Atticus Wentworth: The Jury Speaks

By Roland J. Beckerman

Roland J. Beckerman has found himself deeply emersed in the day-to-day operations of Wentworth Law Firm. The story line in this book is not only intriguing but also an educational adventure as it is an eye-opening trip that travels through the intricate areas of law and how psychology plays an integral part in its approach in and out of the courtroom. The duo of Wentworth and Beckerman will take you on a most interesting journey that starts with the introduction to complex cases that takes twists and turns all the way into the courtroom. And in the courtroom is where the psychology that Roland brings to the table kicks in vividly. The two of them have stumbled upon the forensic approach they weave into solving cases.

The back cover picture is an example of Roland's alter ego showing his creativeness in another role in his true life that is revealed in these volumes. Not only is he a successful author/novelist, he is also a professional drummer/percussionist that travels, playing with a touring band in the eastern part of the country autographing books along the way. This dual lifestyle is expressed in this novel, and it is true in real life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781684984961

Book preview

Chapter 1

It’s nine fifteen on a Saturday morning, and Atticus Wentworth has been in his office since 7:15 a.m. Spring has arrived upon the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, and is getting drenched with a lasting springtime shower. It is really coming down, and some of the storm drains in the city are overflowing from the steady downpouring of rain, but Atticus is dry and not paying any attention to what is going on outside. Spring is considered by many as a rebirth as the canopy of trees in the city is starting to become green with new leaves. The city of Charlotte, NC, is well known for its beautiful canopy of large oak trees that line many streets, especially in Meyer’s Park. And the azaleas are now in full bloom with the daffodils popping up everywhere. You know, those yellow flowers with the green stems that seem to pop up in random places. But again, he is digging deep into research for what just might be the biggest and most important case he has ever handled. This is a rebirth of himself seemingly appropriate since it is in the season of spring. Since he began his career as a lawyer, he has proven he can handle new facets of the legal profession as he has literally morphed into roles at times without giving it much thought but all the while knowing he had the level of confidence to pursue and handle just about any kind of case thrown his way, and he almost always did so with precision.

This being his first case for the plaintiff in a medical malpractice suit is what he has had his sights set on for a long time, and it is finally upon him to get it started. Being in the office on a Saturday morning was a particularly good time for him to get a lot of research done without any interruptions. His partner Keith would sometimes stop in to handle a few details, but he seemed to never come in on a Saturday to dig for gold as Atticus did almost every Saturday morning. On this day, Atticus was watching the time because he had promised he would be home by 3:00 p.m. for a family gathering to begin at 5:00 p.m. at his house.

Jennifer happened to stop by the office to pick up some food containers she forgot to take when she left on Friday and had an idea Atticus would be there. They were having a short conversation as she got her containers together. She stopped, put them down, walked into Atticus’s office, and said, I really appreciate you respecting my wishes on wanting to be referred to as my given name, Jennifer. She smiled, continuing to say, I just felt like I outgrew Jenny a while ago.

Atticus said, As you know, I have let Jenny slip a few times, but I got used to it over time, so yeah, no problem, Jennifer.

She smiled again and turned and started walking out of his office. Stopping at the door, she looked back at Atticus and said, Thank you. See you Monday morning.

The case he was working on was the one he gladly accepted after a very long meeting with Sally regarding her and Ted’s son. To bring you up to speed on this, Sally and Ted were lovers, and Sally became pregnant, surprise! Sally went through some very dramatic and worrisome times literally mentally tussling with trying to decide to abort the baby or not. She made a few appointments at the clinic to have the abortion, but each time for one or many reasons, she just couldn’t go through with it. She was very alone, and Ted seemed to have dropped out of the picture. They were both students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Ted was a senior and was working hard to get finished up, and they weren’t seeing each other. Although they would pass and speak, that was about it. Sally had a family situation that just didn’t allow her to discuss this with her parents. Due to this, she was very alone trying to deal with being pregnant on her own. It was at times almost more than she could handle, and it was having a strong bearing on her psychologically. Between trying to decide whether to get the abortion or not and trying to keep up her work as a student, she finally hit the wall. She decided to tell Ted. That is when she invited him over to her apartment with the intent to tell him that she was pregnant, and the child was his without any doubt. And as the previous story goes, before she could tell him, they ended up in bed and had passionate sex. Right after the sexual encounter, lying there in bed is when she just blurted out that she was pregnant. The reaction from Ted couldn’t have been any more wonderful as he immediately opened up about the way he felt about her. And right then and there while lying in bed naked just after having some really great sex, they started making plans for their future together.

Now to fast-forward a bit, they did get married, and Ted was working at a bank downtown in the city, and Sally was about to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. And again as the story was told, she had the baby, a baby boy. But her delivery was a most difficult one, and it was a very long process, and it just seemed things weren’t going well, or I should say weren’t going as a normal delivery should. The problem seemed to stem from the fact the doctor on call couldn’t be located. Sally had been in labor for quite a long time. It was past time for her to deliver, and the staff were doing everything they could and were trained to do, but the doctor on call needed to be there and wasn’t responding to several attempts to reach him. Finally, the doctor returned the many messages and pleas for him to come to the hospital to deliver a child. Upon his arrival, things started moving rapidly, and he seemed agitated and was barking orders at everyone including Ted. He told Ted to get the hell out of my way and was literally throwing and shoving things around in the delivery room. It seemed everyone was on edge, and it turned out it was for good reason. Due to the time of not being treated properly during the delivery, the baby was and had been under a lot of compromising stress in the birth canal. This is the kind of stress that could be very damaging if not attended to in a short period of time, but the time frame here was hours. Aside from what Sally was going through, well, her baby was going through much more trauma. The baby was finally born, and all seemed all right, at the time.

When Sally was unfolding her lengthy story to Atticus that day in his conference room as it is spelled out in the previous book, Atticus thought a few times of shutting it down. I am not sure if it was the manner that Sally was spilling her story to Atticus or if it appeared to be the ramblings of a young mother or what, but it was difficult for Atticus to want to continue on. However, after many ups and downs in her story, she finally started getting to the really important facts, and then Atticus seemed to become engaged in an enlightened stage and once again began taking notes. The more she spilled, the more questions he asked, and the more answers Sally gave him, the more deeply he went into what then happened.

Sally told him all about the chaos and seemingly confusion that seemed to go on for hours simply because it did go on for hours. There was only so much the staff could do without an attending physician there, the one that was on call. Dr. Shirell was the one on call. It happened to be on a Saturday, and it seemed they were a little understaffed, and I am not sure if the fact it was the weekend maybe had something to do with being understaffed or not. However, it did seem there was a lot of chaos, just staff moving briskly from room to room and patient to patient. The chaos really began when Dr. Shirell finally arrived.

Baby Matthew was born, and the head nurse there spoke a little out of turn and said something she shouldn’t have said. She said, I think this baby boy has some real problems. She paused and said, I have witnessed this before, and I think it is unfortunate that he will have problems. Perhaps there has been some brain damage. Sally and Ted both caught some of that, enough to immediately start asking questions. Although they thought they heard something that sounded terrible, it seemed to have been reversed immediately by everyone in the delivery room. Once the delivery was finally made, Dr. Sherill quickly left the room and wasn’t seen again. He had apparently left the building. After baby Matthew was born, the staff whisked him away and had to start some procedural protocol to get him breathing properly and had to monitor his very irregular heartbeat. Sally and Ted were glad and, at that moment, happy the very difficult delivery was over, but they knew there was a lot of concern for their newborn son because of the way he was being attended to by the staff. During all this, a heart specialist was called in, and a respiratory therapist was called in to assist little Matthew in hopes of getting him into something related to normalcy. By now Sally had been taken to a room as Ted accompanied her. They kept asking for Dr. Sherill but to no avail. After about an hour or so later, another doctor came in and told them there were some difficulties that occurred during the delivery but not to worry about their son because he was being well attended to and is making progress. They both thought, Making progress, what in the hell does that mean? They then started asking a lot of questions but were not getting answers.

The truth in the matter here is it has been established that little baby Matthew who is now just under a year old does in fact have permanent brain damage. He hasn’t developed nearly as a one-year-old baby should. He has been examined by two doctors at Duke University Medical School in Durham, North Carolina, and one other head of neurology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, NC. These are two of the most prestigious medical schools in the country. Ted and Sally both have accepted the fact their baby boy will never develop into a normal child. The word normal will not even come close to what lies ahead for them and especially little Matthew. In retrospect, Sally had read about Atticus Wentworth of Wentworth and Mercer, and that is what prompted her to get the appointment for a consultation with Atticus. That, of course, led to his accepting the case and not telling her it would be his first medical malpractice case. The case that got her attention was one of the defendants, although he was in the medical field, but there is a difference between the plaintiff and the defendant. After all, she came to him asking for his help; therefore, Atticus didn’t think it was necessary to tell her it was his first. Speaking of the first, as we all know, one must start somewhere, and it isn’t started as the second, third, or fourth; rather, it starts at the beginning, the first. This happened to be Atticus’s beginning on flipping to the plaintiff’s side. And as we all know, that was his intention.

Fast-forwarding now to when Sally was in the conference room at the law offices Wentworth and Mercer. This is the moment when Atticus got up from his side of the table, walked around and sat beside Sally, and said, I’d be honored to take your case, and we will prevail.

Atticus at times during this verbal dissertation that Sally had given that seemed to take several hours but likely more like two hours came close to shutting it down and moving on. But the high points are what kept him in the game. And during all the notetaking and connecting the dots, Atticus, even with his lack of real experience in a case like this, landed on what he thought happened to baby Matthew. He remembered during his many hours of research, he stumbled upon a medical term referred to as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. More that on later. Yes, this was the first of many medical malpractice cases Atticus was embarking on.

He and Keith met for a few minutes after Atticus’s long meeting with Sally, and Keith questioned Atticus intently about what and how he was going to do this. Atticus answered Keith and said with confidence while smiling, I don’t know exactly, but I am going to figure it out. It seemed that is the way Atticus always worked. Everything and every case he ever accepted he did so with vigor with a high level of confidence. Let’s not forget, when he came out of law school and passed the bar exam, instead of taking a job with a prestigious large law firm, he pioneered his own practice. Did he know what he was doing? Of course he did—he had a law degree! But did he really know what he was doing? Actually, no; technically, he did because of what he learned in law school, but does that prepare you for court and how to handle yourself in court? The answer is not really. I don’t think there is a book that can completely prepare someone on how to handle certain things that change in an instant during a trial that makes you rethink and reroute the strategy you need to put into place. Having said this, Keith was just listening to Atticus with full trust because he recognized something in Atticus he didn’t have in himself. And that was an overload of shear confidence. Yes, of course, a young lawyer knows the law, but that isn’t the point here. Atticus loved the challenge of every case and lived for the moments to work in front of a judge and jury. He with all his confidence and while being under pressure to perform well seemed to scratch his itch, so to speak. Then is when he always rose to the top of his game. Was it the challenge or was it the gamble he seemed to always take? I don’t think we’ll ever really know, but I am putting my money on the fact it was a gamble. What is meant by what I just stated is I think with every case he accepted, he knew it was a gamble. But if he could dig up enough facts to attack it, then he felt he had as much of a chance to win as his opposition. And coupling the challenge with his very high level of confidence seemed to be a winning combination for Atticus. So I am going with that, and I feel good about what I have stated here about Atticus Wentworth. And his overall track record today makes what I just stated even more true, because it is.

Now let’s go back to Saturday morning when Atticus was doing some research on several other similar cases of babies born with different types of brain damage that occurred for various reasons. Atticus had just gotten a new little device, a personal recorder. It was a cool little pocket-sized device that had a mini cassette tape with lots of storage. He started leaving it in his car and would use it while driving; it just didn’t seem to be the tool he thought it would be in the office. But in the car, it proved to be a valuable tool. Although he loved this device, he still used his yellow legal pad for notes and still uses it today.

In his research that Saturday morning, the common dominator seemed to be a time factor. In looking at the notes, baby Matthew spent hours in the birth canal. That was the period Dr. Shirell couldn’t be found, nor would he answer any of his messages. Atticus read through case after case, and it seemed that they all pointed directly to time being the main cause of brain damage in a newborn baby spending too much time in the birth canal. There isn’t any extra room, so to speak, inside of the birth canal of a woman, and getting a baby through it quickly is key for not having any issues. He read on in many instances sometimes if a baby is having problems either getting into the birth canal perhaps being in a breach position or if the baby were to get stuck there, then an emergency surgical delivery takes place. All of this is determined by the attending physician, and a decision is always made quickly as time isn’t on the side of delivering a healthy baby if it is ignored. After hours of research and having a roast beef on rye delivered to his office for lunch, he was building a case.

Although he was building a case, there was one factor that he couldn’t get away from. He kept asking himself over and over, again and again, where in the hell was Dr. Sherill during all of this. He couldn’t get it out of his mind the fact he was the doctor on call but didn’t answer any of the messages for hours. He kept going over this in his head and wondering what the problem must have been. He was puzzled, but he also knew there was an answer. As we all know, there is most of the time a logical answer to almost any logical question, within reason of course. Atticus kept asking himself why—one, why would he not answer his call from the hospital, and two, why did it take him literally hours to show up at the hospital? The word is he just showed up and started barking orders and pushing and throwing things around. And he just seemed agitated to have to be there and telling Ted to get the hell out of my way. Is that any way to treat anyone in a situation like this? I, for one, firmly say no! This was all so puzzling, yet it was obvious to Atticus there was a reason behind all of this. For that matter, even if he was asleep, perhaps taking a nap, wouldn’t the phone wake him? After all, he was on call, and a doctor does get called in when they are on call. Maybe they don’t get the call every time they are on call, but as we all know, it does happen. It happened this time, but he was not to be found.

Atticus looked at his watch, and damn, it was almost 3:00 p.m., and he promised he would be home by three o’clock to help prepare for the gathering his wife had planned. He shut down everything and literally ran out of the office and got in his car and was speeding home. Even on his way home, he reached for his new recording device and started talking into it about more information to dig up when he arrives back at the office on Monday morning.

The truth is when Monday morning comes, this is the only case he has in front of him. If you recall, he positioned himself regarding his case load over the last year to be free of defense cases. He is now on his first case representing the plaintiff in his first medical malpractice case, and he could not be happier.

He just now pulled up into his driveway, and his son and daughter greeted him as he was opening the car door. They were excited he was home, and they were anxious about what was about to occur regarding the family gathering. And it was only 3:15 p.m. He was fifteen minutes late. That wasn’t too bad at all. He was home and ready to take on the role of husband, parent, and cohost. He really hadn’t done any of the preparations as that just wasn’t his thing. But having a wonderful wife that fully understands her husband, she had it all under control. Atticus was very good at separating work from the rigors of having a family that consisted of a beautiful and loving wife and two small children, a daughter and a son. Even though he was now home, his energy toward building the case never ceased. He hid it well.

Chapter 2

On his way to the office after having a great weekend with his family, he knew he was in for a fight one he had never experienced before. Although he has been looking at other cases that resembled this one, he was still a bit in the dark on how to approach it, but that was kept to himself. That was just his way of doing things, and he was always proactive, but he also had a strong talent to be able to react to adverse situations pretty much on the fly. He was a quick thinker and could make precise decisions when needed. Although the word precise was used, there were times when precision just wasn’t there, but he never seemed to get rattled. Rather, he would simply adjust as he went, and that usually added to the precision I mentioned.

When he arrived, Keith was already there along with Jennifer and Sherri, perhaps in anticipation of Atticus and what actions he might put into place; they wanted to be ready for him. He was pleasantly surprised by everyone showing up early. It was obviously a plan, although not planned by Atticus. It was indeed planned by Keith. Coffee was ready along with some coffee/tea cakes Jennifer had brought in. The conference room was ready, and since all that was in place, Atticus called a meeting. The topic of discussion was directed to the case that was just beginning to start unwinding. For the first time in a while, Keith spoke up with a suggestion or two along with Jennifer chiming in. Sherri simply sat there taking notes. Some ideas were tossed around the conference room table all while Atticus just sat thinking. And his mind was miles away but still on the same subject, but he was on a different level. He felt their intentions were good, but he didn’t seem to care for their input, especially Keith’s, but he never made any mention of it. He just at times would nod and say, Yeah, that is a good idea, all while he was dreaming up different approaches. When it came to Atticus and his thought process, he always seemed to want to go it alone. There was an exception now, and that exception was Roland J. Beckerman. Roland had become a close confidant, and they seemed to have a way of communicating ideas at an alarming rate of success.

Atticus looked at the time and said, Hey, it is nine o’clock. It is time to open the office. He was glad the meeting was over. He didn’t think it was a waste of time, but it was a definite maybe. The phone started ringing as it usually did just after the office opened, and Jennifer was on her way to the courthouse to collect some real estate records for Keith. Jennifer was busy with the phones, and Atticus was sitting in his office staring out of his window with his mind now in overdrive about the case. And Roland walked in the door and asked Sherri to see if Atticus has a few minutes. Atticus heard Roland out front and shouted, Hey, Roland, good morning. Come on in my office, and he walked in. Atticus was happy to see him, and he closed the door. Atticus began the conversation, saying, I am so glad you stopped by. There is a lot we need to talk about. Roland was quite aware of what was on his mind, and Roland had an idea or two about what might be a few things they should look into, and Atticus was listening, as he always listened to Roland. Atticus and Roland threw a few things out at each other, and Atticus, as usual, was taking notes and putting them onto his yellow legal pad.

After about an hour, Roland stood and said, I have to get to my office. I have an appointment in twenty minutes, so he left, and Atticus resumed his staring out of his window while his mind, still racing, was pulling pieces out of nowhere to think about, jotting notes all along.

A couple of days later Atticus asked Sherri to contact his new clients and ask them to come in for a conference at their earliest convenience. The following Friday morning Ted and Sally walked into the offices of Wentworth and Mercer. Atticus was waiting on them with a legal pad full of questions. Some of the questions perhaps have been asked before, but Atticus was simply wanting clarification on many important points of reference. It was a meeting or perhaps an overview of everything that transpired on the day little Matthew was born. So the three of them relived that fateful day together. Ted asked when a lawsuit would be filed. Atticus said, I am glad you asked that question, and he began telling him how the procedure works and, more importantly, the number of steps it takes to file a lawsuit. Atticus explained clearly the first and most important step was to get some expert witnesses that would be willing to testify and explain what and how this injury occurred to little Matthew. But all while Atticus was explaining this to Ted and Sally, his mind was racing and thinking, where was Dr. Shirell, and why could he not be found? After all, he was on call! Atticus continued saying, Once we are able to get a couple of expert witnesses and, in this case, other doctors on board, we’ll file the lawsuit.

Ted and Sally were happy to hear this, and they looked at each other then looked at Atticus, and Ted said, We trust your judgment, and we trust you to do the right thing.

This was a rather difficult meeting, mostly for Sally, as she became emotional at various times, and Atticus fully understood. Ted was very comforting to her, but he also let his emotions free a few times during the lengthy meeting. It was approaching the lunch hour, and Atticus started wrapping it up coming to an ending. Atticus walked them to the front door of the office and said to them, We will be in touch.

Atticus walked back into his office and placed a call to Roland, and he was just about to leave town. As you recall, Roland is a musician and was on his way to play a concert in Atlanta the next night at a theater with some old friends that played with the Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band and Eric Clapton’s band. It was another one of those things Alto Reed and Jamie Oldaker put together, and Roland was going to sit in on one of the drum sets right beside Jamie. Atticus was always impressed by this, but damn, he really wanted to see Roland over the weekend to discuss the case more with him. Roland told him he would be back late afternoon on Sunday. Atticus asked if he could take him to dinner downtown Sunday night. Roland sensed his strong desire to meet with him, so he simply said, Of course, you name the place and time and I will be there.

That weekend crept by for Atticus. When they met downtown Sunday night, of course Atticus asked about his rock star weekend, and as usual, Roland just played it down like no big deal; rather, he was just doing what he does with friends sometimes. Atticus was anxious to get the conversation started, so after they had their greeting and Roland answered his questions about the concert and the people Roland was with, Atticus laid out some notes that Jennifer had made into short bullets of ideas. After Roland looked at all the notes, he had one question. Atticus knew or thought he knew what his question was going to be, so he waited in anticipation. Roland spoke up and said, Where was Dr. Shirell?

Silence was between them both for a few moments as it hung in the air like smoke in a pool room, and Atticus spoke up. I knew that was going to be your question. I have the same fucking question! Where in the hell was he during all of this time when he couldn’t be reached by his staff that needed him? Atticus said with a slightly raised voice.

At that time, the conversation left the technical side of the case to the investigative side of the case. That meant it was up to Roland to do his part and find out where Dr. Shirell was during this crucial period of time that he couldn’t be located. And the fact seems to resurface a lot that he was indeed on call, and that meant he could be found and if needed to come in to care for a patient. And in this