Ben did not take criminal cases to be tried much anymore, but he knew he could not refuse to take this one.
Sid Miles was charged with assault. Assault with his fists. His victim and accuser was Frankie Weeks, son of the owner of Burley Oak Plantation, William Weeks. Sid was a Cracker, Frankie and William, Yankee blue bloods. William Weeks was plumb rich, a native of Boston, fourth Weeks owner of Burley Oak.
The incident resulting in the assault charge happened like this, according to the only eye witness save Sid and Frankie, Booty Blevins. Booty was Sid’s scout and all-around assistant on Leaning Pine Plantation which adjoined Burley Oak Plantation and was owned by Forest Reed, another Yankee blue blood, he from Philadelphia. Sid Miles was dog trainer and hunt manager on Leaning Pine Plantation.
Leaning Pine was vast and roadless, save for one public dirt road lined by Live Oaks intersecting it North-South. The Number Four hunting course on Leaning Pine crossed the dirt road. On both sides of the road crossing and along the dirt road were posted four large signs proclaiming in large white letters painted on a brown wood background.
Caution Slow Down — Dogs and Horses Crossing Ahead
According to Booty, he and Sid were on horseback’s working a derby (two-year old) pointer on Course Four. As the derby neared the road crossing, hunting ahead of Sid and Booty, they heard approaching on the road the whine of a speeding auto. Both riders realized the danger and spurred their mounts to pursue the derby and Sid called it, but overcome with enthusiasm it ignored Sid’s call and made for the crossing gap. Then the speeding vehicle arrived, driven by Frankie. It did not slow in response to the painted signs of caution, according to Booty. It struck and killed instantly the derby on the road in the fence gap.
Frankie then braked and got out of the car. Sid dismounted and without preamble landed a roundhouse punch on Frankie’s jaw, breaking it and knocking Frankie unconscious. Booty punched 911 on his cell phone and an EMS truck and volunteer crew arrived in ten minutes to find Frankie seated in his sports car, a BMW convertible, awake but groggy and in pain. The EMS volunteers hauled Frankie to the hospital in Thomasville where his jaw was set and wired.
Sid Miles was arrested at his cottage on Leaning Pine next day. Ben arranged bail after a call from Forrest Reed. Reed also asked Ben to represent Sid Miles on the assault charge.
Sid Miles was seventy but looked closer to fifty. He stood six’ four” and weighed two hundred fifty pounds. In younger days he had campaigned for the public on the all-age circuit but given it up after a nasty horse fall had broken his back. He had a reputation for a bad temper though Ben knew that beneath his gruff appearance dwelled a big heart. He had helped many troubled youngsters Ben and Sam had arranged to go north with him to dog training camp both in his campaigning days and since he had become a shooting plantation dog man. Booty had been with him on the circuit and followed him to Leaning Pine.
Forrest Reed and William Weeks had been pretty good neighbors before this incident. That era had passed, they and Ben recognized. They had in years past conducted their plantations’ Spring controlled burns in concert, making it unnecessary to cut fire breaks along their boundary line in places where continuing fire across boundaries made sense. Now fire breaks would be required between them, and not one but two parallel, for they were not speaking. Moreover, they would no longer combine their crews to monitor the burns on both properties, increasing costs and reducing safety on both.
Frankie Weeks was eighteen. He was scheduled to enter college in the fall, his admission purchased by his father with a large pledge to the school’s endowment. He had just graduated from a Yankee prep school, his diploma likewise purchased by his dad, for his grades overall were below the required level. Frankie was plenty smart, just lazy his dad thought, or distracted by the triple threats of money to spend, booze and drugs to be bought, and girls to be chased. Or all the above, which was Sam Nixon MD’s take. Sam was winter family physician for both the Reed and Weeks clans.
There were three judges of the court where Sid Miles would be tried for assault. Two were young and non-hunters. One, Arleigh Gill , was old and a life long bird hunter, like Ben. How to assure Sid Miles landed on Judge Gill’s docket was Ben’s first goal. In the old days it would have been easy. A casual request to a court clerk with whom the lawyer was a friend would have done it. But now there were rules intended to assure case assignments were random.
The trick would be to assure that when the final assignment of the case for trial occurred only Arleigh Gill would be available to hear it. Joanne explain to Ben that the two younger judges had children in school who had spring break vacation times when their parents would no doubt take them away for family vacations. If Sid Miles assault charge were assigned for trial during this week, Judge Gill was bound to get it. And so Ben maneuvered it.
But how to win the case, even with a sympathetic judge? Ben was despondent, for Sid Miles was clearly guilty. Nothing in Georgia law justified an assault on a negligent driver who ran over and killed a bird dog. Still….
It was Dr. Sam who saved Sid Miles and in the end all those involved from injustice. He had heard long before the dog incident William Weeks’ and his wife’s utter parental frustration with Frankie, heard it from them.
Sam and Ben went alone to the live oak-lined road through Leaning Pine Plantation. Sam brought his camera, and photographed the warning signs. With them he created a Power Point presentation. Then he invited William Weeks and his wife, Frankie’s mother, to his office. They had consulted him many times before about Frankie.
Sam began with the Power Point presentation, showing them in silence the road signs Frankie had ignored, leading to his run down with his BMW convertible of the derby. Then he turned off the projector.
“Frankie is out of control because you have given him no boundaries. Sid Miles showed him a boundary with his punch in the jaw. It could be his salvation. Rather than giving Frankie the perverse satisfaction of seeing Sid Miles convicted of assault for his justified reaction to Frankie’s irresponsible negligence, I suggest you let Sid teach Frankie responsibility by a summer’s work on the prairie under Sid training bird dogs. I’ve seen him straighten out several others that way that were worse off than Frankie.”
William Weeks left Sam’s office furious with Sam, but his wife did not. She saw the wisdom of what he said. Next day William called Sam. “See what you can work out with your pal Ben Reach about a summer’s work for Frankie. Don’t commit to anything until I hear the terms.”
The judge granted Sid Miles a continuance until September 15. On that day William Weeks came to court and requested that the charges against Sid Miles be dismissed. The prosecutor joined in the request. Frankie was at college, intent on redeeming himself thanks to lessons taught him by Sid Miles about boundaries.