I still don't own Law & Order.

So yeah, I'm skipping ahead a lot, but I want to get to the trial, I have some good plans for it. I've already written the verdict, actually, just not what comes in between. I'm pretty much planning to cove the whole trial, so it might be long, I'm not quite sure. I got an idea for another really good story that's more plt based and like an actual episode, but I'm not going to start it yet, I'm working on enough right now. Oh, and I have not abandoned Life and Death or Slow Motion Bullet, I'm working on both of them, slowly, and I will finish both of them. I pretty much know where Lfe and Death is going (well, I know exatly where it's going since I've written the last chapter, and I pretty much know how I'm going to get there), but I have no idea yet where I'm going to take Slow Motion Bullet so if you're reading that one too, I'm open to suggestions.

It had been three months since Abbie had killed Matt Bergstrom, and, now, sitting at the defense table, she was nearly as terrified as she had been when his knife had been at her throat. Although her life was not in the immediate danger had been in then- for the first time, Abbie was glad that New York no longer had the death penalty- she could be convicted of murder and spend the rest of her life in a prison cell.

She did not show her fear, and appeared as calm as any time she'd sat on the prosecution side of the table. She'd once wondered how defendants on trial for their lives could appear so calm, but it wasn't really that hard.

"Does it seem as weird to you as it does to me, sitting on the defense side?" Abbie asked Jack softly, glancing over at the table where Mike Cutter and Connie Rubirosa sat.

Jack nodded, and started to say something, but just then, the bailiff announced, "All rise for the Honorable Judge William McKenna."

They stood up as the judge entered, then sat down again. "Will the attorneys please stand and identify themselves?" requested Judge McKenna. Abbie resisted the urge to stand with Jack and the prosecutors, reminding herself yet again that she was a defendant, not an attorney.

"Mr. McCoy, you're on the defense side now?" the judge asked after all the attorneys had identified themselves.

"For this case, yes, Your Honor," Jack replied. "I feel that justice cannot be served in this case by prosecuting Ms. Carmichael."

The prosecutors bristled, but were not given a chance to respond, as the judge asked, "Is the prosecution ready to make their opening statement?"

"Yes, Your Honor," said Cutter, and walked to the podium.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, the evidence will show that the defendant viciously, brutally, murdered a man in cold blood. You will see that she hated the victim, Matt Bergstrom."

Abbie bristled at hearing Bergstrom called the victim.

"You will hear evidence to show the defendant conspired to put Mr. Bergstrom in prison by threatening him with death. You will see a document that Ms. Carmichael forged, a letter she printed herself on letterhead from Texas and claimed was a letter requesting that he be extradited to Texas where he would face the death penalty. You will hear testimony that the defendant manipulated Mr. Bergstrom, telling him that if he didn't plead guilty, he would die. You will hear testimony that she said she wished she could place the needle in his arm herself.

The defendant wanted to kill Mr. Bergstrom eight years ago, and when she found out that he was out of prison, she realized she finally had the chance. The defendant is a vigilante who bent the law to put Mr. Bergstrom in prison eight years ago, and now broke the law to put him in his grave."

Abbie was glaring at Cutter, despising him for twisting her actions this way. He would have done the same thing in her place, was doing worse now. Maybe she had strong-armed Matt Bergstrom a little, but he was a serial killer who had tortured and murdered four women. Unlike Cutter, she had not been trying to put an innocent person in prison.

"We can't know exactly why Mr. Bergstrom went to Ms. Carmichael's house. Maybe she lured him there. Maybe he went there to talk with her. Maybe he had some other reason. He can't tell us; he's dead. But one thing is sure. Matt Bergstrom did not go to Ms. Carmichael's house to kill her. He went unarmed. You will hear testimony that the murder weapon, the knife that the defendant used to kill him, was her own knife. It was part of a set of kitchen knives found in her kitchen. When the police questioned her, she even admitted it was her knife."

So? Abbie thought sarcastically, he tried to kill me with my own knife, therefore, I'm a murderer.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the evidence will show that the defendant hated the victim, that she wanted to kill him eight years ago and finally got her chance, that she viciously murdered a man with malice aforethought. All the evidence will show that the defendant is guilty of this brutal crime, and I will ask you to find her so."

TBC

Please review. Oh, does anyone remember who Matt Bergstrom's lawyer was? Or also, when exactly did Abbie say that she wanted to stick the needle in hs arm herself? Who else was there? If no one remembers I'll just make up an appellate lawyer and have Bergstrom have put it in the appelate documents, because as you can see from the prosecution's opening, it makes up a large part of the prosecution's case. Oh, also, I'm aware that I didn't mention Abbie telling the police that the knife was hers, but she did so at some point when the police were questioning her.