Wendell Bolden is one of the witnesses that the prosecutor, Petrocelli, brings to the stand in Steve Harmon's murder trial. Like Salvatore Zinzi, who testifies before him, Bolden is a guy who has already served some prison time. One of Petrocelli's "dirty tricks" as a lawyer is to link guys like Zinzi and Bolden with Steve in the eyes of the jury, so they'll think that Steve is a lowlife and a criminal too.
Bolden...
Wendell Bolden is one of the witnesses that the prosecutor, Petrocelli, brings to the stand in Steve Harmon's murder trial. Like Salvatore Zinzi, who testifies before him, Bolden is a guy who has already served some prison time. One of Petrocelli's "dirty tricks" as a lawyer is to link guys like Zinzi and Bolden with Steve in the eyes of the jury, so they'll think that Steve is a lowlife and a criminal too.
Bolden is in court to testify to a conversation he had with Bobo (who was probably the dumbest of the 4 people involved in the convenience store robbery, as his own testimony shows). Bolden claims that after the robbery, Bobo sold him some cigarettes, and basically blabbed enough for Bolden to figure out that Bobo was part of the robbery Bolden had heard about, where someone was killed. Knowing that information could be useful, Bolden pulled it out when he next went to jail – too bad he had already mentioned it to Sal Zinzi, who used it himself.
Bolden's testimony shows readers a good deal of his character. He says that he's done jail time for breaking and entering and for drug possession. He also admits that he would have done jail time for assault, but those charges will be dropped if he testifies for Steve's case. This ulterior motive is something that both defense lawyers seize on, insisting that someone like Bolden would have no trouble lying to avoid more jail time. Even though he insists that he is just "trying to do the right thing," it's pretty clear that he's only testifying to look out for himself.
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