Mom Said Kill (Pinnacle True Crime) by Barer Burl

Author:Barer, Burl [Barer, Burl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2008-09-30T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

While Barbara Opel sweated out the prosecutors’ decision in her county jail cell—and the families of Oliver, Boston, Grote, and Opel wrestled with the nightmare of their beloved children being murderers—the family of Jerry Heimann dealt with the horrid emotional pain of his senseless death.

Adding daily insults to the trauma of Heimann’s death, creditors throughout Everett were calling constantly, complaining of bounced checks written on Jerry Heimann’s account—checks written after his murder. “Barbara Opel just helped herself to Mr. Heimann’s bank cards and checkbook,” remarked Sergeant Bryant. “But then again, the motive for the murder in the first place was, according to Grote and all the kids, all about money.”

“That doesn’t mean Grote and the kids were telling the truth,” stated Jeff Reynolds. “Let me play devil’s advocate for a minute. What if Barbara Opel, in truth, never plotted the murder of Jerry Heimann, never bribed the teens to stab and beat him to death? What if Barbara Opel wasn’t some evil, murder-plotting woman, but instead was just a stupid, vindictive woman and a rotten mom who got sick and tired of an offensive drunk named Jerry Heimann abusing her daughter? What if she bitched and moaned about the way Heimann treated the kid so much that the idea of having the shit beat out of him seemed like a fine idea, and that beating just got out of control?”

Reynolds’s hypothesis—a concept put forth for consideration as a viable alternative to prevailing assumptions, and an obvious position for Opel’s eventual defense—was one that the family of Jerry Heimann found exceptionally offensive.

“Offensive or not,” countered Reynolds, “maybe the reason they didn’t have a plan as to what to do with the body was because there wasn’t supposed to be a body. Maybe no one ever planned on killing Jerry Heimann. Let’s assume he was just supposed to get beat up as payback for treating poor little Heather like a piece of crap, payback for bossing her and her little brother and sister around when he got drunk, payback for throwing things at her and calling her names. Offensive or not, it’s a possibility you are going to have to accept as true if you serve on the Barbara Opel jury.”

When you plead not guilty in America, you don’t have to prove you are innocent. You are presumed innocent. The burden of proof is on the prosecution to prove you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The moment Barbara Opel pleaded “not guilty,” the law required that any potential juror accept her innocence as a fundamental assumption unless proven otherwise. Not simply suggested otherwise, but proven otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt by evidence in a court of law.

“After all this publicity,” asked broadcast journalist Chet Rogers, “how does anyone expect Barbara Opel—our alleged manipulating, murderous mother of the year—to get a fair trial? These are still juveniles pointing the finger at an adult. From a defense standpoint—and there will be a defense standpoint—they could all be saying this out of fear and

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