Falling for Crime

Chapter 14

"Have we forgotten that this man already committed a crime?" Someone spoke up.

Michelle rolled her eyes and sat back in the office chair. "What he did doesn't matter now, Phillip. We have to focus on the fact he's being given the death penalty and exclude whatever he did to end up in prison in the first place."

"I agree!" Andres hummed slightly, tapping the large oak table with his papers. "They never brought up what he did before because it has nothing to do with the current case. It's a completely different matter."

Plenty of bickering went on in the jury room, and Feliks and Elizabeta just about had enough of needless chatter. The blonde Pollock pinched the bridge of his nose as Liza irritatingly glared around the room at those talking over each other.

"I'm on Gil's side! Whatever rules he made, sticks." An Irish accent broke through the group. "I mean, it's his prison! And Sebby has a point; whatever rules he makes goes through the state first. So whatever he wrote as law has to be okay, right?"

"Seamus, Roderich debunked that with the fact that none of the officers are required to tell the prisoners their set laws." A Wales accent broke through he chattering and only briefly silenced them. Dylan, the one with the Wales accent, groaned. "How are we going to get anywhere with how aggressive ya dinhunks are acting? Pull yerselves together!"

"Oh like you're one to talk, actin' like ye own the place!" Seamus retorted.

Feliks looked at Elizabeta, and Elizabeta looked at Feliks. They shared a similar irritated gaze, eventually, the Hungarian woman growling and standing up. "Would everyone please, God, quiet down?! We don't have to decide anything officially yet, anyway, we don't have everything we need! The court is still in progress!" She growled, and everyone hummed silently. "Besides, how long do we have left anyway, huh? 12 minutes?" She looked around and found the clock on the wall across the room, groaning to herself and plopping herself back in her comfy office chair. She huffed. "So far, Gilbert and his stupid prison — evidence and motive wise — has nothing on their death penalty plea. So far there is no real reason for it to be acceptable for an escapee prisoner like Alfred."

A few solemn nods, yet a couple stayed humming in disagreement. "But the laws-"

"Gilbert can't enforce those laws," Elizabeta growled slightly, crossing her arms. "If he wasn't a dummkopf and let the prisoners know about the laws beforehand, then I may just take his side. But there's no justice in laying out unknown consequences for a prisoner with as minimal a felony as Alfred." She glanced back at the clock again and tapped her arm before uncrossing them. "We only have about 5 minutes left. Right now just discuss how lawful it is to even sentence someone like Alfred to death."

The group looked to each other and hummed with small nods, and Feliks looked at Liza with slight amusement.

"I swear, Liza, you're like a mother to these children."

"Sometimes I feel like it too," She hummed, and then averted her gaze. "But something tells me there's more to the defendants situation of escaping. They never specified how." She hummed in thought as the groups polite chat once again slowly rose to annoying bickering, yet Liza couldn't help but ignore them, for she was stuck on that same missing piece of information throughout the rest of the meeting.

Group by group gathered back into the courtroom once 30 minutes were up, with the Jury group being last. Arthur had waited patiently in his seat. He looked at Alfred, who was in his seat and fumbling with his hands, and then glanced at the judge, glazing over paperwork and then setting down the papers, checking to make sure everyone was here before slamming the hammer again.