Lincoln returned to his seat beside Albert feeling relieved his testimony was over. Aunt Shirley sat there in disbelief then Judge Callahan said, "The defense please call your next witness."
"I'd like to call Ms. Lynn Loud to the stand," Mr. Shapiro replied solemnly.
Lucy started looking a bit nervous upon hearing her sister roommates name. Lori became a little nervous.
"I'm Lynn Marie Loud Junior, Royal Woods Middle School's best athlete," she boasted after the bailiff asked to state her name.
After being sworn in Mr. Shapiro began questioning her, "Miss Loud, did you really mean to threaten Mr. Loud with your baseball bat just to convince him to attend your game?"
Lynn Junior sighed, "Yes I'll admit doing that because in our family we believe in always supporting each other and Lincoln was being unsupportive by refusing to attend my baseball game when he's always going to my sister's activities."
"Did your parents punish you for doing that?" Mr. Shapiro asked next.
The teenage athlete frowned at the defense attorney and replied, "Yes, I was grounded from watching TV and talking on my phone and banned from playing all sports even at school, I'm not allowed to return to my sports teams because my parents suddenly decided me and my sisters need a break from our extracurricular activities because we got bad report cards."
"Well Miss Loud sometimes parents have to take drastic measures if their kids get bad grades, when I was your age, I was almost failing some of my classes so my parents forbade me from playing basketball until my grades improved and they hired someone to give me extra tutoring."
"You played basketball?" Lynn asked wide eyed.
"Yes I even received a basketball scholarship to Michigan State University. Miss Loud, I see you take being an athlete seriously," he continued.
"Yes I do," she replied proudly, "I also play basketball, football, lacrosse, ice hockey and roller derby."
"Impressive, but that's no excuse to look down on your siblings who aren't physically strong as you and threaten one with a baseball bat," Mr. Shapiro scolded.
"Okay I shouldn't have used the bat to threaten Lincoln, I realize that was a rash decision," Lynn admitted.
"Yes you shouldn't have," Luna said loudly, but the Judge ignored her outburst.
The defense attorney had no more questions for Lynn so he ended with, "Ms. Loud, you can step down."
Returning to her seat beside her grandfather, Albert whispered to her, "Good job LJ."
During Lynn's testimony, Ms. Bolivar observed the moments when the athlete spoke in a boastful manner.
"Would the prosecution call your next witness," the Judge requested.
"Mrs. Loud would you approach the stand?" Ms. Bolivar asked.
The swearing in process done, Ms. Bolivar asked Rita, "Mrs. Loud, your family believes in supporting each other but having your son leave school early twice in one week to attend two of your daughter's events is not taking his education seriously," the prosecuting attorney said.
"But those were the only times we did that, besides Lincoln manages to keep his grades up regardless," Rita protested.
"Are you familiar with the following document Mrs. Loud," Ms. Bolivar said next, followed by the bailiff loading up the projector screen. A notebook containing the words Sister Fight Protocol Rules– written by Lisa Marie Loud on the front appeared.
Lisa gasped and Lori and Luna whispered in shocked voices, "Oh, no."
"Yes Lisa created the protocol when she thought Lincoln shouldn't be playing the role of peacemaker every time my daughters have arguments and decided they should be solving their disputes without Lincoln's interference," Rita explained.
Ms. Bolivar motioned for the bailiff to show the next exhibit, page two of the protocol.
"Mrs. Loud would you read what's on the screen," she asked.
"In the event of an argument between sisters, the feuding parties can find refuge in these areas on the premises to cool down and to avoid each other. These rooms include, the attic, basement, garage, back porch, bathroom, and," Rita paused in disbelief at the next words then continued, "Lincoln's bedroom."
Her focus turned to her daughters sitting with their grandfather with a disapproving look that suddenly caused the nine girls to become fearful.
"Girls I hope you didn't kick Lincoln out of his room at any time during that argument over the dresses," Rita said sternly, Lori and Luan looked absolutely nervous.
"Girls," Rita repeated with a harsher tone.
"We only kicked him out once. He went over to Clyde's house," Luan lied and Rita shook her head.
It was the prosecuting attorneys turn to address the girls, "What if someone had to use the bathroom urgently and someone was cooling off in there?" she queried.
"One of us would simply knock on the door and ask whoever's in there to get out," Lori said untruthfully.
Ms. Bolivar seemed satisfied with the eldest sister's response and turned her attention back to Rita.
"Do you and your husband ever punish the children for misbehaving?" Ms. Bolivar queried.
"We grounded them for wrecking the van after fighting a second time that morning, when they sold almost everything in the house during that garage sale and for misbehaving when we stayed at the Royal Woods Hotel and Spa for one weekend, the groundings include taking away their phones and sometimes their hobbies," Rita admitted.
"Might I ask why you and Lynn Sr. weren't supervising your children at the garage sale if they sold stuff they weren't supposed to?" the prosecuting attorney asked in disbelief.
"Every year I stay with the kids during the garage sale while my husband stays indoors cooking a celebratory meal but this year I left Lori to supervise everybody because I had to finish making a new dining table for our family. Our children contacted the people that bought our belongings and managed to retrieve mostly everything," Rita explained.
"I'm glad you retrieved most of the items back but it doesn't excuse the fact as parents you should make a better attempt to control your kids," the prosecution said.
"Look we try to establish some level of discipline but Lisa continues writing equations on the walls and uses her siblings as test subjects though we've asked her to stop doing it, we've told Luan to stop playing pranks when she should be getting ready for school, we tell Lynn not to play sports in the house but she does it anyway, and when they get home after school, we can't possibly know what they're up to while we're still working, as parents we just have to choose our battles," Rita replied.
"Mrs. Loud, this free range parenting of yours has been detrimental to your daughters, making them act however they please because they haven't been disciplined properly, just grounding them and taking away their phones and hobbies is not an effective method of punishment for kids like these," Ms. Bolivar said next.
"I have no more to say to the witness," Ms. Bolivar said finally, and Rita returned to her husband's side.
Final judgement
"Mr. and Mrs. Loud please rise," Judge Callahan announced.
"Would you like to plead guilty or not guilty to all charges of child abuse and negligence?" she asked after they stood up.
"Rita and I would like to plead guilty. It was a grievous mistake on our part to think punishing our son in such a manner would teach him a lesson about lying to us," Lynn Sr. said.
"I'll take your plea bargain into consideration, Mr. Loud," the Judge told him.
"Mr. Shapiro is there anything else you'd like to say before I pass judgment?" Judge Callahan asked.
Mr. Shapiro began, "Your Honor, no parent is perfect despite the fact society tells them and Mr. and Mrs. Loud are no exception. They decided on punishing their son in such an unusual way but weren't aware that someone else would have considered it child abuse. They happen to be doting parents who show absolute love and care for all their children, they just made huge mistakes regarding their wellbeing. I ask you Judge Callahan to find them not guilty of all charges and send them home with their children."
"Does the prosecutor have a closing statement before I pass judgement," Judge Callahan declared.
Ms. Bolivar stood before the Judge after adjusting her eyeglasses.
"I see Mr. and Mrs. Loud as ineffective parents who failed to notice one of their own children being singled out by his siblings for physical and emotional abuse, parents who are too spineless to instill good manners and discipline in their daughters, instead they focused on how many awards and trophies their daughters won and praising them while ignoring the only boy in the family. That's why we have a child genius using family members as test subjects against their will while they sleep, a six year old eating out of garbage cans, a self-absorbed, aggressive girl who forces her brother to attend her baseball game by threatening him with her bat and shoving people at a community event, inconsiderate and out of control girls who disturb their neighbors by fighting over a car seat in the early morning and misbehaving in public places. They are a perfect example of kids spoiled by their parents who think the world revolves around them," Ms. Bolivar stated.
The Judge pondered over Ms. Bolivar's statement for a few seconds then made her decision.
"Mr. and Mrs. Loud, before I pass sentence, I've never heard such awful examples of sibling abuse. If you made better decisions about raising your kids, all this bedlam and negligence wouldn't have happened. I'm hereby sentencing both of you to fourteen months for the abuse of your son and an additional two months for neglecting your younger daughters welfare," Judge Callahan declared.
Rita gasped in disbelief then her husband sitting to her right placed his arm around her shoulder. Lisa sat quietly as the twins and Lucy began shedding soft tears.
"This cannot be happening," Lori whispered, then wrapped a comforting arm around Lana.
"I'm also relieving you of your parental duties except in the case of Lori, Leni, and Luna," she continued.
"No please you can't do that," Rita protested in tears
"Upon your release from prison, you'll be required to attend parenting classes and get your life back on track before you'll be allowed to gain custody of your children," the Judge added.
"Lynn Jr. would you approach the bench?" the Judge announced next.
Puzzled by such a request, Lynn obeyed instantly and stood before her. Judge Callahan's next words would astonish everybody in the courtroom.
"Lynn Jr, it's apparent that most of your aggressiveness is a direct result from your participation in many contact sports, therefore I'm sentencing you to two months in the Hazelwood Juvenile Detention Center for assault and battery and threatening your brother with a bat," she announced.
The Loud parents and Leni gasped in horror then Lynn Jr. began protesting, "But I apologized to Lincoln."
"Your Honor, I know our daughter acts impulsively at times but she's not a bad person," Lynn Sr. protested in defense of his namesake.
"Mr. Loud, your daughter also dragged a kid to your home against his will because she thought he was bullying your son," the Judge reminded the father before addressing the athlete once again.
"Lynn Jr your sentence will begin three days after you graduate middle school."