Little, Crazy Children by James Renner

Author:James Renner [Renner, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Citadel Press
Published: 2023-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

“APPROACH THE BENCH for a second,” said Judge Sweeney.

DeVan walked to the judge and had a short conversation. They were still being recorded by the stenographer, but the jury could not hear what they said.

“Your Honor,” said DeVan, “these letters contain numerous threats by Dan to physically hurt his parents. He talks about punching his father in the mouth, hurting both his parents and enjoying it.”

“So what?”

“He sent these to Lisa,” said DeVan. “He sent these letters to Lisa and they express a pent-up rage in him. It’s our theory that it boiled over at the time that he was released from the hospital.”

“Okay,” said Judge Sweeney.

“It shows he has a violent character and it’s certainly relevant to the charges of this case because it shows this young man very well may have assaulted Lisa himself.”

Judge Sweeney decided to release the jury so he and the attorneys could discuss the issue further. Once the jury left, the conversation continued.

“These letters show that he had a pent-up rage,” DeVan continued. “He refers to nurses in the hospital. He says, ‘I almost lost it today. I was so very close to clocking one of these amazon bitch nurses in the head.’ In the next letter Dan refers to his mother. Quote, ‘My mom visited me today but she was being a real cunt so I kicked her out.’ The next one he makes a reference at the bottom of it. ‘I will hurt my parents severely. I will have fun hurting them. They have hurt me.’ In the next one he says, quote, ‘I keep having these flashes through my head. Allow me to tell you a few. In one scenario, they won’t let me talk to you. I start breaking things, punching people. Then it phases out. Another is Friday my dad comes and informs me I’m not leaving. I ask to speak to him in my room. I punch him in the face, breaking his jaw and drawing blood. That’s for putting me in here. I hit him again, break his lip and say, here’s for keeping me here longer. I then open the door and say, Mr. Dreifort needs medical attention. He’s hurt, bad. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.’”

“Do any of those letters have any reference to Lisa Pruett that is, in the least way, derogatory or threatening?” asked Judge Sweeney.

“No,” said DeVan. “I cannot say that they do.”

“I will tell you what,” said Judge Sweeney. “Have copies made. Give them to the court reporter in case there’s a decision adverse to you on appellate review. I see absolutely no relevance to these and I won’t let them in.”

DeVan wasn’t done. “The state is being allowed to bring into evidence statements of our client to the effect that he was mad at the world.”

“He’s the offender,” said Judge Sweeney.

“He’s the defendant,” DeVan corrected.

“I have made my ruling,” the judge said. “You know, I’ve been wrong before. Maybe I’m wrong now. That’s the ruling.”

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