The Penitent Attorney

A corporate attorney by the name of Sam Wilm thought about what his next decision would be about an important court case that was coming in about a month. He worked for a wealthy and important food corporation known as Food Deal, which had stores and restaurants across the USA and fed millions of people a day.

Unfortunately, Sam was also aware that the corporation was guilty of incredibly heinous crimes, including injecting their foods with chemicals that caused numerous health problems a year from cancer to heart problems. Sam had represented the company before in defending it from the people it victimized.

He can still remember one court case a year prior where he defended the company against a family who had developed cancer from eating their food. Doctors and lawyers also helped the family in that case, bringing evidence that the food provided by Food Deal was what had caused their health problems.

Sam remembered that he actively discredited the lawyers and doctors in that case as the company offered to pay him millions to do so. He then brought up past misconduct by them, which were incredibly minor in terms of misconduct, but it was enough for the court to see them as discredited.

When it was time for him to face the family, Sam was told by the corporation that if he needed to, he should discredit them. Sam, not wanting to discredit a family suffering from cancer in front of other people, instead paid another doctor to help him discredit the claim that the food provided by the company was what was causing their cancer.

“Doctor, can you tell me that this kind of cancer could be caused by many different objects that can be found in the world,” said Sam in this memory. The doctor then said that even though it was unlikely, he also said that it was possible for chemicals found in the air and water to cause the cancers that the family was suffering from.

“Doctor, can you now tell me how many people a year suffer from cancers caused by these chemicals,” said Sam in his recollection. Sam was also aware that he was deliberately wording that statement to his benefit as he knew that the likelihood of developing that cancer that way was not very high, so he decided to use the number of cases a year as a way to convince the judge and jury of his argument.

“There are about ten-thousand cases of this a year,” said the doctor. This was exactly what Sam and his employers wanted as they hoped that the sound of the number would be enough to win them the case. Sam also asked for something else in the case that he believed would help him.

“Is it true that these cancers have had a long history of appearing before Food Deal was around,” asked Sam. He had hoped that this fact, even though it would be leaving out a lot of context, would be enough to sway the court in his favor. The doctor promptly answered yes, and said that it had been appearing for decades before the company appeared.

With the court now swaying in his favor, Sam had hoped to use his ill-gotten gains to buy luxury goods from sports cars to a nice apartment. It wouldn’t be long before he could as the judge ruled in favor of the corporation a week later, and Sam was able to take a long vacation in a tropical paradise after winning that case.

Sam could remember another instance of his malevolent actions for the corporation when he had heard news that there was going to be another witness in a different trial a few months later. The corporation knew that if the witness came to the court, the case would very likely rule against them and told him to handle it in anyway he wanted to as long as he made sure that the witness wasn’t going to testify against him.

Sam could remember calling the client during a rainy Saturday, with plenty of information that he knew he could blackmail him with. “Hello there,” said Sam in this memory, “is your name Tim.” The witness responded by saying that it was and asked who was calling him.

“That isn’t important,” said Sam, “there is something that you should know.” The witness then asked if he was one of the corporation’s thugs come to intimate him. “I am no thug, but you should be warned against calling me names from now on. I know stuff that would be detrimental towards you if you know what I am saying.”

The witness threatened to hang up, but Sam was quick to get his attention again. “I know about your brother who is spending time in Lockyear Prison,” said Sam, “I know that he was found guilty of attacking another inmate a few months ago.” “If I bring this to the warden, I can make sure that your brother stays in prison for at least another two decades.”

The witness was stunned to hear what Sam had just told him. “How can you do this,” said the witness, “what kind of person would do this.” “Do you know what the corporation has done to people? There have been cases of healthy problems increasing exponentially ever since they started selling their food in those places.”

Sam remained unconvinced by what he was hearing and continued to threaten the witness. “I don’t care about what they are doing,” said Sam, “I just want my money, and guess what.” “I don’t want to live in a terrible apartment like where you are. I would rather live in a nice house that doesn’t smell horrible.” The witness then yelled at him, calling him a monster. “Whatever you say, just remember, if you ever want to see your brother free again, don’t go to that court.”

As Sam continued to remember those times, he began to wonder if he really was human. “What kind of person does that,” asked Sam, “I just wanted money and a nice home, but I had no clue what I was really giving up.” As Sam looked around his desk, he could see the number of a well-known journalist in the city on a newspaper he brought in that morning.

“Well, one of these days,” said Sam, “we all need to decide whether or not if what we do if worth doing.” Sam picked up the telephone and called the number on the newspaper, planning to tell the journalist everything he knew. “I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since those days, and I can still see the faces of that family. Maybe in life, there really are things that money can’t buy, and those things are what are really worth living for.”