ABSTRACT
The youthful lawyer was twenty-three that August evening when the telephone call came that changed his life. His name was Yves-Frederic Jaffre. Jaffre had only met Jacques Baraduc once or twice. Baraduc and Jaffre departed optimists, optimists that the defendant would have an adequate preliminary examination before impartial judges. Josee de Chambrun shared with her father not only her black hair and her olive skin but also an intimacy both intellectual and emotional. She would prove tireless in his defence. The starting session of the preliminary examination of Pierre Laval took place in the Chamber of Deputies on August 23, 1945. The magistrates prepared a written plan for preliminary examinations and gave it to defence counsel. On September 19 defence counsel were advised by Counsellor Schnedecker that the presiding judge had asked for a supplemental examination. This then, was the official notice that the preliminary examination was closed.
