February 27th 2014 : Final Statements and Summing Up
Long before the judge arrived on that Thursday morning, the gallery was full - every seat taken by a close friend or acquaintance of the victims. Elliot and Dani had arrived, the former now finished with his jury service on the other case. They had been the last to appear, but only one seat remained - until Artie suggested that Kitty sat on his lap as she had done so many times at McKinley. There was a quiet hum of conversation as they awaited the arrival of the judge. Then, Hunter was brought up to the dock - this time, Kitty booed before she could stop herself, then fixed an icy glare on the man in the dock. Nobody else knew quite how to react, but it wasn't with anger. She was expressing how they all felt. The villain had arrived on the stage and the audience should show its disapproval. The lawyers arrived next - Mr Rosen full of confidence, Mr Masterton looking haggard. The judge then appeared, and after ordering silence, with an especial glare in the direction of Hunter, the trial restarted, with Mr Rosen summing up the case for the prosecution.
"The world of show choir is highly competitive - it always has been. In my younger days, my school glee club competed hard, and won. Sacrifices often have to be made. Other activities which clash with it may have to be abandoned; friends may be lost; relationships changed. But in all my experience, a human sacrifice has never been necessary. Yet last year, in Ohio, one man decided that having been exposed as a cheat, he would extract revenge on those that told the truth. The only form of revenge he thought suitable was murder. We have heard Mr Clarington say that he did not kill Mr Hudson, his speed did. He did not kill Kurt Hummel, a kick from an associate did. Presumably it was not his use of a baseball bat that left Blaine Anderson with multiple fractures. The fact are these:- he cut Finn Hudson's brakes; he shattered Kurt Hummel's skull and damaged his brain; and he confined Blaine Anderson to a wheelchair at his fiancé's funeral. It was not someone else."
"You may feel sorry for him; blame the way he was raised under a domineering father and a mother too weak, or too frightened to intervene. Yes, he was not really given a chance to be a child - trained to be a soldier from day one. Yet, as we discovered, Jeff Sterling was exposed to the same upbringing for the first six years of his life, I presume, and he has not turned out to be a murderer. Nurture plays a role, but nature is the greatest force here. Mr Clarington does not see anything wrong with what he has done - there is no contrition, no remorse. He no doubt thinks that his father can write a cheque, as he has done at Hunter's schools before, and this will be swept under the carpet. He has already tried to pay Blaine Anderson's parents to drop their part of the case. Unluckily for him, the charges had been brought by Cooper, his brother, and not his parents. We have heard evidence of the sadistic cruelty that he directed towards the Warblers, including his own brother. There can be no doubt that the deaths of Finn and Kurt were pre-meditated - part of a plan. If you think, members of the jury, that he did not commit the murders, then you must find him Not Guilty. If you believe that he did, then regardless of his upbringing, you must declare him Guilty on all the charges laid against him.
There were no protests at the content of the summing up. It was concise, clear and to the point. It had no flowery language or reasoning. It was exactly right. Now they all awaited Mr Masterton's response - to see what he could say that would make anyone believe that Hunter was innocent. 'He'll play the insanity card,' thought Wes. 'Claim that the steroids had left Hunter temporarily insane and that he was not in full control when he committed the murders. Please to God that they had him tested on his sanity at the time…'
Wes was right. Mr Masterton stood up, and began. "As my learned friend, Mr Rosen said, the world of show choir is highly competitive. It is therefore no place for a young man with mental health issues. At the time of the murders, my client was suffering from an undiagnosed psychosis, brought on by steroid misuse, and years of parental pressure to be the best. With the removal of his elder brother due to his sexuality, my client was the victim of a form of child abuse; he was forced to be a little soldier for his father; to be the strongest and the best at everything, whether it was within his ability or not. His mother was weak and unsupportive, when she was at home. She spent long periods of time away from the family home during Hunter's childhood - happier to be at her sister's house rather than in the marital home, caring for her young son. Immersed from an early age in the macho world of militaria, all his finer feelings were destroyed, as was his young, fragile brain. Hunter should be shown pity by those around him, not the censure that he has been given at this trial. His mental issues have made him violent, unfeeling and cruel. We should be ensuring that my client receives treatment for his problems, so that he can be rehabilitated and returned to society as a decent human being. I would ask the jury to look into their hearts. Is it fair to punish a poor boy, manipulated by an overbearing father and a corrupt uncle, into a murderer? Yes, he did kill Finn Hudson and Kurt Hummel, but he was not aware that this was wrong, so indoctrinated was he by his father. By all means, find my client guilty of the charges, but take into account that he has diminished responsibility. He should not be incarcerated in the state penitentiary, but in a secure hospital, where he can be given the appropriate treatment."
As he sat down, Mr Rosen stood up. "Your honour, I have here a copy of the report that was taken at the time of Hunter's initial proposed case in Ohio, for the punishment and victimisation of the Warblers at Dalton Academy." At those words, Mr Masterton went deathly pale. "In it, an eminent psychiatrist, having examined Hunter prior to his attack on Finn Hudson, states that in their opinion, and I quote 'Mr Clarington has ideas which do not fit in with the currently held societal norms; but other than this, he is a sane, rational young man. He knows that murder is wrong, and that what he did to Mr Smythe, Mr Duval and Mr Sterling was out of proportion to their supposed crimes.' In other words, Hunter Clarington is as sane as any other person in this room - and he was at the time he carried out his crimes."
All eyes in the room turned back to Mr Masterton, in the expectation of a rebuttal. If nothing else, a challenge to this new evidence being presented at the last minute, with no warning. All they could see was a man despairingly shuffling his papers. If they could have read his mind, they would have known that he thought that the report in question had been suppressed; all copies destroyed. Then there was the fact that the nameless expert had been given a substantial cheque for their trouble and silence… It was only then that he noticed amongst his papers the unopened envelope, with the crest of the ivy league college stamped on it. An envelope with a clear window in it, in which the top corner of an returned cheque could be seen. He didn't need to open it to know that the professor had heard about the trial; had been keeping abreast of the details, and now satisfied that what he had been asked to do was wrong, had returned the bribe. He looked up at the judge, a haunted expression on his face. With a deep sigh, and with the almost certain knowledge that there was nothing he could now say to avoid losing the case, he opened his mouth and said, "I have nothing to add, your honour. All I can say is that my client has already admitted his guilt. For that reason, I would like to change his plea to Guilty on all charges, on his behalf."
"NO!" A strident voice filled the room. It's tone made Nick, Jeff, Trent and Sebastian flinch involuntarily. They had heard that voice before. It meant only one thing to them. Find somewhere safe and hide - Hunter is on the warpath. Even Wes had frozen at the sound. "My plea does not change. I am not guilty - any right minded, rational person can see that. I did what I had to do to win the battle. To show that my policies are not wrong and never have been, or will be. There are three less people on the planet, but they were not worth saving. I did you all a service. I removed a source of poison. I just wanted to save people from their influence. Get my brother back from them and show him the right way to act. I realised too late that I had no chance of doing that - he was the source of the poison that corrupted Nick Duval. I'm not a murderer - all I did was clean up some of the world's corruption. I am not guilty of the charges - you hear me, I am NOT GUILTY!"
Once more, there was silence across the courtroom. By now, Mr Masterton was as white as a sheet. He wished now that he had stood firm against the wishes of Hunter's father, and commissioned a new assessment of his client's mental wellbeing. He might not have been unhinged back in Ohio, but now, after prison, where he had suffered those episodes when he had screamed the night away, telling everyone about the demonic angels that filled his dreams; when he had wrecked his cell and destroyed all of his belongings - a report now would surely have shown that he was insane. He had tried to kill his cellmate Dan for goodness sake. But it was too late now. All the evidence was stacked against him. He had been as unaware as everyone else that Jeff Sterling was Hunter's brother. That genie had been let out of the bottle and with it, the blackmail plot. Everyone was going to think that he had been involved, as he had agreed to allow him to be summoned. He had misgivings at the time, but they had been dismissed. The amount of money he was being paid was not enough to compensate for the damage that this would do to his reputation and career. He wished that he had never met Hunter. In the dock, only yards away, the young man in question was thinking the exact same about him. He was useless. He deserved to be punished for his failure; for his attempt to alter his plea. And when he got out of here, he was going to be the first to suffer at his hands…
Now it was the turn of the judge to direct the jury. "Members of the jury, you have heard a great deal of harrowing testimony in this courtroom in the course of this trial. Much has been said about the actions of Hunter Clarington whilst he was in charge of the Dalton Academy Warblers. We have heard of, and have seen first hand, the injuries that he inflicted on those who did not bow down to his every whim and command. All of this is relevant to the case as it helps us to establish the character of the accused; the background to the subsequent murder of Finn Hudson and Kurt Hummel. It is their deaths that we must focus on here. The innocent victims of a cruel killer - one died because he wanted to ensure that the truth was known; the other because of his love for Blaine Anderson, another of the group that saw to it that justice was done. He was the third of our victims. But once again, you must dismiss the subsequent death of Mr Anderson from your minds. There is no doubt that it was the loss of Mr Hummel and the subsequent guilt he felt over it, that lead him to take his own life. But we cannot accuse Hunter Clarington of killing him, desirable as that might be. You must only consider the three charges in front of you - the murders of Mr Hudson and Mr Hummel, and the attempted murder of Mr Anderson. In light of what I have heard, I will be writing to the authorities in Ohio to suggest that a case be opened into the events at Dalton Academy under Mr Clarington. We all know now that three boys have been left physically scarred for life. They must be given justice too. But that is for another court, on another day. You must only consider the evidence given in relation to the three charges laid before you in this court. If you have any doubt as to his intentions, then you must find him not guilty of that particular charge. If you are certain that he did do as he was accused, then you must have no hesitation in finding him guilty."
