Born to Serve Justice – Extended Epilogue

The prosecuting attorney was good, a man of great bravado. He had the jury’s attention, and that of presiding judge Yule Cousins, beady eyes squinting under his bald pate.

“The case is terribly clear,” he said, addressing the jury. “This man, this Jerald Dean, attacked and killed a man, with his bare hands!” The prosecuting attorney, William Armstrong, held his empty hands up like claws. “He doesn’t even contest the fact! We’re here not as a matter of deliberation at all, but to prove that the law holds true. Murder is a crime, homicide, and the man does not even proclaim his innocence! You heard from witnesses, you heard from the man himself!”

The jury looked solemnly at the attorney, then at Jerry at the stand.

“Don’t be fooled by his innocent appearance. Handsome is as handsome does.”

The lawyer stepped down and Cam stood up. “Permission to cross examine the witness.”

The judge nodded and Cam approached the witness stand.

“Mister Dean, thank you for taking the stand once again.” Jerry nodded, a humble and nervous smile on his face. “You wanted the chance to address the jury.”

“Yes, counselor, yes.” The young man stammered, mouth open even as no words came out.

Cam said, “Take your time, Jerry, it’s okay.”

“Well, I…it’s this…I…”

“You have a stutter, Jerry, it’s all right.”

Jerry went on trying to talk. The more he tried, the more he became entangled in his intent.

“This fellow knew about your problem, he was teasing you about it. We’ve already heard the witnesses describing the altercation. You tried to avoid the conflict, we’ve heard that. But the man badgered you.”

Jerry nodded, mouth open with no words coming out. “He badgered you…beyond the limits of your tolerance and, with no other way to express yourself, you did so…with a blow.” He turned to the jury. “A single blow to the head, not a protracted beating, but a single blow, struck in righteous, reasonable anger.”

Jerry tried to speak, but couldn’t. “Tell them, Jerry. Speak, young man, defend yourself.” Jerry tried, but could say nothing. “You can see the fellow is struck dumb by his condition. His stuttering is so crippling that the defendant cannot be held responsible for his actions under these circumstances.”

Cam let the jury look at the young man, his face a mask of tortured frustration.

“But there’s more to the story,” Cam said, “facts which must now come to light.”

Jerry shook his head. “N-n-n-no, p-p-p-p-pl-l-l-lease—”

“Thank you for your testimony, you may step down.”

“N-n-n-n-no…”

Cam stared the man. “Step down, Mr. Dean.” Jerry slowly stepped down from the witness stand. Cam said, “The defense calls to the stand, Miss Victoria Hume.” The crowd hushed as a pretty young woman stood slowly. Cam smiled and nodded and gestured toward the witness stand. She was a lithe blonde with a dignified air. She was quite comely and pleasing, despite her evident humility.

The Jefferson City Star’s chief reporter, Bart Rutherford, scribbled into his paper pad.

The bailiff swore the witness in and she sat down in the witness chair.

“State your name for record, please?”

“Victoria Hume.”

“And you’re the sister of the deceased, Marvin Hume.”

“That’s right, yes.”

“And you have some association with the defendant, Jerald Dean?”

She nervously nodded, biting her lower lip. “I do, yes.”

“And will you tell the court, please, the nature of that association?”

The young lady cleared her throat. “I…I dated Jerry.”

“You dated the defendant. What is a serious courtship?”

Victoria shook her head. “We only had a few dates.”

“Do you recall how many dates, Miss Hume?”

“Three, I believe.”

“Three. A brief courtship then.” Victoria nodded, looking down at her gloved hands in her lap. Cam went on to ask, “And why was it so brief, may I ask?”

“I…I really shouldn’t say.”

“Miss Hume, a man’s life is at stake.”

The prosecuting attorney stood from behind his table. “Objection, Your Honor, badgering the witness.”

“Overruled,” the judge said.

“A man’s life has already been lost,” Victoria said, “my brother. And he was a good man, killed by this monster!”

The spectators grumbled in a shocked hush, but Judge Cousins’ gavel quieted them quickly. The judge said, “The witness will answer the question.”

Victoria looked around with a guilty air before shrugging. “I…he…”

“Speak it, Miss Hume.”

“He…he’s an old-fashioned young man, but I suppose…I’m not quite so old fashioned as he.”

“I don’t take your meaning, Miss Hume.”

“He…he expressed an interest in marriage…long before I could admit to such an interest.”

“I see,” Cam said. “You spurned his proposal then?”

“No, I…actually, he was the one who spurned my proposal.”

“You proposed marriage?”

After a long silence, she answered, “No…not marriage.”

A suspicious hum rose up from the crowd, once more silenced by the judge’s gavel. Cam said to Victoria, “I’m sorry if this embarrasses you, Miss Hume. But it’s vital that the jury knows the particulars of the case, in full, before they render their judgment.”

“I…I was ready to…I admit, it’s disgraceful, but…”

“But you were willing to lie with him.”

“Yes.”

The prosecutor stood again. “Objection, leading the witness.”

“Sustained.”

“Say it,” Cam said to Victoria. “In your own words.”

“It’s true,” Victoria said.

Cam repeated, “Say it!”

“Objection,” the prosecutor said. “Badgering the witness.”

“Overruled, the witness will answer the question fully and clearly.”

“I was…I was ready to lie with him,” Victoria said, the crowd muttering and grumbling until the judge silenced them again.

“I will hold you all in contempt,” Judge Cousins shouted, pounding his gavel to hush the crowd. “I won’t warn you again!” The courtroom went silent, all eyes on the pretty young witness.

Cam said, “So, you proposed an intimate liaison between the two of you, and he turned you down.”

“Yes.”

“May I ask…did he give you a reason?”

“He was…he couldn’t.”

To clarify, Cam asked, “He couldn’t give you a reason?”

“Well no, he…he became all tongue-tied, as you see, even worse. I tried to calm him down, but…he was just…afraid, I suppose.”

“I see,” Cam said. “I imagine you’ve come across this before, a girl as pretty as yourself, surrounded by…unsophisticated farm boys like my client.” Victoria seemed to consider it, shrugging one shoulder. Cam asked, “Was this a first in your…considerable experience?”

“It is not considerable,” Victoria said, the crowd murmuring once again. “You brute!”

“Your opinions of me notwithstanding,” Cam went on, “you parted company.”

“Yes.”

“And you returned to your brother, and relayed this sorry tale.”

Victoria’s eyes shifted around the room. “He was my brother; he asked after my doings.”

“Did you always report to your brother in that way?”

“Objection,” the prosecutor said, “irrelevant.”

Cam said, “I’m making a point, Your Honor.”

“Make it then, counselor. The objection is overruled and the witness will answer the question.”

“My brother and I were close,” Victoria said. “He asked and I told him.”

“You told him that you’d been spurned? You told him you’d been turned away.”

“I told it to him the way it happened.”

“And what was his reaction?” Victoria shrugged, but she did not answer. So Cam repeated the question with a sterner tone. “What was his reaction.”

“He…he felt I’d been treated poorly.”

Cam clarified, “He felt your dignity had been assailed.”

“Yes.”

“Because he was too nervous to bed you, as you had hoped he would.”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t feel…compromised, telling your brother that you’d been spurned that way?”

“No.”

Cam repeated, “No?”

“No,” Victoria repeated.

“You didn’t…embellish the facts? You didn’t suggest that the defendant was ready to satisfy your lust, but that he simply could not?”

“No.”

“Despite his best efforts?”

“No!”

“And this was what your brother brought to the defendant, charges of being…less than a man.”

“I wasn’t there.”

“Only that would have so upset the defendant that way, Miss Hume. He has no other reason to react so strongly. And to know that others were aware of it, when it wasn’t even true! But you’d taunted him with that at the very moment he turned you down, didn’t you?”

“No!”

“To cover up your rejection,” Cam went on, “you made assumptions and accusations that only made the defendant withdraw further into his crippling behavior.”

“If the man is insane in this way, crippled or what have you, that’s nothing to do with me.”

“But it is to do with your brother, who provoked my client beyond tolerance. To be falsely accused of such a thing, by a woman he truly wanted but denied himself for religious reasons, because he didn’t believe in sex before marriage…this was heart-crushing to my client! But what did you care? You have no appreciation for the sanctity of marriage or the blessings of virginity!”

“Objection,” the prosecutor said. “The witness is not on trial here.”

“It speaks to the witness’ character,” Cam said.

“Sustained,” Judge Cousins said.

Cam went on, “Miss Hume, it’s no great crime to lie to your brother, but it is a crime to defame a man’s reputation, and it’s a crime to tell a lie in this courtroom when you’re under oath.”

“Objection,” the prosecutor said, “badgering.”

“Overruled.”

“If you perjure yourself in this courtroom, you could wind up in jail yourself, Miss Hume, for years. Your pretty face won’t do you much good there, Miss Hume. On the contrary—”

“All right, all right,” Victoria said. “Yes, it’s true, it’s true. And my brother, he…he wanted everyone to know, so that my reputation wasn’t corrupted.” She broke out sobbing, pressing those white lace gloves over her face. “God help me, I’m so sorry…so sorry…”

“The witness is dismissed.”

The bailiff escorted Victoria off the witness stand as Cam turned to the jury. “Clearly, the man was pushed beyond endurance by lies, defamation of his character. Ask yourselves, gentlemen of the jury, what you would do in this young man’s place. Were it me, I’d have been moved to strike him myself.” Cam turned to the judge. “The defense rests, your honor.”

The teams returned to make their closing statements the next day, and the jury retired to a private room to deliberate.

Cam waited with the defendant, who was moved to a holding cell installed in the courthouse. The poor young man was facing a death sentence. If found guilty, he’d either hang by the neck or spend fifty years in a federal prison, a slow death that Cam wouldn’t wish upon anyone but the truly guilty.

Jerry seemed calm in the cell, and Cam guessed it was because the young man had already consigned himself to a guilty verdict. He said, “If…if they hold against me, I want to make a plea…to be executed.”

Cam was not surprised, and he could sympathize. Cam himself would rather die than be imprisoned. But he knew it was his moral and legal obligation to counsel to the contrary. “You could always be released early with good behavior, or even set free. I’ll appeal the verdict—”

“Whatever you can do, I’d sure appreciate. But I’d much rather hang quick than rot away slow in one o’ them places. That ain’t no kind of life.”

Cam had to nod, the only necessary affirmation of the young man’s wishes, or of their wisdom.

“You’ll make my case then, if that’s how it turns out?”

Cam nodded. “My duty is to pursue your interests to the best of my ability, Jerry. That won’t end at trial.” Jerry smiled from behind those bars, but it didn’t last long.

After a sad silence, Jerry asked, “You believe in God, Mr. Teech?”

“I do, Jerry, yes. I…I don’t claim to always be able to rightly understand His ways, and I live by the laws of man. But those are largely the laws of God as well. The two needn’t be in conflict, not to my way of thinking.”

Jerry nodded. “I believe in God, and I believe he forgives me.”

“I’m sure he does,” Cam said, “for whatever your transgressions are. And as to this one, I believe deserve to be set free, Jerry. And if it means anything, I believe they will set you free.”

Jerry looked like he was trying to smile. “I’m hopin’ and prayin’, but…it’s the hopin’ that hurts most.”

“Well, you’ve still got prayer.”

“Yeah. Counselor, you said you had kids, didn’t you?”

“Two of them, a son almost four, little girl of two.”

“And your wife, she’s that woman preacher, s’that right?”

“It is,” Cam said. “Pastor, more precisely.”

Jerry just stared off. “I ain’t got no kids, obviously. I thought maybe…maybe Miss Hume and I would… Oh well, no point thinkin’ on it now.”

“No,” Cam said softly, “I don’t suppose there is.”

“You think…if I wind up swingin’, you think maybe yer wife could preside over my buryin’?”

Cam gave it some thought. “A female pastor, you’re sure? A lot of men would balk.”

Jerry cracked out a little laugh. “Not me, I’d be grateful. I don’t think there’s anything too wrong with it, not at all. Won’t be long before, who knows, women might even get a vote in things. Not that I’ll live to see it.”

“Nor I,” Cam said.

The bailiff stepped in to the holding cell area. “Jury’s in.” Cam and Jerry both stood, on opposite sides of the little cell as the bailiff opened the cell door.

Cam asked, “You ready?”

Jerry nodded. “Might as well get this over an’ done with.” Cam followed the young man out, escorted as he was by the bailiff himself. They re-entered the courtroom together, remaining standing while the judge, Yule Cousins, entered and sat down, rapping his gavel as a sign for the others to sit. Cam and Jerry remained standing.

The judge asked the jury foreman, “Have you reached a verdict?”

One man stood. “We have, your honor.”

“And how do you find?”

“In the case of the People of Missouri versus Jerald Samuel Dean, on one count of murder against the decedent, Marvin Roger Hume, we jury in the above-mentioned action do hereby find the defendant…not guilty of the charges as specified.

The courtroom was awash in a muttered hush, Judge Cousins rapping his gavel to silence the spectators.

The judge said, “The verdict is so recorded and these proceedings declared dismissed. The defendant is free to go, the jurors are released from their duties. Case dismissed.” The judge pounded the gavel and the courtroom broke out into a hundred different conversations.

Jerry turned and embraced Cam, slapping him on the back. “Thank you, counselor, thank you so much.”

Cam could feel the relief in the man’s embrace, and he shared it. It was a just verdict, fair, but there had been guarantee that this would have been the verdict. Even in front of Camden Teech, injustice was common in courts across the country.

But Cam, and justice, had both prevailed that day, and a senseless waste of life prevented. It was moments like that which gave Camden hope for his nation, his species. If people could remain openminded and openhearted, ready to put their prejudices aside, then the future of the United States seemed secure. And it would need that security, with talk of war growing louder all around them. Cam and his family would soon find themselves in a battle that no courthouse could contain. All of Cam’s cleverness would only come to so much when brother took arms against brother for the soul of the country.

But that was a fight for another day. Cam turned to escort Jerry out of the courtroom, and reliable Bart Rutherford approached with his paper tablet. “Any words for the people of Jefferson City, Mr. Dean?”

“I’m just grateful to live in such a lawful place as this,” Jerry said, “in the greatest country in the world, these United States of America.”

Bart asked Cam, “And you, counselor? It’s another win in your sterling record.”

“My only concern is my client’s rights,” Cam said. “You can assure your readers that a good and decent man has been returned to their community. And if, in the future, any of your readers find themselves accused, whether they think it’s fair or not, they should come to me, or any of the fine attorneys we have here in Jefferson City, Missouri. You’ll get a fair trial here, if I have anything to say about it.”

“Jerry?”

Cam, Jerry, and Bart turned to see Victoria Hume standing there, head low and hands folded in front of her. “Jerry, I…I just wanted to…to apologize, and tell you how truly sorry I am. I didn’t know my brother would behave the way he did, or that would had happened would have happened, or I would never have…and I didn’t mean to… Anyway, I’m sorry, Jerry, that’s all, I’m…I’m just really, really sorry.”

Victoria turned and ran out of the courtroom, the sound of sobs surrounding her. And she was not the only woman who was suddenly focused on him. Young women in the spectator’s section were eyeing him, some actually winking at them, discarding the formalities of the court.

Cam asked him, “Think you’ll be able to forgive Miss Hume?”

Jerry shrugged. “That’s what the Lord says to do. But in the meantime, I think I’ll stay single a mite while longer.”

Cam smiled and clapped his hand on Jerry’s shoulder. “When you finally do, maybe my wife could officiate. A lot of men would balk.”

Jerry nodded. “Not me, I’d be grateful.”

THE END

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