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I've always wanted to be a lawyer - part of my childhood vacillation over being a writer, a teacher and yeah, a lawyer (why I ended up in Engineering is another story). It is for this reason that I love shows like The Practice and Law&Order and I devour books of John Grisham and Connelly like a famished worm.If I were a first year law student, I would definitely have this book as a sort of " Judicial process for dummies" kind. Read on and find out why....
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Michael "Mickey" Haller has fallen on tough times. He expands his business into foreclosure defense, only to see one of his clients accused of killing the banker she blames for trying to take away her home.
Mickey puts his team into high gear to exonerate Lisa Trammel, even though the evidence and his own suspicions tell him his client is guilty. Soon after he learns that the victim had black market dealings of his own, Haller is assaulted, too--and he's certain he's on the right trail.
Despite the danger and uncertainty, Haller mounts the best defense of his career in a trial where the last surprise comes after the verdict is in. - www.goodreads.com
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This blog won't be another review of the book. You just need to google "The Fifth Witness" and you'll see a multitude of (great) reviews of the novel. But for me, a book is only a good read, if I ended up "educated" after reading it - which is true for this one - to say the least.
Now lets see, where do we start?
Lisa Trammel, in this novel, is the defendant and the plaintiff is "the state." She was summoned to a first-appearance hearing, which is primarily just an "official acknowledgement of the charges and the starting point of the judicial process" where there is also an opportunity to request and argue for bail.
The bail in her case was set at two million and she would need to put up 10% of that as bond. What is interesting is that, aside from knowing how bail and bond works, I learned that bail bond agents are almost exclusively found in the US and the Philippines. Yes, THE Philippines! Interesting, isn't it!
Then there's preliminary hearing which was described as a "routine step on the way to a trial" and is 100% the prosecution's show. The state is charged with presenting its case to the court and the judge then rules on whether there is sufficient evidence to take it forward to a jury trial.
The case went to a full-blown trial where the author walked the reader through the whole process from jury selection, to reasonable doubt, alternate theory, 14th Amendment, motion to quash, fungible and opening statements.
Now, the prosecution's calls its witnesses. There's the scene setter witness, merely called to build the architecture of the state's witness and the hunter-gatherer witnesses - the crime scene technicians and so on... Then, it's the defense turn. Of course, the whole saga is peppered with objections sustained and overruled and with both camps trying to outwit each other. Verrryyy nice....
The whole trial actually climaxed to a witness invoking the Fifth Amendment, in this case, right against self-incrimination. Thus, the title. But what is interesting is that Haller, the main character, also used the witness as a "straw man" - which actually has a very complex but interesting meaning.
Of course, there was a twist at the end - that dramatic enlightenment. I sort of anticipated it, though, and was anticlimatic for me. Double jeopardy is of course a no, no... but there was redemption at the end!
I AM telling you this book is a literary judicial basics haven!
I first fell in love with Mickey in The Lincoln Lawyer ( now a movie starting Matthew McConaughey - note to self: must see, must see!!) and with the new path he's taking - he is running for District Attorney - I'm sure there'll be more great work from Connelly!
