Novella - Decisive Evidence
We stood up in anticipation. The policeman next to the judge's seat said the famous line "All rise".
The judge walked in with a stern face. The quite large judge sat down with his black court dress
which made a faint rustling sound. "This court is now in session" came out of his tired old mouth,
everyone sat down as the words were uttered. I felt a chilling drop of sweat running down my
spine. I thought about the possible outcomes of this case, not really a thought that made me feel
comfortable, but it is inevitable to think about. Life imprisonment, not really an appealing word, nor
an appealing lifestyle.
“The plaintiff has been charged with the murder of Susan Krümmel, and David Francisco” came
out of that stiff face of the soon to retire judge.
Ms. Amanda noticed the concerned expression on my face. She tried consoling me, but I know
something that she doesn't. After 15 years of marriage, even though “if” I did it. It doesn't feel good
to be accused of murdering her. Not allot of people have been in my position, maybe OJ. I let out a
silent giggle which earned me the attention of the jury. I doubt that made the jury feel inclined to
hear me out. But I looked embarrassed which I think that they picked up on.
The district attorney glanced over at me and Amanda with a disgusting smirk on her face. “This is a
clear-cut case which the jury will realize if the jury doesn't think that this piece of evidence is 100%
enough for convicting. Then the next one will be the obvious decider”. The DA looked at the
projector at the left side of the court. There was a picture of an M1911 handgun, and three shells of
9mm ammo. “As we can see here we have three recently fired bullets, And an M1911 handgun
which is registered to our defendant”.
“She was undressed, a large figure stood beside her. Both with shock in their faces. Three loud,
sharp, bangs went off”
The DA sat down and all of the jury’s heads went down and the sound of pencils scratching against
paper became apparent. Amanda rose and she let out a fast, small but loud exhale before she said
“Now, this evidence sounds very clear, but, how do we know who fired the weapon? How do we
know that anybody fired this weapon? We don’t. That’s the major flaw in this piece of evidence.
This M1911 does belong to Mr. Krümmel, yes, but this is also the most used handgun in the entire
US. There is nothing connecting this specific firearm to Mr. Krümmel. This is clearly not convicting
evidence”.
“Blood, so much blood. What was once three loud bangs has disappeared into large pool of blood”
The DA once again stood up “We can all see that the defense likes to answer evidence with
questions and very vague answers to them. We at the district attorney’s office believes in the US
court system, and convicting or not convicting a defendant should not be based on flimsy answers.
Next piece of evidence”. Again the projector on the left displays pictures. This time of marks,
scratches, bruises.
“She laid there, on her knees, facing away from me. I lashed her back with the leather straps
woven to her favorite whip”.
I knew instantly about the bruises and I have a vivid memory of how I gave them to her.
I even had my own scratches on the left and right side of my back. I’m kinky, sure, but should I pay
prison time for that?
Ms. Ferreira smiled as she knew that this would come up before the day would end. “Now, yes. Mr.
Krümmel did inflict this damage on the plaintiff, but that damage was more of a consequence of
their type of sex, which was consensual”. Amanda could have been more subtle with her wording
but as I already knew and anyone who knows her, she wasn't keen on censoring when it came to
that topic. The jury responded with some weird looks and an audible but quiet “What the fuck” from
one female jury member.
The DA regained that smug smile. I’ve never been that nervous since the material that I and Ms.
Amanda thought would come up has already done so. But since she’s glancing over at me again, I
guessed that something bad was coming. She opened that stern mouth and she let out the words
“approximately 6 hours before the police found the body in the plaintiff's house. The MPD received
a distress phone call from a woman. She let out small pockets of air through her mouth in a frantic
manner, crying some would describe it as. She was found dead 6 hours later she said YOUR
name”. The DA played a sound clip of her, silently crying “I'm sorry August”. Amanda stood up and
screamed “OBJECTION HIS HONOR, this is clearly not good enough to convict anybody. We can
see that this is pure speculation as it’s not nearly clear enough audio to use this as the standalone
evidence against the defendant”.
The judge said that it will be used as evidence in the persecution. He followed that up with “the
evidence that the D.A office wanted to include in the persecution has been presented. We will now
give the jury 5 hours to make their decision on if the defendant is guilty or not.
Hour after hour, I sat there, waiting. Amanda never said a word as she sat beside me. I got a small
smile in my direction as she hoped the best for me. The policeman opened the side entrance and
the jury came in. The DA looked at me with a disgusted expression. The judge said with a loud
voice “Has the jury made their decision?”. The head juror nodded as she stood up. My head felt so
heavy as I waited for their response. “We find the defendant to be innocent of all charges”. She sat
down and I screamed in joy. The DA looked shocked and out of breath. Amanda was jumping and
she yelled “WE WON” in the otherwise quiet court. The judge looked distraught as he said: “this
court is now adjourned”.
Amanda showed me that she’s quick on her feet earlier that day. She doesn't look like one of those
tall, confident, generally male lawyers that you can see on TV, but she for damn sure knows how to
handle a court admirably and with certainty. She’s a good lawyer. She, just like the DA, believes in
the US court system. Is that warranted? In my case, no. I did kill her, I did kill the man that she was
sleeping with. Do I regret it? Only because I had to endure the stress of the American justice
system, but she deserves to lay dead on the ground.