The Bros

The Bros - Chapter 9 (Who Did It)

The thing about being an attorney trying to prove your client is not guilty, is that it is not really about proving they are innocent, but about demonstrating enough reasonable doubt such that a jury can't convict them.

You have to convince a jury that your client didn't have a motive to commit the crime. Or that your client didn't have the time, opportunity or ability to commit the crime. You have to convince a jury that maybe somebody else was more likely to commit the crime than your client.

That presented a problem with this trial. With his history and notoriety, could she possibly convince anybody that he was innocent and would they even allow this trial to be heard based on facts, and not emotional opinions of her client?

Now, it was Eboni's job to try and get to the bottom of this. Why was the evidence disappearing? Why were so many facts being ignored? Who was this that wanted her to drop this case? Why did they want her to drop this case? So many questions.

Let's go back to the beginning and start over.

Who was Keisha Lashawn Winston? We knew she was a 10-year-old black girl, but who was she? Who would rape a 10-year-old girl and why would they? It has to be one sick individual to violate a little girl like that.

She was last seen at 4:07pm. What happened before that, what happened in the alley after that? We knew the surveillance video had gone missing, malfunctioned or whatever, but we needed to piece this all together. These are things Eboni had to figure out.

Eboni and I decided to walk the same path Keisha had taken that day, at the same time she did. We walked and noticed something—there was one house with a home surveillance system. What could this camera have picked up? Did they see Keisha that day walking by?

We went to approach the home owner and knocked on their door. "We are here investigating the murder of Keisha Winston, and noticed you have a security camera," I said to the home owner. When we asked if we could see their security footage from that day, it was as if they had seen a ghost.

The home owner was not cooperating at all. We knew many people feared Pookie, so I was not really shocked that nobody was willing to help him beat a case. They all felt that Pookie being in jail made their neighborhood safer and their life better.

We passed a storefront barber shop. This place always had customers and a glass front. I was sure somebody there had seen something. If nobody there had seen anything that day, I am sure they would have heard something. The barbershop is where everybody in the hood goes to get all the lowdown in the community.

Eboni and I walked into the barber shop. I stood by the door and just observed. I could tell there was a level of uneasiness in the room that was very defined and uncomfortable. Before she even spoke to anybody, I could see from the body language and facial expressions that this was not going to be fruitful.

She introduced herself to the owner, "I am here trying to investigate the Keisha Winston murder." His posture and stance told me he was in no mood to cooperate. He told her he did not know anything and did not see anything.

Eboni asked, "Do you know which barbers were working that day, maybe they saw something?" The owner said he did not recall who was working and that they did not see anything either.

Just by looking at their faces, I knew nobody in there was going to talk. Nobody in there would make eye contact because that would mean they would actually have to lie to our face. Easier to avoid eye contact and just not have to say anything. Eboni just decided to leave.

As we were walking out of the door, she stopped and turned around, "A little girl that lives here in your neighborhood, could be your sister, your daughter, your family member, has been raped and killed, and you cowards got some no snitch bullshit keeping you from finding her real killer. You all are a bunch of cowards." And with that we walked out.