“Yes or no, Miss Maddox?”
“No.” She shook her head.
She was about to break. All I needed was to push her a little more.
“So, three hundred thousand dollars isn’t a normal amount of money for you, is it?”
“No.”
“In fact, on April 8th, two days before the shooting, you were two months behind on your rent. Correct?”
“Objection! Personal financial?—”
I cut ADA Jacobs off. “Goes to motive.”
“Overruled. Sit down, Counsel.” The judge raised his hand.
“Miss Maddox?” I stared at her.
“I was dealing with things.”
“Right,” I said. “You were dealing with an eviction notice. And then two days later, you spoke to the detectives.”
“Yes.” She nodded.
“And two days after that, you received three hundred thousand dollars. Did anyone promise you money in exchange for making a statement against my client?”
“NO!” she shouted.
“Did anyone offer to help you with your rent, your bills, your problems, if you told the detectives you saw my client shoot Mr. Cavalier?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Then explain it, Miss Maddox.”
She sat there in silence.
“Miss Maddox,” I said. “You told the detectives you witnessed a murder and identified my client as the shooter. Correct?”
“Yes.”
“You do understand that a statement like that can put him away for the rest of his life.”
“Yes. I know. I know what I saw.”
I was in no mood for this bullshit and all her lies.
“And within forty-eight hours of giving that statement, three hundred thousand dollars was deposited into your account,” I shouted. “It was deposited by a shell company called Greenberg Consulting! Forty-eight hours later! Do you understand the penalty of perjury, Miss Maddox? You are sitting on this stand and perjuring yourself!”
“Objection, Your Honor!”
“Mr. Hamil?—”
“And you’re going away for a very long time!” I shouted at her.
Tears began to stream as she covered her face with her hands.
“They made me.”