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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Teens
- Theme: Mystery
- Subject: Other / Not Listed
- Published: 07/16/2011
On Trial
Born 1996, M, from Utah, United StatesRobert flashed back to when he was eight years old. His father had taken him to a hunting store. In this store they had a huge fish tank. The fish were every color and the way they swam it was like the colors were dancing. This particular day the store manager was holding a feeding session. People stood at the base of the fish tank while the manager threw in smaller fish.
Robert had never forgotten how many people came from all over to watch the fish be fed. Entertainment had changed from being violence on TV to violence in real life. Of course this fish feeding wouldn't have been so sinister when it was in the wild. That was nature. But this, people were watching the small little fish get eaten and rooting for them to die.
“Mr. Giles, how do you plead?” Judge Gruff asked in a monotone voice. The judge had already seen enough evidence to put the young man in prison for the rest of his life. But it was standard protocol that he ask the person on trial how he plead.
The young man, named Luke Giles, kept his face in his hands and let his body shake like he was sad. He didn't respond to the judge, or even acknowledge that Judge Robinson was even talking to him. Instead his lawyer, who was a stout, old, balding man, stood up and walked to the microphone which was just a few steps away from his chair. He was already out of breath just because he stood up.
“My client pleads not guilty.” He wiped his forehead and his hand became instantly wet with sweat.
The judge knew that this was how they were going to plead. He had seen enough of these trials where they swear they are innocent.
The whole process starts now, the prosecution gets ready to present it's witnesses and make it's case to the court. Then the Defense has a few days to present it's case. Then the jury comes up with a verdict.
The judge announced that the prosecution would have it's time to call up witnesses tomorrow.
Robert was the head prosecutor of the trial. He had gone to 4 years of law school, worked his butt off, took out a risky loan and started his own law office. After a few years the law office went bankrupt and Robert promptly lost his job. He had never been married and soon found himself without a home. He went homeless for a while begging for money. When he had finally gotten enough money to buy himself a suit he went to find work. The state hired him as a secretary and soon promoted him because of his hard work ethic.
This case was his first since he had lost his law firm. He had to win.
Robert walked 27 blocks to his apartment. Robert flashed back to the hunting store again. All the people that had gotten to the courthouse early to attend the trial. And all of the people that took time from their day to come down to the courthouse doors and wait for the day to be over. To them, this was a reality show with the thought that the ending might end in somebody actually dying. This was live TV to them, not a human beings life.
He tried not to think about his empty stomach for if he did it would remind him that he didn't have any food left in the refrigerator. Robert picked up the newspaper that was on the ground from this morning. The state payed for his newspaper to be sent to his room every morning.
On the front cover was the picture inside the courtroom. The man with his head in his hands, and his sweaty, fat, lawyer pleading for him.
This trial had instantly caught hold of the attention of millions of Americans. Of course, this man, if proven guilty, had hurt most of them personally. He was convicted of robbing over one hundred different banks, killing more then fifty people, and stealing a net worth of 3,454,000 US dollars.
The article was fairly short, and it was apparent that the reporter had no idea what was going on. Robert looked at the picture one more time. He saw himself looking down at a file. He ripped the front page off the newspaper, folded it up and placed it on the floor, turned off the lights and went to bed.
The next day at the court house was pretty uneventful. Robert was nervous but you wouldn't of noticed because of they way he talked, the way he carried himself. Even though this was Robert's first case in a long time, he was good.
The first witness was Luke Giles wife.
“Please state your name.” Robert commanded in a very confident tone.
The woman leaned into the microphone and very hesitantly said “Emma Giles.”
“Can you please describe your husbands line of work?” Robert asked
She put her hand on her face to cover her eyes. “He was a” she paused and let her self let our a sob, “an... accountant”
Robert knew this already but had to ask so that it was on record.
“How much did both of you make yearly?”
“Umm... about 65,000 dollars.”
Robert was on a roll, with this piece of information he knew exactly what to ask next.
“How much did your house cost? And how much do you owe on your house?”
The woman looked up, petrified. She knew what Robert was trying to get out of her, but before she could even try to answer Luke's lawyer stepped in and proclaimed that the answer was irrelevant and did not need to be answered. The judge agreed.
Robert looked over his notes and was thinking what to ask next.
“Did Luke travel a lot?” Robert gave up on trying to get the wife to say that they had millions stored away.
“Yes,” the woman stopped, “He traveled a lot and said that he had a lot of different destinations. He said that they were conferences that he had to attend to keep his CPA license.”
Robert asked a few more questions that didn't really have anything to do with the case he just wanted to get her talking, and comfortable. And of course he was looking for her to slip up on something.
The judge called a recess and told everybody that the court would assemble back at nine o'clock. Robert hated the end of the day. He felt so alive in the courtroom and so dead in his lowly apartment. His lunch was paid by the state but for the rest of the food he was on his own.
He walked the twenty seven blocks to his apartment yet again. He sat down on his bed and thought about the case. The wife didn't want to say anything that could convict her husband. He wondered if he would do the same if he had to testify against somebody he loved. Would he try and cover for them, even though they had killed, murdered, and stole? What scared Robert the most was the fact that he didn't know the answer. He would of loved to know that he would be able to choose the right, but he knew that he wouldn't say anything that would put his loved one in prison.
He looked at the newspaper that was left by his door that morning. Once again this trial had made the front page. The picture was of him asking questions to Emma. This picture was taken at a particular point in the day when Robert had just asked Emma a question that for some reason was impossible to answer. She tried a few times but before she said no more then five words, she would stop and put her head down on the desk as if to take a nap. As if to say to the court that she wouldn't, or couldn't go on anymore.
Robert tried to think about tomorrow. He already knew that he was going to call to the stand a bank clerk that was manning the bank when Luke supposedly robbed the bank. This bank teller was shot three times, twice in the leg and once in the shoulder. This clerk would not try to protect Luke.
Robert was hungry and didn't want to stay in his apartment. He put on his coat and walked out the door, not bothering to lock the door because there was nothing in the apartment that he remotely cared about.
Robert walked down the hall and outside where it had started raining. He pulled his coat up and embraced the icy cold rain.
He walked for a while aimlessly not knowing exactly where to go. He walked into a thrift store. He was soaking wet and freezing. The store's heat surrounded Robert as soon as he walked into the store. But Robert wasn't paying attention. His attention was on the TV screen. The sound was muted but there was a caption under the newscasters head. It said in big, bold, red letters. EMMA GILES MURDERED?
Robert gasped. If they didn't know, then it wasn't for sure that she was murdered. Luke was kept in a small prison not far away from the courthouse. He hadn't escaped, had he?
Robert walked over to a clerk and asked her to turn up the volume. The clerk was a young woman in her late teens early twenties. She obviously didn't want to be there, and gave Robert a dirty look but turned up the volume enough so Robert could just barely hear what was going on.
“...Emma Giles was found dead in her apartment just hours after testifying, and doing a mighty fine job of making her husband sound innocent. What do you think about this Barbra?”
The camera panned out to reveal another face. “I think that Emma had a lot of evidence to put her husband away for life. She was a weapon to him and could snap at anytime. He definitely gained a lot by eliminating her. If he did. And you know that she was going to crack eventually. The prosecutor was obviously getting to her.”
Robert stopped listening. If this was the work of Luke Giles, which Robert suspected it was, the trial would be a lot harder for Robert. He couldn't walk into the court everyday and look Luke in the face. He was now more than a killer. He had everything given to him. He had a very supportive wife who was doing everything she could to protect him, a job, and money. It wasn't fair. Robert had dedicated his life into locking murderers, liars, and thieves behind bars. And he had nothing.
Robert left the thrift store quickly. He had thought of something. He walked for a while. The rain had let up, leaving the air with a sweet smell, but a freezing temperature.
Robert walked to the nearest bank that he knew of. He had been to this bank countless numbers of times and knew the whole layout of the building. He walked behind it where the power cords and plumbing were.
He hopped the fence that was protecting the cords. He grabbed a cord and yanked it out. The outside lights went out for a minute, but quickly turned red again. This was the backup generator that came on when there was a power shortage.
Robert knew this. All banks had them. His dad was an electrician and had taught Robert about electrical wires, and power backups. Luckily his dad had also told him that the back up generator was usually right with all the other electrical equipment.
He found the generator and unplugged it also. Of course this was a difficult job to do, but Robert had done it before with his dad.
The red lights went out and everything was dark. No security system.
Robert went to the closest window and broke it in with his foot. A harder feat then usual, but not impossible. Robert climbed through the tiny window. The inside of the bank was dark. He walked over to the vault.
Robert had been to the bank a few weeks before and applied for a job. When escorted to the interviewer he stopped by the vault and placed a discreet magnet on the side of the vault.
This magnet made the little computer go crazy and not work. The vault hadn't properly locked in a few weeks. Nobody knew this though, because vault check ups were every month. Robert had made sure that the Vault wouldn't be inspected for at least another couple of weeks. When he placed the magnet he knew that the inspection had occurred the day before. He had one month to break in without anybody finding out.
Robert opened the vault slowly. The door was solid titanium and super heavy. Robert hadn't planned to take more then a couple hundred dollars. He grabbed a few hundred dollar bills and then closed the vault tightly.
He then walked back out the window. Plugged everything back in. The bank's alarm went off as it was programmed to do when all the power had gone out and back on again. Robert threw a big rock through the broken window.
This way when the police got there they would think that the alarm went off because somebody had accidentally thrown a rock through the window. Nobody would dust for prints and he would never be caught.
Robert walked to the front of the bank and quickly walked away. He walked for a few blocks. He heard the sirens coming for the bank. But Robert was long gone and the last suspect.
With the new money that Robert had recently acquired, he went to go get some pizza.
On Trial(Chase Hunt)
Robert flashed back to when he was eight years old. His father had taken him to a hunting store. In this store they had a huge fish tank. The fish were every color and the way they swam it was like the colors were dancing. This particular day the store manager was holding a feeding session. People stood at the base of the fish tank while the manager threw in smaller fish.
Robert had never forgotten how many people came from all over to watch the fish be fed. Entertainment had changed from being violence on TV to violence in real life. Of course this fish feeding wouldn't have been so sinister when it was in the wild. That was nature. But this, people were watching the small little fish get eaten and rooting for them to die.
“Mr. Giles, how do you plead?” Judge Gruff asked in a monotone voice. The judge had already seen enough evidence to put the young man in prison for the rest of his life. But it was standard protocol that he ask the person on trial how he plead.
The young man, named Luke Giles, kept his face in his hands and let his body shake like he was sad. He didn't respond to the judge, or even acknowledge that Judge Robinson was even talking to him. Instead his lawyer, who was a stout, old, balding man, stood up and walked to the microphone which was just a few steps away from his chair. He was already out of breath just because he stood up.
“My client pleads not guilty.” He wiped his forehead and his hand became instantly wet with sweat.
The judge knew that this was how they were going to plead. He had seen enough of these trials where they swear they are innocent.
The whole process starts now, the prosecution gets ready to present it's witnesses and make it's case to the court. Then the Defense has a few days to present it's case. Then the jury comes up with a verdict.
The judge announced that the prosecution would have it's time to call up witnesses tomorrow.
Robert was the head prosecutor of the trial. He had gone to 4 years of law school, worked his butt off, took out a risky loan and started his own law office. After a few years the law office went bankrupt and Robert promptly lost his job. He had never been married and soon found himself without a home. He went homeless for a while begging for money. When he had finally gotten enough money to buy himself a suit he went to find work. The state hired him as a secretary and soon promoted him because of his hard work ethic.
This case was his first since he had lost his law firm. He had to win.
Robert walked 27 blocks to his apartment. Robert flashed back to the hunting store again. All the people that had gotten to the courthouse early to attend the trial. And all of the people that took time from their day to come down to the courthouse doors and wait for the day to be over. To them, this was a reality show with the thought that the ending might end in somebody actually dying. This was live TV to them, not a human beings life.
He tried not to think about his empty stomach for if he did it would remind him that he didn't have any food left in the refrigerator. Robert picked up the newspaper that was on the ground from this morning. The state payed for his newspaper to be sent to his room every morning.
On the front cover was the picture inside the courtroom. The man with his head in his hands, and his sweaty, fat, lawyer pleading for him.
This trial had instantly caught hold of the attention of millions of Americans. Of course, this man, if proven guilty, had hurt most of them personally. He was convicted of robbing over one hundred different banks, killing more then fifty people, and stealing a net worth of 3,454,000 US dollars.
The article was fairly short, and it was apparent that the reporter had no idea what was going on. Robert looked at the picture one more time. He saw himself looking down at a file. He ripped the front page off the newspaper, folded it up and placed it on the floor, turned off the lights and went to bed.
The next day at the court house was pretty uneventful. Robert was nervous but you wouldn't of noticed because of they way he talked, the way he carried himself. Even though this was Robert's first case in a long time, he was good.
The first witness was Luke Giles wife.
“Please state your name.” Robert commanded in a very confident tone.
The woman leaned into the microphone and very hesitantly said “Emma Giles.”
“Can you please describe your husbands line of work?” Robert asked
She put her hand on her face to cover her eyes. “He was a” she paused and let her self let our a sob, “an... accountant”
Robert knew this already but had to ask so that it was on record.
“How much did both of you make yearly?”
“Umm... about 65,000 dollars.”
Robert was on a roll, with this piece of information he knew exactly what to ask next.
“How much did your house cost? And how much do you owe on your house?”
The woman looked up, petrified. She knew what Robert was trying to get out of her, but before she could even try to answer Luke's lawyer stepped in and proclaimed that the answer was irrelevant and did not need to be answered. The judge agreed.
Robert looked over his notes and was thinking what to ask next.
“Did Luke travel a lot?” Robert gave up on trying to get the wife to say that they had millions stored away.
“Yes,” the woman stopped, “He traveled a lot and said that he had a lot of different destinations. He said that they were conferences that he had to attend to keep his CPA license.”
Robert asked a few more questions that didn't really have anything to do with the case he just wanted to get her talking, and comfortable. And of course he was looking for her to slip up on something.
The judge called a recess and told everybody that the court would assemble back at nine o'clock. Robert hated the end of the day. He felt so alive in the courtroom and so dead in his lowly apartment. His lunch was paid by the state but for the rest of the food he was on his own.
He walked the twenty seven blocks to his apartment yet again. He sat down on his bed and thought about the case. The wife didn't want to say anything that could convict her husband. He wondered if he would do the same if he had to testify against somebody he loved. Would he try and cover for them, even though they had killed, murdered, and stole? What scared Robert the most was the fact that he didn't know the answer. He would of loved to know that he would be able to choose the right, but he knew that he wouldn't say anything that would put his loved one in prison.
He looked at the newspaper that was left by his door that morning. Once again this trial had made the front page. The picture was of him asking questions to Emma. This picture was taken at a particular point in the day when Robert had just asked Emma a question that for some reason was impossible to answer. She tried a few times but before she said no more then five words, she would stop and put her head down on the desk as if to take a nap. As if to say to the court that she wouldn't, or couldn't go on anymore.
Robert tried to think about tomorrow. He already knew that he was going to call to the stand a bank clerk that was manning the bank when Luke supposedly robbed the bank. This bank teller was shot three times, twice in the leg and once in the shoulder. This clerk would not try to protect Luke.
Robert was hungry and didn't want to stay in his apartment. He put on his coat and walked out the door, not bothering to lock the door because there was nothing in the apartment that he remotely cared about.
Robert walked down the hall and outside where it had started raining. He pulled his coat up and embraced the icy cold rain.
He walked for a while aimlessly not knowing exactly where to go. He walked into a thrift store. He was soaking wet and freezing. The store's heat surrounded Robert as soon as he walked into the store. But Robert wasn't paying attention. His attention was on the TV screen. The sound was muted but there was a caption under the newscasters head. It said in big, bold, red letters. EMMA GILES MURDERED?
Robert gasped. If they didn't know, then it wasn't for sure that she was murdered. Luke was kept in a small prison not far away from the courthouse. He hadn't escaped, had he?
Robert walked over to a clerk and asked her to turn up the volume. The clerk was a young woman in her late teens early twenties. She obviously didn't want to be there, and gave Robert a dirty look but turned up the volume enough so Robert could just barely hear what was going on.
“...Emma Giles was found dead in her apartment just hours after testifying, and doing a mighty fine job of making her husband sound innocent. What do you think about this Barbra?”
The camera panned out to reveal another face. “I think that Emma had a lot of evidence to put her husband away for life. She was a weapon to him and could snap at anytime. He definitely gained a lot by eliminating her. If he did. And you know that she was going to crack eventually. The prosecutor was obviously getting to her.”
Robert stopped listening. If this was the work of Luke Giles, which Robert suspected it was, the trial would be a lot harder for Robert. He couldn't walk into the court everyday and look Luke in the face. He was now more than a killer. He had everything given to him. He had a very supportive wife who was doing everything she could to protect him, a job, and money. It wasn't fair. Robert had dedicated his life into locking murderers, liars, and thieves behind bars. And he had nothing.
Robert left the thrift store quickly. He had thought of something. He walked for a while. The rain had let up, leaving the air with a sweet smell, but a freezing temperature.
Robert walked to the nearest bank that he knew of. He had been to this bank countless numbers of times and knew the whole layout of the building. He walked behind it where the power cords and plumbing were.
He hopped the fence that was protecting the cords. He grabbed a cord and yanked it out. The outside lights went out for a minute, but quickly turned red again. This was the backup generator that came on when there was a power shortage.
Robert knew this. All banks had them. His dad was an electrician and had taught Robert about electrical wires, and power backups. Luckily his dad had also told him that the back up generator was usually right with all the other electrical equipment.
He found the generator and unplugged it also. Of course this was a difficult job to do, but Robert had done it before with his dad.
The red lights went out and everything was dark. No security system.
Robert went to the closest window and broke it in with his foot. A harder feat then usual, but not impossible. Robert climbed through the tiny window. The inside of the bank was dark. He walked over to the vault.
Robert had been to the bank a few weeks before and applied for a job. When escorted to the interviewer he stopped by the vault and placed a discreet magnet on the side of the vault.
This magnet made the little computer go crazy and not work. The vault hadn't properly locked in a few weeks. Nobody knew this though, because vault check ups were every month. Robert had made sure that the Vault wouldn't be inspected for at least another couple of weeks. When he placed the magnet he knew that the inspection had occurred the day before. He had one month to break in without anybody finding out.
Robert opened the vault slowly. The door was solid titanium and super heavy. Robert hadn't planned to take more then a couple hundred dollars. He grabbed a few hundred dollar bills and then closed the vault tightly.
He then walked back out the window. Plugged everything back in. The bank's alarm went off as it was programmed to do when all the power had gone out and back on again. Robert threw a big rock through the broken window.
This way when the police got there they would think that the alarm went off because somebody had accidentally thrown a rock through the window. Nobody would dust for prints and he would never be caught.
Robert walked to the front of the bank and quickly walked away. He walked for a few blocks. He heard the sirens coming for the bank. But Robert was long gone and the last suspect.
With the new money that Robert had recently acquired, he went to go get some pizza.
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