Chapter One

“You surprised him, shot him with his own gun, and then, in a fit of jealous rage, butchered him with a kitchen knife. You let him bleed to death while you cleaned yourself. You waited anhour before calling the police. Youplanned on murdering your husband, did you not, Samantha?”

“I… no… I loved…love him…” she sobs, but I’m impervious to her distress. It doesn’t matter that she’s a woman, that she’s beautiful, or that her husband was a cheating bastard. What matters, is that Samantha Jenkins had motive, the means and the opportunity to murder her husband—that and the evidence pointing to her guilt. I’m merely using the facts to prove my case.

“Objection, move to strike. The prosecutor has badgered and led the witness throughout, Your Honor,” her attorney, Owen Bryce, interjects.

What the hell did he expect? He, like every attorney, has been taught the fundamental rule of cross-examination; ‘every question must be a leading one’. Unlike a direct examination where the aim is to gain information, your intent during cross-examination is not toask the witness; it’s totell the jury.You are, in fact, testifying. You want the jury to hear what you have to say, not what the witness has to tell. In this instance, I want them to remember, the victim, Robin Jenkins’ dying moments, not the defendant’s evidence.

“One more transgression and youwill be ruled in contempt,