4 minute read
READER’S STORY
A short story by Ces Hartzenberg
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The courtroom was packed. The accused, Raine Crawford, a private investigator, had been accused of murdering an associate.
He had been heard to threaten to kill the man, who had then disappeared. A subsequent police investigation had apparently established sufficient evidence of foul play.
It led to Raine Crawford bring arrested and charged with his murder, even though a body had never been found. The trial had lasted three weeks.
The jury had retired to consider its verdict and, after just two days of deliberation, announced that it had reached a unanimous decision.
The court had reconvened.
“The accused will please stand,” the judge intoned.
Raine Crawford rose to his feet and stood impassively waiting.
“Foreman of the jury, you have reached a verdict?”
“We have, Your Honour,” the man responded.
“Will you please read out the jury’s verdict?” she asked.
“Yes, Your Honour. We the jury find the defendant Raine Crawford guilty of the charge of premeditated murder.”
There were murmurs in the courtroom. Raine caught the eye of Robert Salinger, the prosecutor, who gave him a triumphant smirk. Unexpectedly, he smiled back at him.
Then, he turned to the judge, and asked deferentially, “May I say something, your honour?”
Judge Caroline Spano looked at him for a moment, then said, “That would be highly unusual, Mr Crawford, but yes. Keep it short, please.”
“Thank you, your honour. I will keep it short. The prosecution case was completely manufactured by corrupt forces within the police department, with the collusion of Mr Salinger, the prosecutor ...”
The judge interrupted, “These are serious charges Mr Crawford. Why didn’t you raise these before in your defence?”
“I do apologise, Your Honour, but I needed to see how far the prosecutor was prepared to go. No body was ever found, the whole case was entirely circumstantial as you know, but they were skilful enough to manipulate the evidence, to convince the jury, and they’ve done this before.”
“This is outrageous!”
Salinger was on his feet.
“You’ve been found guilty, you’re making baseless accusations, you don’t have any right to, and you have no evidence! Your Honour, he has no right!” he appealed to the judge.
She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Raine said quietly, “I can prove it, Your Honour.”
He looked at the door of the courtroom, and raised a hand. A young woman got up and walked to the door. She opened it, and a young man walked in. There was a collective gasp from those seated inside.
“This is the man I am supposed to have murdered. Perhaps Mr Salinger could explain where all the evidence of the supposed murder he presented in such great detail came from?”
Salinger slumped back in his chair, his face pale. There was uproar in the courtroom.
The judge banged her gavel and demanded silence. In the quiet, she asked, “Mr Crawford, I am not pleased my court has been used in this way. An explanation please?”
“Your Honour,” Raine said earnestly, “I have been investigating similar alleged miscarriages of justice under the prosecutor’s watch. I felt this was the only way to expose the lengths to which the prosecutor was prepared to go.”
“I see,” the judge said slowly.
“I have much to consider about this, however, I trust the authorities will conduct a thorough investigation into this matter. The verdict is set aside. Mr Crawford, you are immediately released from custody and free to go.”
Raine gave the prosecutor a long challenging look, then, amid the uproar, left the courtroom with his defence team. Ces is a senior, a local and a prolific author of short stories. He travelled the world extensively after retiring from a long career as a librarian in Melbourne which has enriched his imagination and produced a diverse collection of stories. Visit cesmotales.com
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