Injustice by Lee Goodman

Author:Lee Goodman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books

CHAPTER 35

Not long after she got back from hiding, Tina petitioned the court for a trial in the Daryl Devaney case. Usually, when you find undiscovered evidence like the DNA implicating Henry and vindicating Daryl, you ask for a new trial. But since Daryl confessed and pleaded guilty, there was never a trial in the first place.

The morning of the hearing is déjà vu. The hallway fills again with Kyle Runion’s family and friends, all of them still seeking justice for his memory. But there aren’t as many spectators as last time, and the ones who do show up are less sure what to think. At the first hearing, they were quietly outraged at the idea of Tina manipulating the system to get Daryl Devaney out of prison on some technicality. But today I see uncertainty in their faces, and I hear it in their voices. They don’t want to go through it all again. They want to be convinced of Daryl Devaney’s guilt; they want to go to bed tonight convinced that he is justifiably rotting in prison. Kyle’s parents, neighbors, aunts, and uncles, they’re all eager for Gregory Nations to tell them the DNA thing is a hoax.

Among the people waiting for the hearing is a familiar man. Not Arthur Cunningham—he’s here too—but a fortyish guy who looks out of place. He has made an effort to dress appropriately, but he missed the mark. He wears khakis, clean running shoes, and a shirt that looks like he came from yoga class. His hair is shaggy, and he has an almost invisible blond goatee, more peach fuzz than whiskers. I can’t place him.

We all enter the courtroom. Judge Matsuko comes in and announces the case: “. . . petition to reverse guilty plea . . . new evidence . . . DNA analysis . . .”

Tina stands. Again I see the tidy line of her hair across the back of her dress. For a split second I puzzle over why I can’t seem to remember her picking out that dress. Of course I can’t: I don’t live with her, I live at Friendly City.

I see Tina’s hands on the lectern. (Grab the lectern, they told us in law school. When you don’t know what to do with your hands, grab the lectern.) I slide over a few inches to get a better view of her left hand. I see she still wears her ring, but things feel different; she feels more gone than before. I suddenly realize who the guy outside the courtroom was. I turn in my seat and see him in the back row, far off to the side, trying to be invisible. It is Craig, Tina’s first husband who lives on the West Coast. I recognize him from old photographs.

Tina gives her argument: “While DNA evidence is not always able to identify who should be considered a suspect, in many cases it can determine with absolute authority who is not among the population of possible perpetrators. In the Kyle Runion case, DNA testing has conclusively eliminated Daryl Devaney.

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