by Fresh8 on Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:26 pm
Chapter 6
“Please stand.”
Every individual in the spacious, chilling courtroom stood at the bailiff’s command. An old man in his late 50’s approached the judge’s seat at the front of the court. He sat down slowly and nodded at everyone who was standing in front of him. His face displayed a distinct and serious look that looked like he was thinking, Murderers don’t walk out of here alive. Everyone sat down as he waved his hand, making a slight gesture. John O’Shea gulped and muttered to himself, “This is nasty. Why are we stuck with him?”
Sit seemed to be uncharacteristically nervous. He continued to tap the top of the table with his fingers and stared blankly in front of him. The stage was set for an interesting trial in the court of law. The media frenzy surrounding Sit’s trial had caused the local police force to set up a barricade outside to prevent any beat writers and news crews from getting inside. Cameras and notepads weren’t allowed in the courthouse as this was to strictly remain a private and confidential case.
“We are all gathered here to listen to the case of W Sit verses the People,” Judge Phoenix announced, “Prosecution, please proceed as you wish.”
A tall and skinny white man, in a purple suit, stood up in his place. Sit couldn’t help but smile for the first time in weeks as he thought, You’ve got to be kidding me- Willy Wonka?
“Thank you your honour,” The Prosecution’s lead barrister started on his opening address, “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, I; David Weaver, represent the people of our society here in Atlanta. In this forthcoming trial, I will strive to bring justice to one much loved man and to his grieving family. We are going to put the murderer of a fellow brother in prison.”
Weaver continued, “A great man known by all of Atlanta died a tragic death a few weeks ago. And if it weren’t for the horrifying and sickening motives of one psychopathic man, Mr Barry Johnston would be joking and sharing a glass of wine with his family, friends and colleagues as he was to celebrate his 54th birthday today.”
“Barry was caring and giving and any man of his calibre is tough to find in today’s world. He looked after all of those who were lucky enough to get to know him. His caring nature backfired on him though. I find it quite ironic how his intentions to help one of his employees could be turned around and used against him.”
Baker pointed at Sit, “I still can’t believe how William Sit, a former General Manager working for Barry Johnston, could have a dispute with his boss just because he was receiving advice on how to act in public as a professional. Then to decide to run him down in his car and then make it resemble a motor vehicle accident really does make me wonder what is up with William Sit.”
“The actions of Sit resulted in the murder of Barry Johnston in which he was found laying dead in his car and Sit was found injury free in his own vehicle. Sit didn’t accept Johnston’s advice and took it upon himself to murder him. To silence someone who genuinely wanted the best for you us what I find totally and utterly revolting.”
Sit couldn’t feel anything as he head went blank after hearing the prosecution describe him as if he were a cold-blooded monster.
“William Sit deserves life for this.”
“I will present my case to all of you, I will prove that Sit has had a history of violence and also prove his intent to murder Mr Barry Johnston. I will prove what things have happened that have driven him to such a crime. I want to prove the guilt of no other man than William Sit.”
The man paused, most probably to gain a dramatic and theatrical effect for his final words, “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to send William Sit behind bars so that he can serve justice and so that we can serve justice in memory of a well respected man in Barry Johnston.”
“Do not let this man walk free at the end of all of this,” He warned in a very quiet voice before he started to shout, “Sit is a mad man. His mind is filled with violence and if he is ever set free, it will only lead to more deaths. You could be one of them.”
The man finished, sitting back down and exchanging a low high five under the table with his assistant.
The men and women seated behind them started to mumble, as did the people sitting behind Sit and Albino. Judge Phoenix called for order and silence swept over the courtroom in a matter of seconds.
“May the defence make their opening address,” Judge Phoenix stated out loud and Albino took the cue to stand up.
“Ahem,” Albino simultaneously clearing his throat and re-arranging his speech in front of him, “My client William Sit is innocent. Listen to me; he isn’t guilty nor is he guilty. He is just innocent.”
Albino looked like he didn’t know what he was rambling on about and seemed to just stay still for a few seconds before taking in a few more breaths and continued.
“I don’t how much I will need to stress my point in this trial with such one-sided thinkers such as the prosecution. Why can’t you people look at the possibilities of what could have happened that night?”
Sit looked across at the prosecution’s lawyer and saw that he was busy scribbling down notes in his notepad.
“There is no sufficient evidence to prove and to support the theory that William Sit murdered Mr Barry Johnston. No disrespect to the man and his family but people have to think about how this could have been an accident. Why do we have to look at it and say Sit murdered him without carefully piecing together what really could have happened?”
“My client would like to admit that he was intoxicated and also plead guilty to charges of driving under the influence of alcohol,” Albino said firmly before raising his right hand and pointing his finger up, “But, he will not plead guilty to any charges of murder. He is certain that the only other thing he was involved in was an accident.”
Albino moved from behind the desk to walk towards the open space in front of him and turned to face the court once more, “Furthermore, you need to question yourselves on what kind of motive Sit would have for killing Johnston? What does he have to gain? There was and is absolutely no reason for Sit to murder him. The only thing he gets out of it is the sack and prison.”
The twelve members of the jury didn’t look convinced at all; Albino knew this would be a tough battle ahead.
“Remember that this is the legal system, which works off evidence. If the prosecution can provide for me solid evidence then Sit would be a guilty man. And all I ask for is a fair trial.”
Albino then glared at the prosecution, “And don’t make any assumptions right away. My client will remain innocent till he is proven guilty. Thank you your honour.”
Judge Phoenix nodded before Albino continued, “Your honour, I would like to apply for this trial to be adjourned for the time being as my client should bee deemed unfit to attend court.”
Judge Phoenix almost instinctively responded, “And do you have professional advice for this to occur?”
Albino nodded and motioned for his aide to hand a document forward.
“Here I have an opinion from Atlanta’s top psychologist Doctor Andrew Watson,” Albino said as the Judge looked through the letter, “It states clearly that William Sit is unfit to sit through these trials as it will be too strenuous for him.”
Judge Phoenix scanned through the letter and made a quick decision, “Very well then, Court is adjourned for seven days. Mr O’Shea, please ensure that William Sit keeps getting specialist treatment as stated in this letter.”
He rose and left the courtroom as everyone stood at the bailiff’s command. Albino breathed a sigh or relief and smiled happily at Sit, “Boy, are we lucky?”
“Don’t know how much you bribed the judge,” The prosecution’s lawyer sneered as he walked past.
Albino called out to him, “Shut up Weaver, stop sucking up to him.”
He ushered Sit out of his seat; ready to take Sit to Watson’s clinic for another psychological consultation.
“Detective Thompson,” A voice called over the police radio, “Please report downtown. Officers need your assistance immediately.”
Vince arrived on the scene five minutes later after listening to the operator give him vague details of what to expect as he drove towards the site. He raced out of his car to run into a five-level department store and took the elevator up to the top as he was wondering what the problem might be. The elevator came to a halt and the doors opened, revealing two of Thompson’s colleagues waiting for him. Out of the corner of his eye, Vince caught a sign reading ‘Security’ and an arrow pointing straight ahead.
“What’s the matter boys?” Thompson inquired.
The tall man towered over the two uniform policemen and Vince pulled out his badge to show the two men in case there was any misunderstanding as he was on duty in plain clothes for the day.
“Captain’s got three young guys detained. They broke in and were trying to get a hold of security tapes,” The officer on the right briefed him.
Thompson then felt a bit more confused ands asked, “So why did you guys want me in specifically?”
The other man answered him this time, smiling, “They wanted security footage from the morning of the accident…”
Vince didn’t need to hear the rest of his answer as he went straight towards the security office.
Vince slammed the table hard with his palm, spilling his coffee all over the top of the cold, steel surface. He was interviewing one of the teenagers the police had arrested at the department store. The problem was that the stubborn young man hadn’t said a single word and shrugged at all of Thompson’s questions.
“Look, you ain’t going nowhere without saying something!” The frustrated detective snapped before leaving the room, the door banging loudly behind him.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed as he retreated to an adjoining office to pick up a glass of water. Behind him, his partner came storming in and punched his own fist into the filing cabinet, denting it in his fury.
“Get anything?” his partner asked.
“No. As if they would say anything,” Vince laughed and then shaking his head, “Kids these days…”
“Same with me, I reckon we need a different approach.”
Then Officer Felix from the Tech crew came running down the corridor with exciting news just in time before Vince could start to destroy anything else in the office.
“Hey Thompson,” Felix exclaimed, panting, “We got something!”
Vince was intrigued and followed him to another part of the building and looked down at a blank computer screen. Felix took a seat and started to type something into the computer.
“Those guys you got up there must have wiped nearly all of the video,” Felix explained, “But I was able to save this…”
Felix played the footage he had found and Thompson’s eyes widened as he recognised the face of Will Sit on the monitor screen. Sit then shouted something and a car zoomed right past and out of view. Sit jumped into his own car and seemingly sped off just before the picture went fuzzy again.
“Wait, pause it when there’s a car that goes right past,” Thompson ordered.
Felix did what he was told and Thompson gasped, “I saw that car the other night, that’s Johnston’s car.”
Felix nodded as Thompson added, “Can you get audio for this?”
“My men are working on it,” he replied to the detective who was now pacing the length of the room.
“If we can prove that those guys are connected to Sit, I think we got our solid evidence to prove his guilt,” Thompson said.
“That’s why we’re working so hard on this,” Felix agreed.
“This time we will prove it was Sit,” Thompson grinned,
Suddenly, one of the junior members of the crew shot his hand up and shouted, “Officer Felix, I got it!”
The two men quickly moved to the other computer and the junior officer announced, “It’s only for a few seconds though. Best I could get but you got to listen really carefully.”
The audio was very raspy and hard to hear. The three of them listened to it a few times but Vince still had no clue what he was supposed to pick out of the constant static and incoherence of the audio.
“Play it again,” Vince asked for the third time.
It started with silence before the speakers were filled with crackling and popping sounds but amongst the loud noise, Vince heard something very faint in the background. He only had just picked up the only audible phrase present, which made him click his fingers and think, Bingo!
“Barry, I’m going to run you down, bitch!”
Last edited by
Fresh8 on Mon Apr 03, 2006 8:35 am, edited 4 times in total.
J/k, just figuratively kill them on the court, change into a mix of Andrew Bogut and Luc Longley or whoever the hell is from Australia, and take over the NBA. Play 5 years, and then quit, never to be heard from again. Placing myself in your will for all your money, of course.
) that u'll post the next chapter and we'll all see =)
)
