Chapter 265: The Arrogant Radio Host: What Can You Do About Me?
"Really? I don't believe it!"
Lawyer Emily sneered. "No one can do that unless they're completely inhuman!"
"In a way, that's accurate," Harvey said with a knowing smile. "Of course, I'm referring to the last part—if you really get to know him, you'll increasingly agree with that assessment."
Seeing that all her tactics—flattery, seduction, and provocation—were ineffective against this seasoned attorney, Emily abandoned her efforts and walked away coldly in her high heels.
"Emily."
Harvey's voice came from behind. As she turned around, he gave her sincere advice: "The best thing to do right now is to accept this settlement and close the case as soon as possible. Otherwise, dragging it out will have consequences far beyond the financial pain your client will experience. Anyone with a modicum of sense should know that this is the most dignified outcome."
"What if he's neither smart nor interested in dignity?" Emily retorted sarcastically. "Aren't you going to make him be smart and dignified?"
"You should help him be smart and dignified first!" Harvey said earnestly. "After all, you're his lawyer! It's your responsibility!"
Emily and her fellow attorney exchanged a long glance, a hint of professional camaraderie passing between them. Her expression softened slightly, and she nodded and left.
She knew this all too well!
But she could only advise Max Henson; she couldn't make the decision for him.
Leaving the courthouse and arriving at Max Henson's mansion in the Hollywood Hills, she addressed the grim-faced man: "You saw what happened in court. My advice is to accept their offer immediately and close this case. Otherwise, dragging it out will cause serious problems."
"Accept their offer?" Max Henson roared. "That's $5 million! Not $500! Do you know what that means?"
"It means you have to sell your car and your house," Emily calmly explained. "Although you have tens of millions in assets, most of them are in stocks and investments, which are now heavily leveraged. You only have about $1 million in liquid assets. To pay that $5 million, you must sell your Porsche and your house, or you'll have to sell those stocks at a massive loss."
"You know that and you still say such things!" Max Henson shouted. "The market's at rock bottom now, about to rebound! You want me to sell those blue-chip stocks that will appreciate several times over in the future? If I don't sell, you want me to sell my car and my house? Where am I supposed to live? Where am I supposed to go? This isn't about selling a car and a house—it's about losing everything I've worked for! Don't I care about my reputation?"
"Excuse my bluntness, but the most sensible thing to do right now is to ignore those concerns," Emily advised. "No disrespect intended, but sometimes reputation isn't worth that much money. You can always rebuild it."
"You're my lawyer! These problems should be yours to solve, not mine!" Max Henson snapped.
"I've already tried my best," Emily said calmly. "But first a recording, then an email—who knows what other damaging evidence will surface? How am I supposed to handle this? Like you did in court, where you lost your composure and stood up to argue? That only made you look more guilty!"
"Unless there's solid evidence, suspicion is just suspicion," Max Henson scoffed. "As long as I stick to my guns, what can they do to me… What kind of look is that?!"
"Still in denial?" Emily stopped looking at Max Henson with her dismissive gaze and reminded him, "You receive hundreds of emails from fans every day; it's reasonable that you don't read every single one. But what's unreasonable is claiming you didn't read the email Erin Reagan sent you afterward admitting it was all made up. Because after you directly quoted her lies and caused such a huge uproar, she's no longer a complete stranger to you. Are you telling me you didn't read her subsequent emails? You know that whether you've read an email, and when you read it, is timestamped, right? The plaintiff can easily subpoena these emails and get solid evidence!"
"Then I'll go delete it now..." Max Henson's eyes flashed.
"What did you say? I didn't hear you, and I'm not going to listen anymore!" Emily pretended to be deaf, completely ignoring Max Henson's intention to destroy evidence. She was just a defense attorney, not a defendant! Once she learned of Max Henson's criminal behavior, she was required to report it to the court; otherwise, she could face disbarment or even jail time if things went wrong.
"I know what to do." Max Henson wasn't stupid; he immediately understood the lawyer's concerns. He glanced at her contemptuously, then leaned back and said coldly, "This won't work, that won't work. All I hear is you making excuses; I haven't seen any constructive suggestions from you. Are you even competent? If not, tell me now, and I'll get a new lawyer. You don't think someone like me can't afford better representation, do you?"
"Of course you need me!" Emily said professionally. "If you're determined not to settle, then what we need to do now is attack the plaintiff's most important evidence: Erin Reagan! She's barely an adult, and she works at a family planning clinic under some kind of work program. I know people like that all too well—she's probably a juvenile offender doing court-ordered community service. As long as we dig up her history, we can greatly undermine her credibility. And as long as one juror wavers and chooses to believe you, then we win!"
"Very good!" Max Henson finally smiled. "That's what a qualified lawyer should do. I'm looking forward to rubbing it in that so-called Detective Chuck's face after we win this case."
"I strongly advise against that!" Emily warned. "Even if we win this case, I still suggest you settle with them, offer sufficient compensation, and definitely don't provoke Detective Chuck. Don't forget the recording that suddenly appeared in court today and its contents. You don't want to be entangled in various lawsuits, do you?"
"It's fine, I'm a public figure. What I fear most isn't being embroiled in lawsuits—it's losing my audience!" Max Henson said dismissively. "As long as it's not something that poses a fatal threat to me, it will only make me more famous!"
Any publicity is good publicity? That's the attitude celebrities like him lived by!
Emily opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing more and went about preparing their defense.
A few days later, the court reconvened.
Erin Reagan sat in the witness stand again, but this time, she was being cross-examined by the defendant's lawyer, Emily.
Under Emily's well-prepared and sharp questioning, the already troubled probationer completely broke down.
"These should have been sealed, sealed..." Erin Reagan cried out.
The secret she referred to was that American law protects the privacy of minors, and some juvenile offenders' records are sealed. But unfortunately, this sealed information is completely accessible to those with the right connections.
When Harvey objected that Erin Reagan's past was irrelevant to the case, and that her testimony was merely preliminary—the real key was Max Henson's email account and whether several emails from Erin Reagan had been opened before Jamie was rescued—Max Henson then stated that he regularly cleaned his email inbox, and those emails had already been deleted.
The court adjourned again.
"Do you know?" Harvey looked at Emily with a serious expression.
"Know what?" Emily replied noncommittally.
"Destroying evidence is a federal offense!" Harvey looked into his colleague's eyes. "Withholding information is obstruction of justice! I don't want to see you disbarred or behind bars."
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Emily said calmly. "The situation is clear now. Accept the $2 million settlement and a public apology, and this case is over."
"Now it's $2 million, huh?" Harvey laughed.
"$2 million is generous, otherwise you might get nothing!" Emily's attitude hardened considerably.
If she didn't demonstrate her competence, she would be seen as ineffective, which was unacceptable to her.
All the emails had been deleted, making it impossible to prove whether Max Henson had viewed them, or when. The most important evidence was gone.
Even the key witness, Erin Reagan, had been thoroughly impeached; her emotional breakdown was enough to create reasonable doubt with some jurors.
Previously on the defensive, they finally had gained the upper hand.
She now felt genuinely confident.
"You want to roll the dice, don't you?" Harvey said with a knowing smile. "Fine, I'll take that bet—and you'll lose!"
"I don't see it that way," Emily said with a suggestive smile. "Between us, I've always come out on top!"
"In your dreams, maybe?" Harvey retorted, not to be outdone.
They exchanged a few more barbs before returning to their respective sides of the courtroom.
The final showdown had arrived.
Both the plaintiff's and defendant's lawyers tried to sway the jury with their closing arguments, hoping for a favorable verdict.
Emily, focusing on First Amendment rights and the unreliability of Erin Reagan's testimony, delivered a passionate speech about freedom of speech being the bedrock of American democracy.
When it was Harvey's turn, he requested that the 911 recording be played for the jury.
"Objection!" Emily immediately stood up. "Plaintiff's counsel is trying to inflame the jury's emotions. The jury needs to make a rational judgment based on facts and law."
"If playing evidence is considered inflammatory, then it means you know exactly what you've done!" Harvey retorted. "Either you're confessing, or you're insulting the jury's intelligence, questioning whether they even have basic judgment?"
"Objection!" Emily countered. "Defense simply wants a fair judgment based on the law."
"Alright!" The judge started rubbing his temples in exasperation again.
After thinking for a moment, he made his decision. The judge, known for seeking compromise, found his middle ground.
Thus, an extremely absurd scene unfolded in court.
A bailiff, holding a piece of paper, mechanically read in a monotone voice the words Shelly had spoken when she called 911: "Oh my God, no, no, my baby is missing! God, please, please help me find my daughter..."
Most importantly, this bailiff was a middle-aged man with a deep, gruff voice!
This jarring contrast completely negated the desperate plea for help from the mother in the original police recording, who had discovered her daughter had been abducted; it even had the opposite effect, making it seem almost absurd.
Even Harvey was taken aback by the judge's questionable decision. After the bailiff finished reading the statement without any emotion, he could only begin his closing argument before the case was handed to the jury.
They then left the courtroom and waited outside.
"It's not too late to accept the settlement!" Emily approached, smiling confidently.
"You think you won by playing a few tricks?" Harvey chuckled. "As long as you don't directly bribe the jurors, justice will prevail. And if you really do something that stupid, then I'll recommend my client pursue $10 million! Because compared to spending years in federal prison, $10 million really isn't much!"
"We won't do that, nor do we need to!" Emily laughed. "I don't believe all twelve jurors will side with you. There will always be a few who understand that our country was founded on the First Amendment. Without freedom of speech, what did we fight the British for? What did we storm Normandy for? We'd be no better than the tyrants we defeated!"
"If lying, defaming, and destroying evidence are considered our freedom of speech, then maybe we are no better!" Harvey shrugged. "Now let the jury—twelve citizens chosen from this community—decide what justice really means!"
"We'll see," Emily said confidently.
She calculated that as long as she invoked freedom of speech and patriotic principles, some jurors would overlook what Max Henson's actions truly meant for a grieving family, all for the sake of protecting constitutional rights.
The abstract principle protecting everyone versus the concrete harm to one family.
But that was all she needed!
The verdict came out faster than they expected.
When everyone reassembled in the courtroom, the jury foreman handed the verdict to the judge through court staff, standing there waiting for the judge to announce the result. But when the judge saw the verdict, his expression changed dramatically, and he gestured for the foreman to remain silent.
"Oh no," Harvey immediately sensed something was wrong.
The judge sat on the bench, head bowed in thought for a long moment, then looked up and surveyed the courtroom: "I have just received the jury's verdict, and
I find myself facing a difficult decision. Although I find the defendant's actions despicable and callous, the First Amendment is the cornerstone of our democracy. Without it, all other rights are in grave danger!
Furthermore, I believe the jury's verdict in this case was based on personal emotion rather than rational legal judgment. Mr. Henson receives thousands of emails every day and cannot reasonably be expected to have seen that particular email.
Since this cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, I cannot allow emotional responses to override First Amendment protections. Therefore, I am exercising my authority as judge and declaring a verdict in favor of the defendant! Case dismissed."
The courtroom erupted in shock and anger.
(End of Chapter)