Ugly Prey by Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi

Author:Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2017-05-03T16:00:00+00:00

On July 14, the jailhouse matrons roused Sabella from her cot. Sabella was due to appear in court in front of Judge David for her formal sentencing. She was panicked and crying by the time she got into court, and it’s likely she thought she was moments away from the gallows. The gallery was full when she was ushered to the defendants’ table. Some of the audience members were the usual spectators who followed high-profile cases and pushed their way to front row seats. But many in the gallery were outraged citizens who came to speak out against the verdict and how the case was handled.

The reporters were also present, some seated as near to Sabella as possible. But a spectator didn’t need to be close to the defendant to see her tremble. She swayed in her seat, unable to control her fear and the tremors it sent through her body. Peter sat next to her, and Moran took his usual place at the table.

“All rise,” the bailiff instructed. Judge David appeared from a side door and walked up the steps to his raised seat. Before sentencing, he allowed the defense to make any necessary motions.

Moran promptly motioned for a new trial. He spent the next hour arguing how the prosecutor had distorted the facts. In the closing statements, he pointed out, both Smith and Romano had paraphrased the testimony from expert witnesses such as the coroner’s physician and undertaker, and both attorneys had misspoken to the jury when they claimed these witnesses identified the dead body as Francesco. Moran also argued the hearsay statements James had made were not admissible in court.

Moran further argued the prosecutors had made inflammatory remarks to the jury, calling Sabella a “fiend” and a “Lady Macbeth” during the closing statement. They had described her as a “cold-blooded” killer who was filled with lust for her young love. Romano had even embarrassed himself, Moran said, by telling the jury Sabella was unhappy with Francesco Nitti in the bedroom and desperate to go outside her marriage to have her sexual needs filled.

The gallery buzzed with excitement. Many of the members had criticism and condemnation for the court. For a moment, the hearing resembled a public forum. A retired judge, McKenzie Cleland, stood from his seat in the back of the courtroom and stepped forward. It was a bold move to interrupt a courtroom, but Judge Cleland was a bold man, and he was in his element.

Judge Cleland was sixty-one years old and about half a year from his own death. He was ailing and the reporters mistook him for elderly. Despite his poor health, he still had an enormous spirit. Cleland was an earnest man who believed in people and the possibility for redemption. He was best known for spearheading the parole program in Chicago. He disdained the prison in Joliet and found it a horrifying punishment far too drastic for most petty crimes. And with men imprisoned, Judge Cleland reasoned that their families suffered.

As a judge, Cleland was compassionate, and sometimes emotional.

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