After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 107

October 13, 1993. 1:07 PM.

Courtroom 4 of The Chatham County Juvenile Courthouse was oddly quiet on account of the words that just came out of Jeremy Reynolds' mouth. The lunch recess had just concluded, and the first witness to kick off the afternoon was just announced. The silence held as Larry Evans broached the witness stand. Ralph was pretty sure he could see the sweat glistening off the back of the boy's neck as he passed by. Ralph wasn't entirely sure his own neck wasn't sweating sympathetically. Larry's testimony would be the catalyst to pave the way for the rest of the boys to take the stand. How brave Larry was, Ralph thought, to be the first to get up there.

Though, it arguably wasn't bravery that forced Larry onto the stand so much as the pressing desire to stay out of juvenile prison.

Earlier that week and during the last couple days of the previous week, Jeremy Reynolds began his inquiry into Captain Benson's death. The late veteran's mother returned to the stand for a brief recap of her previous testimony she gave many moons ago now. The highlight of the Benson case rested on Captain Benson's medical history. The reports dug up and admitted into evidence along with the testimony of a handful of medical professionals painted a picture of Captain Benson as a ticking time bomb. The court previously heard about his history experiencing G-LOC on more than one occasion, a condition that Bainbridge Military Academy knew he was prone to experiencing.

G-LOC or G-induced loss of consciousness, Jeremy Reynolds reminded the court, is a condition that can impact individuals while flying at high altitudes, especially for longer periods of times (long overseas flights). G-LOC causes a person to lose consciousness while flying, usually only for a few seconds at a time. Conditions such as this are part of the reason major airlines have two pilots on board, in case something like it impairs the primary pilot. Captain Benson also had a minor condition with a symptom of low blood pressure, which is a common catalyst for G-LOC. Those with low blood pressure are prone to more and longer G-LOC episodes than those without.

The grandest piece of physical evidence in the Benson case Reynolds presented earlier this week was the autopsy report on Captain Benson completed after the boys were rescued. The analysis of the brain showed evidence that his brain had been deteriorating long before he actually died, primarily due to a lack of oxygen to the brain, also known as cerebral hypoxia. Benson also had some external bleeding from minor cuts that were attributed to impact when the plane hit the water.

While it couldn't be proven with complete certainty what caused the plane to crash that fateful September day three years ago, several medical and investigative efforts all came to the same probable conclusion; Captain Benson lost consciousness for an extended period of time, far longer than most who experience G-LOC, and ultimately lost the ability to control the plane. Without a second pilot in the cockpit with him and only several dozen school-aged children on board, the crash was unpreventable after the plane took off.

Jeremy Reynolds argued that Bainbridge Military Academy should have taken Benson's medical history more seriously, given his repeated experience with G-LOC and low blood pressure, and put additional safety measures in place, like another adult pilot on board, to protect against accidents like the one we saw in 1990. He also argued that due to the poor and deteriorating condition Benson was in when he and the boys arrived on the island, his death was ultimately inevitable too. Nothing the boys could have done would have saved Benson's life before the rescue, and even he had miraculously survived, his brain injury would've been left him in some degree of a vegetative state.

Larry very well may have accidentally put Captain Benson out of his misery, an unintentional act that merely stopped the delay of his inevitable death. It was a blunt and gruesome argument to make, Reynolds knew, but it was the truth and the members of the court needed to hear it.