Fighting Time by Amy Banks

Author:Amy Banks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Published: 2021-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

My life was moving along in the right direction with Laurie White at the helm, armed with the Dillman report, but one huge obstacle stood in our way: Judge Shea. He would never allow my case, or any other case he previously ruled on, to be overturned. Laurie knew she had to get my criminal case out of Judge Shea’s courtroom. In a brilliant legal maneuver, Laurie arranged for Judge Shea’s nephew, a lawyer who also believed I was innocent, to sit in her place as counsel at my next hearing. She knew that Shea could not hold court with a relative as my defense counsel—this would be a conflict of interest. It worked, and Judge Shea moved the case to Judge Winsberg’s courtroom for a bond hearing. Based on this new evidence, the bond was set at $250,000. Momma got the money for me and once she did, I was free to go. That evening the guard yelled to me, “Knapper, get your things, you’re rolling out.”

That night was perfect for a walk out of hell. It was warm and free and I felt so beautiful. I had gone to the penitentiary one month after my seventeenth birthday, and I was released one month after my twenty-ninth birthday. Laurie White was the first to hold me at the breaking of the news. Momma would be the next and there wasn’t a dry eye around me. That day my arms couldn’t reach around everyone who had showed up. My family, having endured the whole ordeal as well, were all by my side. They never quit believing in me.

Momma never gave up hope. She knew that one day God would shine his light on me. My family watched as a young teenager left to serve his life in prison and now seemed to return a free man. There are no words to describe what it is like to walk out of prison after receiving a life sentence.

But I was not yet a free man. I was free on bond, and in the back of my mind there was still a bit of worry, as I still needed to go before the court for one last hearing. Being around civilized people was not enough to make my mind forget what I had lived through. I had regular flashbacks to my time in prison that left me feeling sick, and while the anger and hostile feelings were gone, deep inside my heart there was a wound that I knew would never heal.

The week for the final court hearing approached quickly. Laurie was at my side and my family behind me when my name was called by Judge Winsberg. Michael Riehlmann stood beside me as Laurie’s stand-in when I approached the bench. Judge Winsberg read the papers in front of him and looked at me. No one was breathing. Then he said, “You are free to go.” Those were the sweetest words I’d ever heard.

When I turned around to face the exit, my whole family was there to welcome me home for good.

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