That refusal is the whole case.
That refusal is what turns this from an error into a choice.
And juries can tell the difference between an error and a choice.
He let that sit.
And the reason all of this matters so much, he said more quietly now, is that you did it in front of a child.
My daughter is nine.
She lost her mother 3 years ago.
And today she watched a police officer throw her father's badge in the garbage and put him in handcuffs and tell a crowd he was a liar.
All because you decided you already knew what a man like me was worth.
She's going to remember this for the rest of her life.
And so am I.
He looked at the trash can, then at the scrape on his own cheek in the reflection of a car window, then back at Kesler.
You're going to regret this, he said.
Not because I'm going to make you, because you did it to yourself in front of everyone, and it's already out of both our hands.
Daniel Kesler did something then that nobody in that courtyard was ready for.
His legs went, not dramatically, just a slow buckle like the strength ran out of them.
And he went down onto his knees on the brick right there in front of the fountain, right where 5 minutes earlier he had been holding a badge up to the sun and laughing.
"Please," he said.
His voice was a whisper now, ragged.
"Please, sir, I didn't know."
I swear to God, I didn't know.
I've got 22 years in.
I've got a pension.
My son's in college.
Please, please, can we just—
Can we talk about this?
Can we work something out?
I'll apologize.
I'll do anything.
Please don't let this—
Marcus looked down at him.
And here is the thing about Marcus Bell.