Next chapter...yay! next one will be up tommorrow. Thanks larkinross for reviewing xand thanks to anyone who checks out the story x
You felt your mother squeeze your hand and her lawyer took hold of your other hand. It was unexpected and you turned you face to look at hers. You knew she was earnest and righteous and wore a grey suit. Her hair was tied in a sleek and twisted bun and she had an upstate and snobbish accent. She smiled but you looked at your mother who was tight lipped and wore her dark glasses covering her beautiful eyes that you wished you had inherited instead of being cursed with topaz blues. Everything seemed so calm, you did not expect that on the evening news, it would be reported that the "atmosphere quickly became too unruly for the judge to control."
"All rise."
The judge entered the courtroom. He was breathing quickly, as if he had been running. He was flush-faced as he had been informed of the commotion in his courtroom, but he didn't acknowledge it. John Fitzgerald was the name of the Judge, in his mid-fifties and wire-rimmed glasses. He was a politician, canny. He knew the volatile nature of the case he was assigned to adjudicate and he would make no mistakes if he could avoid them.
It was Caroline Ellenson's turn to speak and she argued that it was an especially vicious sexual assault.
"It was an attack against a woman in the presence of her seven-year-old daughter who was terrified and hiding." Ellenson's eyes focused on the Judge, posture stiff and formal.
"It was a pro-longed attack, lasting nearly half an hour. It had been a premeditated attack, for the defendants had stalked Miss Sidle and her child in the park for an estimated 10 minutes, according to the testimony of the state's witness."
Ellenson kept her hands firmly by her side.
"It had been an attack intended to result in the death of Sara Sidle, who had been left to bleed to death, unconscious on a pathway in the secluded area of a children's park."
Sara breathed deeply and her head flickered to the defendants.
"If Miss Sidle's daughter, Lorena Sidle," she indicated Lorena with an upturned palm, "had not been present at time of this violation against her Mother, Sara Sidle would not be alive today to confront and give testimony against her attackers. As it was, Miss Sidle suffered critical physical injuries, had been on a life support machine at Desert Palms Hospital and hospitalised for over two weeks and at the present time is still recuperating from the attack."
Ellenson took a deep breath; it was her closing point.
"Your Honour, Miss Sidle's presence in the courtroom today is something of a miracle."
Catherine smiled, nodding her head slightly. Damn, she is good.
Greg had been watching Sara. It must be hell to hear yourself talked of like that; gang rape, bleed to death, left to die. This was so ugly. Greg hoped to heaven and hell that the prosecution could strike plea bargains with those dogs so a trial could be avoided. They could not seriously expect Lorena Sidle to testify in a court of law. To endure cross-examinations from defence lawyers that would prey on her like jackals. Lorena's head turned and saw her looking towards him with dark and startled eyes. Greg wondered if she would remember him.
The hearing proceeded with numerous interruptions from either side. Dr. Gilbert Grissom, Nicholas Stokes and Catherine Willows had both sworn so far and had done their brief testimonies, reciting the facts, the involvement at the crime scene. Regarding DNA and forensic evidence, there was a good deal of it. But because of limited eyewitness testimonies, the case was circumstantial. Each of the defendants had presented an individual problem. Only one of the men had confessed and he had confessed only to assault, not aggravated assault and not rape, though he had named the others in the rape, sparing himself. Lawyers for the defendants were challenging his testimony, claiming that he lied in exchanged for lesser charges.
"Miss Sidle. It is not bright sunshine in here, you can remove your dark glasses." Fitzgerald spoke politely but with an air of impatience. The dark glasses annoyed him. Sara fumbled with her glasses and dropped them on the floor creating a loud clatter and sniggers from the defendants. Ellenson stooped to retrieve them and explained to Fitzgerald that since her injuries, Miss Sidle's eyes were particularly sensitive to light. Fitzgerald expressed a little sympathy saying that Miss Sidle could partially close her eyes. Ellenson asked if she could positively identify the three rapists that Sara had only been able to identify when she in the hospital bed. Sara at first could not reply and she hid her face in her hands and she wiped at her eyes, Sara murmured yes. She was then asked to point them out and she hesitated for a long moment. With her shaking hand she pointed out Sean Mason, Dean Roberts and Richard Delucca. She realised her mistake, she had picked out Philip DeLucca not Dean Roberts when identifying who she could remember at P.D. This was because the defendant's lawyers had advised them to dress similar, look as much as each other as possible, similar suits and haircuts. There was an immediate buzz of indignation from the spectators, but Sara could not stammer out the words to rectify it.
Lorena Sidle spoke more clearly, though Warrick could see that she was trembling. Lorena kept her focus on Ellenson, afraid to look elsewhere. From time to time, Fitzgerald would ask her to speak louder. He was not sarcastic with her; he did not wish to appear unsympathetic with a child victim.
The defendant's lawyer, Truman Atkinson, used a simple and basic defence: there had been no rape. No rape! None! There had been sex. Multiple acts of sex but it had been consensual. But then Miss Sidle had wanted payment and when they refused to pay her, the alleged victim became verbally and physically aggressive towards the men. The men admittedly had been taking substances and had fought back when she attacked them. They had not hurt her seriously and had left her and another group of unidentified young men, who had been in the same area of the attack, must have been the cause of the rape and severe beatings.
Greg, Nick, Warrick and Gil were not violent men. Nick and Warrick had had violent outbursts when something affected them deeply. Gil considered himself to be cool and rational and it seemed that Greg had never felt deep anger. Today changed them. They had hated the men who hurt and raped Sara but each of them felt the need to something violent to Atkinson.
"As for Miss Sidle's daughter who allegedly hid in the public bathroom at the time of her mother's sexual encounter-My clients and their companions were entirely unaware of her presence. They certainly had no knowledge of a seven-year-old girl! In her testimony she admits that she did not actively see any acts of rape, only just believed that she heard them."
Atkinson smiled, he was known for his strong and serpentine arguments.
He called Lorena "a confused, frightened child and a victim of her mother's negligence."
At that time, each of the male CSI's had cursed words running through their heads.
He referred to a time Lorena had been taken to hospital because she was concussed.
Atkinson then went on to comment on Sara being the daughter of an abusive father and woman who murdered her husband. If Sara could muster the energy to blush, she would have turned a deep red. However, Ellenson interrupted, but Atkinson was aloud to continue.
Catherine, Warrick, Nick and Greg looked shocked but Grissom didn't flinch. Catherine looked at Gil who sat beside her. Their dark blues met and Catherine knew that he knew about Sara's past before today.
"The girl is a victim, yes: a victim of her mother's outrageous negligence. She was confused at the time of the alleged rape and may have been purposely mislead by Miss Sidle at a later time. Her testimony, like her mother's, is fabricated and misleading. As the evidence and my client's testimonies will show-."
There was an air of shock in the courtroom, delayed shock but still, it came out as a loud boom. From the rows of spectators, exclamations and scattered applauses happened. Fitzgerald was taken by surprise and struck his gavel for a few seconds as things began to swerve out of hand. "Quiet! Quiet or I will clear out my courtroom."
Sara Sidle was protesting incredulously and Ellenson tried to calm her. There were raised voices from the spectators in the front rows; some sympathetic; others were hostile; some were gloating. Some people were on their feet. Catherine Warrick and Greg filed out of the courtroom, Catherine half in tears. Nick and Gil stayed watching events unfold. Ellenson and another deputy prosecutor were helping Sara as if she had begun to fall. Bailiffs and guards charged forward. Laughter, curses, insults and spit flew at Sara and around at the courtroom. One bullet of mucus and salvia hit her on the cheek and it dripped down her cheek. Fitzgerald was forced to clear his courtroom. His words were unheard.
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