After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 76

July 5, 1993. 9:09 AM.

The first ten minutes of the court day were always routine: all rise for the Honorable Judge Eldeson presiding, everybody sits, the jury is instructed to stand, they're sworn in, they sit, Barnes takes to the front of the courtroom and calls her first witness.

It was all done as it always was, but today, Ralph Langley's heart was pounding so hard he felt like he was going to puke it up.

"I must warn you in advance that the testimony you are about to hear will not follow the pattern you have all gotten used to over the last five months" Dana Barnes began. Ralph swallowed painfully. "In the cases against the previous fifteen defendants, the team of first responders were able to recover the sharpened sticks the defendants used to brutally murder the victim. You may have noticed that there are only twenty-one exhibits under the state's Exhibit H, but twenty-two defendants on trial for this murder. The members of the forensic team assigned to this case in early 1991 tested the DNA on all twenty-one sticks recovered, and as you will soon learn, none of them matched the fingerprinting report conducted on Ralph Langley on January 27th 1991 at the Senterra Princess Anne Hospital. You may think that the absence of recovered DNA matching Ralph Langley proves he's innocent, but I would like to remind you that missing evidence doesn't mean non-existing evidence. Just because we were unable to recover the evidence, that doesn't mean that the evidence isn't out there somewhere. And I assure you that it is, just as sure as I am that Simon Bennett's unrecovered body is out there somewhere too."

Ralph felt his mother squeeze his sweaty hand. He could hear his heartbeat in his head, and at the sound of his name, many sets of eyes turned on him. He now understood why Larry started sitting in the back when it was his turn. This was excruciating, that even when nobody was looking at him, it felt like everyone was somehow looking at him.

You didn't do it, Ralph reminded himself. But it was hard to forget that knowing it and proving it were two entirely different things.

"With all that said, the prosecution calls Michael Baleman to the stand" Barnes announced.

Immediately, Ralph recognized the man, or at least some past version of him. He couldn't pinpoint from where exactly, but he had a hunch that question was about to he answered for him. Ralph swallowed again, laced his sweaty fingers together, and prayed his heart would still be inside his chest at the end of the day.

Bailiff Boland swore in the witness before Barnes began to question him, revealing his long lost identity to the boy who hadn't seen him in two and a half years.

"What is your profession in relation to this case, Mr. Baleman?" Barnes asked.

"I am the Commandant of the II Marine expeditionary unit that serves the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea" the Marine officer told her.

Ralph quickly recalled the memory he had of the prosecution's current witness; the commandant of the Marine Corps who he spoke with during the initial rescue efforts. Officer Baleman and another Marine approached him while others officers were distributing food and clothing to the boys. They pulled Ralph aside, confirmed he was the colonel, and asked him about the deceased; those on the island and in the plane crash.

"Were you on duty with the United States Marine Corps on the day of January 27th 1991?" Barnes prompted, a question anyone in the courtroom could've predicted at this point.

"Yes, I was. I was radioed by another aircraft with notification of smoke coming from a nearby island. After reporting it to the ATC, I radioed the rest of my team to move in. Upon my arrival, my officers had located twenty-two boys living on the island, all between the ages of seven and thirteen. As more rescue teams were arriving, my officers conversed with the boys and distributed food, water, and clothing to the survivors" Officer Baleman explained.