Capítulo 15: The Verdict 2
Adrian's POV
My gaze fell to the ground as I saw her walk into the courtroom. A female officer led the way and behind her, she was followed by two male officers. They walked over to the first bench on the left wing and sat down, patiently waiting for the arrival of the judge.
Her brown eyes finally met with mine. She looked away, unable to hold my gaze. We could barely sustain an eye contact for a minute. A tear nearly dropped as I lowered my eyes to the ground. She forced me into making these decisions. I was left without a choice. Now, I couldn't picture her as the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
* * * * * * *
We all received an order from the Bailiff. "All rise!", he ordered and we all got on our feet. The entire courtroom became silent as we all waited for the next order.
"Please be seated", the Judge said. "Bailiff, please call the first case", he added.
"Your Honor, I'd be presenting the case of the missing of Adrian Garcia's parents. Hereby, I will call on the prosecution to present his case before the court", The Bailiff said.
"Your Honor, members of the jury, my name is Barrister Dawson Williams, representing the prosecution; Kendall Campbell, in this case", her lawyer said. He went further.
"My client, Kendall Campbell, was accused of the kidnap of the parents of Adrian Garcia seated over there", Barr. Dawson added.
"This is brought under the Canadian Law which prohibits a citizen to be left behind bars for more than twenty-four hours without presenting an evidence of the crime committed", he stated further.
"The facts of this case are straightforward. The evidence will show that on May 14th, 2022, which happened to be her supposed engagement to Mr Garcia, at the time his parents were declared missing, my client happened to be present in his house that night", he concluded.
"Can you present your witnesses to testify to this statement?", the Judge asked.
"Yes, Your Honor", Barr. Dawson replied. "We will call on three witnesses: Mateo Lucas; the former bestfriend to Mr Garcia, Danielle Lopez; her doctor and Tyler Harrison; Mr. Garcia's personal driver.
How's this even possible? How could she make Mateo testify against me? And my driver? Something isn't right here. Anyways, I was just gonna be quiet and watch out for their next move.
"Mateo Lucas will tell you her whereabouts at about 5pm that night. Tyler Harrison is gonna present to us the locations he dropped Kendall Campbell that day. Next, Dr Danielle will prove with evidence the time my client checked in and out of the hospital earlier that same day", Barr. Dawson said as he took a few steps backwards.
"Your Honor, permit me to bring Mr Harrison to the witness box", he asked.
"Permission granted", the Judge affirmed.
"Mr Harrison, please step into the witness box", he instructed and Tyler heeded to it. He came through and walked into the box.
"Repeat after me", a junior clerk said. It was an oath to take before being allowed to face the court.
"I, Tyler Harrison, do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth", he swore.
"Can you please tell the court what happened on that day?", the Judge asked.
"Greetings, your Honor. By 10 AM that day, she called me to pull over at my master's house. She instructed I should drive her to the hospital and we both left with Mr Garcia's permission", Tyler said.
"I would ask that the court instruct the witness to give answers to my following inquiries", my lawyer; Barr. Kelsey said.
"Objection, your Honor", Barr. Dawson objected.
"Objection overruled", the Judge said.
"Thank you, Your Honor", my lawyer said. "Over to you, Mr Harrison, can you tell the court the time you both arrived at the hospital?", he asked.
"It was few minutes to 12 PM", he answered.
"Departure time?", Barr. Kelsey inquired.
"Exactly 2:00", he answered again.
"Where were you both within the interval of 4:10 to 4:35 that evening as that was the time my client's parents were declared missing?", my lawyer asked. Definitely, this was heading somewhere.
"We were already back before then", he plainly said.
"Did you perhaps stop her at any location other than the hospital?", Barr. Kelsey finally asked.
"No", he answered shortly.
With that, my lawyer walked back to his bench and sat down. Tyler was ordered to leave the witness box.
"Dr. Lopez, please help yourself to the witness box", the same clerk called out. She took the same oath and stood to face the court.
"Can you prove to us that what Mr Tyler had presented was true?", the Judge asked.
"Yes, your Honor", she replied. "Here is the database of the patients who checked into my hospital on the 14th of May and with more evidence to backup the database, I also have the CCTV footage showing the activities that took place that same day", she said as she showed it to the Court to confirm her statement.
"Thank you. You may step down now", the Judge said. "Call your last witness, please", he said, completing his sentence.
"Mr Lucas, please step forward", Barrister Dawson said. I watched Mateo walk over to the witness box and took same oath as the rest had done previously.
"Mr Lucas, please tell the court what happened that night", the Judge said.
"That night, I was with Kendall in her room. I went over to check up on her as Adrian asked of me", Mateo said. He wasn't lying, I actually sent him there.
"I would ask that the court instruct the witness to answer the following questions", Barr. Kelsey said. He got on his feet and approaching him.
"The deceased; Kayla Lee attested that you were behind locked doors with the accused that night, true or false?", he asked.
"True", he answered.
"And what explained that? Was there some kind of private discussions you both were having?", my lawyer asked. I saw Mateo swallow hard this time. There was something more to it.
"Kinda", he bluntly said.
"Can you openly tell the court about it?", my lawyer asked. I was certain he would have no other choice but to say the truth. I saw the fear written all over Kendall's face. She could freak out any moment when she finally gets exposed.
"It was about my unborn child with her", I heard Mateo say audibly. My heart felt wrecked but I had to pull myself together. It wasn't the time to get emotional about shit. I felt he just formed up this lie to save Kendall. I looked over to where she sat, she looked at ease now.
"If it pleases the court, permit me to bring Mr. Alvin to the witness box.... Mr Alvin, please step forward", Barr. Kelsey said. "Over to the accused, do you by any means know or come across this man standing right here?", he asked.
"No, I haven't", Kendall replied, or rather she denied.
"Same question to you, Mr. Alvin. Have you come across her before?", Barr. Kelsey asked. I notice the suspense stir up for a while before he finally answered. Kendall had her head buried in the ground the whole time.
"Neither have I", he answered. My lawyer and I were taken aback by his sudden switch in sides.
The same Mr. Alvin had confessed that he carried out the kidnap of my parents that day and he had also said earlier of delivering them to Kendall where she went on to hide them in a place he had no idea about but now, he denies ever knowing Kendall? There was something someone wasn't telling me. The time wasn't corresponding with all the events. If she was really at my place, then who carried out all these? Was someone framing her up all these while? Was she really innocent or I was missing a point? I pledged strongly that she was guilty of the charge but now, I was having a double mind. Either everyone was working against me or she is actually innocent. But, no! If not she then, who?
"I object!", Barr. Kelsey said. "Miss Campbell, can you permit the court to go through your previous call log within that period?", he asked.
"Objection, my Lord", Barr. Dawson said.
"Objection overruled", the Judge replied.
Kendall seemed pretty fearless as she walked over to present her cell phone to the Judge.
"As seen here, there's no form of evidence that she had anything related to do with Mr. Alvin", the Judge said.
"Please, wait! Can I have a look, your Honor?", Barr. Kelsey asked.
"If you insist", he said and handed over the cell phone to him.
I saw Barr. Kelsey adjust his glasses firmly before gluing his eyes to the screen. He looked like he had seen something. Something that could prove her guilty.
"This is it. The number is unsaved and I'm certain this contact belongs to Mr. Alvin", he said as he placed the call and put it in loudspeaker. I saw Kendall's eyes widen in shock.
*The number you're trying to call doesn't exist*, the phone voiced out in attempt to call the number. Once again, I could see myself loosing the case. I couldn't let this happen but I guess it was impossible. We were out of evidences.
"Based on the evidence you heard at the end of the trial, the Defendant will ask you to return a verdict of not guilty", Barr. Dawson opted.
The judge was calm, still tryna process stuffs and come to a finally conclusion.
The courtroom became rowdy as everyone was waiting on him to pass his final verdict. I wasn't in to start loosing hopes at the moment. I had to pull myself together and wait on
"Order!", the Judge screamed. The entire courtroom shook with fear and then, it became calm and quiet. Everyone's ears stood out to hear his pronouncement.
He finally spoke up. "The verdict is... ", he paused and took a deep breathe. "... not guilty", he said as he hammered the mallet on his desk.
"All rise!", the Bailiff ordered. We all stood in respect of the Judge till he left our vicinity.
"The Court is adjourned", the Bailiff concluded and with that, I found my way through the door. I couldn't believe all my money, time and energy all went in for nothing. I thought I could even atleast get to have my parents back but no way, I lost the case. Another pain added to my life. This was the worst day of my entire life.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder