Mistrial
The Judge was furious. “You had better be careful making empty claims in my court Mr. Jackson. And let me say this about mistrials, lest it inform you going forward. I have been on the bench for over twenty five years and not once in all that time, not once, have I ever granted a motion for mistrial. I am not about to begin anytime soon.”
My Dog Talks
Finn and Edith had agreed on one thing. Well they might have agreed on more but they never stopped chasing one another long enough to agree on much at all. But they did agree it was going to take a long time to train their humans.
“Keep your voice down.” Finn whispered.
“No need to whisper Finn, humans don’t understand dog.”
The Second Trial
He could see that Peter was furious, struggling to remain composed. Beau pressed his advantage, “You and your publisher need to be careful. You care too much. You want my client to be convicted of first degree murder again. And if you’re not careful you’re going to interfere with a fair trial for my client. You’d better be careful.” he repeated. Peter was wordless but his flushed cheeks and the tension in his face betrayed his anger.
The Young Lawyer
Joe Stokes had never had a day of trouble with the law. Yet, he had shot a man dead with one shot to the head with a .357 revolver. What happens to cause such a break, a lapse into a dissociative state, unshackled from the usual restraints against violence?
Hemorrhoids, Nicknames and Belonging
“Can I tell you about the biggest hemorrhoid I’ve ever seen?” It was Terry, a friendly welcoming member of what I came to call ‘The 10am Small Dog Dog Park Group’, a gathering of dog owners who met most mornings at a dog park in West Kelowna. I do remember thinking to say ‘No’ might seem unfriendly, even uninterested but then surely one can’t appear to be too interested in ‘the biggest hemorrhoid Terry had ever seen’. And I had no time to make my decision.
Death in the Yukon Chapter Two
The case against Joe Stokes was what the cops call ‘open and shut’. They had the victim, the murder weapon and the only possible suspect. On top of all that, Joe had confessed to the killing.
Death in the Yukon
September 12, 1977: He lay motionless on the floor of the only bar in Ross River, Yukon. Hank Woods had been dropped by a single bullet from a .357 magnum revolver. The shooter now seated on a bar stool over at the long mahogany bar, put the gun down, spun it along the bar and told the stunned bartender, “There. Now call the RCMP!”
When Everything Changed.
The 60’s exploded into view, something few would have been able to anticipate. Forces were unleashed that would change everything. Baby Boomers, now a majority and coming of age, found their voice and reached out for their power. It would unnerve our parents and rattle all the trusted conventions of the time. Even as I was living through it I could feel that everything I knew, all that I trusted was shifting beneath me. I just didn’t know how and I didn’t know my place in all of it.
The Vocabulary of Nice
‘Canadians are so nice!” I can remember my mother saying that when I was a young boy, new to Canada as I was. And it wasn’t a compliment. From an English woman finding her place in this new land it was sharp criticism. If her purpose was to pose a question, it worked. It has echoed through the ages, a question posed, a question unanswered.
First Impressions
Moving us to Canada was the greatest gift I have ever received, made all the more generous for the price my parents would pay over the decades ahead. All they knew lay behind them. All I would know lay ahead.