I don't own Law & Order.
Yes, this chapter is incredibly short, but I'm working on the next chapter and will probably post it tonight. Also, for anyone reading Life and Death, I'm still working on it.
"Does the defense wish to make an opening statement?" asked the judge.
"Yes, Your Honor," Jack said, and walked over to stand in front of the jury.
"The evidence will show that Abbie Carmichael killed Matt Bergstrom in self defense. You will see that he was the vicious, brutal, murderer, a serial killer who had tortured and killed other women and was planning to do the same to Ms. Carmichael. It's true that she disliked him, maybe even hated him, but more than that, she was afraid of him.
"Mr. Cutter says that she planned to kill Matt Bergstrom for eight years. How? You'll see that until the night before his death, she believed that he was in jail, and would be for the rest of his life. And when he got out of jail, he followed her. You'll hear testimony that from the first time he saw Ms. Carmichael, he hated her and wanted to kill her. Once he was out of jail, he planned to do so. He followed her, broke into her house when she wasn't home, took a knife from her own kitchen, and when he walked in the door, he attacked her. She had no choice. You'll hear how he attacked her with a knife, how he cut her and gagged her and tried to tie her up the way he had tied up his other victims before he tortured and killed them. But she fought him. She was strong enough and lucky enough to be able to fight back. And in doing so, she killed him. Abbie Carmichael never wanted to kill anyone. But if she hadn't, she would have been the one to die that night. Don't punish her for fighting for her life."
Jack sat down. The opening statement had been short, but effective- the jury paid close attention. But it was now the prosecution's turn to present their case, and prove that Abbie had committed a cold-blooded murder.
TBC