The 6th Target

Chapter 64

AT THIS POINT, Judge Moore spoke to the six men and six women of the jury. "Do you need to take a break? Okay then, please continue, Mr. Parisi."

"Thank you, Your Honor," Parisi said. He flicked his eyes over to the defense table, saw that Mickey Sherman was whispering to his client, his back turned away from the proceedings, a dismissive gesture meant to show that Parisi's opening hadn't disturbed the defense in the least.

Smart move. Parisi knew he would've done the same thing.

"I've told you that the Del Norte was coming into dock when Mr. Brinkley shot Andrea and Tony Canello. The docking operation was noisy, much louder than two shots from a gun.

"But a couple of people understood what had happened.

"Mr. Per Conrad was working on the Del Norte as an engineer that day. He was a family man, with a wife and four beautiful kids, and he was about two years away from retirement. He saw Alfred Brinkley with his gun in hand and he saw the fallen bodies of Andrea and Tony Canello bleeding out on the deck.

"Mr. Conrad moved to disarm Mr. Brinkley, who took aim and shot Mr. Conrad between the eyes.

"Mr. Lester Ng was an insurance broker in Larkspur, coming into San Francisco to make a business call. He, too, was a family man, a former U.S. Air Force pilot. And he, too, tried to wrest Mr. Brinkley's gun away from him. He was shot in the head. Mr. Brinkley's gun was the last thing Mr. Ng saw in his life.

"Both men were selfless. They were heroes. And they died because of it.

"And still Mr. Brinkley was not finished."

Parisi walked over to the jury box, put his hands on the rail, looked at each of the jurors as he spoke.

"Mr. Brinkley was standing beside a woman this community holds in high regard, Dr. Claire Washburn, San Francisco's chief medical examiner. Dr. Washburn was terrified, but she had the presence of mind to say to Mr. Brinkley, 'Okay, son… give me the gun.'

"Instead, Mr. Brinkley gave her a bullet in the chest. And when Dr. Washburn's teenage son, Willie, went to her assistance, Mr. Brinkley shot at him, too.

"Luckily, the boat bumped the pier at that moment, and Mr. Brinkley's sixth and final shot missed its mark. And because that shot went wild, two brave people, Claire and Willie Washburn, survived, and Dr. Washburn will be a witness in this trial."

Parisi paused, letting the horror of the shooting imprint on the jurors' minds before he spoke again.

"There's no question that everything I've told you actually happened.

"There's no question that without regard to sex, age, race, or reason, Alfred Brinkley shot and killed four people he didn't know, and attempted to kill two others.

"Mr. Jack Rooney, who will also be a witness in this trial, videotaped the shootings, which we will show you. And Mr. Brinkley confessed to these brutal killings, and we'll show you his taped confession, too.

"There is no DNA in this case. No blood-spatter evidence and no partial palm prints or any of the kind of forensic evidence that you see every night on TV crime shows. That's because this case is not a 'whodunit.'

"We know who did it. He's sitting right there."

Parisi pointed to the man in the blue suit. Brinkley's head had sunk down on his shoulders so that his neck seemed to have retracted. His dulled eyes stared straight ahead. The man looked so medicated, Parisi wondered how much of this Brinkley even heard or understood.

"The defense is going to try to convince you that Mr. Brinkley is psychotic and therefore not responsible for his actions," Parisi said, walking back to the lectern. "Defense medical experts may have the nerve to stand up here and tell you that the defendant needs 'treatment,' not punishment.

"No problem. We have great doctors treating all our death-row inmates.

"Acting insane does not exempt you from the rule of law. And it doesn't mean that you don't understand that killing people is wrong.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Alfred Brinkley brought a loaded gun onto the ferry. He targeted his victims with intent and deadly aim. He murdered four of them. And then he ran from the scene of his crime.

"Because Alfred Brinkley knew that what he'd done was wrong.

"The People will prove to you that Mr. Brinkley was legally sane when he committed four acts of murder and two acts of attempted murder. And we will ask you to find him 'guilty' on all counts.

"We thank you for your attention. I'm sorry I made some of you cry, but these murders are a tragedy."

Chapter 65

YUKI WATCHED MICKEY SHERMAN STAND UP from the defense table and confidently cross the courtroom floor to the podium.

Sherman introduced himself to the jury, his hands-in-pockets demeanor and easy charm captivating them with his first sentence.

"Folks, everything the prosecutor told you is true," he began. It was a daring declaration, Yuki thought. In fact, she'd never heard opposition counsel take that position before.

"You all know what happened on the Del Norte on November first," Sherman said. "Mr. Brinkley did in fact bring a loaded gun onto the ferry. He shot those people without regard for the consequences to them – or to himself.

"He was surrounded by two hundred fifty people, some of whom witnessed the shooting. Mr. Brinkley didn't throw his gun away after he fled the Del Norte. He didn't get rid of the evidence.

"This was not what you'd call a perfect crime. Only an insane person would do these acts and behave in this way.

"So what happened is no mystery.

"But why it happened is what this trial is about.

"Mr. Brinkley did not understand his actions because when he shot those unfortunate people, he was legally insane.

"Since the issue of 'legal insanity' will be the basis for your judgment of Mr. Brinkley and his actions, this is a good time to define the term," Sherman said.

"The issue is this: Did Mr. Brinkley understand the wrong-fulness of his acts when he committed the crimes? If he didn't understand that those acts were wrong because he suffered from a mental disease or defect at the time the crimes were committed, then he was 'legally insane.' "

Mickey Sherman paused, shuffled his notes on the lectern, and began speaking again in a tone of voice that Yuki admired and feared. It was soft on the ear, personal, as if he trusted that the jurors wouldn't need theatrics, that his reasoning was not only credible but true.

"Mr. Brinkley has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder," Sherman told the jury. "He has an illness, like cancer, or diabetes, a disabling disease that came to him genetically and also through childhood trauma.

"He didn't ask for this disease, but he got it.

"It could have happened to you or me or anyone in this room. And what disease could be worse than to have your own brain turn against you and cause you to have thoughts and take actions that are completely against your character and nature?

"I want to say right now that our hearts go out to all the victims of this tragedy. If there was some way we could turn back the clock, if Fred Brinkley could take a magic pill or an injection that would heal him on November first and restore those people's lives, he would do it in a second.

"If he had known that he was mentally ill, Mr. Brinkley would have gotten treatment. But he didn't know why he felt the way he did.

"Mr. Brinkley's life brings true meaning to the expression 'living hell.' "