked.
“Do I look like a motherfuckin’ gangsta? That ain’t even my part of town.” I looked at him and I had to admit he didn’t look like a motherfuckin’ gangsta. At least he didn’t have any tattoos and he didn’t look very tough. He was kind of scrawny, to tell you the truth. Gang bangers came in all shapes and sizes though.
“Who are you?” Rob asked.
“Terrell Jones, and I’m only in here because I bought a bag of weed off the wrong guy. Shit ain’t even illegal in Colorado and they dump me in here with a bunch of criminals.” Terrell sounded seriously aggrieved. “Hey wait. You guys PDs?”
“Yeah, why?” Tom answered.
“Well, hallelujah, praise Jesus! It’s about f**kin’ time! I’ve been tryin’ to get in touch with ya’ll! That cop set me up, man!”
“Uh, Terrell, I don’t think this is the time,” Rob began. Out the window in the door I saw two people fly past and then I heard a crash.
“It’s never the time, man! I’m tellin’ ya I was entrapped goddamnit and I need defendin’!”
“Okay, uh, Gabrielle, why don’t you talk to Terrell here and I’m going to take a quick look out there and see if I can find out what’s going on,” Tom said.
“What are you whack?!” Terrell cut in. “I’ll tell you what’s goin’ on. Some fancy private defense lawyer with mo’ money than brains came strollin’ into a cell and ordered the guard to uncuff his gangsta client and the stupid ass guard did it. The dude went f**kin’ nuts and grabbed his lawyer by the neck. In came Dudley Dooright deputy with his piece and another banga’ took him down from behind. I don’t know what happened then because the door was open and I was on my way out but it looked like a fight over the gun and now somebody out there is strapped up. I figure it must be one of the home-boys ’cause if it weren’t we’d be out of here by now.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do but wait then,” Tom said.
“So, while we waitin’ let me tell ya’ll how I was set up!” I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves and focus. I sat down at the desk and started listening to Terrell’s story about how he was the real victim in his case.
It wasn’t lost on me that I was a woman trapped in a locked area with a bunch of loose, and possibly armed gang members. Who had probably been incarcerated for a while. Without access to women, but I tried not to think about it. It actually wasn’t as hard as one would believe because I felt kind of numb at the time and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Looking back, I’m pretty sure that I was experiencing mild shock.