Justice Of The Gun by Robert Vaughan

Author:Robert Vaughan [Vaughan, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781647345167
Publisher: Wolfpack Publishing
Published: 2021-03-16T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

After the enforced silence of the trial, now as they waited for court to reconvene, everyone was now free to talk, and the room buzzed with scores of conversations.

“I don’t see how it makes any difference whether his bullets killed both, or even one of the two innocent men, in my mind he’s just as guilty. He was a part of a felony in which innocents got killed,” Will said.

“And I got shot,” Gid added.

“Well maybe if you would have ducked, you wouldn’t have gotten shot,” Will teased.

“Uh, Will, do I need to point out that I got shot in the leg? If I had ducked, I could have gotten shot in the head.”

“Yeah, but as hard as your head is, the bullet would have just bounced off.”

“And you two are brothers?” Anna said. “If I had a sister, I would never talk to her the way you two talk to each other.”

“It’s the only way you can talk to a hard-head like Gid,” Will said.

“Besides, if he ever said anything nice to me, his tongue would fall out,” Gid replied.

Both brothers laughed, and Anna, seeing that they were just teasing one another, laughed with them.

“There’s Deputy Haller,” someone said, and looking toward the front of the courtroom they saw the deputy/bailiff coming in.

“All rise,” Ward called.

As they had when court was convened that morning, all stood until Judge Benedict took his seat.

“Court is now in session,” Benedict said.

Immediately thereafter, the jury filed back in and Judge Benedict turned his attention to them.

“Has the jury elected a foreman?”

The man on the left end of the front row stood. “We have, your honor. I’m Wayne Sinclair and I have the honor of being chosen as the foreman.”

“Mr. Sinclair, has the jury reached a verdict?”

“We have, Your Honor.”

“Would you please publish the verdict?”

“Your Honor, we find the defendant, Paddy O’Neal, guilty of the charge of first-degree murder.”

“All right, you bastard, I’m going to watch you hang!” someone shouted from the gallery.

There were several other shouts as well.

Judge Benedict rapped his gavel four or five times. “Order in the court!” he shouted. And at his command, order was restored to the courtroom.

“Any more outbreaks such as the one we just witnessed, and I will clear the courtroom,” the judge said, resolutely.

Sheriff McMurtry and Deputy Sheriff Haller fixed the gallery with a steely glare, letting it be known by all present that they would follow the judge’s order.

“Will the defendant approach the bench,” Judge Benedict said.

O’Neal, along with the prosecutor on one side and Sheriff McMurtry on the other, stood before the judge.

“Paddy O’Neal, you have been charged with, and found guilty of, murder. It now becomes my duty to prescribe sentence. Ordinarily the penalty for the crime of murder is death by hanging, and I would prescribe this sentence, except for the fact that, despite the finding of guilty, I cannot be sure that any of the bullets from your gun are the ones that killed Mr. Stallings and Mr. Taylor.

“Therefore, I

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