Abuse

Chapter 23

    The court session had begun the next day, and I was seated at the left desk with my mother and dad. Kaleb, on the other hand, was on the right with his mother and dad beside him. He had a grumpy look on his face but had refused to speak to me. We shot our glances at each other and he snarled, but I didn't fear him under the protection of mom.

    "The court case shall now begin," The judge called, and an officer with a few papers had strolled up the red aisle to hand them to him.

    "Mrs. McCarthy, you may start," The officer called.

    "My daughter reports being brutally beaten by this boy," Mom explained, "And she tells me that he's beaten her half to death many times. I've heard her say that he slammed her head against my living room floor, elbowed her, punched her until she passed out, put her into chokeholds, pinned her down to restrict her movements, and many other abusive things. I came home to my daughter with bruises and pale skin, and I give props to her for opening up to me about such a serious manner, your honor."

    The judge shifted his look over to Kaleb, who was mumbling under his breath. He didn't take lightly to this, and asked Kaleb to speak louder.

    "You got something to say, boy?" The judge shouted, startling Kaleb in his seat.

    "N-no, sir." He replied timidly.

    "You better not, because I should throw you in prison immediately and see if you beat on them big boys. They'll turn you into a sissy real quick."

    After yelling at Kaleb, he turned his gaze back to my mother and leaned forward on his desk.

    "Officer McCarthy," He said, "When did all of this start happening? If you don't know the exact date, then tell me from what you know."

    "My daughter told me that this had been going on for months, but on my own end, I know not. I went out of state for something important, your honor."

    "And what was the important excuse for your absence, Officer McCarthy?"

"I had to go visit my mother because of her sickness, your honor. I excused myself with the sheriff."

"You're fine, Officer. Thank you for the information. We will now turn the case over to Mr. Jenkins."

And so he did. The entire courtroom had gotten quiet for a second as the judge flipped through a few papers. Mom slipped her hand into mine, squeezing the bond tight and causing me to flinch at first, but I immediately realized that it was her.

"I got you, baby. Don't let him scare you," She whispered, "Remember, I can fight."

"I love you too momma," I replied happily, knowing that I was safe in her presence. Finally, the judge had spoken up about the case to Kaleb and his parents.

"Mr. Jenkins, I would like for you to explain the case to me from your end," He said.

"She's lying, your honor," Kaleb pleaded, "I never beat her. She's so used to taking makeup and smearing it all over her face and then blaming me for it. Lillian has wanted me in jail for so long now, and you can tell from the smirk that she has on her face right now."

The judge shot his glance at me, but my smile had already left. The lies escaping his lips made me feel slightly less sympathetic toward his death sentence, but I still refused to revert on my appeal.

"Mr. Jenkins," He contended, "Why on Earth would a woman like this possibly lie about abuse?"

"She wants me to put away for good, your honor," He lied, "She wants me to be put in prison, and she figured that the only way would be to frame me for a crime."

"You liar!" I cried, "Liar, liar, liar! You pinned me down and punched bruises on my face because I read a book with another guy! You knew what you were doing, and yet you still beat me!"

"Shut up, Lillian! You know not what you're talking about!"

"I know that your tongue spews tales!"

He tried to leap over the desk, but mom gave him a death stare. My confidence was high under her protection, and I gave him a mean look back. The judge slammed his gavel down, announcing the order in the court and silence shriveled through the room.

"Ma'am," The Judge asked, "Do you have evidence to support your claim? If not, then I will leave the decision to the jury."

In silence and hesitation, I sat there. Kaleb let out a small smirk, knowing that I had not even the smallest piece of evidence to support my claim, but something drastic had happened.

The double doors to the court had opened, and Desire stood behind them. She revealed herself with a phone and some papers.

"They're with me, your honor!" She shouted, "I apologize for being late!"

"Nurse Trent," Replied the Judge, "Approach with the evidence of the case on Mrs. McCarthy's behalf."

The entire crowd shifted their gaze her way as she strolled up to the desk with pictures of him beating on me at the fair. She had also caught a video of him elbowing me at Walmart, and beating Marcus to near death. Surprisingly, she had caught almost everything and come at the perfect time to expose it all.

He shuffled through the pictures carefully and played the video aloud. Throughout it, the crowd could hear me screaming for help and begging him to stop, followed by the thud of many heavy punches and the smacking sound of the collision to my face.

"You'd better be lucky this ain't a child of mine," He growled, "Because I would have you suffering a pain worse than prison. You sat there and lied to my face to protect your reputation of beating the near life out of this young lady?"

"Your honor," Kaleb stuttered.

"Shut up! I talk, you listen!"

The loud holler of the judge had struck fear in the entire court, even my mother. We stood petrified before him, wondering what he would say about the case. All of the sudden, I felt my confidence to appeal for his life disappear.

"My jury has made their decision," He called, and the officer assisting him had collected the papers of all jury members. Mom could see how nervous I was to hear the decision, and she squeezed me into a hug to assure me that I was protected.

"By the court and the jury, you are hereby found guilty of attempted murder and domestic violence. For this, we will be sentencing you to death due to your extremities."

The crowd nodded in agreement, and some even muttered among each other. Tears formed in Kaleb's eyes as he shot his glance of sorrow toward me, regretting all that he had done to me.

"No, your honor! I plead against this!" I shouted, and he turned his gaze to me, "Please, just give him life in prison. He may have abused me and attempted to kill me, but he doesn't deserve the death sentence because of this. I know it is rude of me to speak against you like this, but please!"

The judge looked back at his jury for a minute before redirecting his gaze towards me, tapping his pen on the desk repeatedly. For a while, it had almost seemed like he wasn't going to listen, and I was more than sure that I had pleaded for nothing.