She admitted stealing the items. She said that Ronnie, Josie, Denny, and Frankie came out with her on stealing trips to the surrounding homes.
Ronnie looked pissed that he’d been ratted out, but he quickly went back to not showing any emotion. He had expected Brittany to fold. She had always been the “goody goody” of the group.
Josie started crying again. Frankie didn’t show any emotion.
There is the whole case, Grant thought. Her testimony sunk all of the defendants. Brittany knew that she had doomed herself and all her friends. Well, former friends.
“Do I get some lentils?” she asked Grant.
“Do you mean leniency?” he asked.
“Yes, leniency. You know, a break?” she asked. Her lip was quivering.
“That’s for the jury to decide,” Grant said.
She started crying again. “OK,” she finally said. “I just want to say I’m sorry. I’m only twenty-four. I don’t want to die. Can’t I get a second chance? I’ll never do this again. I want to get married and have kids. I want to have kids who don’t turn out like me. Have a normal life. Is it too late for that?”
That was a good question: Was it too late? Grant was glad it was up to the jury to decide. He would let her go, but he knew that was wrong.
Rich was thinking the same thing. If the jury decided to execute Brittany, which would surprise him, Rich would ask for the felony murder charge to be dropped. If that somehow didn’t work, he knew that Grant would not let her be executed for this, but he wouldn’t show this mercy until he heard what Ronnie had to say. Maybe Ronnie would try for the same deal.
Rich pointed at Ronnie. Grant asked Ronnie, “Would you like to testify, sir?”
Ronnie shook his head. He knew he was done for, thanks to Brittany. He looked at her and slowly shook his head, which made her cry some more.
“How do you plead?” Grant asked Ronnie. Grant suddenly remembered that he never asked the other defendants for their pleas. Oh well. He was freestyling this first trial. At least he was making this up on defendants who Grant personally knew were 100% guilty, which took the pressure off.
Ronnie stared at Grant and said, “Whatever.”
Grant said, “I will take that as a ‘not guilty.’”
Ronnie shrugged. He thought it was extremely unfair that he was a “murderer” just because he stole some stuff and the cops shot some dude on a raid. But, whatever. No one had ever treated him fairly and he didn’t expect anyone to start doing it now. Besides he was so sick from the meth withdrawals that he didn’t really care anymore.
Grant looked at Brittany and asked, “How do you plead?”
She quit crying, sat up straight, and said confidently, “Guilty.” At least she would die telling the truth, she thought. She actually smiled a little. It was a huge relief to say the word “guilty.” Grant could sense her relief and realized that Brittany was truly repentant. He would not let her be executed, even if that meant overruling the jury.
“Is the prosecution ready to proceed with the charges against Ms. Phillips and Mr. Richardson?” Grant asked Rich.
Rich nodded. “The people call Ronnie Williams.”
Ronnie looked surprised. Rich swore him in.
“Did you ever see Ms. Phillips and her daughter, Crystal, engaged in any sexual activity?” Rich asked. He was uncomfortable saying that out loud, especially in front of so many people. Thank God Crystal wasn’t in the audience; they had her at a nearby house and could get her if her testimony was necessary, which everyone hoped it wouldn’t be.
Ronnie nodded. He knew he was done for. Maybe by testifying against Josie he could get that felony murder thing dropped. He might go from the death penalty down to just some jail time. Suddenly, he felt motivated.
Ronnie proceeded to describe what he saw one time about a month ago. He had a hard time describing it to the decent people in the Grange, and Josie was crying the whole time. Some people in the audience were crying, too.
“Did you ever see Frankie Richardson involved in this?” Rich asked. Ronnie nodded and described what he saw that time, which was even worse than his previous description.
The crying in the crowd turned to murmurs. One man yelled out, “Kill him!” Grant sternly said, “This is a court, not a lynch mob, sir.”
He looked quickly at the Snelling juror, who was in shock at what he’d heard Ronnie describe.
Grant realized they needed to address the in-custody beating of Frankie. Everyone in the room knew what had happened. Stories travelled fast in Pierce Point. But still, Grant, Wes, and Rich had done something wrong and they needed to lay it out for the community. Not that anyone disagreed with what they did; many wanted Frankie to be shot on the spot. But Grant wanted to show them that the Constitution and accountability applied to the judge, prosecutor, and police. That was very important. The Patriot way was better.
Grant said, “I believe I have a disclosure to make to the jury and the community.” Grant described the beatings. Some people actually cheered. That’s when Frankie knew for sure he was dead.
Grant was glad Ronnie had given eye witness testimony against Frankie. All the statements Frankie made after the beatings would be inadmissible into evidence. Frankie had been read his right to remain silent, so normally anything he said after that was fair game. But, beating confessions out of people was not the way Grant wanted things to be done. This only reinforced to Grant that they couldn’t beat prisoners; one of them could end up going free if they did.
Grant said, “In a perfect world, where we have plenty of constables and don’t need my help, the judge would not be arresting people. But, this isn’t a perfect world. I hope this situation doesn’t come up again.”
Rich took a few moments to think about whether he had presented all the evidence. He was doing a great job at prosecuting. He had shown that all of the defendants were at the house with the stolen property. The neighbors had seen them in zip ties and saw the stolen property. There was an eyewitness account of what Josie and Frankie did. That should just about do it.
“The people rest,” Rich said.
Chapter 152
The Verdict
(June 6)
Grant asked each defendant if they had anything to say. They declined, and Frankie didn’t even answer. He wanted this over with.
Grant said to the jury, “It is now up to you to decide guilt. I, as the judge, will not comment on the evidence or tell you what I think. This decision is yours alone. You will be put in a room for deliberations and cannot talk to anyone outside the jury, even if this deliberation takes multiple days. You can take all the time you need. Your decision must be unanimous among the twelve regular jurors. The two alternates cannot participate in the deliberations, unless they become a regular juror because one of the regular jurors gets sick, or something like that.”
One of the jurors asked, “Can we go into the kitchen and deliberate?” That meant that they didn’t think this would take long. Of course it wouldn’t.
“Yes,” Grant said.
The jury went into the kitchen for about five minutes. A member of the jury came out. Everyone was on pins and needles anxiously awaiting the quick and certain verdict.
“Um, we’ll need some more time,” she said. Most in the audience were let down. They wanted a quick deliberation.
“Take as long as you need,” Grant said. “If you need another place to do it, let me know. We can get a house for you in case it takes days.”
“Days!” a man in the audience yelled. “C’mon!”