The Unforgiven by Edith Brady-Lunny

Author:Edith Brady-Lunny
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2019-03-13T16:44:23+00:00

It would take Tom Griffith about twice as long to preview defense arguments in a case he called “extremely, exceedingly difficult.” Griffith conceded the enormity of the tragedy could lead to an inclination to convict Maurice despite defense evidence that the deaths were an accident.

“I mean the car is in the water. Three children are dead. Somebody has to pay. Guilty!”

Griffith’s voice took on a timbre of blunt truth and desperation. “And to be frank with you, that’s our biggest hurdle in defending our client.”

But one very important thing was missing from the state’s case, Griffith said: motive. In most cases where children die at the hands of an adult, there is money or some other reward in the offing. In this case, it was just the opposite. The children were a conduit of money and housing helpfully provided them through public assistance—not to mention child support payments from their fathers. Maurice benefited from the children’s very existence.

Griffith stepped away from the podium, moving to the edge of the jury box. The intimacy was not lost on jurors, who were paying close attention to his lengthy recitation of the life events that had brought his client into this courtroom. Maurice was not a murderer, Griffith said, but he was plenty of other things.

He was a high school dropout who held 31 jobs between ages 18 and 28. When problems developed with girlfriends, he hit the road. He was a bit of a mooch.

Maurice’s unstable and nomadic life as a teenager—23 household moves over 10 years—did not create a model partner for an equally traumatized single woman with three children. And the notion that Maurice was the mastermind behind a murder plot made no sense, Griffith argued.

“The guy who allegedly planned this incident is the same guy who got demoted at the Coastal Station in Clinton because he could not operate a cash register and he could not count change. They had to demote him to stock boy.”

Griffith informed jurors they’d have the opportunity to hear from Maurice himself about what happened at the lake that day.

“Maurice will tell you that versus hitting the brakes, which obviously he should have done, it was like he was caught in a snow bank, and he was going to gun it, gun it, gun it, to get out of that snow bank.”

Griffith paused and looked at the jurors. His tone shifted. “And if he had braked, I wouldn’t be standing here, ladies and gentlemen.”

Griffith cautioned jurors there would be much to sort out from witness statements, starting with the sheriff’s conclusion within 90 minutes of the tragedy that a crime had taken place. There would be experts describing how cars function after they have been submerged in water and how people handle grief.

Opening statements had lasted three hours. Jurors were taken to a nearby restaurant for an extended lunch break. When they returned, they would hear from the prosecution’s first witness in a parade of people with unflattering stories to tell about Maurice and Amanda.

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