Elisa arrived early and met up with a nervous Ava De Leon, the last of David Roth's victims. She'd been nervous about coming forward, but she and her cousins who had also been victims of Roth's actions, had come forward and supported each other through the process.
They were there, Elisa saw now, these three young brave women. Elisa knew there were a few more there as well, though she didn't know how many.
From Elisa's time working the case before his arrest, she knew that there had been multiple reports made against him, but before charges could be brought against him, the women making the reports were intimidated or flat out blackmailed into dropping the charges.
He wasn't going to get out of this one, and he had known it.
Elisa entered the courtroom in front of the young women and escorted them to their seats behind the state's attorney that was representing the victims. Once they were seated, Elisa moved to her own seat behind Ava.
The court was called to order, the charges read and the plea of guilty was entered.
"As a guilty plea has been entered," Judge Garcia said, reading from the papers that the bailiff had handed to him. "We will not be calling the witnesses to the stand. The witnesses are dismissed, thank you all for your time. A motion has been made on behalf of the defendant that the sentencing commence immediately. Let the record show that Mr. Roth has waived his right to a trial by jury. What this means is that your sentence will be decided upon by the court today. Mr. Roth, I am going to ask you to confirm that you understand this."
David Roth, standing with less confidence than he had been the last time Elisa had seen him, slouched in his prison-orange jumpsuit. At the judge's words, he exchanged a look with his lawyer then nodded.
"Mr. Roth," the judge said with a sigh, "I need you to answer verbally for the record."
"Yes," he said angrily. "I understand."
"Now then, Mr. Roth," Judge Garcia said in a heavy tone, "before the sentence is read, entered and passed, there will be statements read on behalf of the women that you preyed upon." The judge motioned to the attorney.
"Your Honor," the middle aged lawyer said, standing, a small stack of loose papers in his hands, "The women that I represent have asked me to read their statements in their stead, if the court approves. I will ask them to stand as their statements are read."
"I will agree with that," the judge said with a nod. "Proceed."
The lawyer nodded, then looked at the first page. "Ava De Leon," he said, turning to motion Ava to rise to her feet.
Ava did so, and in a show of what Elisa found to be extraordinary bravery, she met and held the gaze of the accused while the statement was read. Once the page had been read, Ava moved as if to sit once more.
"Sofia De Leon," the lawyer said next, turning to motion Ava's cousin to stand.
Sofia, visibly shaking, struggled to get to her feet.
Ava pushed herself to her feet once more, holding a hand out to her cousin and with that added support, Sofia got to her feet as the statement was read.
"Yasmine De Leon," The lawyer called out.
Yasmine, the last of the De Leon cousins, stood, taking Sofia's other hand.
So it went. Ten women. Ten statements in all, covering a span of nearly five years. As each statement was read, each name called, the women stood and took the hand of the previous woman until all ten stood strong and connected. United in one long, straight line against the man who had hurt them.
Elisa felt her own chest tighten in the show of support, and pride in the women for coming forward.
Judge Garcia looked over the line of women and nodded. "It is the finding of this court that David Roth, having entered a no contest guilty plea to all charges, serves no less than twenty years in Rikers Correctional Center. I am also ordering all of Mr. Roth's computers be confiscated and handed over to the Cyber Crimes unit within the local branch of the FBI, with the sole purpose of tracking down each and every possible website and contact held therein to remove the victims images, as they were impared and unable to knowingly give their consent." Judge Garcia banged the gavel and he stood to leave the room.
The women had remained standing as the sentence was passed down, and though there were some cheers from the crowd, the women stood silent as the now weeping man was taken from the room in handcuffs, facing twenty years behind bars.
Two years for each of his victims.
In return for his despicable actions, he would be just over fifty years old before he would be free again.
Not nearly enough in Elisa's mind, but at least he would be serving time for his crimes.
As the women left the courtroom, Ava met Elisa's gaze and gave her a watery smile and a mouthed 'Thank you', before joining the large group of family who were awaiting them in the back of the room.
{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}
After such an emotional roller coaster of a day, it was something of a relief to gather her children and head off to the castle. Since she had a court appearance that morning, her schedule had been adjusted to give her the evening off.
Which was just as well, Elisa thought with a sigh. She'd had quite enough that day, and wanted nothing more than to spend the evening with her children, husband, and their collective extended family.
It was still a few hours until sunset, so she popped some popcorn while Liam and Nayeli decided on a movie to watch.
Elisa entered the media room to the familiar sounds of…
"Is that Indiana Jones?" Elisa asked with a laugh.
"Yeah," Nayeli said, bouncing in her seat. "The Last Crusade!"
"I talked her out of Temple of Doom," Liam whispered to Elisa.
"Thanks," Elisa said with a shudder. "I'm not sure I could handle that one today."
Liam gave her a smile, then took the popcorn bowl and proceeded to torment his younger sister by playing keep-away with the bowl.
As the opening credits ran, the sound of bickering children rising above the music and dialog, Elisa sank back into the seat and smiled.