Hannah shook her head. “I don’t think so.” Felony murder charges could be controversial. It was a basic legal principle that to be convicted of a crime an offender must have both committed the crime and had the intention of committing it. The felony murder rule was an exception to that principle, and it had, on more than one occasion, resulted in convictions that most people would consider to be unjust. Under the murder rule, when an offender accidental y kil s someone while in the process of committing another serious crime, like arson, rape, or burglary, the offender can be charged with first-degree murder. But it goes further than that. In some circumstances, the kil er’s accomplices in the original crime can be found guilty of murder too, even if they weren’t physical y present when the death took place. Hannah had read about a case where a burglar was already in handcuffs in a police car when her accomplice in an earlier burglary shot a police officer. The burglar in handcuffs was found guilty of felony murder. There was another case where a twenty-year-old loaned a car to a friend. The friend used that car to travel to commit a burglary, and during the burglary, he beat a young woman to death. The twenty-year-old was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life without parole. The prosecution had argued that the twenty-year-old knew that his friend was planning a burglary, but it didn’t seem likely that he could have known that the murder, which had been spontaneous, would take place.
Hannah could see that the murder rule was problematic, but she wasn’t sure she agreed with critics who said it should be removed entirely. For her, it was a question of moderation, rather than complete removal. Virginia had added a requirement that the murder result directly from the offender’s own acts, rather than those of an accomplice, and that felt like a reasonable approach. If Nia Jones had intentional y set fire to her own trailer and her baby’s death had been the accidental result, Hannah would have wanted to see Nia punished. So Hannah’s problem with Nia’s conviction wasn’t that it resulted from a charge of felony murder. The problem was, as far as Hannah could see, that there was no evidence that she had committed any crime at al .
“You made contact with the sister?”
Hannah nodded. “Her number was on the application. I thought cal ing her might be the quickest way to get what we needed. She had the brief and she was able to send it through overnight.”
Parekh nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s talk about the evidence.”
“Right,” Hannah said. “Wel , the arson investigation found evidence of accelerant in the living room. Two arson investigators testified with confidence that the fire had been started deliberately, that someone had poured kerosene in a line across the living room floor and set the whole home on fire. They specified that the accelerant was the reason the fire had burned so quickly and so fiercely. Nia had no explanation for the accelerant found in the trailer.
She said she had never poured or spil ed kerosene or anything similar in her home. She had a smal kerosene heater, but the arson investigators had already discounted that as the source of the blaze.
At her trial Nia said that the trailer wasn’t hers. She’d been renting for two years, so she suggested that the kerosene could have been spil ed by the owner or a previous tenant, but the arson experts said no way.”
“What was the motive?” Parekh asked.
“They said she intended to make an insurance policy claim.”
“Okay,” Parekh said. Raised voices came from somewhere outside and Parekh looked over Hannah’s shoulder, squinting a little as if to try to make out who was speaking. “Talk to me about the evidence,” Parekh said.
Hannah had read about nothing but exoneration cases for the past week, which was why Nia’s case had jumped out at her. In her reading about death row cases she had come across more than one case where arson evidence had later been overturned. She hadn’t just been searching social media feeds the night before. She’d also spent several hours looking for specific case law where new scientific evidence had been effectively introduced. She’d worked until three A.M. but it hadn’t been in vain.
“The National Registry of Exonerations shows that at least seventeen arson convictions have been overturned in the past twenty-four years, including that of David Lee Gavitt, who had been imprisoned for twenty-six years for the murder of his wife and two baby girls by fire. Investigators in Gavitt’s case, and others, pointed to charred patterns in the shape of puddles and other signs to argue that the fire had been intentional y set. They used almost word for word the same language used by the arson investigators in Nia’s case.”
He was listening to her, she definitely had his attention, but the raised voices from outside the office weren’t going away. What had started out as a lively discussion sounded like it was degenerating into an argument. Parekh stood.
“Al of the evidence has since been debunked. There is no scientific basis for it,” Hannah said. “The only real evidence against Nia was the evidence of the arson investigators and I think it’s unreliable. If we could get the right expert . . .” But she had lost him.
He went to the door of his office, leaned out.
“What’s going on?” he said.
The argument outside stopped as soon as he spoke. Hannah turned in her chair, craning her neck to try to peer around the door, but Parekh was blocking her view. There was a mumbled response, and then Parekh said—“My office, please. Right now.” Hannah stood up, hovered, unsure if she should stay or go. Parekh came back inside, closely fol owed by Camila and Hazel. Both girls looked flushed and unhappy.
“I’m sorry, Hannah. We’l have to pick this up later,” Parekh said.
“No problem.” Hannah turned to leave.
“I think you have something there. Stay on it. Finish your recommendation, send it to me, and let’s set a time to talk again,”
Parekh said.
Hannah nodded and left, closing the door behind her. She went back to her desk. The atmosphere in the office was strained for the next few hours. Rachel treated Hannah to an icy look and silence on her return to her desk. Rob Parekh’s office door stayed closed for half an hour, and when Camila and Hazel final y emerged it was clear that their argument was far from over. Hazel went straight to her desk and started packing up, emptying drawers into her backpack. Camila stood beside her, talking at her, and though she kept her voice low it was clear from her expression and her body language that she was angry.
“Leave me alone, Camila,” Hazel said, loudly enough that everyone in the open plan area who wasn’t already watching the drama raised their heads.
“You never cared about the Project at al ,” Camila said, raising her voice now too. “It’s al about you, isn’t it?”
Hazel just shook her head, lips tight. She shoved the last of her belongings into her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and walked out without another word to anyone. Hannah saw the anger on Camila’s face crumble to something else and for an awful moment it looked like she was going to burst into tears in front of everyone; moments later Sean Warner had ushered her outside and they were gone for at least an hour. When they came back they went quietly to their desks, and the morning wore on with no more drama, though it was hard not to be distracted by smal movements around the office.
HANNAH WORKED UNTIL LUNCH, THEN WENT OUTSIDE INTO
THE sunshine to eat a sandwich. She was back at her desk by two P.M. Rachel was gone, finished for the day by the look of her organized desk. Robert Parekh came by ten minutes later.
“No classes today?” he asked.
Hannah shrugged. “None today, one tomorrow. I have a very light class load this semester.”
He nodded, looked at her careful y. “Think you can keep up long hours here? Ful -time hours, even?”