After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 6

It didn't take long after the arrival of Ralph's subpoena for Jeffery to get on hiring a personal lawyer. He had a friend he went to university with who worked in law, so his first step was to call the man, explain Ralph's situation and hope that his former friend would be able to send them in the right direction. Luckily for Jeffery, his former classmate was connected to some of the best juvenile criminal defense attorneys in Georgia. He reccommended Zoey Berman, a woman who had a distinguished reputation for representing youth accused of violent crimes. She had also been in Judge Eldeson's courtroom before, so she would be able to give the Langleys some courtroom tips.

First, Jeffery and Laurie met with the woman just over a week after Ralph got the subpoena. They drove to her office in downtown Atlanta. She looked over the document, and clarified some of the legal jargon Jeffery and Laurie didn't understand. She explained to them that this case would be more reliant on verbal accounts of events than it was on physical evidence, given that the boys were rescued up to months after the deaths occurred. The physical evidence had been tampered with before anyone knew that a crime had occurred. The case was very unique and unordinary, so Zoey warned the Langley parents that it may be difficult to predict the role of the evidence, and how testimony will be examined. She also tried to gather anything that Ralph might've told Jeffery and Laurie about what happened since his rescue, but they were forced to admit that he was very closed off about it, even two years later.

They wrapped up their meeting with Zoey so they could be home before Ralph got back from school. When they were all home, Jeffery told Ralph what they talked about with Zoey and that the next step was for Ralph to meet with her too. He willingly agreed, and his parents gave him the option to meet with her alone or to have them there with him. Jeffery was surprised that Ralph didn't want them there, and Laurie was borderline offended. Still, they decided to respect his request. When they drove to the law office in Atlanta four days later, Zoey assured them that she'd update them on anything pertinent they would really need to know. Of course, without Ralph's consent, she wouldn't be able to disclose anything about the case itself. Jeffery really hoped that this wasn't about to cause a divide between Ralph, and himself and Laurie.

"How are you today, Ralph?" Zoey asked as the boy sat down in one of the two chairs on the opposite side of her desk.

"Good, how are you?" he politely asked as he shifted awkwardly in the chair.

"I'm well, thank you for asking. I know this probably isn't how you want to spend your afternoon, and that you've likely got a lot on your mind. I'm not going to downplay how scary of a situation this is, but I want you to know that my job is only to help you. I'm not here to judge you or what you did or didn't do out on the island, I'm here to support you and make sure you don't end up with a record. Does that all make sense, Ralph?" she gently explained.

"Yes" he quietly nodded.

"Okay, first of all I'd like to talk a bit about what happened out on the island if you're comfortable with that. Just keep in mind that this is a confidential meeting, and you and I have attorney-client privilege. This means that I cannot tell anyone what we talk about without your permission, okay?" she continued.

"Not even my parents?" Ralph asked in surprise.

"Not without your permission, no. The only time I'm allowed to break that attorney-client privilege is if your parents need information to make a legal decision about you, or if you disclose a threat to yourself or someone else" Zoey assured him.

"Okay" Ralph nodded, feeling the beads of condensation dripping down the back of his neck.

"Are we good to proceed then?" she asked. She smiled as Ralph nodded in agreement.