 It was the case of the people versus the oft-arrested, never convicted, smooth Earl Jernigan, sometimes bookie, charged in the first degree with a month-old killing of a kindly gray-haired horse trainer named Kurt Hopper, who had once almost been my client. It was the afternoon of the fourth day of the trial, and the prosecutor for the state had already built an almost airtight case against the alleged gambler when my turn finally came.