Court Part Two
"I'd like to call Paige Knight to the stand." AJ nodded, standing up from behind the desk, after taking their recess, watching as Paige headed on up to the stand to take the oath, making her way over to get ready to ask her questions.
"You share custody over your eight year old son with Mr Ambrose, correct?" AJ asked.
"Yeah." Paige nodded.
"How would you describe him as a father?" AJ asked.
"He's great." Paige nodded, "CJ loves him. He's never late or cancels on me. In fact, I think he would want to have him more if it wasn't for the fact I have to see him." Paige smiled a little, "He's a great father. And Anna is a great step mom too." Paige smiled.
"Has his drinking problem ever came in the way of his parenting?" AJ asked.
"No." Paige shook her head, "There has never been any problems." She said.
"Do you think he's fit to take care of a baby?" AJ asked her.
"Yeah I do." Paige nodded, "They both are."
"No further questions." AJ nodded, walking back over to the desk to take a seat whilst Katie stood up and headed over for her cross.
"Miss Knight, your son is eight years old, correct?" Katie asked.
"Yeah." Paige nodded.
"But Mr Ambrose has only been in his life since he was six. Care to explain?" Katie asked.
"Well I was in a difficult relationship before. And… when I got pregnant there was a lot going on with me and Dean. I never told him about CJ. So he didn't know." Paige made clear.
"A lot going on… you mean the fact his older brother was sitting on death row?" Katie asked.
Meanwhile Punk sat in the benches behind, folding his arms as he watched on with JC beside him. He had constant nerves in his stomach with every passing question that was asked.
"Yes." Paige nodded.
"Would you say that's something that still affects Mr Ambrose?" Katie asked.
"Well that's something you would have to ask him." Paige said, "I'm not inside his head." Paige said bluntly as AJ smiled to herself a little.
"Do you really trust him with your son? What if he relapsed and something happened to him? Would you forgive Mr Ambrose?"
"I trust him with our son." Paige nodded, "He got help when he needed it and he's been fine ever since. We have bumps on the road. We're all not perfect." Paige said, "But he is more than capable of looking after his own children. If you gave him the chance." She shook her head.
"Watch the tone, Miss Knight." The judge nodded as Paige just sunk back in the chair a little.
"Do you really think it's a stable environment for a baby to grow up in? With a clearly mentally challenged mother, an unstable father with the likeliness to turn to drink when faced with a problem, an equally mentally challenged aunt and an uncle who spent months on death row." Katie laughed a little.
"Excuse me." AJ stood up, "None of those issues are on trial right now. What is on trial is a plea for full custody on behalf of the biological parents who have been unfairly treated this entire time and who show absolutely zero signs of instability to care for their child." AJ said, "My mental illness certainly has nothing to do with it and I'm offended by the social and political issues that have been abused today in this court room." AJ said, "I find it ridiculous that these parents here have had one hour along with their daughter since she was born, when they are clearly more than capable of caring for her if given the chance to do so." She said.
"Mrs Brooks, calm down." The judge nodded to AJ.
"No further questions, your honour." Katie smiled, making her way back to the chair whilst Paige got down from the stand and headed back to her seat whilst AJ slowly sat back down.
"Ok." The judge said slowly, "Mrs Grant. Please call your first witness to the stand." She nodded.
"I'd like to call Jack Christopher Brooks to the stand, your honour." Katie stood up as Punk turned to JC who shook his head with confusion.
"That name was not on the list, your honour." AJ stood up.
"It was until the last minute." Katie turned to AJ.
"I was never informed about this witness." AJ objected.
"Well I sat the next copy on your desk before we began." Katie said, walking over to the desk and picking it up under AJ's scattered files, showing her it as AJ grabbed it and looked down at it.
"Please proceed." The judge nodded as JC groaned a little.
"I never have any luck in these damn places." JC whispered to Punk, standing up and walking down the aisle, opening up the gate and heading over to the stand, taking the oath and waiting for his questions which he was so unprepared for.
"Mr Brooks, how would you describe your son Dean?" Katie smiled as JC just shook his head, "We don't have all day."
"Dean is great." JC nodded, "He's got a good heart. Loves his family, stands up for them." JC said, "And he's a damn good father."
"Better than you were?" Katie asked.
"Relevance?" AJ asked loudly as the judge put her hand up.
"Overruled. Continue." The judge said as AJ rolled her eyes and sat back down.
"Yes. Better than I was." JC nodded, looking over at Jean who was glaring at him intensely.
"How would you describe your relationship with your sons?" Katie asked.
"Right now? Great." JC said bluntly.
"What about before? Let's say in their teen years." Katie smiled as JC looked over at Jean, knowing fine well she had set these questions up.
"I wasn't really around. I had my own problems which prevented me from being the father they needed me to be." JC nodded.
"How was your relationship with their mother?" Katie asked.
"Your honour, how is this relevant?" AJ stood up.
"Sustained." The judge nodded, "Mrs Grant, please move on with your questions." She agreed with AJ.
"Your honour this will make sense soon, I promise." Katie smiled, "If you're saying that you weren't around or you weren't the ideal father for your sons growing up, how do you think Dean will be able to learn how to be a good father then?" She asked.
"It comes natural to him." JC said, "Way more than it ever did with me. You're all very quick to say these things, but you don't know him, and you've not even gave him the chance to be a dad to his daughter. You took her just hours after she was born, so your arguments are all based on speculation." He said, "She deserves to be with her mother and father, and not her grandmother who is clearly just using her to feed into her own guilt of not being there for her daughter." JC spat, "Or her best friend." He added, looking directly at Jean who just turned away and looked at the ground.
"We have proof that you and your girlfriend at the time, your son's mother, had a hostile relationship, to the point where she filed a restraining order against you to stay away." Katie said.
"We had a… different relationship than most people." JC nodded.
"Different as in good?" Katie asked.
"Sometimes." JC nodded, "Has nothing to do with the custody, though." JC shrugged.
"No, maybe not. But we've found reason to believe that you foul played in your girlfriend's death." Katie said as the room fell silent as Dean and Punk both sat up in sync.
"What?" JC shook his head, "I was in prison you stupid bitch." JC spat.
"Mr Brooks." The judge scolded.
"You were in prison, that didn't mean you didn't have connections. She died in car accident. Witnesses to it said the car went directly for her."
"Your honour, this is ridiculous." AJ stood up, "This has nothing to do with the custody and it is not only disrespectful to my clients but disrespectful to the witness on the stand." AJ said as the judge nodded in agreement.
"I agree, Mrs Brooks." The judge said, "There is no correlation to what you are saying with this case, Mrs Grant." She said, "However, I'll have no choice but to look into it." She nodded as JC just shook his head and rubbed his forehead.
"I'd just like to point out that this is the family which this baby is going to be going to." Katie said, "When she could be safer and looked after much better with her grandmother." She said, "No further questions." She nodded, walking back to her desk as JC just sighed, looking at Jean who just glared at him, their own private stare down taking place.
"Mrs Brooks, your cross." The judge nodded.
"I have no further questions." AJ stood up, not having anything to ask JC that would have benefited them on their side.
"Ok, you're free to go." The judge nodded to JC who got off the stand and walked back to his seat, "Next witness." The judge said.
"Next witness I'd like to call to the stand is Mr Phillip Jack Brooks." Katie said as Punk just nodded.
"That was coming." Punk whispered, passing by his father as he headed down past the gate and onto the stand. He knew as soon as his father was called that he would most likely be too.
"Mr Brooks." Katie smiled, "Not foreign to a court room, are you?" She asked.
"No. I'm not." Punk nodded as AJ looked over nervously.
"Last time you were in a court, you were sentenced to your own death, correct?" Katie asked.
"Relevance?" AJ said tiredly, getting sick of hearing herself say the same thing over and over again.
"Move on Mrs Grant." The judge nodded.
"Is it true you got your brother a job in the same garage you work in after he was fired from his other job because of his drinking problem?" Katie asked.
"Yes." Punk nodded.
"Have you always babied your brother?" Katie asked.
"I've taken care of him. I didn't baby him." Punk nodded.
"When your mother died, did you feel your brother was your responsibility?" Katie asked.
"No. He's my brother. We looked out for each other." Punk said bluntly.
"When he met Anna, what was your reaction to that?" Katie asked.
"I was happy for him." Punk nodded.
"And when you found out they were having a baby, were you at all doubtful?" Katie asked.
"Not at all." Punk said.
"Don't you think your brother will struggle more due to the instability he's had all of his life?" Katie asked.
"I had the same instability and my two kids are fine." Punk shrugged, "There's no problem with my brother and Anna. The problem is with her." He pointed to Jean who just glared at him, "She's got her own issues and this is how she's dealing with them."
"You saw your brother when he was at his worst with his drinking problems. Would you have trusted him with a child then?"
"No, but that's not the point right now-"
"But you wouldn't have trusted him?" Katie asked.
"I wouldn't trust any drunk person with a child." Punk shrugged.
"So what would happen if Mr Ambrose relapsed into his old habits and Miss Ferris let her eating disorder take over her life again… do you think the baby would be in safe hands then? Or would she be better with Jean?" Katie asked as Punk just shook his head.
"None of that will happen." Punk said.
"But it's a possibility." Katie said, "Your honour, it is a possibility that these two very vulnerable people could end up losing their stability and who will suffer? That baby girl." Katie nodded, "No further questions." She said, walking back to her desk as the judge nodded.
"Mrs Brooks. Your cross." The judge said as AJ stood up.
"This is hardly appropriate." AJ whispered to herself, getting up and walking over to the stand as Punk watched her.
"No one knows your brother like you do, right?" AJ asked him as Punk nodded.
"That's right." Punk said.
"How much did they want this baby?" AJ asked him as Punk nodded.
"They really wanted her." Punk nodded, "They wanted to be her parents and they… they went through so much to finally have her and then… it was just taken away from them."
"Do you think the baby is safe with her grandmother?" AJ asked him.
"No. I don't." Punk said, "I think she has her own problems going on and this is just a way for her to deal with them. She can't give that girl what her own parents can give her. What her own parents haven't even been allowed to give her yet." Punk said, "And bringing my father and my mother into this was just a diversion to give the impression that this family is broken, or it's unstable… well it's not." Punk said, "There is no one that will love that little girl more than her parents and her family." He nodded, "No one." He made clear as AJ nodded.
"No further questions." She said quietly, nodding to Punk as he smiled to her, making her way back to the desk as Punk walked back to his seat behind.
"Ok." The judge nodded, "Well in these cases, the ideal scenario is for the baby to remain with her biological parents." She said, "But what I can't ignore are these blood tests which show cocaine usage, whether you think it's a coincidence or not, Mrs Brooks." The judge said, "I also can't ignore the fact that we are also dealing with Mental illness and alcoholism." She nodded.
"Which is being dealt with, your honour. I'm bipolar. I get help for it. No one takes my kids from me on the basis of that." AJ said.
"I'm not saying that's why, but… it's something we need to look at." The judge said, "Until I have more evidence that isn't just speculation and the fact I have no expert to corroborate that Miss Ferris and Mr Ambrose are fit to care for their child, I've decided to extend the initial custody of the child, where she'll remain in the care of her maternal grandmother." The judge nodded, "The petition for custody is denied." She nodded, banging the hammer down as AJ placed her hand on her forehead whilst Anna let go of tears and Dean placed his hands over his face.
