The White Lilly - Page 51/58

*****************************The White Lilly******************************

Chapter 11. Trial Days

Judge Jack Hardaway aged 63, was 6 foot tall, weighed 200 pounds, had black hair, brown eyes, spoke with a deep voice that sounded like educated speech, used big words, complicated sentences, was a proud, sophisticated man, kinda snobby, was sharp talker, a serious man, but liked a good joke even dirty ones, wore clean pressed conservative suits, white shirts, a bowtie, black leather lace up shoes, and lived in large brick house in Myers Park. Jack Hardaway had a wife, two daughters and a son. This judge was the power behind the law. As a young man graduating from the University of North Carolina, he had been to Raleigh to study the law. His father, John Hardaway, had been a police captain in the city police force. This judge, Jack Hardaway, was a man of the most highest integrity and respect.

The trial date for Howard Skinner’s came and he was brought to the large upstairs court room by two uniformed policemen. He wore hand cuffs and a grey and black striped prison uniform. He sat down in a booth. The pair of policemen sat on each side of him.

The court appointed a public defender attorney, Benjamin Wade to defend Howard. The two of them had met in the jail cell several times, discussed what to do. Howard knew what to say when called upon.