Doc: Sarah-Jane—

    Justyce: Actually, hold that thought. I’m being rude.

    Justyce gestures to the deep-brown-skinned young lady with her locs wrapped in an elaborate knot on top of her head, sitting on the barstool beside Doc. She smiles in appreciation. (And Justyce could swear he sees SJ tense up out of the corner of his eye. Which is ridiculous. Yes, Liberty is absolutely gorgeous—even more so than he was expecting from Quan’s letters. But it’s not like Justyce noticed that…)

    Justyce: Everyone, this is Liberty Ayers. She’s one of the case managers on Quan’s case—

    Liberty: I’m an intern. But thank you. Doc I know, but it is lovely to meet the rest of you.

    Jared: [With stars in his eyes.] Lovely to teet you moo, Liberty. I’m Jare—I mean meet tou yoo—crap.

    SJ: [Snorts.] Looks like douchewangle’s got a crush.

    Jared: BRO!

    Doc: [Smiling as he shakes his head.] I do not miss this foolishness in my classroom.

    Justyce: [Pretending he doesn’t feel some type of way about what SJ said.] Anyway, thank you for being here, Liberty.

    Liberty: Wouldn’t’ve missed it for the world.

    Jared: You’re an awesome intern, Liberty. Quan’s lucky to have you in his corner.

    SJ: Speaking of Quan, let’s talk about him.

    Justyce: [Notices SJ’s cheeks have gone a smidge pink, and she won’t look at Liberty…]

    Justyce: [Thinks, Odd…]

         SJ: What do we know?

    Jared: He’s a young African American man who’s been radically short-changed by our criminal INjustice system.

    SJ: [Smacks forehead.]

    Doc: He’s thoughtful. Dedicated. Fiercely loyal, even to a fault.

    Liberty: You can say that again.

    Attorney Friedman: What do you two mean by that?

    Doc: Well, he’s gone out of his way to protect whoever did shoot Tomás Castillo. Even beyond implicating himself and staying mum about the shooter’s identity, he refused the legal counsel offered by the leader of the…organization he was a part of because he didn’t want any connections that could link back to his associates.

    Justyce: I didn’t know that.

    Doc: Don’t think he wanted you to.

    Liberty: I know this mentality well. I was gang-affiliated when I was younger.

    Jared: [Perking up like Liberty just confessed to being Santa Claus.] You were?

    Liberty: I was. And even beyond the whole snitches get stitches and/or ditches concept that’s almost a joke to most people who say it—

    (Justyce could swear Liberty glances at oblivious Jared when she says that.)

    Liberty:—when you grow up feeling like no one’s on your side, and you suddenly find people who are, it literally changes your brain. That loyalty Quan feels isn’t merely a choice. It’s a psychological imperative.

         Attorney Friedman: [Jotting notes.] So I’ll steer clear of anything that would make him think I want him to throw a friend under the bus. What else?

    Justyce: The gun they found with Quan’s prints on it wasn’t the one that fired the deadly shots, so the ballistics won’t match.

    Jared: Isn’t that something they would’ve checked before making an arrest?

    Attorney Friedman: Not necessarily. If a firearm was found on the scene, I’m sure the moment they matched the prints to a name, a warrant was issued and that was that. Ballistics were likely run in forensics, but there’s a chance the report was hidden in the midst of a large discovery dump, especially if the bullets pulled from the body didn’t match the caliber of the weapon found on the scene.

    Justyce: Quan also mentioned wanting to try for a self-defense plea. Says Castillo first had his gun pointed at Martel, then swung it around to where Quan was standing with his boys. Which is when someone shot him.

    Attorney Friedman: Martel?

    Justyce: One of the “friends” you definitely shouldn’t mention.

    Attorney Friedman: Got it. So Castillo pointed his weapon at multiple people that night. Sounds like voluntary manslaughter should’ve been the charge in the first place. [She scribbles more notes.] Was there provocation? Any reason for Castillo to pull the firearm?

    Justyce: Quan says no. And there are a whole lot of witnesses who would say the same thing.

    Attorney Friedman: The other guys who were there. That he doesn’t want to implicate.

         Justyce: Yeah.

    Attorney Friedman: How many of the potential witnesses have extensive juvenile criminal records like Quan?

    Justyce: Probably all of them.

    Attorney Friedman: [Nodding.] As much as I hate it, if this goes to trial, and most of my witnesses are African American males between sixteen and twenty—just like the defendant who’s accused of murdering a cop—implicit bias is likely to come into play.

    Liberty: You can say that again. Happens all the time in the social work sector. Say a mom is trying to get her kids back. She’s gotten cleaned up and has a steady job and is really working hard. If she’s poor and African American and all the people vouching for her are poor and African American too…Well, I’ve seen more than a few cases where those kids wind up in long-term foster care.

    Jared: But would you really need more than one or two witnesses? It’s not like the state has any to dispute the testimony.

    SJ: Huh?

    Jared: The only person who could’ve been a key witness is dead, right?

    Everyone: [Silence.]

    Jared: Wasn’t Garrett Tison killed in prison? Unless somebody else who was there that night is willing to testify against Quan, there’s really no one who could dispute his story.

    Everyone: [More silence.]

    Attorney Friedman: Huh. Must admit: I didn’t think of that.

    SJ: That might be the most intelligent thing you’ve ever said, Jared.

         Doc: Is there a chance a neighbor saw something and could come forward?

    Attorney Friedman: I’ll double-check, but I’d think they would’ve presented themselves by now. I’m sure everyone on the street was questioned.

    Justyce: So…it’s settled then. The prosecution doesn’t really have anything. You think that’s why they offered the plea deal?