Chapter 8

"Burger Joint From Hell"

With the opening arguments behind them, the time had come for Alexandra and Claire to question witnesses for the prosecution. The courtroom was once again filled with the souls who had either been victimized by Leon or those who had come to see a trial because they enjoyed seeing whether evil souls were either sentenced to hell or worse. In fact, the first witness to be questioned was Chris Garvey, the man who had approached Alexandra and Claire to speak at the trial.

"Mr. Garvey," began Alexandra as she approached Garvey in the witness box. "Could you please tell the court what your occupation on Earth was?"

"I was a carpenter," replied Chris. "I made up to $500 a month on projects throughout New York City."

"Could you please describe to the court exactly what happened on the day of what happened at the burger restaurant?" asked Alexandra. "Don't be afraid to show us what the atmosphere was like."

Chris took in a deep breath and with his eyes locked on the caged and gagged Leon Vorgitch next to his reluctant defense attorney, began to tell the story.

"We were just in for a quick dinner," he began. "When I say 'we,' I mean me and my fellow workers. We had just sat down when the defendant in question came in and said that we were all going to die and there was nothing any one of us could do about."

Leon's eyes rolled and his head rolled back towards the cage, a sign that he was not interested in hearing in detail of his actions.

"What happened next was that he started firing in random directions," continued Chris. "Leon took aim towards us and fired a bullet at me. I felt my brain explode as the bullet went through my brain and the last thing I remember him saying to me was and I quote, 'Die, you asshole.'"

Leon then tried to speak through his gag to Chris only to be met with the sounds of the gavel being pounded by St. John. But, Leon didn't seem to care. Even though he was at great risk of being sentenced to eternal torture, he was still going to give everyone in the courtroom a hard time.

"You will be silent, Mr. Vorgitch!" ordered St. John, pounding his gavel several more. "Otherwise, you will be held in contempt! Do you hear me?"

Leon let out another grunt, telling the judge that he could go f himself. St. John snarled as Leon remained his defiant, evil and uncaring self.

"Indeed," replied Alex. "Nothing further, your honor."

So, Alex sat down next to Claire and with a deep sigh, Daniel got up and began his questioning to defend a man that shouldn't even be defended at all.

"You say that my client to you to simply die while also calling you an asshole," said Daniel. "Did you hear him say anything else in question?"

"No," replied Chris. "I remember that I left my body immediately afterwards along with three others."

"Mr. Garvey," said Daniel. "Was there any question that you might have done something to Leon to make him act this way?"

"Objection!" cried Alex, rising to her feet. "The defense is trying to put the blame of Mr. Vorgitch's actions on the witness when he didn't do anything at all to him."

"I am simply trying to ask the witness if he had any previous contact with my client!" retorted Daniel. "Nothing more and nothing less!"

St. John considered the objection and both Alexandra and Daniel waited for him to make a ruling. After a moment, he sighed and emerged with his ruling, while still keeping a very close eye on Leon, who was looking like he was going to rebel once again.

"The objection is sustained," he said. "However, Mr. Hershowtiz, I'd advise you to please keep a watch on your questioning."

"Yes, your honor," replied Daniel, turning his attention back to Chris. "Mr. Garvey, would you consider yourself a decent father to your children?"

"I do consider myself a decent father," replied Chris. "I am responsible for teaching both of my children respect and the ways of the Catholic life."

Daniel took in what Chris said and then turned his attention over to the schoolgirls and their teacher in the gallery. He knew along with everyone else that Leon's last killings before he was killed was these innocent people. But, he had a job to do and had to do it.

"Were you planning to send your children to Catholic school, Mr. Garvey?" asked Daniel.

"I was planning on it along with my wife, yes," replied Chris. "I actually went to Catholic school myself because my family believed that it was a place of sanctuary and order."

"Sanctuary and Order," remarked Daniel, taking in what he had just heard, before turning his attention back over to St. John. "I have no further questions, your honor."

With a nod from St. John, Daniel walked back to his seat and sat down next to his client giving him a cold stare. Yes, Daniel was Leon's appointed defense attorney, however that didn't mean at all that he could share his own feelings.

"You attacked a Catholic school classroom with innocent children and their teacher?" he whispered to his caged client. "You sick pervert."

With that, St. John adjourned for the day and Daniel left the courtroom along with everyone else, glad to be freed from the duties and responsibilities of being a reluctant defense attorney to someone that didn't even deserve to be defended at all. Meanwhile, Alexandra returned to Earth and visited with Jack to give him an insight on the first day of the trial.

"Daniel Hershowitz is a highly skilled defense attorney, Alex," said Jack, once again sitting back in his chair. "But, I can only imagine how this must feel for him, defending a man that doesn't even deserve to be defended at all. It's too bad many of the other defense attorney don't feel that way."

"Aside from Randall Dworkin?" remarked Alexandra, whose remark was met with a nod from Jack. "The one who sometimes questioned who he defended."

"Exactly," replied Jack. "Daniel always had his limits on who deserved to be defended or not. But, if no other defense attorney is available and he is the only one, Daniel always had to pick up the slack. We always referred to him as the "reluctant defender."

"Kind of the Reluctant Dragon," said Alexandra. "But, we have to play by the rules, Jack. We both know that. How is the Purcell case going?"

Jack took in a deep sigh, knowing very well how Daniel was feeling. Deep down, he didn't want to defend a man who killed another man simply because he hated him. But, he had no other choice but to charge Robert Purcell with murder because he committed this act in cold blood on the courthouse steps.

"Seems to be in our favor," replied Jack. "However, like I said, Robert Purcell was just the hitman and Dena Carter is the true murderer in this case. Nothing would make us happier than to see her jailed for all of this."

"And for Leon to suffer in the depths of hell," added Alexandra. "But, it's like I said, nothing can erase what Leon did to these people."

And it wouldn't be long before the last victims Leon ever killed would face their tormentor…