The Trials of Kate Hope by Wick Downing

Author:Wick Downing
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Chapter Seventeen

AFTER THE RECESS, with the judge high on the bench like a king on his throne and the jurors nice and comfortable in their seats in the jury box, Grandfather made a motion to “sequester the witnesses.” It meant that the people who would give evidence in the case had to wait in the hall until they were brought in to testify. Only a few spectators were scattered around the courtroom after that, but they included Ron Benson, the All-American thug.

“Mr. Applewhite, you may give your opening statement,” Judge Merrill said.

The opening statement is supposed to be a short little speech that gives the jurors an overview of the case. The evidence will come to them in bits and pieces, like the pieces of a puzzle, and if they know what the big picture looks like, they’ll understand how the bits and pieces fit together.

But most opening statements are way more than that. Grandfather told me he used to practice his “little speech” for hours, in front of a mirror. Most lawyers treat it the same as argument, using it to persuade the jury that justice is on their side, not their opponent’s.

When Mr. Applewhite marched to the lectern, I knew right away he’d worked hard on his. His voice rang out in the courtroom like a soldier calling his troops to fight for the cause of freedom and decency, as he told the jury what his evidence would prove: that Manuel Alvarez was not the subdued, decent-looking family man he appeared to be in the courtroom that day, but was actually a drunken thief. Then he spun out the details that made his point.

They were devastating. How Glenn Able had given this man—a Mexican national, in this country on a work permit—a chance to make something of his life. How his kindness had been repaid with treachery and deceit. How Able had hired the defendant to be his maintenance man, but when he needed him for a repair, how he found the man in a drunken stupor and fired him on the spot. How strong words were exchanged between the defendant and Mr. Able, with the defendant vowing to get even and then angrily driving off in his pickup truck.

And how, later, a terrified Mrs. Able watched the defendant come back. From her office window, she saw the thick-shouldered, powerful, menacing man drive into the parking area with his truck, stagger into the maintenance garage, and lurch out with his arms filled with tools. How she’d locked the door to the office, frightened and afraid, then sighed with relief when he loaded the tools into his truck and drove away.

Finally, how the terrified woman had called the police, and how the police had actually found the stolen items in the defendant’s truck.

Then, grim and righteous, like Robespierre sentencing the king of France to the guillotine, the prosecutor concluded, “I am confident that you will find that the People have exceeded their burden of proof in this case; and that you will do your duty, and find that the defendant, Manuel Alvarez, is guilty of theft.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.