Salto, Dianne D. Atty.

Galahad Pe Benito

Chapter 1: Boston July 1986

The Lawyer Jan Schlichtmann received a call on a Saturday morning in mid-July. He was
awakened by this phone call and while asleep, he was dreaming about this woman whom he has
been longing for. That woman was a juror and Schlichtmann was hoping that she liked and trusted
him. In his dream, he stood with the woman in a dense forest and the other jurors were behind her.
She was then trying to decide which path to take while Schlichtmann was pointing out the
direction. The call that he received was from an officer of a Baybank South Shore where he has an
automobile loan and that he failed to pay for several months. The bank now intended to repossess
his black Porsche 928. He told the banker to speak with his James Gordon who handles his
financial affairs. The phone rang again and it was from the Suffolk Country Sheriff. He told
Schlichtmann that he was in the area two blocks away from his building and that he was there to
get the car as he was on duty. The sheriff handed him documents for the repossession of the bank.
Schlichtmann had finally come into senses and he decided to get his car which was parked in a
garage three blocks away. He walked up to Pinckney Street where he started making observation
about his surroundings. This car was owned by Schlichtmann for almost two years and he didnt
use it often. In fact, he had driven it less than five thousand miles. His girlfriend had tried to start
his car one time in Spring but it turned out that it had run out of battery. She had the battery
charged and drove it. However, James Gordon told her that she should not drive it anymore
because the insurance had lapsed.
Schlichtmann handed the car to the sheriff and the latter removed the plate number of the car.
He had also a green plastic bag with him which he used to remove some personal belongings of
Schlichtmann inside the car. The Sheriff saw some law books and several transcriptions of
depositions of a civil action of Anne Anderson case and he asked Schlichtmann if he was a lawyer
and he nodded. The Sheriff handed to Schlichtmann the garbage bag and the receipt and wished
him goodluck because he was involved in Anne Andersons case. He drove the Porsche and
disappeared.
Two days later, Schlichtmann was dressed with his favorites on. Usually he took a taxi to
federal courthouse but this time he walked up to that place because he has no money left. He was
close to being homeless because the condominium association had filed a lawsuit because he failed
to pay the association dues for six months. There was a few dollars that came into his firm but it is
not enough to cover all the expenses especially his employees salaries. American express also had
filed a suit against the firm for a credit card debt. Heller Financial had also threatened to
repossessed computers of the firm. Money was not his big problem, he was bothered and
frightened of having himself focused on this one case and if hell lose that case, he will end up
blaming himself and all of his hard work would drain away. In the courtroom corridor, he was
always stood near the door of Judge Walter Skinners office. He preferred the corridor and he had
no desire to go back inside the courtroom. Some jurors arrived together talking to themselves and
they always fell silent near Schlichtmann while he was looking down, but he had always observed
every step they took and guessed their moods. Jurors passed and he was alone again.