Chapter 26: Endings and Beginnings (Finale)
On Monday morning, I go to war.
The bailiff announces the Judge is coming in. "All rise. This court is now in session."
Everyone stands up.
"We are here for the Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, this is a criminal case of FBI Special Agent Hank Smith against Mrs. Pamela Connor Smith, Second trial."
"Prosecutor may proceed with their opening statement."
Mr. Sorkin gets up and starts his statement.
"Your Honor, the defendant Special Agent Hank Smith has multiple records of battery, assault, and hit-and-run cases pending for him. In the year of 2014, but right after marrying Miss Connor, all of this vanishes in thin air."
"Objection, leading, Your Honor"
"Denied. Proceed."
"Now, I know it may sound like a short story of a movie villain, but my client has provided pieces of evidence to prove that it was a case of not just domestic abuse of my client, but also involves agents and officers in the FBI cleaning up the defendant's messes."
"About 2 pm on September 25, 2014, Special Agent Hank Smith was detained and charged under section 242 PC of the Penal Code. I would like to ask your permission to bring my first witness for this case."
Mr. Sorkin, the prosecutor asks for permission. The courtroom can be very intimidating. Pamela Connor looked as pale as a ghost with her brunette hair in a chignon.
Judge: Yes, you may.
Public prosecutor: Thank you, Your Honour.
They went back and forth with Pamela's assault, and she confessed in the deposition that to protect her from abusive Hank, Pamela's late father called in his contacts in the FBI to cover up Hank Smith's crimes.
Hank Smith was also helped by his inner circle of 4 friends in the higher divisions of the FBI now promoted to CIA even.
This was testified by Special Agent Sanchez, that after meeting Pamela over for a dinner he saw strange behavior of Hank Smith, he faced alleged drug and alcohol revealed by an internal investigation done by Sanchez.
Mr. Sorkin cross-examines Sanchez further and that is when I get mentioned.
Police: My name is Inspector Lee Kwai Wah, IC number 670717-04-6567; I swear I will give the true clarification only.
Public prosecutor: First of all, inspector Lee is representing the main witness of this case, here presenting the witness Miss Cassiopeia Bennett
Inspector, where is the witness during the incident?
Police: According to the witness's clarification, the witness was at the crime scene of the hit and run case of Lexington.
Public prosecutor: "Let me elaborate, Hit and run case of Lexington? Or you mean the Lexington dysfunctional sibling manslaughter? which describes the infamous killing of an 11-year-old boy in the early morning of May 21st, the reports suggested his 14-year-old sociopathic sister pushed him onto an incoming SUV resulting in Spot death of the boy."
"Objection your honor, what this has to do with my client?"
The defense attorney cries out.
"Denied. Mr. Sorkin I better hope you make your point soon. Proceed."
" Inspector, please tell a little bit of information about what happened before the boy was killed." Mr.Sorkin urged Mr. Lee.
Police: I want to be clear of what I say and not perjure myself but it was a case of hit and run and not manslaughter, as you described. I was there at the crime scene first.
On Saturday, May 21st, 2014, at 4:30 am the boy rushed out of the house shouting for help, the neighbor on the opposite side of Saint peter's road heard him and was immediately alert while the accused was driving his SUV straight out of the highway to the intersection lane 14 and runs over the boy, the witness was at the front of her doorstep chasing after her brother. The neighbor heard screeching and screaming.
Public prosecutor:
What happened after that?
Police:
Around 4; 45 clock, while the witness fainted at the sight of the deceased, she was awakened by the crying of the neighbor named Sarah who saw the driver intoxicated and cursing loudly, she rushed back into her house to call 911. After that, the witness rushed to the driver to stop him from taking the deceased body to the back of his trunk, the witness tried to fight him and suffered a blow to her head as suggested in the medical report. Then the witness saw the accused run back to his car and drive recklessly.
Public prosecutor:
Is the witness did not do anything due to the incident? Because according to official reports by the FBI it says Miss Bennett showed no signs of remorse and continuous laughter, signs of mental instability."
Police: Miss Bennett and her brother were star students of their school and anyone from Lexington can tell us the same. Miss Bennett was a young prodigy and showed no signs of mental illness."
Public prosecutor: Miss Bennett was a victim of battery, and according to the medical report submitted, she developed PBA.
According to the Mayo Clinic, "Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is a condition that's characterized by episodes of sudden uncontrollable and inappropriate laughing or crying." Echoing the language on the Joker's laminated card, PBA can indeed occur in people with brain injuries, stroke, or certain neurological conditions such as ALS. Brain injury referring to the blow to her head caused by the accused. Can you confirm this information?"
Police: "Yes. "
Prosecutor: "So, when you found the accused, ten miles away from the crime scene, what did you do next?"
Police: "I saw the accused in the driver's seat covered in his vomit and barely conscious, and I did the standard procedure by checking his alcohol level. The blood alcohol content (BAC) legal limit is 0.03%, the accused BAC level was 0.12 %
Prosecutor: .08–0.40 % BAC. At this blood alcohol level, Your Honor, you may have difficulty walking and speaking. Other symptoms may include confusion, nausea, and drowsiness. It says right here in the report.
The police report filed a hit-and-run case after Investigator's findings along with body cam video as evidence yet somehow in the FBI morphs this case into manslaughter caused by a mental 14-year-old girl. Your Honor. There is a pattern. The defendant has done all of this before, and he continued doing the same thing after meeting my client, Miss Connor. The defendant has shown time and time again the signs of an addict and abuser, he threatens to get his way and used violence and scare tactics to get away with it.
Public Prosecutor:
Your Honour, this proves that the accused is the main suspect for this case; therefore, I have no question to ask. Thank you.
Judge: Defense counsel, do you have any questions to ask?
Defense counsel: Absolutely, You're Honour. The witness said she was at the crime scene. My question is, does the witness see the incident right before her own eyes?
Police: According to the witness, yes. she did see the whole incident directly. But the witness was very sure that the accused had killed the deceased.
Defense counsel: "The witness was chasing her brother, and you said the deceased was calling out for help. Why exactly was the need for the boy to call for help? She may be confused about the whole incident with her own eyes? So this is actually an assumption made by a then14-year-old witness."
Prosecutor: "Objection, Compound questions."
Judge: Defense counsel is advised to keep his question simple. Proceed."
Defense counsel: "Yes your honor. Investigator Lee, Can you tell us why the witness claimed her brother ran out of the house at 4:30 am the morning of May 21st, 2014?"
Police: The witness's mother had a manic episode and started screaming, and after a struggle, the witness fell down the stairs and knocked herself out, her brother rushed out to get help.
Defense Counsel: The witness's mother was a schizophrenic, and this whole thing was a case of child neglect, which resulted in the witness's admission into a correctional facility, the mother sent to a psychiatric hospital, the witness was put under custody of her grandparents.
Police: If that was the case, the street interviews and character witnesses of Miss Bennett would have pointed to that direction, not in the other way around. That's all from me, Your Honor.
Prosecutor "Your honor, May I call the main witness, Miss Bennett, to the stand?"
Judge: "You may proceed."
I walk to the stand and straighten my jacket. Everyone is looking at me.
I take the oath and sit down.
Prosecutor: "Miss Bennett, Can you tell us what happened on the early morning of May 21st,2014?"
"Yes. My father always stayed at home with us but that night, my grandmother had a heart attack so he left us for a few hours that night.
I was upstairs when my mother had a schizophrenic episode, she was moving around a lot and I was afraid she would fall, so I tried to stop her but she pushed me back and I fell down the stairs and my brother got scared and went outside to call our neighbor. I got up soon after and saw headlights hit my brother. I screamed and fainted from the shock. I regained consciousness again and saw the driver taking a swig from his bottle and cursing at the scene. I rushed to my brother and Uhm sorry."
Prosecutor: "It's okay take your time, have some water."
I gulp down a few sips of water.
I continue. I looked at my dad, my best friend Ashley in the gallery audience.
"I saw my little brother covered in blood. The driver dragged my brother and tried to lift him into the trunk of his SUV. I grabbed him and pulled him away, but he grabbed a wrench from his trunk and hit my head here."
I pointed to the back base of my head."
"Next day I am called to meet the driver who turned out to be the accused Special Agent Hank Smith. He said he would make me look like the culprit and if I say something about him I would be taken away from my family. I got nervous and triggered my PBA and kept laughing until I had to be given a sedative. I picked some courage and told the same thing to Special Agent James McCoy he made me believe he would get me a fair trial but he also covered up for Mr. Hank Smith.
It was traumatic, I was framed for my own brother's accident, and I was sent to a correctional facility, the St. Peter's Catholic Church offered one in Duxbury, so I requested to be taken there. My father lost his job as the school teacher, and my mother was sent to a psychiatric facility, and she overdosed there a month later and passed away. My family was broken up after that."
I take more sips of water and take a deep breath.
Prosecutor: "Your Honor according to the evidence submitted, Miss Bennett's testimony is airtight."
"The police, the doctor, and the expert witness testified and confirm the very same things. The witness and her deceased brother are victims of a because the FBI agents Smith, McCoy, Rogers, and Williams engaged in a "malicious" federal prosecution, coercion and violated my constitutional protections against unreasonable search, seizure, arrest."
Judge: "Defense counsel do you have any questions?"
Defense Counsel: "Yes, Your honor."
"Miss Bennett, You are an MIT graduate, genius prodigy, etc. and you had a whole lot of details in your story and the prosecution said it's airtight. How about we revise some details from that morning, shall we? Do you remember what the defendant was holding that night? Why did you chase after your brother then?"
"He had a glass bottle in hand, almost finished.And to your second question, My brother was almost deaf, he broke his hearing aid so I was worried naturally like anyone else. " I reply
Defense Counsel: "How could you tell from afar your doorstep?"
"Because when I pulled him he had a bad stink, and he broke the bottle and cut himself on his left arm during our struggle, and he got mad after getting cut and he grabbed the wrench and struck my head. I have an eidetic memory just to confirm."
Defense Counsel: "There was no mention in reports about the defendant having any bruises that day."
Prosecutor: "Objection, Badgering. Your Honor"
Judge: "Defense Counsel no more questions. The prosecution may continue."
Prosecutor: "Your honor, The medical reports the defendant indeed got tetanus shot the same night of the accident. Miss Bennett, can you tell us the name of the deceased just for the record?"
"The deceased was my 11-year-old baby brother, Atlas J. Bennett."
There was an audible silence in the courtroom.
I looked at dad for comfort as he looked devastated.
Prosecutor: "Your Honor, Miss Connor gave the police her late father's laptop Associate Deputy Director Robert Connor immediately after she found about the cover-ups of cases. The police found multiple emails and aggressive threats made against Miss Connor to wound up her father. The list of cases cleared by the defendant's FBI friends and the late director is a total of 15 cases. Can we show Exhibit D on the screen?"
"The screen shows the list of and can we see the name on mentioned? cases covered up by the defendant and the late director, and can we see the first name on that list? It is Atlas Bennett."
"Your Honour, this proved the accused committed the offenses aforementioned. That's all from me. "
Audible gasps spread across the room as I was asked to go back to my seat. I calm my nerves.
After another hour of Hank smith and Pamela smith cross-questioning, I caught some jury members looking at me. I feel so nauseous.
The judge gives the Jury appropriate rules of law in weighing the evidence (instructing them) and will also reinforce that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty.
Judge Hoffman tells the jury they have 5 minutes to reach a verdict, and then everyone gets dismissed until the bailiff hears the buzzer and brings the jurors back to the courtroom.
Judge Hoffman: "Will the foreperson of the jury please stand? Have you reached a verdict?"
Jury member answers: "Yes, your honor."
Judge Hoffman: "Will the defendant please stand?"
Defendants/defense lawyers stand.
Judge Hoffman: "You may read the verdict."
The jury foreperson reads the verdict.
"The Jury found defendant, FBI Special Agent Hank Smith based on the evidence and witness provided by the defense and prosecution GUILTY."
Judge Hoffman makes sure the verdict is unanimous by saying, "So say you all?" to which the entire Jury responded, "Yes, Your Honor."
Judge Hoffman talks about a life sentence in jail and several years for other agents.
Judge Hoffman ends the trial by saying, "Court is adjourned." and bangs his gavel.
I just hugged dad. and then Ashley. We thanked Mr. Sorkin for his efforts and congratulated Pamela Connor, who can finally access her own inheritance money taken by her ex-husband Hank. She kept apologizing for her father.
"I am sorry I did not find out about it soon enough. I was devastated at first by Hank and then my own father's actions. Thank you for being a witness."
"Hey, the person who did all of this is in jail and you don't have to apologize for them. It's an ending and a new beginning for both of us. I wish you good luck. "
"Thank you, You too."
The next day.
"Hey, Check it out! I wrote about you, my article is printed at last."
I start reading her article. She had shown me her notepad in Seattle.
"In the Bear Market which was in favor of Companies such as Infinite Tech, the Bull rises again as GreyX Tech, a subsidiary division of Grey Enterprises reported massive millions of profits off of the ATLAS Software borne out of MIT protege Cassiiopeia Bennett who self-released it and has given credits to her old tech team at GreyX even after she faced false accusations of plagiarism and corporate espionage.
GreyX tech stock price value is continually rising from the ashes. Investors and hedge fund managers are rushing from all over North America to pour money into GreyX tech and get their hands on the golden egg themselves, and install them for their office systems immediately. After all who doesn't love to be a woke corporate knight of the 21st-century society?"
-Ashley Copperman, Spotlight, Boston Globe.
"I am going to frame this if you don't mind."
I said jokingly as we sample her wedding buffet menus on my bed, binging on reruns of Friends. I received my acceptance letter from EPITA and I started to pack up again.
Like a snake shedding its skin, maybe it was high time I do the same.
And I know it's not simple, never easy Never a clean break, no one here to save me Oh, I can't breathe better nowadays, but I have to try?
But I will miss screaming, fighting, and kissing in the rain.
And at 2 am and I'm cursing his name in my bed.
Breaking down and coming undone with him,
I was So in love that I act insane.
*Was I out of line?
Did I say something way too honest?
Made you run and hide
Like a scared little boy
I looked into your eyes
Thought I knew you for a minute,
now I'm not so sure
So here's to everything coming down to nothing
Here's to silence that cuts me to the core
Where is this going?
Thought I knew for a minute, but I don't anymore
Did you forget everything?
Cause it rains in your bedroom
Everything is wrong
It rains when you're here and it rains when you're gone
Cause I was there when you said forever and always
Oh, I stare at the phone, he still hasn't called
And then you feel so low you can't feel nothing at all
And you flashback to when we said forever and always
Cause I was there when you said forever and always
You didn't mean it
You said forever and always, yeah*
I jam to Taylor Swift's Forever and always song from her Fearless album, singing like a maniac as I pack my bags.
New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings. All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.
New beginnings are finally happening for me.
I get to go to France soon along with my Tabby cat and kittens! I need to get them a Pet Passport.
So, I will bid adieu to the old naive, lovelorn Confused Blonde Cassiopeia Bennett for now, and leave her behind in the abyss.
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