“OK, maybe I overshot,” she said. “But, by damn, you’ve gotten us this far.”
“You trust me?” Jason asked.
She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Good . . . because my closing is going to test that.”
“You say what you have to say, baby brother. You aren’t going to hurt my feelings. But do something for me, OK? Leave it on the field.”
Jason smiled. It was one of their father’s sayings. Something he’d always said, in fact, before Jason would participate in a golf tournament or when Jana ran for student government in high school. “I plan to,” he said.
Shay Lankford was methodical in her closing argument. She went through the facts and each of their witnesses, focusing mostly on Waylon Pike’s testimony that Jana had paid him to kill Dr. Waters. “Mr. Pike’s testimony is uncontradicted. He confessed that Ms. Waters paid him $15,000 to kill the victim. It is undisputed that Ms. Waters removed $15,000 from the couple’s bank account within twenty-four hours of the murder, and no plausible explanation has been offered why. It is undisputed that Dr. Waters was going to divorce the defendant. Ms. Waters told Mr. Pike and Jackson Burns that she wanted her husband dead. She had the motive. She had the exact means to pay Mr. Pike to kill Dr. Waters—$15,000. And she had the opportunity. She was constantly in contact with Mr. Pike, and Mr. Pike has testified to her driving him to her home the night of the murder and whisking him away after he killed Dr. Waters.”
After going over the jury instructions, she closed with her final request. “Members of the jury, the state has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that Jana Waters paid Waylon Pike to kill her husband. I’m confident that you will render the only verdict that justice allows. Guilty.”
“Mr. Rich?” Judge Conrad asked. “Are you ready to give your closing argument?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Jason said. He stood and walked around the defense table, taking a seat on its edge. He looked at Jana and the twelve jurors who would decide her fate.
“I’ll be the first to admit that the prosecution has proved a lot of things that don’t paint a pretty picture of my client or her family.” He let out a ragged breath. “My family.”
Jason pushed off the table and gestured with his arm toward Jana. “My sister was not a great wife,” he said. “I think that’s undisputed. She cheated on her husband with Waylon Pike. And the victim, Dr. Braxton Waters, wasn’t all that great a spouse. He had affairs with Colleen Maples and Shandra Burns. And you know what the state has also proved? My sister wasn’t a great mother either. It is undisputed that she spent the Fourth of July in a hotel room, and was found by her sixteen-year-old daughter passed out drunk at noon on the fifth of July.”
Jason peered at Jana, who was looking down at the table, unable to meet his gaze. Her posture was perfect.
“My sister isn’t going to win Mother of the Year or Wife of the Year.” Jason scratched the back of his neck. “But . . . ladies and gentlemen, what the state hasn’t proven is that she’s a murderer.”
Jason walked to the edge of the jury railing. “You heard how desperate Jackson Burns was on the stand. He even had the gall to call Trey Cowan a liar. Burns knew that Jana had withdrawn $15,000 from the bank on July 3. He’d also been present with Trey Cowan at the Brick when Pike revealed that he’d been offered that same amount of money, $15,000, to kill Dr. Waters; Burns knew Pike well, and Pike was, in fact, working at Burns’s house on the day of the murder. And, perhaps most importantly, Braxton Waters had ruined Burns’s marriage.” Jason licked his chapped lips. “Jackson Burns paid Waylon Pike $15,000 to kill Dr. Waters and then framed Jana Waters for it.”
Jason walked back to the defense table. “Can I prove that Burns paid Pike to kill Dr. Waters beyond a reasonable doubt?” Jason shook his head. “That’s not my job. The defendant doesn’t have any burden of proof in this trial. That task rests with the state, and they haven’t met it.” Jason looked at his sister and then beyond her to his law partner, Izzy, and investigator, Harry, in the front row. He felt emotion welling within. “This is my sister,” he said, hearing a slight crack in his voice. “Warts and all. She took the stand and said she didn’t hire Waylon Pike to kill her husband. The only question you should have is whether you have any doubts in the evidence the state has presented.” He walked around the table, standing behind Jana’s chair. “When you deliberate, think about the state’s two star witnesses. Waylon Pike, a known felon, an arsonist, and a thief, who was given a deal by the state to testify. Do you have any doubts in Pike’s story?” Jason moved his eyes down the line of jurors. “How could you not? And then there’s the state’s other star, Jackson Burns, who we’ve shown had the motive, means, and opportunity to kill Dr. Waters. I am confident that when you consider the weaknesses in the state’s evidence, you will, as Ms. Lankford so eloquently put it, reach the only verdict that justice allows.” He put his hands on his sister’s shoulders and nodded at the jury. “Not guilty.”