A Matter of Life and Death

answered with a smile that betrayed none of the emotions she was feeling when she left Carasco’s chambers.
Mark followed Robin into the corridor outside the courtroom. Several lawyers were in the hall talking to each other or their clients. Robin walked down the hall toward the back of the courthouse and around a corner into a deserted hallway.
Mark rounded the corner. His partner looked furious.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Carasco is an unethical prick,” Robin spat out.
“Whoa! What brought that on?”
Robin told Mark what had happened in chambers.
“I have half a mind to report that asshole to the Judicial Fitness Commission,” she said. “What if I were a new attorney and he threatened to put Erika in jail if I didn’t force her to plead guilty?”
“You would have stood your ground.”
“Others wouldn’t.”
“Look, Robin, Carasco can weasel out of any accusation you make. He’ll tell the commission what he told you in chambers; that he was just informing you about a possible outcome but hadn’t jumped to any conclusion about sentencing because he was going to keep an open mind until he heard the evidence.”
“What about that crack about me endorsing Molly?”
“Hey, I’m not saying Carasco isn’t an asshole. That’s his rep. I’m just saying that you won’t win if you report him, and you might have to go in front of him again. I know you’re tough enough, but it’s your client who’ll suffer if he decides to screw you because you reported him.”
Robin’s shoulders sagged, and she sighed. “You’re probably right.”
“I am right,” Mark insisted. “Carasco is bad news, but the State of Oregon is stuck with him until the next election. So, what are you going to tell Erika to do?”
“Go to trial, of course. I don’t plead innocent clients.”

CHAPTER SIX
“The State calls Curtis Balske, Your Honor,” Ian Hennessey said.
The bailiff went into the hall and returned with a handsome, square-jawed man with wavy blond hair and a thick mustache, who looked like he belonged on a recruiting poster for the police academy. Robin had read his police report, and it seemed objective. She hoped he was an unbiased witness, because the report gave her hope.
As soon as Balske took the oath, Hennessey established that he was a decorated police officer assigned to Vice, who had volunteered to go undercover, pretending to be a man interested in purchasing sex.
“On Friday, May 13, did you encounter the defendant?” Hennessey asked.
“I did.”
“Please tell the jury where you met him and what happened.”
Balske turned to the jurors. “We had received information that prostitutes were operating in the Gold Piece nightclub. I went undercover to see if I could verify our intel. A little after eleven, the defendant struck up a conversation with me at the bar.”
“What name did the defendant give you?”
“Erika.”
“What did you believe the defendant’s sex to be?”
“Female.”
“When did you learn that the defendant is really a man?”
“After I arrested him.”
“Thank you, Officer Balske. Please continue.”
“At some point during our conversation, the defendant started talking about sex.”
“He brought up the subject?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What type of sex did he discuss?”
“Oral.”
“Go on.”
“The defendant said that I was handsome and that he felt a connection. Then he said that he enjoyed oral sex and asked if I liked it. I said that my wife didn’t like oral sex but I did and that I’d paid as much as fifty dollars for oral sex. At that point, the defendant said that we should go into an alley next to the parking lot, where we could have some privacy.”
“What happened in the alley?”
“As soon as we got there, the defendant started to open my zipper. That’s when I displayed my badge and told him that he was under arrest.”
“What did the defendant say to that?”
“He seemed shocked, and he asked why I was arresting him. I told him he was under arrest for prostitution.”
“How did the defendant react?”
“He started crying. He said that he didn’t know he was committing a crime and begged me to let him go. Then he said that he was a CPA and he would lose his job if I arrested him. I told him I couldn’t let him go and that we had to go to the station so he could be booked in. That’s when he told me that he was a man going through a sex change. He was terrified that he would be raped if I put him in jail.”
“What did you tell him?” Hennessey asked.
“I told the defendant that I would make sure he wouldn’t have to stay in jail. He thanked me, and I took him to my car and drove downtown, where I booked him in and let him go.”
“Thank you, Officer. No further questions.”
“Ms. Lockwood?” the judge said.
“Officer Balske, I want to thank you for the compassion you showed to Ms. Stassen…”
“Objection,” Hennessey said. “The defendant is a man.”
“That’s true, Your Honor,” Robin said, “but Ms. Stassen identifies as a woman, looks like a woman, and has done everything to become a woman except have an operation, which is scheduled for two months from now.”
“Nevertheless, Ms. Lockwood,” Carasco said, “right now, in this courtroom, your client is legally male. So, I am going to sustain the objection and order you to use male pronouns.”
“Very well,” Robin said. Then she addressed the witness. “If I understand your testimony, my client asked if you liked oral sex?”
“Yes.”
“You said you did and that you’d paid as much as fifty dollars for oral sex?”
“Yes.”
“So, you were the first person to mention money.”
Balske hesitated, then agreed that he had mentioned the money first.
“Did Mr. Stassen ask you for fifty dollars?”
Balske’s brow furrowed, and he took a moment to answer. “No.”
“Did money ever change hands?”
“I arrested the defendant before it could.”
“So, your answer is that my client never asked you for money and no money changed hands?”
“I … Yes.”
“Thank you. I have no further questions.”
Hennessey’s pale complexion reddened. “Officer Balske, it was obvious, wasn’t it, that Mr. Stassen expected to get paid for oral sex?”
“Objection, Your Honor. The