A Time For Mercy Quotes
"The seclusion of the house added to the imminent horror."
"Sleep was not possible during these awful nights."
"She wore a racy negligee to catch his attention and perhaps alter his mood from violence to romance."
"He sprayed hot saliva and the rank odor of stale whiskey and beer into her ear."
"Josie couldn’t yell, couldn’t swallow or breathe."
"He stood for a second or two and admired his handiwork."
"Nail ’em on the chin and they’re out for good."
"They were begging Josie to leave and she was making promises."
"The responsibilities were left to him, the oldest."
"The house was still, silent; the only sounds were Kiera’s whimpering as she begged her mother."
"He would leave in handcuffs in the rear seat of a deputy’s patrol car."
"And where would they go? Every light in the house was on and there were cops in every room."
"The bullet’s exit had blown out a section of the skull."
"They had never known the security of two stable parents."
"If your father or son was charged with a serious crime, would you want an aggressive lawyer or a pushover?"
"Those pricks down at the Rotary Club and the church and the coffee shop will not make you a lawyer."
"A real lawyer is not afraid of unpopular cases."
"He sees himself as my mentor and he wants me to do great things."
"It doesn’t seem right to send a sixteen-year-old kid to death row."
"We don’t always get to choose our clients, right?"
"I don’t care if they keep me in prison forever because he can never hurt my mother again."
"I’m asking you to do what’s right here, Ozzie. That’s all."
"He’s detached from reality. What’s the harm in having him evaluated?"
"You gotta understand that Stu didn’t want my kids to begin with, and the longer they stayed the more he resented them. The whole situation was slowly blowin’ up."
"We talked to Drew last night... Said the sheriff here drove him down on Friday."
"I went with him a few times, in the earlier days, but I stopped because he would get in fights."
"It might be the smell of those biscuits. Could we put them in the trunk?"
"We’re working on what we hope to be a complete biographical sketch of the Gamble family."
"They’re not officially members of my church but we’ve sort of adopted them. They have no place else to go."
"Leave them here for twenty-four hours, pick them up tomorrow."
"Sounds like the family has had a rough time of it. He’s never seen his father."
"Typically, for the first month or so the honor of being a member of the grand jury was worth bragging about, but after a few sessions the job grew tedious."
"We're not guessing, Sheriff. This happened at two a.m. on a Sunday morning. Is it safe to assume that Stuart Kofer was not exactly sober when he came home and beat his girlfriend?"
"This is the first step in a case that could send a man, or a kid, to death row at Parchman. It all seems too easy, too sudden to me."
"We just rubber-stamp whatever you want. But this is something else."
"Forgive me, Sheriff, but you’re not exactly forthcoming with all the facts here."
"Tensions at the Coffee Shop were lessened considerably when the deputies found another breakfast spot."
"He tried to convince himself it went with the territory."
"The chef was a large rowdy woman with a short temper and the habit of throwing spatulas."
"He knew, though, that Noose would protect him while at the same time protecting the integrity of the system."
"Litigation was expensive, and he and Jake had borrowed, so far, $55,000 from Security Bank to finance the lawsuit."
"I want you to get some big bucks, some of that dirty insurance money, okay?"
"He once made a living as a politician and was quite good at it."
"He despised judicial elections. Politics should be kept out of the judiciary at all levels."
"He was obviously worried about a campaign that was months away and might never happen."
"Over two dozen officers and rescue personnel were at the site, along with other travelers who happened upon the scene and couldn’t pass around it."
"The collision of a small car weighing three thousand pounds with the wheel unit of a loaded boxcar weighing seventy-five tons created a nasty accident scene."
"He figured that if the mysterious man had seen anything relevant he would have spoken to an officer on the scene."
"For three hours. He said it was pretty gruesome watching the recovery of four dead people, especially when they pulled the little kids out."
"Had to go to trial and he has a strong dislike for lawyers and courts."
"He could see small children crushed in the rear seat."
"I’m not going to kill myself, Carla, if that’s what you’re worried about."
"It’s temporary. I’ll survive Gamble, then I’ll settle Smallwood."
"They outgrow that. The worst part of having a child is giving birth."
"He retrieved a small bag of salted peanuts his lawyer had brought him and ate them slowly, one at a time."
"We are not going to mention this guy. Ever. Okay?"
"I’m sure you wanted to supplement and hand us Neal Nickel, but you forgot."
"Work diligently to learn all the facts, then hand them to the other side on a platter."
"Judge, we have the right to depose this man."
"I’ll see you this afternoon and explain everything."
"Not much else to do with your nose but let it heal."
"Front page again. Just where you want to be."
"I can see your beautiful face just fine and that’s all that matters."
"I don’t have the mental or physical energy to pursue Cecil Kofer right now."
"I’m not supposed to be working and if she catches us she’ll cut off my ice cream."
"You worry too much about this town and all the gossipmongers."
"Being fearless, unafraid to take unpopular cases, fighting like hell for the little people who have no one to protect them."
"I’m so sorry, baby, I’m so sorry. I got us into this mess. It’s all my fault."
"Don’t say that, Drew. Don’t say it now and don’t say it in court. Don’t ever say that to anyone, you understand?"
"We’ve already talked about this, Mom. I did what I did and I don’t regret it."
"In the business of criminal law a mistrial was a victory."
"Most importantly, Jake had reached the point of not giving a damn about what others thought."
"We treasure life and can all agree that it is wrong to kill, so why do we allow ourselves, through the state, to legally kill people?"
"Lawyers should stick with ‘No comment,’ but they find it impossible."
"You gave me the chance to sit through that trial, just like I was a real lawyer. You’ve inspired me."
"Once I got to know him, and his family, it hit me pretty hard that he could well be convicted and sent to Parchman for ten or fifteen years while I fought his appeals."
"I’ve starved for twelve years because I’ve worried about the gossip. Those days are over."
"It’s not all bad, Jake. You still have some friends here, and on some level there’s a certain amount of admiration for your skills in the courtroom."
"I have no interest in that. I want to be in the courtroom, Jake, like you, helping people, my people."
"I’ve learned. Lawyers should stick with ‘No comment,’ but they find it impossible."
"It was a fair fight, Dell. Lowell Dyer got out-lawyered and the facts fell our way."
"I lost sleep with those nightmares. I studied the history of the death penalty, really for the first time in my life, and saw the obvious problems."
"The fact that Judge Atlee was sitting in the same rocker twenty-four hours earlier and telling Lucien what he should tell young Jake was difficult to absorb."
"The drive to Clanton was a joyous moment, something Jake and Carla would relive for years."