Light In The Darkness

21 - Trials, part 1

"Case number 17-4-01023. Mr. Dick Trevor filing for full custody over Levi Jones against ex-partner Miss. Harmony Jones." Judge Winters read over the case out loud. "Mr. Trevor is claiming that his ex-partner is unfit to take care of their son due to her violent and unpredictable behavior, thus filing for custody. The plaintiff may begin their opening statement."

Dick's attorney stood up and started their statement. "Your honor we are here today out of concern for a 4-year-old boy living under the care of someone who has known to be violent throughout her life. Miss. Jones has quite the criminal record and has served time in jail on multiple occasions. Even now she works a violent and sometimes very dangerous job. Her job keeps her from home for long periods of time which leaves the boy to the care of others. To my client this appears as if Miss. Jones values her work over her son. In summary my client finds the defendant violent, irresponsible and unfit as a parent. Thank you, your honor."

"Alright now let's hear from the defendant." Judge winters said and looked to my lawyer, Mr. Gonzales.

"Your honor, the issues brought up by the plaintiff are nothing but bogus." Mr. Gonzales started as he got up. "Miss. Jones loves her son more than anything. Yes, she has a record but you'll see that for the last few years Miss. Jones rarely got herself in trouble. It is true that her job keeps her away from home for periods of time, she works for the wrestling promotion known as WWE as a wrestler. She doesn't value her job over her son though. She talked to him about it before accepting the job and the person that takes care of him while she's gone is his godparent, Lola Sanchez. Miss. Jones makes sure to call her son every day and sees him whenever she can. She even brought him on tour with the company over spring break a few weeks ago. The boy happens to be a big wrestling fan as well and he has made it known to be very proud of his mother on multiple occasions. Miss. Jones is doing the best she can as a mother, which isn't something we can say about Mr. Trevor. He has never been involved in his son's life and was not even present during the birth. Miss. Jones hadn't even had contact with him since before their son was born, only hearing from him again when she got notified that he was filing for custody. I wonder why that is. Why only bother with his son now, almost 5 years later?"

-

After the opening statements we were allowed to call witnesses. Normally the prosecutor would go first but to my surprise they allowed us to go first.

Windham was called as the first witness, giving me a reassuring smile before he went up to the stand.

"Mr. Rotunda, what is your relation to the defendant?" Mr. Gonzales asked her. He of course already knew but he wanted to make sure that everyone was aware of everything.

"I'm her current partner, boyfriend if you will." Windham answered. He found the terms boyfriend and girlfriend kind of childish so rather referred to me as his partner in life. I quite liked that about us. We were partners, not just boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Are you familiar with her son?" Mr. Gonzales followed up.

"I am. I met Levi before Miss. Jones and myself started dating. He is a good kid, very smart too." Windham confirmed.

"What is your opinion on the bond between Miss. Jones and her son?"

"I could see that their bond was strong right from the start. You can see how much she cares about him and vice versa." Windham informed him. "Harmony always worried about losing Levi in some kind of way, she's very protective of him but not overly so. She wants him to have a good future, the chance to do whatever he wants in life. He wants his mom to be happy, so much so that he accepted my relationship with her right away. He might only almost be 5 but he is very smart and is very aware of what happens around him."

"No further questions your honor." Mr. Gonzales said before sitting back down next to me.

"Would you like to cross-examine the witness?" Judge winters asked Dick and his attorney.

His attorney nodded and got up to question Windham. "Mr. Rotunda you stated that you are involved with the defendant, don't you think that might be influencing the way you see things?"

"Just because we are, as you put it, involved, doesn't mean that I can't recognize a good mother when I see one." Windham simply told him.

"Were you aware of Miss. Jones' troubled past?"

"I am, she told me all about it." Windham said honestly. "We don't have much secrets. She trusts me and I trust her."

"So, you don't think her past affects the way she raises their son?"

"Of course, it does but not in a negative way. Yes, she made mistakes, something that is perfectly human, but that doesn't make her irredeemable. No one is perfect. Not you, not me, no one. However, I know that Harmony will always try to prevent Levi making the same mistakes she did."

-

A lot of people were called as witnesses by us, after Windham we called forward Camila, Lola, Vince, Jon, Joseph, Adam, Abby, Leati and everyone else who had been willing. Currently we were interviewing our last witness, Jonathan.

"Mr. Good please explain the relationship between you and the defendant."

"Well, I'll be the first to admit that we did not start off on the right foot." Jonathan answered Mr. Gonzales. "That was on me just as much though. We are friends now though, Harmony turned out to be a pretty cool person."

"And her son? Have you seen them together?"

"Oh yes, when he was with her over his spring break." Jonathan nodded.

"Could you recall the first time you met the kid? Please tell us in your own words."

"Well, I was talking to my colleague and friend Mr. Anoa'i in catering. We were just finishing up when we heard laughter. Suddenly this kid ran into the catering area, laughing as he tried to find a place to hide. He came over to me and my colleague and asked us to help him hide. A few seconds later Harmony walked in with a smile of her own. She looked around and pretended not to see him, asking us if we had seen a little rascal. Apparently, he had tried to scare his mother so she figured he deserved to be tickled which is why she had been chasing him. It was honestly very funny to see them interact. Of course, me and my colleague played along. He is a very amusing kid and we loved having him backstage during his break. In my opinion Harmony was nothing but good to him."

"Thank you, Mr. Good. I have no further questions."

Of course, Dick's attorney got up to cross examine him "Mr. Good, you said you didn't start off on the right foot with Miss. Jones. Why was that?"

"Stupidity on my part. I didn't make an effort to get to know her which led to friction."

"Was Miss. Jones ever unnecessarily aggressive?"

"Honestly? Not really. Sure, she got defensive when it came to her friends but I get that."

"No further questions."

"Alright then, lets continue with the witnesses for the prosecution."

"We call Natalie Marie Coyle to the stand." Dick's attorney announced.

I frowned as the redhead made her way to the stand.

"Mrs. Coyle, could you please state your relationship to the defendant."

"Well, we work together. I'm a wrestler as well under the ring name Eva Marie."

"And how was your first encounter with Miss. Jones?"

"Honestly? Not great." Natalie told him. "It was when she walked into the locker room on her first night. A colleague of mine started talking to her, more like blabbering her ears off so I went over because I wanted to make sure that she wasn't bothered by it. I mean she was new and that is already nerve wrecking enough. But she lashed out to me without reason so I figured I shouldn't bother."

"Did miss. Jones get physical with you?" The attorney asked.

For some reason I felt the answer coming before she said it.

"Yes, she did."