Sycamore Row - John Grisham

courtroom, but there were advantages to having the trial in another county. These
included (1) the possibility of more black jurors; (2) avoiding the lingering damage
caused by Booker Sistrunk, his mouth, his race-baiting, and his black Rolls-Royce; (3)
finding jurors who hadn’t gossiped about Lettie and her family, their problems, and their
new rental home outside Lowtown; and (4) selecting a jury untainted with endless
speculation about Lettie and Seth Hubbard and what they were really up to. These
factors and issues had been debated by Jake, Lucien, and, increasingly, Portia, as the
weeks passed. They could debate all they wanted, but it was a waste of time. Judge
Atlee was not moving the case, and he had said as much to Jake. So Jake was bluffing,
and enjoying the sight of his opponents scrambling in opposition. He said, “Judge, if
you think every person in Ford County has an opinion, then I’ll file a motion to change
venue.”
Judge Atlee said, “I have a better idea, Mr. Brigance. Let’s summon our pool and start
the selection process. We should know immediately if we’re wasting our time here. If it
looks as though we can’t pick an impartial jury, then we’ll just move the trial
somewhere else. There are lots of courtrooms in this state, at least one in every county.”
Jake sat down, as did Lanier and Stillman Rush. Judge Atlee rustled some papers,
then launched into a discussion about the remaining depositions. With the lawyers in a
remarkably agreeable mood, scheduling posed few problems. A pretrial conference was
set for March 20, two weeks before the trial.
The meeting was adjourned.
The meeting reconvened fifteen minutes later in Judge Atlee’s office down the hall.
Lawyers only, no clients, paralegals, clerks, or anyone else who couldn’t be trusted. Just
the lawyers and the judge, who’d taken off his robe and was puffing away on his pipe.
When they were seated, he said, “Gentlemen, for the next few minutes or so, we will
at least have a discussion about settling this matter. I have no reservations about going
forward with the trial; indeed, in many ways, I’m looking forward to it. Jury trials are
rare for me, and seldom am I dealt facts as intriguing as those presented here.
Nonetheless, I would be remiss in my role as the impartial referee not to explore ways to
arrive at an outcome that will give all sides something, though less than what they
would like. There’s a lot of money on the line here, gentlemen, surely there’s a way to
slice the pie and make everyone happy.” A heavy pause as he sucked hard on the pipe
stem. “May I make the first proposal?”
As if he needed approval. All lawyers nodded yes, though cautiously.
“Very well. Take the two smaller bequests of 5 percent each: pay the church in full;
put Ancil’s in a trust until we figure what to do at a later date. Take the remaining 90
percent and split it three ways: one-third to Lettie Lang; one-third to Herschel Hubbard;
one-third to Ramona Hubbard Dafoe. If we assume a tax bite of 50 percent, then each of
the three will walk away with something in the neighborhood of three point six million.
Far less than what each wants, but far more than each will get if the other side wins.