The charging conference was held at 9:00 in the morning. Besides Schiller and Clay, the two parties involved, many others had come as well.
Observers were not permitted at a charging conference, nor would there be a public hearing, so everyone present was connected to the case in one way or another. There was Gordon, Brock, the officer who had discovered the crime scene alongside Gordon, and even Principal Shivan.
Shivan in particular.
The previous night, he had received a call from Schiller. He had still been working overtime in his office at the time, and when he heard that Schiller had actually been charged, Shivan had been very curious.
The words Schiller had said to him at the hospital that day had kept circling through his mind. He had thought about them a great deal, but he had still not made up his mind to act.
It was not that he worried he could not do it. He simply did not know whether it would be useful. He had never held the advantage in this regard, so naturally he could not confidently believe it would benefit him.
After taking Schiller's call, Shivan understood that Schiller seemed to want to show him the benefits of having a voice, to help him make up his mind.
So Shivan had come. He still had a legitimate reason, however: to serve as a witness refuting one of the charges.
The charging conference began quickly.
The prosecutor was Harvey's teacher, so Harvey was allowed to sit in as the prosecutor's assistant. He watched his teacher read through every charge before announcing that the two sides could begin negotiations.
Just as they had expected in the office, Schiller denied every charge and claimed self-defense, while Clay insisted on charges of murder and intentional injury.
Both