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Incriminating Evidence By Sheldon
Siegel
Bantam
Books, 383 pages, $24.95
Billy Strobe By John
Martel
Dutton,
404 pages, $25.95
Reviewed
by Stephen M. Murphy in 2001
Two
San Francisco lawyers have been sharing bestseller's
lists for their recent legal thrillers. John
Martel's Billy
Strobe features a lawyer who earned
his law degree while serving time at Soledad
Prison. Sheldon Siegel's Incriminating
Evidence brings back criminal defense
attorney Mike Daley in another high profile
murder case.
The
two lawyer authors have completely different
legal practices. Martel is a veteran trial
lawyer with over one hundred trials under
his belt and has been named one of the ten
best trial lawyers in America. Semi-retired
from his firm of Farella, Braun & Martel,
he has published four novels since his first,
Partners, came out in 1988.
Siegel,
on the other hand, is a corporate securities
lawyer at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
who has never tried a case. He burst onto
the literary scene last year with publication
of Special Circumstances, an immediate bestseller
that earned Siegel a huge advance from his
publisher.
Despite
their different backgrounds, both authors'
recent bestsellers do share some similarities.
Their protagonists have Irish backgrounds,
practice in San Francisco, and tell their
stories in first person. Both decide to help
acquaintances accused of murder and both get
so caught up in their cases that their lives
are threatened.
Martel's
Billy
Strobe is a convicted felon as a result
of an insider trading scam during his second
year of law school. Against all odds, he gets
accepted to and graduates from Golden State
Law School while serving time at Soledad Prison.
In prison he meets Darryl Orton, a stubborn
tough convict serving his second sentence
at Soledad. Strobe is impressed with Orton
the first time he sees him.
Darryl
Orton arrived at Soledad on the first day
of spring, with the force of a March wind....
He appeared to be around forty, about six-three
and 190 pounds, with straight rust-colored
hair cut short. Kind of a Nolte look, but
leaner, his face all hard angles with leathery
skin drawn tight over prominent cheekbones.
He had a nose that had gotten in the way of
too many punches and a three-inch scar over
his right eye, which I later learned were
symbols of survival right here at Soledad,
where he had spent a previous four-year hitch
for the botched armed robbery of a convenience
store when he was in his early twenties.
Orton
eventually saves Strobe from being raped,
and perhaps murdered. Convinced Orton is innocent,
Strobe unexpectedly gets released and becomes
determined to help Orton get a new trial.
He learns that Deborah Hinton, the woman Orton
was accused of killing, worked as CFO of Synoptics
Corporation, a software manufacturer. He maneuvers
his way into an associate's position at the
prestigious firm of Stanton & Snow, the firm
representing Synoptics.
At
S&S, as the firm is affectionately known,
Strobe gets assigned to senior partner Rex
Ashton. Martel vividly describes Strobe's
first meeting with Ashton:
Ashton
advanced and gave me a handshake that can
best be described as, well, competitive. There
was no goodwill in his grip. The man reminded
me of some of the steel-eyed cons I'd known
inside, always sizing you up, control freaks,
probing for the weakness we all have buried
somewheres. He was also a guy who just missed
being good looking and probably resented it.
* * *
"Glad
to meet you, Mr. Ashton," I said, telling
my first lie of the day. "I'd be obliged for
the opportunity to work with you." There went
my second.
In
Billy
Strobe, John Martel shows his experience,
both as a litigator in a large firm and as
a novelist. The writing, particularly in the
prison chapters, is tight, assured and convincing.
He effectively blends Billy
Strobe's past with his quest for the
redemption of Darryl Orton.
While
pursuing his defense of Orton, Strobe also
searches for the truth about his father, an
Oklahoma lawyer who killed himself after being
convicted of fraud. Strobe's memories of his
father fuel his desire to attend and succeed
in law school, and later his empathy for those
he believes wrongly convicted. To his credit
and the author's, Strobe does not pretend
he falls into that category. He acknowledges
his crime; as he strives to succeed he refuses
to allow his mistake to define his life.
The
book proceeds along these two plot lines punctuated
by Strobe's problems at S&S as he tries to
hold onto his job in the face of Ashton's
growing hostility. Martel knows big-firm politics
and lays it out here with all its warts. Strobe's
pursuit of Orton's acquittal leads to murder,
arson, and threats to the existence of S&S
itself as Strobe probes deep inside Synoptics,
the firm's biggest client. The stakes are
high and the tension unrelenting.
In
Incriminating
Evidence, the acquaintance Sheldon
Siegel's protagonist helps is not a convict
but his former partner and current San Francisco
District Attorney Prentice Marshall Gates
III, who despite his status likes people to
call him "Skipper." A leading candidate for
state attorney general, Skipper is arrested
when police find a dead prostitute in his
hotel room after a fundraiser. The prostitute
was naked and handcuffed with his mouth, nose,
and eyes covered with tape. Perhaps more troubling
to the DA, the prostitute was also male.
Skipper
insists on his innocence, even as evidence
mounts. The victim's blood tests show traces
of GHB, a date-rape drug, heroin, and alcohol.
His fingerprints on a champagne glass contribute
to the police's impression that Skipper killed
him during a sexual encounter. When two female
prostitutes come forward and claim Skipper
used similar bondage techniques with them,
the case looks hopeless.
Never
very fond of Skipper, Daley sees his chance
to make up for past slights when he tells
his new client what his defense will cost.
"And
I'm going to need a check for a hundred thousand
dollars." He's unhappy. "I thought you said
it was fifty." "It was. The price just went
up." Rosie and I refer to this as charging
the Asshole Premium. We reserve such special
treatment for our more difficult clients.
Siegel
takes readers on a trip of the Mission District
where a prominent businessman mixes philanthropic
work on behalf of the Mission Youth Center
with heavy investments in a male prostitute
web site. Into the mix he throws the mysteriously
missing roommate of the deceased, an affair
between Skipper's wife and a man he thought
was his friend, and a less- than-candid high-society
social worker with ties to the shady businessman.
Even in San Francisco, the plot seems far-fetched.
It's hard to imagine a politician as kinky
as Skipper. Well ... maybe not. Thoroughly
convincing, however, is Siegel's portrayal
of Dan Morris, "political consultant to the
stars."
The
paunchy, fiftyish redhead is dressed in a
charcoal Wilkes Bashford suit with a blinding
white shirt and a tie that has a picture of
a mule on it. "I'm running a campaign for
a Democrat these days," he says through a
wide grin. "For the next few months, I have
to wear my Democrat wardrobe." He laughs at
his own joke. "We're all whores, Mike. You're
a lawyer, I'm a consultant. You know what
I'm talking about."
Siegel's
style is more breezy than Martel's, punctuated
by the light humor that has become his trademark.
The humor alone, especially the banter between
ex-priest Daley and his ex-wife Rosie, makes
Incriminating
Evidence an excellent read.
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