LIFE WITHOUT
BY
KEITH LAUFENBERG

-1-
THE CAT



To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent.
Amiel, Journal, l7Dec., 1856.






I shared a dorm room with Clarence 'The Cat' Carson, for almost a year and I think I knew the guy pretty good. He had been on a football scholarship for the first three years at the college we both attended but when they fired the head coach and hired a coach who favored strictly an air game he was thrown off the team for voicing his objections. The team had gone to the play-offs for three straight years but with the new coach had lost the first four games and the school administration had attempted to get The Cat, who had rushed for an average of fifty yards a game, back on the team but the new coach was adamant and so The Cat sat the season out. He was being scouted by several pro teams at the time, and had been offered a try-out by one of them, but he wanted to finish his degree, having only one semester left to earn it, a B.S. in mechanical engineering, and so he put the offer on hold, until graduation.
And it was that very offer that led to what happened to him, which ruined his life; hell, he doesn't even have a life anymore, a shame, a real shame, especially considering his future, he was the best running back our school had ever seen and played on the basketball and baseball team's too. He was multi-talented in sports, as well as the classroom, barely studying and yet still maintaining a 3.5 grade point average. I ought to know, I barely passed my courses and was always pumping The Cat for any secrets on how he could breeze through all his classes with A's, so effortlessly, while I labored, like a workhorse, just to get a passing grade. But, then again, here I am, still alive and in good health, and free; that's the thing, I'm free, whereas The Cat, well, The Cat's life, like I said, is, for all intents and purposes, over.
I been mulling it over and over in my mind and can only come to one conclusion and that is that The Cat's life is over because he turned out to be more of a man, really, than any of the others that were involved in this thing. Well, that's my take on it anyway but maybe you'd think different, so, if you've got a few minutes I'll tell you the story, but it's a real heartbreaker, so prepare yourself

-2-
THE TRIP


The world is his who has money to go over it.
Emerson, Conduct of Life: Wealth.



The Cat had been offered a try-out with the Houston Oilers and wanted to go there on the spring break but I remember him telling me that he really couldn't afford it. I offered to loan him forty bucks but he said an acquaintance of his, a football fan, who went by the name of Marcus, had made him an offer that he would probably take; he was going to do the guy a favor and get a thousand bucks in return. Now, a grand's a grand, especially in 1991, but when I asked The Cat to elucidate further, he just told me that 'I didn't want to know' and so I figured it probably involved drugs and I guess two Andrew Jackson's don't measure up to one Grover Cleveland, especially when Cleveland's picture sits on the front of a thousand dollar bill. I warned him but he only smiled and shrugged his shoulders, telling me that there was always a chance you took no matter what you did in life, from walking down the street to taking a trip to Houston.
Well, his trip to Houston went okay and he told me he was close to a six-figure deal with the Oilers but they wanted him to come back and scrimmage with them, during the summer, and when this guy Marcus offered to go along and pay him just to be present while he, Marcus, made some deals he couldn't turn it down. He said he thought they were probably drug deals but he couldn't be positive because they always met in a different place in Houston, and once in New Orleans when he introduced his younger cousin to Marcus, after his cousin, a crack addict, learned who Marcus really was, which was a mid-level coke dealer.
Anyway, as I learned later, it was on his third trip that he was busted. He was really nothing more than a would-be, could-be bodyguard for Marcus, who was carrying the stuff from Houston back to Louisiana, where he would distribute it to his street-dealers, one of whom was now Bobby 'Shake' Carson, The Cat's first cousin, his father's brother's son. Now, it just so happens that I was planning, in '91, to go to law school and had worked as a paralegal that previous summer. The firm I had worked for specialized in criminal law and I got John Darrow to represent him; Darrow took the case for almost no money, just what The Cat and his family could scrape up but J.D. was a huge football fan and hated to see The Cat get railroaded into prison.
J.D. got The Cat out on his own recognizance and Marcus got his own bond and his own lawyer. J.D. warned The Cat to stay away from Marcus, and his cousin, Shake Carson, who was also involved in what the government had labeled a conspiracy. What happened was there were a half-dozen dealers involved in the thing, and they were all named as co-conspirators but what they would do to The Cat shouldn't be done, pardon the pun, to a dog, much less a 22 year old college graduate, who was about to sign a six-figure pro-football contract.


-3-
SNITCHES


One of the striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.
Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar.

The mouth that lies slays the soul.---John Ray, English Proverbs: Scottish.




Marilyn 'Maximum' McDow nodded at a junior prosecutor in her office and then at a young F.B.I. agent. They were all inside a small room just adjacent to the courthouse, where they were trying a drug conspiracy case. McDow glared at Bobby 'Shake' Carson.
'Now Mister Carson, isn't it true that John Darrow represented you on a drug possession back in eighty-nine?'�
Bobby Carson lived up to his nickname, as his hands began to shake and he stammered:
'Yeah'uh Jay-ah-Dee, ah-um Mis'sah Darrow, he be a good lawyer.'�
'Yes-yes but didn't he know about you dealing drugs and'�'�'�'�'�'�.
'I was'sin dealin' at dat time, see I was jes' usin' and'dum'�'�'�'�'�'�'�
'Mister Carson!'�
Shake's hands shook rapidly, as he glanced up at the reddening face of Marilyn 'Maximum' McDow. He knew they called her Maximum because she always asked for maximum sentences, on all her cases, and that she usually got them. He knew several prisoners serving life sentences because of her prosecution of their cases.
'Ah-num-er, yes'um Miz Mah'Dow. I do sumpin' wrong?'�
McDow glanced at Steve Grady, an assistant prosecutor with her office and then at the junior F.B.I. agent and smiled serenely.
'Mister Carson, if you told Mister Darrow certain things that he could use against you now, in this trial, why then Mister Darrow would have to recuse himself'�
'He would? Uh-num re'seah'use himself? What ah-num-ah'�'�'�'�'�.
'He would be at a conflict of interests and couldn't represent your cousin.'�
'Dah Cat? He could'din rep'sent Dah Cat, den?'�
'That's right and that would make some people happy. Do you understand?'�
Shake Carson nodded his head affirmatively. John Darrow was a renowned criminal lawyer with a winning record and the prosecutor, in this case, Maximum McDow, wanted him off the case, and, as Shake Carson's body joined his hands, shaking uncontrollably now, Maximum McDow knew that she would, as she always did, get what she wanted.


-4-
THE TRIAL


The strictest law is sometimes the greatest injustice.
Terence, Heauton Timoroumenos, 1. 796.

There is a point at which even justice is unjust.---Sophocles, Electra, 1. 1042.


The judge declared a mistrial after The Cat's cousin, Shake Carson, took the stand and testified that John Darrow knew information about him that he could use against him and that same information would help The Cat. The judge declared that John Darrow could no longer represent The Cat, as it would be a conflict of interests.
This same judge appointed a lawyer to represent The Cat and the trial was set for the following month. J.D. said he would try to get another attorney to represent The Cat but his father died just before the trial began and he had to go out of town. I went to the trial, which lasted a week, and let me tell you, it was a joke, a real joke.
Well, they brought in all these drug-dealers to say that The Cat was actually the real kingpin, that he was always at the deals and had the last say on how much drugs would be bought and sold and the price to be paid. The Cat's family was at the trial but were thrown out of the courtroom for yelling at the witnesses, who were all well-known drug-dealers, many of whom already had two prior convictions and faced life in prison, without the possibility of parole, if convicted.
I couldn't believe that the prosecutor got all these drug-dealers to lie against The Cat, especially his cousin, Shake, who burned The Cat, testifying that it was The Cat who had gotten him into drugs, when, in reality, he was 31 years old and had a record of using drugs for over a decade, and only became a dealer to feed his habit.
Anyway, as I found out later, all these drug-dealers were all snitches and they all made deals with the prosecutor, Maximum McDow, and she made sure that their sentences were set before the deal, or reduced some drug-dealers sentences, who had already been sentenced to life in prison. The funny thing is that the prosecutor, Maximum McDow, kept haranguing all through the trial about this vast conspiracy, when, in reality, the only conspiracy I could see was the one that she herself was making with all these drug-dealers, in order to convict The Cat. And convict him she did; the jury came back with a guilty verdict but were not present, in fact no one, as per the law, was present at the sentencing; except the judge, The Cat and his attorney and, of course, Maximum McDow. Well, The Cat got life in prison without the possibility of parole. I talked to him about that later and, let me tell you, he was shaken but it was nothing compared to how shaken he would be in the coming months, because within just 90 days The Cat was to relive this nightmare twice again; that's right, you heard me right, you see the system wasn't done with The Cat, not just yet it wasn't, it had him and it wouldn't let him forget it; no, Marilyn 'Maximum' McDow could never seem to get enough.

-5-
RULE 35



Law and equity are two things which God hath joined, but which man hath put asunder.
C.C. Colton, Lacon. Vol. I, No. 381.



The reason that The Cat got life without the possibility of parole was because Maximum McDow had enticed her snitches to testify that there had been a certain number of kilos of coke involved in the deals. See, Maximum McDow wasn't just satisfied with a simple conviction she wanted a conviction where there would be the maximum punishment allowed, and then meted out. See, I know all about this shyster McDow because I finished law school in '94 and have been practicing criminal law ever since. The Cat is incarcerated in Atlanta, at the federal pen there, where he's doing triple life, each life sentence followed without the possibility of parole. That's right, you heard me right, triple life; let me explain that, see, what happened is that Maximum McDow had some old drug cases that she wanted to clear off her books and the easiest way for her to do it, now that she had a 'drug kingpin,' The Cat, already convicted to one sentence of life without parole, on a drug conspiracy, was to get him convicted on some more drug conspiracies, and so she did. The Cat's nightmare trial was repeated, or should I say duplicated, twice again, and he was convicted twice again, both times to the maximum, life without the possibility of parole.
See, the thing is, what she does is, she uses Rule 35, which is a government rule that can only be filed by the government, i.e., Maximum McDow. So, in other words, the only chance that you have, if you are in a federal pen, is to become a rat, a weasel, A.K.A. a snitch. And, Maximum McDow has her share of snitches and she keeps them aware that if she gets what she wants she'll file a motion, on Rule 35 and then give them a 5K-1.1, which is a downward departure, and reduce their sentences. And so, to clear out two of her old cases, that took place in Houston and New Orleans in 1991, she just went into her 'snitch book,' informed her snitches that if they happened to know a Mr. Clarence 'The Cat' Carson and if they happened to know of this particular drug conspiracy that he was involved in, in 1991 , being a drug kingpin, and if they knew that there were six kilos, or whatever number she needed to get the maximum sentence, which number of kilos then forces the judge to sentence the defendant to a mandatory minimum sentence, usually, in Maximum McDow' s cases, life without the possibility of parole, she would file a Rule 35 for that snitch. Now, when you are a prisoner in a federal penitentiary, and you are doing life, and the federal prosecutor can reduce your sentence considerably, and you see others climbing on the 'snitch train,' you quickly find out all you need to know about The Cat or anybody else that can help lighten your load.And so, two of Maximum McDow's snitches testified that Clarence 'The Cat' Carson was in such and such a place at such and such a time, in 1991, with so many kilos of coke and that he did what the actual unknown suspect had actually done. They both testified that Clarence Carson's nickname 'The Cat' had nothing to do with him being such an agile football player but because he was said to have nine lives, having been a drug kingpin for a decade, which, if you believed it, would have made him a drug kingpin since the age of 12.
Well, I wish I could tell you that Clarence has a way out but it's not the case. You see, I have done my share of appeals and the thing is, in this case, there is no appeal available. His only chance is, yup you guessed it, a Rule 35, he has to become a snitch.
Well, wait a minute, there is one other way but it's also a long shot. See, the president he can commute The Cat's sentence.



EPILOGUE
THE LAST CHANCE



The highest compact we can make with our fellow is,---Let there be truth between us two forevermore.
Emerson, Conduct ofLife: Behavior.

The fewer the voices on the side of truth, the more distinct and strong must be your own.
William Ellery Channing, Charge on Ordination of Rev. J.S. Dwight




Well, if you agree with me that The Cat got shafted, you can join me and write the president a letter; tell him, just to remind him you understand, that under Article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution, he can pardon this man, he's the only chance The Cat has left. Look, the guy's been locked up for eleven years; he's thirty-three years old already.
Just ask yourself one question; what if it were your son or husband or loved one, what would your life be without that person?
What do you think? Is it worth the time it takes you to write a letter? What else can we do?
The pen is mightier than the sword, is it not?
We shall see, we shall see.

Want to comment on this Short Stories? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Short Stories and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...