A Case of Hate

by Rex Darby

  His voice softens. “You said this had to stop.”

  “Well, yes, it does. But not yet.”

  He pauses. “I’m going to have to say it was an urgent work call anyways, to explain you calling so many damn times. You’re not turning bunny boiler on me, are you?”

  “How can you say that? You know that’s the very last thing I am! Why on earth would I want to hurt your wife? You... you don’t know me at all!”

  He breathes. “Lincoln. Are you okay? You don’t sound okay.”

  “I’m fine.” I look down at the groove of the wood in the kitchen table, trace it with my fingers. “I think I need a vacation. But I can’t, not until this trial’s done with.” I feel trapped in a box, like Ms. Fairweather and Jason Blachowicz and Judge Pollard and the dead body of Georgia Stafford are all stuffed in a wooden crate together with just a tiny hole to breathe air. “Just come, please. It will help.”

  He pauses again. “All right. But not for too long.”

  “That’s fine,” I say. “Brett’s working late. I’ll keep track of him.”

  He lowers his voice. “Wear that red lacy thing, huh?”

  It’s Brett’s favorite, Matt’s favorite. “Sure.”

  Chapter 11

  Liliana Fairweather

  I get nightmares about Nerius creeping in my house and strangling me to death. The most horrible moment is when his smile switches into something else entirely. His eyes are glazed over, like an animal. He takes a telephone cord and wraps it around my neck, while we’re cuddled up on the couch. Before I know it, I’m gasping for air, and the whole world is turning black.

  I wake up, sweating and terrified. But it only takes a moment for me to be furious instead.

  I grab my pad of paper and pen from my nightstand and scrawl, SELF DEFENSE angrily on the paper. That’s how we’re going to bust this.

  Agnew did play hide and seek with Georgia Stafford’s criminal record. Our numerous requests were denied, until a clean record showed up in discovery. I don’t believe it, not for a second.

  I call Nerius. It’s 3.27am. He’s always awake at this kind of time, researching some obscure subject that he’ll never apply to anything.

  He doesn’t answer the first time, but does the second.

  “Awa for you, gasa,” he says. In his Caribbean island, ‘awa’ means no, and ‘awa for you, gasa’ means something akin to ‘why the fuck are you calling me’, in this particular situation.

  “Please please can you do something for me?” I say quickly. “Look, I know we had our falling out and whatever. But you know I’m brilliant, I know you’re brilliant, and I really need something doing.”

  “What is it?” he says impatiently.

  “I need Georgia Stafford’s criminal record. The prosecutor gave me one, but it’s clean and I don’t believe it. I think she’s fucked with it. She was withholding it so long, there had to have been something on it.”

  “So hacking into the police records?”

  “Yup.”

  “And what exactly am I getting in return for this?”

  “Couple hundred dollars. And my undying gratitude.”

  He snorts. “What, like last time?”

  “Oh, just ignore me,” I say quickly. “You know what I’m like. I don’t know why you take me so seriously. Why can’t you just let me pitch a fit and smile and nod and wait for me to be done? Why do you have to be so affected?”

  He pauses. “Because I care about you.”

  “I don’t need you to care about me. I just need the work doing, and you’re the man for the job.”

  “Right... So you don’t care about me, then?”

  “Of course I do. You know I love you to death. Like a brother.”

  “Like a brother,” he repeats.

  “Uh huh.”

  “You know, for an intelligent person, you can be remarkably stupid.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? Look, I don’t have time for your games, babe. Please, just do this for me.”

  “Fine, fine,” he says. “I’m your lackey. I’ll do it.”

  “My lackey?” My face screws up. “Why would you say that?”

  “At Liliana’s beck and call, discarded like trash when you don’t need me, picked up back again when you have something urgent to be done.”

  “Don’t be like that. You know it’s not like that.”

  “You need to reflect on it, because it’s exactly like that.”

  I sigh. My stomach is tying itself in knots. “Look, I have to go fix up this case. Are you gonna do it, or not?”

  He goes silent for a while and I hear a rustle in the background. I realize he’s reached for his own pen and paper when he asks, “What’s the girl’s name again? And do you have her DOB?”

  “I love you so much.”

  By the time we walk into court for the first day of the trial, I’m ready to draw some serious blood.

  After we’re all started, which always takes forever, Agnew is called to stand and give her opening statement.

  “Good afternoon, my name is Exec ADA Lincoln Agnew, and it is my pleasure to represent the State and to serve as a prosecutor in this very tragic case. On July 4th 2019, the defendant here entered his ex-girlfriend Georgia Stafford’s apartment, and strangled her to death with his necktie.” She points to us at the table. “When you have heard all of our evidence, we are absolutely 100% confident that you will return a verdict of guilty on the charge of first-degree murder.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, this case is about jealousy. A man who thought he owned Georgia. When she broke up with him, he was furious. But not nearly as furious as he became when she started dating again. Georgia wasn’t perfect, ladies and gentlemen. But who among us is? Are you perfect? I know I’m certainly not. But does that mean, for simply trying to heal her broken heart and move on with her life, that she deserved to be murdered in cold blood by this man?” She points at us again.

  “Members of the jury, the State will call three different witnesses in this trial. We will call Detective Yannick Redford who will testify that he was on duty in San Cristobal on the night of the murder, and what he found out during the course of his investigation. That this man here was the only person who could have committed the crime.

  “We’ll also call Kelly Acaster, Georgia’s roommate, who witnessed the defendant’s brown pickup truck fleeing the scene when she arrived at the apartment building herself, just moments after the murder occurred.

  “Finally, we will call the criminalist Maisy Weathers, who found that the fibers from the necktie found in the defendant’s car matched the fibers that were found around Georgia Stafford’s neck.

  “Members of the jury, the defense may claim that the defendant was not the one who carried out the attack. Rather, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, or that the truck didn’t belong to him at all. However, the forensic evidence we will present to you will show you clearly that the defendant is the one who killed Georgia Stafford in cold blood.

  “Georgia Stafford suffered an absolutely horrific death, at the hands of the defendant. Can you imagine how terrified she must have been in her last moments, when the man she had once loved turned on her so violently? No one deserves to die that way. Especially not a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, whose only crime was trying to move on.

  “I am standing here today to ask you for justice for Georgia. You have the power to make that justice happen. While we can’t bring Georgia back, we can make sure that in her death, we honor her, and make sure justice is served for her.

  “After you have heard all the evidence, we would ask that you find the defendant guilty as charged for first-degree murder. He took Georgia’s life away, selfishly and callously, just because he was jealous.

  “And he was planning this murder. He sent a text message to his friend Thomas Hatton, saying Today’s the day, just two hours before he murdered Georgia. We’re going to speak to Thomas Hatton, too, so he can tell you about that.

&
nbsp; “Georgia doesn’t have the opportunity to stand up for herself now, because the defendant so cruelly took that away. He took everything away, because he thought he had the right to.

  “But the one thing he can’t take away is the fact that we can hold him accountable for what he has done. You can hold him accountable, at the end of this trial. Please, think of Georgia, and her last moments, and come to the verdict of ‘guilty’. Thank you.”

  I get up, my heart singing. She doesn’t even think we’re going to go for a self-defense angle, because she has absolutely no idea we have Stafford’s real record.

  “Good afternoon members of the jury. My name is Liliana Fairweather, and I together with my colleague Marisol Lopez, represent the defendant here today. The defendant, whose name is Jason, stands here today wrongly accused of the crime of first-degree murder, which as I’m sure you can imagine, is extremely stressful and traumatic for him.

  “Think about how you would feel if you were forced to defend yourself from someone who was going to kill you. Someone you loved, and never expected to turn on you. This has broken the defendant into pieces. He didn’t want to harm Ms. Stafford. He didn’t want to harm anyone. But he had to. And then, the very forces he expected to protect him and his legal right to defend himself have turned against him, and have brought him here today, causing him even more trauma and pain.

  “Ladies and gentleman, this case is very important. It’s about highlighting a very serious issue that is overlooked by our society – men being abused by women. Men being humiliated, beaten, physically attacked and other terrible things, by their female partners.

  “When we think of a battered partner, what do we think of? Usually a woman. In this society, we shame men who are being abused. Instead of helping them, we laugh at them, or we consider them as less-than. And this is a terrible, terrible thing.

  “While men abusing women is more common, that does not mean that men can’t be abused. And when they are, it is just as damaging. Men have been murdered by abusive women, killed in cold blood. And, if the defendant here today hadn’t managed to stand up for himself in that critical moment, he wouldn’t be here today. He’d be in a box six feet under the ground.

  “You see, ladies and gentleman, the defendant is a gentle, kind, caring man. He is training to be a heart surgeon. He cares about people. He cared about Georgia Stafford, very deeply. And he continued to care, even after she called him names. Even after she broke a glass over his head in a bar during an argument. Even when she made fun of him in front of his friends. Why? Maybe he thought he could win her over. Maybe he was too terrified to leave her. We don’t know. And he continues to care now. The defendant is not rejoicing in Ms. Stafford’s death. He wishes it didn’t have to happen. You see, he even cares about Ms. Stafford after she came at him with a meat cleaver, saying she was going to murder him that night. The defendant was well within his legal rights, and did what any of us would have done – fought for our own lives.

  “Members of the jury, the prosecution is going to try to tell you that the defendant is an evil, cold-blooded killer. But that just isn’t the case. If a burglar invades your home and tells you he’s going to kill you, a knife in his hand, and you kill him to protect yourself or your loved ones, does that make you a cold-blooded killer? Of course it doesn’t. It makes you a good person. A hero, even.

  “My client’s only crime in this was being too loving, too forgiving, and going back over and over again to a woman who wanted to ridicule, hurt and abuse him. Maybe he thought he saw a good side to her, but her bad side surely won out when she attacked him, and he had to defend himself any way he could.

  “The prosecution said that her witness Kelly Acaster is going to testify she saw the defendant’s vehicle driving away. The defendant agrees he was at the scene, and panicked after the fact, which is why he didn’t go to police immediately. If you had to defend yourself with deadly force, against someone you loved, wouldn’t you panic? Ask yourself this question, ladies and gentleman. Does driving away equal murder? Of course it doesn’t.

  “She’s going to call criminalist Maisy Weathers, who will testify that the fibers from the necktie in the defendant’s car matched the fibers found on Ms. Stafford’s neck. But we already know that. There’s no disputing that.

  “Here’s the thing about forensic evidence. Forensic evidence is perfect for telling us who was at the scene of the crime, or what objects were there and how they interacted with each other.

  “But it’s not a camera. It’s not camera footage, that can show us exactly what happened. It only gives us ideas or hints as to what could have gone on. Unfortunately, we don’t have any video camera to show us exactly what happened in that apartment the night of July 4th. But what we do have is a solid catalog of evidence showing you exactly who the defendant is, and who Ms. Stafford was. The kinds of people they were. The kinds of things they did, and said. The kinds of things they thought were right and wrong.

  “During this trial, you won’t have to do any guesswork. You’re going to get to know Jason and Ms. Stafford very, very well. And once you get to know people on a psychological level, you can predict their behavior accurately.

  “We’re going to be speaking to one of Georgia Stafford’s neighbors, Ms. De La Garza, about the noises she heard coming from that apartment on a regular basis, which will help you understand the aggressive kind of person Ms. Stafford was, and the kind of terror Jason had to endure being in a relationship with her.

  “We’ll also be speaking with Mr. Dean Boland, Ms. Stafford’s probation officer.”

  I see a few eyebrows raise, and my heart beats a little faster for all the right reasons.

  “You see, what the prosecution didn’t tell you – and was never going to tell you – was that Georgia Stafford was convicted of a violent offense on more than one occasion. Don’t let her good looks fool you, like they did the defendant. She was beautiful on the outside, but had a violent, vengeful heart and a checkered history of violence, intimidation and cruelty. You will learn more about this through the trial.

  “When we come to the end of this trial, it will only make sense for you to find that Jason is not guilty. Remember, the prosecution has the burden of proof, meaning they have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Jason not only killed her, but did so completely unprovoked. They will not be able to prove this, because it’s simply untrue. All I ask, ladies and gentlemen, is that you look at the facts, and that you come to the only conclusion that makes sense. Give this man his life back. It’s been robbed for so long by abuse, and by a tragic act he did not want to commit. Don’t let this go on, ladies and gentlemen. Let him be a heart surgeon and save people’s lives. Don’t be that person to prolong his torture. You can put an end to this. And the way to do that is to stand on the side of truth, the side of not-guilty. Thank you.”

  Chapter 12

  Lincoln Agnew

  She got Georgia Stafford’s criminal record. How? I refuse to look over at them, because I know she’ll be giving me that victorious, cat-who-got-the-cream look, and I won’t be able to bear it.

  As we move on to the case-in-chief, and Judge Pollard invites me to call my witnesses, my insides are panicking, but my demeanor remains smooth. I have to get this conviction. If I don’t, Brett will lose even more respect for me. Ms. Fairweather will humiliate me in the press.

  I can imagine Brett calling me into his office, like I’m not his wife, demoting me to ADA, and Ms. Flicky-Hair Davies moving all her stuff in a box into my office. My mind runs away with itself, and soon I’m imagining him putting his arm around her and saying, “Lincoln, I have something to tell you.” Before I know it she’s moving into my house, sleeping in my bed, while I’m turfed out and living a lonely life in an echoey apartment. Spending my nights alternately texting Brett begging him to take me back, and Matt, who says he’s with his wife and too busy to come. I feel like a ragdoll nobody wants.

  But there’s no time to feel. I’m in a bind the Judge
can’t get me out of. Ms. Fairweather’s presenting evidence that wasn’t in Discovery, but that’s my doing. If I point it out now, it’s only going to show I provided a fake criminal record. I can point that back to Matt, but I wouldn’t. Never. If anyone’s going to be responsible for my actions, it’s only going to be me.

  So I can’t refute anything – not her new witnesses, not anything. Because it all leads back to that criminal record.

  All I can do is plough on.

  But I’m under no illusions. Her story is compelling. And she was absolutely right, there were no cameras there to show us what really happened. My mind quickly scans through everything that incriminates him – running away from the scene of the crime, his abusive tirade captured on video, and crucially, his message to Thomas Hatton. Today is the day.

  As I stand up, my head reels with dizziness. I call Thomas Hatton to the stand. He proves the intent, the part that puts the ‘first-degree’ in the ‘murder’. During prep, I let JaMarcus start off the process, and then I quickly came in and did trial prep with him.

  He’s a med student on the same course as the defendant. He determinedly avoids meeting Mr. Blachowicz’s eyes as he goes up to the stand and is sworn in. After we do all the introductions, I take a piece of paper over to Mr. Hatton. “This is a print-out of the WhatsApp message sent to you by Mr. Blachowicz on the day of the murder, which you had deleted from your phone. Can you read it for us please?”

  “Today is the day.”

  “When the defendant sent you this text, did you know what it was about?”

  “Yes.”

  “What was it about?”

  He swallows. His eyes flit about nervously. “Killing Georgia.”

  “And how did you know that?”

  “Because he had told me about it before, that he wanted to do it.”

  Furious whispering erupts from the table where Ms. Fairweather and Marisol sit with the defendant.

  Judge Pollard raises her eyebrows. “Anything to share with the class, Counsel?”