Wilkes on Trial — Winston Schoonover

Like a graffiti-covered wall, the State v. Diderot case has legendary defense attorney John Wilkes' name written all over it. The victim is pretty, blind, white, and defenseless, and her alleged attacker is anything but. Lyle Diderot has a face that would terrify his own mother, not to mention prospective jurors. He's the longtime leader of the Whiz Kids, a street gang that got its name from the obscene acts it performs on a fallen enemy. Anyone who tangles with this bunch ends up "yeller" in more ways than one -- a fact that has not gone unnoticed by Judge Yulburton Abraham Knott.

Judge Y. Knott would sooner give the Son of Sam instant parole to a nunnery that Diderot a fair shake and Wilkes feels he's more likely to get justice from the KGB than from Knott and his reputable chamber of horrors. But Judge Knott won't be getting the last word: he's soon found slumped over his desk with a knife in his back.

And Wilkes is the prime suspect from a drunken night he can barely remember . . . .