Authors: Cora Blu
“So, from what you could see, who would you say pulled their weapons first?” the lawyer asked.
“Aye, me attention was on the man throwing punches at me. We were on the ground and rolled behind one of the cars and that's when I heard a hammer click nearby and pulled me weapon.”
“Could that have been Jonathan Blakemore's gun as he approached,” the lawyer asked and Kenya watched Jonathan's neck flush beet red under the curl of his hair behind his ears.
“I couldn't see,” Jamie said his face hard. “I wasn't looking for me cousin.”
“According to what you could make out, can you tell the court what happened next?”
“The rain had picked up speed making it difficult to see everyone clearly. I couldn't see in the back window of the car, but Jonathan began searching cars for his wife. He found her and carried her from the black sedan.” Jamie pointed to the monitor. “Someone had to have altered this tape. Jonathan didn't go to Kenya's car first. He ran past me to the left following Judge's barking.”
Mr. Hines stood beside the monitor pointing to the man facing Kenya's car in the parking lot. “Are you certain, Mr. Blakemore ran in the opposite direction and not toward his wife's car?”
“Aye, me cousin didn't run away from the fight, he ran into it to save his wife. Yer honor I have to agree with Mrs. Blakemore's statement. These tapes should show more men fighting, not just one or two people walking by. Carl walked out in front of Jonathan, but you never see him.” Jamie shifted in his seat.
Kenya leaned into her mother. “That entire tape's been tampered with.” Katherine agreed.
The judge said, “Bailiff, I want the name of the officer that retrieved that video from the hospital security. Continue with the questions, Mr. Hines.”
How could someone have altered the video that fast? If it went straight to the police, then who had access to it? She shot a glance at Brian sitting smugly on the prosecutor’s side. There was a mole in the police department.
The lawyer stepped toward Kenya, drawing everyone's attention to her sitting with Katherine and Sophie, their hands on her either around her shoulder or intertwined on her lap. He inclined his head to her then turned back to Jamie.
“He found her, your cousin, Mrs. Blakemore, in the black sedan.” Hines said emphasizing the family connection then shoved a hand in his front pocket pacing a long legged path before the crowd, then moved closer to the stand. “This would be the black sedan in the shadows?”
“Yes,” Jamie confirmed. “I found her first as Jonathan was attacked by a man barreling from the shadows, but me dear cousin, Kenya, slugged me across the jaw when I tried to take her from the car believing me to be one of the attackers. She bruised me good.”
The lawyer nodded rubbing his jaw looking over to Kenya. She shrugged. “Then what happened after Mr. Jonathan Blakemore extracted his pregnant wife from her captor’s vehicle?”
Jamie shared a stare with Jonathan. Kenya watched her husband’s freedom slip away with every word. Jonathan inclined his head then held it high. Jamie continued, “After carrying her across the parking lot, with shots being fired, he settled Kenya into her car.” Jamie pointed to the screen. “Aye, see her car on the far side of the edge of the flower bed where it jutted out around the air conditioner control box. The fat shrub is blocking a portion of her door, but I heard her moaning right before she began screaming that she was losing the bairn.”
The room gasped.
“Is Mrs. Blakemore known for dramatics? What made her say she was losing her bairn? She's not a doctor.”
Jamie's jaw tightened before he answered. “No. She's not known for hysterics, nor is she a doctor. I've never been pregnant. I can't tell you why she felt she was losing the bairn.”
“Do you believe she was telling the truth?”
“Oy, her screams were no from a woman pretending to be in pain.”
“And what did Mr. Jonathan Blakemore do when his wife said she was losing her baby?”
Kenya wanted to scream to the Judge. What do you think he did? What would any man do in that situation, other than handle his business? She clasped her hands over her crossed knees concentrating not to shake her foot and listened to Jamie's answer.
“He drew his gun.” The crowd groaned with that confession. “Things happened fast after that. Jonathan called for Carl to get his wife into the hospital around back. Getting her through the front doors was impossible with men shooting at him.” He paused. “I heard a gunshot close by, then turned as one man slump on the trunk of the car about ten feet from me and rolled onto the ground. A second shot rang out, then another man hit the ground two feet away.”
“So would you say the defendant, Jonathan Blakemore, felt his life was in danger at this point?”
“Och, I can nae say what he felt. I've never been faced with a situation where four men attempted to rape me pregnant wife and she lay there possibly losing me child. I suspect any man in that situation would protect his family.”
“Did any of the other men have weapons drawn, that you witnessed, Mr. Blakemore?”
“Shots were fired around me glancing off the other cars. I can no say who, but we were no shooting at ourselves. Two of the men on the ground had weapons either in hand or on the ground beside them. I never witnessed the others go down.”
The lawyer turned away from Jamie toward the judge on the stand. His shoulders back with pride. “No further questions your honor.”
Katherine nudged Kenya. “Why is he badgering his own client?”
“So when the prosecutor asks the same questions, Hines can call him out on badgering because Jamie’s already answered the question. It’s an unspoken practice used in the bank at times when protecting an employee from a screw up.”
“I’m starting to wonder if we didn’t push you into the wrong profession.” Katherine said threading their fingers together in her lap.
“Find what works, isn’t that what you told me.”Kenya patted her mother’s knee to put her attention back on the stand.
When the prosecutor approached the bench and asked Jamie the same questions only with death row on his mind, Kenya felt one of her nails crack from her digging them into the wooden seat beneath her knees. Raising her hand, there hung the evidence of her building anger. Pissed, she bit off the remaining torn nail letting it drop to the floor.
The vile scent of envy permeated the air behind every wicked step this shyster made across the parquet floor. The overly styled hair said this guy charged by the swagger and he was doing enough to make the witness dizzy as he strolled back and forth before the judge. If he flashed the label in his suit jacket one more time, Kenya was gonna throw up on him the second he walked past Mr. Hines.
“Mr. Jamie Blakemore you may step down,” the judge directed inclining his head in the opposite direction toward Jonathan sitting beside his lawyer.
Kenya took the stand after being sworn in. “Mrs. Blakemore, can you tell the court what happened on the night you were allegedly attacked in the parking lot of St. Mary’s hospital?”
Sitting forward Jonathan's handsome face filled her view, those eyebrows that were too close together to be anything other than sinister gave her the strength to relive that violent moment in the parking lot if it would save his life. The room sat eerily quiet as she let emotion take over. Memories of the fear that gripped her when she realized the hands on her waist weren't her husbands and the hard press of steel digging into her side was the muzzle of a gun. As she told the tale, her heart skittered in her chest when Lean and Mean came on the screen. “There, when he approached from behind, I reached back handing him my phone, believing he was Jonathan, then he replied, Make one sound and your mother will be a widow back in the states.”
The room groaned and sighed under body’s shifting and wriggling with discomfort at her words. Murmurs of disbelief and disgust filled the space and Kenya felt empowered by the hint of believing she saw in their faces.
“Order...,” the judge urged. “Continue, Mrs. Blakemore.”
“That's when I shoved at the arm encircling my waist,” Kenya darted a glance around the courtroom. “I can't tell you what happened to the video, but I did flail my arms hoping to be seen by the hospital camera. Everybody knows hospitals have security cameras. But the man with his vile hands on me said if I didn't stop making a scene my father was as good as dead back in the states.”
Mr. Davis pushed up from the edge of his desk where he sat with his elbow propped on his knee and chin resting on his fist. Had she bored him with her testimony? Lord, he irritated the skin off her back.
Mr. Davis walked across the parquet floor a hand in his trouser pocket back and forth like a caged lion. “Mrs. Blakemore, yer not from Ireland are you?”
What gave her away? “No, I’m from the states, Michigan.”
He made a humming sound with his lips as he paced back and forth, then abruptly turned to face her. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but yer a stranger in a strange country yet you felt safe walking out into a dark parking lot at night, away from the security of the hospital. Does that sound like something a rational woman would do, Mrs. Blakemore?”
She gripped the sides of her seat to keep from gesturing her anger through the air. “My husband was right behind me.”
“So he saw the man attack you and did nothing?” She wouldn’t let him rattle her, not with Jonathan’s freedom on the line.
“He was not immediately behind me. I felt comfortable walking out there.”
Davis smiled and said with a grin, “Because yer lover would be waiting for you by yer car? Isn’t that the truth, Mrs. Blakemore? You knew he was there all the time you claim to have been afraid for yer life.”
Hines got to his feet. “I object to this line of questioning, your honor. The prosecutor is badgering my client.”
The judge pounded his gavel when the room came to life. “Do you have a specific question for Mrs. Blakemore, Mr. Davis?”
“I do your honor.” He turned and leaned on the witness stand and spoke directly in her face. “A man you claim to be a stranger threatened to hurt your father back in the states. And what did you do Mrs. Blakemore?”
There was no way to stop her eyes from rolling when she was already pissed. “He threatened to kill my father, Mr. Davis...”
“Just answer the question Mrs. Blakemore.”
“I stopped moving to protect my father’s life,” she snarled, along with half the courtroom.
“Mmmhmm,” he mumbled pacing toward the monitor. “May I direct the courtroom's attention to the couple walking through the parking lot from Mrs. Blakemore's vehicle parked close to the hospital wall.” Faces followed his hand waving a pen in front of the monitor. “Correct me if I'm wrong, Mrs. Blakemore, but you don't appear to be appalled by the man at your side. You are in fact walking arm in arm,” the prosecutor said, smiling out to the room. “Looks like a loving couple to me.” His bright eyes and huge smile he fed to those looking on. Some of the people gave her a quizzical stare and she had to take a second glance at the screen. Where were her flailing arms? There's no way that wouldn't be on the tape. And there it was. Kenya gripped the side of the witness stand and angled to get a better look at the screen.
Kenya said, “May I ask a question your honor?”
“Is it pertinent to the case?”
It was life or death if what she could see was correct. “Very,” she said, wriggling in her seat, agitated.
“Ask your question, Mrs. Blakemore.”
“Can you zoom in on the two walking and reverse the video just a few seconds?” The couple grew larger as the bailiff clicked the remote.
“Your honor this is a waste of time,” the prosecutor complained. “We know it's Mrs. Blakemore.” The judge shot Davis an irritated glance, then rolled his head back around like an owl to Kenya. Davis smug smile dropped.
The judge threaded his fingers. “You have the court's attention Mrs. Blakemore. What is it you see?”
“Nothing your honor, nothing at all,” she said in disbelief, shooting a quick glance up to the judge, “When I came out of the hospital it was sprinkling. I remember cause I tried zipping my bag while I was speaking with my mother on my cell. I felt rain on my face.”
“And we can see the rain on the cars. Any other weather reports for the court, you wanna share, Mrs. Blakemore?” She tensed at his smug arrogance. Across the room, Jonathan's knuckles bleached out gripping the edge of the table.
“I object,” Hines forced getting to his feet. “Mr. Davis is badgering the witness, your honor.”
“Sustained,” the judge, agreed.
Davis scrubbed his index finger over his brow, and blew out a breath, “Is there a point in bringing the court's attention to the weather, Mrs. Blakemore?” Davis said, his tone sweet as honey with the bees still swarming around it waiting to bite.
“Your point, Mrs. Blakemore?” the judge said extending a hand toward the screen.
Holding a hand out pointing toward the screen Kenya tilted her head to the judge. “One point, your honor,” she mused excited no one noticed this before. “You can see raindrops sparkling on the man's dark coat and even on the ground around the cars, when they passed under that slice of parking lot light, that he's obviously trying to avoid. The woman's coat is dry. How can his coat be wet and not hers when they’re walking side by side?” she charged sitting up straight on the hard chair. Not one person breathed as the prosecutor's shoulders dropped and his neck blossomed red up to his hairline.
“Mr. Davis, are you presenting tampered video into my courtroom?” the judge urged striking the gavel as the groans in the room rose to a wave of murmurs. Panic crossed Davis’ face.
“No your honor,” he spouted nervously. “I witnessed the video along with the defense in the police precinct. Hospital security delivered that video.”
The judge set his hands on the desk scanning the courtroom then threaded his fingers over the folder before him.
“In light of the evidence, in front of me, I have no choice but to rule this video and the information on it inadmissible until I can have it checked for tampering. If, Mr. Davis, I find it's been compromised and you were aware I will hold you in contempt of court. Do you have anything further for Mrs. Blakemore?”