The Music Producer and the Teacher 2

Chapter 2: Has the court of public opinion reached a verdict?

2 days later:

Finally, the morning of my court appearance had arrived. I had to be at the courthouse by nine AM, so I woke up early and was tasked with getting Melissa up too. She isn't exactly a morning person, so I was expecting it to be rater difficult. She had also been aware this day was coming, and to my surprise she didn't give me too much opposition. We made sure to be dressed and to leave in plenty of time to get to our destination.

Marshall had agreed to meet us there. I parked and entered the lobby, butterflies eating me up inside the whole way. He was waiting off to the side of the lobby where me and Melissa still had to clear the metal detectors. Once we did I walked over to him and he greeted me with a warm embrace. He pulled away and looked into my eyes "How are you doing? Are you okay?" he asked me. I could tell he was concerned for me by the tone in his voice. Plus, I'm sure I was wearing the worry I was feeling all over my face. "I will be," I sighed. "I just want to get this over with." He nodded in agreeance and took my hand. The three of us walked out of the lobby and in the direction of the court rooms where my fate would be waiting.

We had been given no direction as to where we were supposed to go. In fact, there were lists posted outside of each court room and we had to scan them carefully to find our names. After scanning two lists in front of two different rooms we finally found where we were supposed to be. There was an officer sitting outside our room with a list and he was checking off people's names as they entered. He informed Melissa and I that only people directly involved in the case could enter the court room. Melissa headed for the door. Marshall tried to offer me some last-minute comfort before we parted. "I'll be right here waiting for you," he began. "Everything will turn out just fine, you'll see." He squeezed my hand and I made my best attempt at a brave face. But I was fucking nervous. My fear of the unknown had also begun to kick in. I felt Melissa touch me on my shoulder, "'Rissa, we need to head inside now." She said softly. "Okay." I answered her, and we went into the court room.

Once we were inside and seated we didn't have to wait very long for our case to be called. We were kind of lucky in that our case involved an active inmate, and those cases received top priority. Back when Michael was arrested, his bail was set too high for him to be able to afford. His income was next to nothing, so he had been in jail for the past almost 5 months. When our case was called, Melissa and I went over to the desk on the far lefthand side of the room. The bailiff went over and got Michael who was sitting in what would be the jury if we had one. He was almost unrecognizable with the beard he had grown and the bright orange jump suit he was wearing. They also had him in handcuffs for an extra measure of security. He met his lawyer on the righthand side of the room without even trying to make eye contact with Melissa or myself.

The District Attorney had met with Melissa and me a few days ago to go over some facts of the case. She has assured us that getting Michael additional jail time of at least five years wouldn't be an issue since the incident seemed to be thought out because he had a knife on him. Because of this meeting, I was expecting todays case to go rather smoothly. The judge, however, had other ideas.

"Okay everyone," he began. "This is the state of Michigan versus Browning. Is everyone present?" He looked to each opposing side of the room, the DA and lawyer both nodded. "Alright, so Mr. Sermon, the defendants lawyer wishes to avoid trial. I have copies of the statements given by both Ms. Weddington and Ms. Vanderwall. Is there any other evidence to submit at this time?" The judge again paused and looked to both sides of the room who both shook their heads to signify they did not have anything further to add. "Okay then. Mr. Sermon is there anything you wish to say in defense of your client to be considered as part of sentencing?" I saw Michael lean over and whisper something into the lawyer's ear. "Oh yes, your honor there is something I would like to say." The judge granted him permission to continue. "My client would like to be considered temporarily insane as he was under the influence of extreme emotional turmoil brought on by the ending of his relationship with the Plaintiff." The judge rolled his eyes, obviously refraining from making a statement against the absurdity the lawyer just said. Then he turned and looked to our side of the room. "Anything from this side of the room?" he asked. The DA leaned into my ear and whispered, "This would be the opportunity to discuss the nightmares you've been having since all this occurred." I nodded and turned to face the judge with the full intent to speak my mind. But when I opened my mouth, no words came out. "Ms. Weddington has suffered occurring nightmares since the incident, including vivid reenactments." The judge nodded again, giving me a sympathetic half smile in response. I hoped I hadn't blown it. After this, he reviewed the facts of the case. He did this in a very matter-of-fact way that made everything feel worse than it already did. He never called anyone to the witness stand, and he never asked anything from anyone personally involved.