After Closing

Somebody gunned down Kent Satterwhite after closing. Five years later, a judge drops the case in Tyler Holt's lap, with trial seven days out.

Tyler scrapes by on court-appointed cases in Abilene and has never tried a murder case. He poured drinks for Kent all through college. Now he fights for the man the State charges with killing Kent.

Lonnie Voss, Kent's cook, rots in jail, five years without a trial. Lonnie stole from a man once, but he swears he never hurt anybody. He rejects the State's plea deal flat: “I ain't pleadin' guilty to killin' Kent.” He refuses any delay and demands his trial Monday.

Two days in, someone kicks in Tyler's office door and steals his copy of the State's file. One witness saw a man walk away from the bar the night Kent died. After dark, a man shows up at his gate and warns him to stay home from the trial.

The law presumes Lonnie innocent, but a west Texas jury will demand he prove he didn't do it. If Tyler loses, Lonnie dies in prison.