The Finale...
Ooops. I said I would come back, and I didn't. I guess I just got on with living life, and I'm certainly not going to apologize for that! But here is the story of the trial - I'll get back with my closing comments on the next post because this one is going to be LONG as it is...
First of all - everything is DONE. The last time I posted it was Wednesday, April 11th. That was the day that we went to court for the first offender and he was sentenced to 25 years. On that same day, the second offender was supposed to let us know if he was going to accept the 25 years that he was initially offered or if he was going to go to PSI or to trial. Well, when offender #1 got 25 years, the 25 years we had offered to offender #2 came off of the table and he was offered 30 years instead. He wanted to take a couple of days to think about it and on Friday, April 13th I was getting a pedicure and got a call from Mia who let me know that he had plead guilty and accepted the state's offer of 30 years. Which is probably the smartest thing he could have done... and with that, it was finished.
If you're wondering why I say it was the best thing he could have done, I'll explain that a little bit in the story of what went on in the courtroom the first time around. Essentially the judge was more of a hardass than anyone could have expected. We all got there that morning (me, 3 of my girlfriends, my parents and my friend Anita with her husband). Mia came up to me and gave me the written statement that the offender had submitted along with multiple letters of recommendation. As I was reading the statement I just started shaking my head no - she came over to me and said that she figured I would have objections (what he had written was NOT what had occured) and asked Anita and I to go into one of the witness rooms to talk with her. I underlined everything in the story that was wrong and Mia let Anita know what she could expect on the stand (reminder: Anita was the one I was on the phone with when the attack occured and she heard 45 minutes of the attack - not to mention she was the one that had to notify my parents, etc.). We get back into the courtroom and everything gets started. Let me take a break to note that this was an open courtroom filled with various people - the docket that day contained a variety of cases and the witnesses for other cases, family members of other offenders, supporters, etc. were all in the courtroom when the trial started. I wasn't quite expecting that, but it is what it is...
Anita was the first one on the stand and did a tremendous job - I will say that it was odd hearing the story from a completely different perspective than my own. I knew what she had heard as I had lived it, but I had never really talked to her about what she felt while it was going on and when she had to call my parents. The statement that hit me the hardest was when Mia asked her what she thought when the phone connection got cut off after 45 minutes and her reply was "I thought that was the last time I would ever hear my friend's voice again..." Next up was me.
Mia had told me in a meeting that Monday that I needed to loosen up a bit - I needed to be real and transparent and let my guard down. I did pretty well. There were a few tears, but that was to be expected. The only real excitement during my testimony came when I was asked if they sounded at any time like they were bragging (Side note: the offender's spin on events was that he was just a go-along guy - he didn't want to do it - he wasn't the driver(which he was) and he told the other guy that they shouldn't be doing this, but he wanted a good recommendation to get into the gang that the guy was in, so he went along with it. This isn't true - he was actually already in a gang and it wasn't the same gang that the second guy was in). Anyways - when I was asked that question I stated what they said IN THE WAY that it was said (i.e. I used a ghetto-ish voice). What I said was "We done good, we done good..." (I'm not really sure how to imitate such horrible grammar other than to say it the way that I did - I wasn't being rude, I was just stating what they had said). Well, when I said that all of a sudden there was an erruption in the back of the courtroom right behind the row where my family and friends sat. A big black guy obviously objected to the way I said things - come to find out, it was the offender's brother. The baliff got over there and escorted him out of the courtroom until he calmed down and came back in later. Anyways - I finished everything I was asked by Mia and then it was time for a cross-examination. The defense attorney came over and asked me if I could visually pinpoint his client as the attacker. I told him that I could not as either they had blindfolds on, or I was blindfolded for the entire encounter. I have maintained that from the beginning as it is the truth.
Anyways - after I was done, the prosecution rested. Mia had told me that they were not calling any witnesses, but I guess they changed their mind because the next thing you know, the offender took the stand. He made a BIG mistake. His defense attorney tried to make him look like a kid that had just made a mistake and was trying to do the right thing now. He said that everything I had said was true except that he wasn't the one driving (he claimed that I was confused about that since I was blindfolded, but I had my berings - I'm 100% confident that I knew what was happening by whom at all times). After his attorney was done, Mia got ahold of him. Oh goodness. This was fun. She tripped him up all over the place, but my favorite part was the following:
Mia: You said you were sorry. Exactly when did you become sorry?
Him: Right away - I knew what we was doing wasn't right (might I add that he mumbled for the most part and many things he said were undecipherable).
Mia: Right away? You were so sorry that when you were brought in for a charge of trespassing (this happened the week after he attacked me), you chose to not say anything to the judge?
Him: (He essentially claimed that he told his lawyer, but that his lawyer told him not to say anything - just get out on probation for the trespassing charge and then turn himself in on the other stuff. That's pretty much a 100% unbelieveable story.)
Mia: You're so sorry that when the detectives in this case picked you up the first time, you denied having anything to do with this. You're so sorry, that when the detectives questioned you a second time AND showed you a picture of yourself, you claimed it wasn't you. You're sorry? All day long you've been calling her 'the victim' and 'the lady'. If you're sorry, tell me her name...
Him: Uh, well, uh, I, uh, don't think, uh, that I deserve, uh, that I have the right, uh, to say her name (essentially he was saying he didn't deserve to even say my name).
Mia: What is her name?
Him: (pretty much a repeat of above)
Mia: WHAT IS HER NAME?
Him: Heather (VERY MUCH slurred and mumbled) - it could have been Helen or Ellen as well, but it dang sure wasn't anything near the name Reneé, I can tell you that much... (Sidenote: by this time in the trial, between Anita and I, my name had been stated probably at LEAST 20 times)...
He then stated that he knew my last name, which he did, and that's all they ever let him see - they never told him my first name - but obviously my name had been said throughout the trial, so that point was invalid.
Ok - back to it - so they finish up with him and he looked like a complete moron - it did not bode well at all. Then it was time for closing arguments. The defense went first and essentially said that he was a young kid that was mentally challenged and grew up on the streets. He realized that what he did was wrong and asked the state for probation. Then came Mia - she laid it down - said that she didn't buy that he was young and dumb as he made a calculated decision that affected the entire life of another person and all because he wanted to look good for a gang. To look good for an organization that by its' very nature did harm to innocent people and defied the law at every turn. She didn't buy that he deserved a second chance - because I would never have a second chance. She then asked the judge to think about me, rather than about the offender as I was the one that would have to deal with this for the rest of my life and that was not by a decision I had made... She asked for 20 years.
At this point, I thought the window for punishment would be from probation to 20 years. You could not read the judge throughout the entire proceeding, so I had no idea what was coming. Keep in mind that we had initally offered him 15 years, and he took his chances thinking that he would definitely get less than 15 years if he let the judge sentence him. The judge asked him to stand and this is a synopsis of what he said:
"In your statement you say that you have renewed your faith in God, and I hope you can find peace with God about this situation at some point. But today isn't between you and God - today is between you and the state of Texas. I am charged with the question of whether or not I can trust you. Whether or not the state of Texas can trust you. Because if I am to sentence you to probation, I have to trust that you will do the right thing. It comes down to the fact that everybody has two sides to them -the side they want the world to see and who you REALLY are. I have mulitple recommendation letters here - from your pastor, your principal, your family - all stating that deep down you are a good kid. But that's the person that you want them to see. Who you REALLY are, the person when nobody else is watching, is the person that completely changed the life of this girl. That's who you REALLY are. And I can't trust that person. I hereby sentence you to 25 years....
COURTROOM ERUPTED.
We definitely figured out who all of the family members were at this point. There were two large black women that started screaming and wailing and almost crawling out of the courtroom they were so distraught. One of the brothers, the one that had caused problems slammed his fist into the wooden bench he was sitting on and shouted out "Oh no!" At this point, my family and friends all around me are bawling - my mom on one side of me, my friend Melissa on the other and everyone is crying. I am shocked. It's as if everything was going on all around me and I was just staring at the judge trying to absorb what was just said. At that point, when the judge heard the brother, he looked over at him, said "Oh no... YEAH." rolled his eyes and walked out of the courtroom. It was NUTS!! Tons of people came over to congratulate us, offer their sympathy for the situation and were glad that it was all over for me and he got what he deserved. We had to stay in the courtroom for ~30 minutes to allow his family time to get out of the building as they didn't want us to end up in the elevators together. The baliff finally came over and escorted us all out via a private elevator and watched us walk to our vehicles...
Then it was time for lunch and a margarita on the rocks with salt... It was a great, great day...
First of all - everything is DONE. The last time I posted it was Wednesday, April 11th. That was the day that we went to court for the first offender and he was sentenced to 25 years. On that same day, the second offender was supposed to let us know if he was going to accept the 25 years that he was initially offered or if he was going to go to PSI or to trial. Well, when offender #1 got 25 years, the 25 years we had offered to offender #2 came off of the table and he was offered 30 years instead. He wanted to take a couple of days to think about it and on Friday, April 13th I was getting a pedicure and got a call from Mia who let me know that he had plead guilty and accepted the state's offer of 30 years. Which is probably the smartest thing he could have done... and with that, it was finished.
If you're wondering why I say it was the best thing he could have done, I'll explain that a little bit in the story of what went on in the courtroom the first time around. Essentially the judge was more of a hardass than anyone could have expected. We all got there that morning (me, 3 of my girlfriends, my parents and my friend Anita with her husband). Mia came up to me and gave me the written statement that the offender had submitted along with multiple letters of recommendation. As I was reading the statement I just started shaking my head no - she came over to me and said that she figured I would have objections (what he had written was NOT what had occured) and asked Anita and I to go into one of the witness rooms to talk with her. I underlined everything in the story that was wrong and Mia let Anita know what she could expect on the stand (reminder: Anita was the one I was on the phone with when the attack occured and she heard 45 minutes of the attack - not to mention she was the one that had to notify my parents, etc.). We get back into the courtroom and everything gets started. Let me take a break to note that this was an open courtroom filled with various people - the docket that day contained a variety of cases and the witnesses for other cases, family members of other offenders, supporters, etc. were all in the courtroom when the trial started. I wasn't quite expecting that, but it is what it is...
Anita was the first one on the stand and did a tremendous job - I will say that it was odd hearing the story from a completely different perspective than my own. I knew what she had heard as I had lived it, but I had never really talked to her about what she felt while it was going on and when she had to call my parents. The statement that hit me the hardest was when Mia asked her what she thought when the phone connection got cut off after 45 minutes and her reply was "I thought that was the last time I would ever hear my friend's voice again..." Next up was me.
Mia had told me in a meeting that Monday that I needed to loosen up a bit - I needed to be real and transparent and let my guard down. I did pretty well. There were a few tears, but that was to be expected. The only real excitement during my testimony came when I was asked if they sounded at any time like they were bragging (Side note: the offender's spin on events was that he was just a go-along guy - he didn't want to do it - he wasn't the driver(which he was) and he told the other guy that they shouldn't be doing this, but he wanted a good recommendation to get into the gang that the guy was in, so he went along with it. This isn't true - he was actually already in a gang and it wasn't the same gang that the second guy was in). Anyways - when I was asked that question I stated what they said IN THE WAY that it was said (i.e. I used a ghetto-ish voice). What I said was "We done good, we done good..." (I'm not really sure how to imitate such horrible grammar other than to say it the way that I did - I wasn't being rude, I was just stating what they had said). Well, when I said that all of a sudden there was an erruption in the back of the courtroom right behind the row where my family and friends sat. A big black guy obviously objected to the way I said things - come to find out, it was the offender's brother. The baliff got over there and escorted him out of the courtroom until he calmed down and came back in later. Anyways - I finished everything I was asked by Mia and then it was time for a cross-examination. The defense attorney came over and asked me if I could visually pinpoint his client as the attacker. I told him that I could not as either they had blindfolds on, or I was blindfolded for the entire encounter. I have maintained that from the beginning as it is the truth.
Anyways - after I was done, the prosecution rested. Mia had told me that they were not calling any witnesses, but I guess they changed their mind because the next thing you know, the offender took the stand. He made a BIG mistake. His defense attorney tried to make him look like a kid that had just made a mistake and was trying to do the right thing now. He said that everything I had said was true except that he wasn't the one driving (he claimed that I was confused about that since I was blindfolded, but I had my berings - I'm 100% confident that I knew what was happening by whom at all times). After his attorney was done, Mia got ahold of him. Oh goodness. This was fun. She tripped him up all over the place, but my favorite part was the following:
Mia: You said you were sorry. Exactly when did you become sorry?
Him: Right away - I knew what we was doing wasn't right (might I add that he mumbled for the most part and many things he said were undecipherable).
Mia: Right away? You were so sorry that when you were brought in for a charge of trespassing (this happened the week after he attacked me), you chose to not say anything to the judge?
Him: (He essentially claimed that he told his lawyer, but that his lawyer told him not to say anything - just get out on probation for the trespassing charge and then turn himself in on the other stuff. That's pretty much a 100% unbelieveable story.)
Mia: You're so sorry that when the detectives in this case picked you up the first time, you denied having anything to do with this. You're so sorry, that when the detectives questioned you a second time AND showed you a picture of yourself, you claimed it wasn't you. You're sorry? All day long you've been calling her 'the victim' and 'the lady'. If you're sorry, tell me her name...
Him: Uh, well, uh, I, uh, don't think, uh, that I deserve, uh, that I have the right, uh, to say her name (essentially he was saying he didn't deserve to even say my name).
Mia: What is her name?
Him: (pretty much a repeat of above)
Mia: WHAT IS HER NAME?
Him: Heather (VERY MUCH slurred and mumbled) - it could have been Helen or Ellen as well, but it dang sure wasn't anything near the name Reneé, I can tell you that much... (Sidenote: by this time in the trial, between Anita and I, my name had been stated probably at LEAST 20 times)...
He then stated that he knew my last name, which he did, and that's all they ever let him see - they never told him my first name - but obviously my name had been said throughout the trial, so that point was invalid.
Ok - back to it - so they finish up with him and he looked like a complete moron - it did not bode well at all. Then it was time for closing arguments. The defense went first and essentially said that he was a young kid that was mentally challenged and grew up on the streets. He realized that what he did was wrong and asked the state for probation. Then came Mia - she laid it down - said that she didn't buy that he was young and dumb as he made a calculated decision that affected the entire life of another person and all because he wanted to look good for a gang. To look good for an organization that by its' very nature did harm to innocent people and defied the law at every turn. She didn't buy that he deserved a second chance - because I would never have a second chance. She then asked the judge to think about me, rather than about the offender as I was the one that would have to deal with this for the rest of my life and that was not by a decision I had made... She asked for 20 years.
At this point, I thought the window for punishment would be from probation to 20 years. You could not read the judge throughout the entire proceeding, so I had no idea what was coming. Keep in mind that we had initally offered him 15 years, and he took his chances thinking that he would definitely get less than 15 years if he let the judge sentence him. The judge asked him to stand and this is a synopsis of what he said:
"In your statement you say that you have renewed your faith in God, and I hope you can find peace with God about this situation at some point. But today isn't between you and God - today is between you and the state of Texas. I am charged with the question of whether or not I can trust you. Whether or not the state of Texas can trust you. Because if I am to sentence you to probation, I have to trust that you will do the right thing. It comes down to the fact that everybody has two sides to them -the side they want the world to see and who you REALLY are. I have mulitple recommendation letters here - from your pastor, your principal, your family - all stating that deep down you are a good kid. But that's the person that you want them to see. Who you REALLY are, the person when nobody else is watching, is the person that completely changed the life of this girl. That's who you REALLY are. And I can't trust that person. I hereby sentence you to 25 years....
COURTROOM ERUPTED.
We definitely figured out who all of the family members were at this point. There were two large black women that started screaming and wailing and almost crawling out of the courtroom they were so distraught. One of the brothers, the one that had caused problems slammed his fist into the wooden bench he was sitting on and shouted out "Oh no!" At this point, my family and friends all around me are bawling - my mom on one side of me, my friend Melissa on the other and everyone is crying. I am shocked. It's as if everything was going on all around me and I was just staring at the judge trying to absorb what was just said. At that point, when the judge heard the brother, he looked over at him, said "Oh no... YEAH." rolled his eyes and walked out of the courtroom. It was NUTS!! Tons of people came over to congratulate us, offer their sympathy for the situation and were glad that it was all over for me and he got what he deserved. We had to stay in the courtroom for ~30 minutes to allow his family time to get out of the building as they didn't want us to end up in the elevators together. The baliff finally came over and escorted us all out via a private elevator and watched us walk to our vehicles...
Then it was time for lunch and a margarita on the rocks with salt... It was a great, great day...
posted by Renee at 10:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home