Trial: Day 8
From the witness stand, Law watched a much younger version of himself glance behind himself anxiously, hands stuffed in his pockets to hide what he knew to be drugs clutched tightly in his fists. The video quality was subpar, grainy and obviously dated, but it clearly picked up his features at this angle, hiding those of the person he was speaking to. They were too far away from the security camera for it to pick up any meaningful audio, but he could at least imagine the conversation in his head.
The alley was dark, meaning it took place in the evening behind the cafe he used to frequent back then for his deals. There were too many to count to place who exactly this person was or what particular occasion it had come from.
The two of them exchanged conversation back and forth, gesturing and alluding to the drugs that Law was carrying with him at the time. At one point, younger him pulled the drugs in question out of his pocket to show the man that he did in fact have the product he was looking for.
A few more nervous glances behind him. A few more shifty sidelong looks past the client just in case. Something Law said must have upset the potential client, because he threw up his hands and pushed him roughly into the alley's wall, moving in to quickly escalate the confrontation.
The bartender winced when his younger self animatedly fought back, punching and kicking and...eventually stabbing the man into submission on the ground before him. Obviously heaving with the effort of the assault he'd turned onto his initial attacker, Law stepped back and stared down at the man cowering on the cement ground. He coiled within himself to stop the bleeding or pain, and made no move to stop Law as he ran back down the alley and out of sight.
The whole video was less than two minutes long, but the implication was still substantial. Law felt himself swallow unconsciously, and his hands clenched in his lap, out of sight of anyone but himself. And strangely, he felt like he could feel one particular pair of eyes boring into him from the gallery beyond the courtroom floor. He didn't dare to meet them, afraid of what they might hold.
"We would like to submit Exhibit A as evidence to the court." Kalifa held up a small disc sitting in a plastic baggy, handing it over to the bailiff to give to the judge. The man behind the great podium accepted it and placed it somewhere on his desk.
"Do I have permission to approach the witness?"
"You do." The judge offered.
Law looked up at her as she walked closer to his box, dressed sharply as usual in her gray suit. Internally, he was rather nervous, but outwardly he retained that neutral wall of indifference. However, he had a feeling he'd have to let himself appear vulnerable very soon, as Hitomi had advised him to during key points of the trial.
"Will you please identify the two men who appeared in that video, Mr. Trafalgar?" Kalifa asked smoothly, gesturing to the projector screen set up on the wall opposite the jury.
He resisted the urge to clear his throat before speaking. Any little twitch or involuntary action on his part could be easily picked up by the observant jury.
"Myself...and probably one of my usual regulars from back then." He stated simply.
"Do you recall his name?"
His head shook. "No."
Kalifa took a few steps to the side, head held high. "And did you approach that man with the intent to sell him illegal substances?"
"...yes, but not because I wanted to." He responded.
Behind her glasses, Kalifa gave him a stern look. "Was anyone holding a gun to your head in this instance, threatening you with death, had you not followed through with this deal?"
"Not physically, but in a way, yes." He reasoned, narrowing his eyes in thought.
"Elaborate for the jury, what you mean by that exactly." She urge patiently, aimlessly striding slowly across the court room floor.
"The gang expected a certain quota of it's drug runners. I was no different. Often times if you didn't hit quota, you'd be...encouraged...to meet the next one." He nearly shuddered, jaw clenching. "Encouragement was never kind. Their definition of it is much more violent than yours would ever be."
"But wouldn't the act of carrying around a potentially lethal weapon with you suggest that you were there of your own volition?"
"Objection: Argumentative." Hitomi stood from her chair and calmly faced the judge with her statement.
"Sustained."
Kalifa rephrased her question. "Why did you bring the knife with you to this particular deal?"
"Self-defense." He stated with a minute shrug. "It wasn't the first time someone tried to jump me, and it certainly wasn't the last...I didn't want to die out the streets to a drug addict, Ma'am."
It felt strange, calling this woman 'Ma'am.' He didn't refer to anyone he didn't respect with that term, but he was expected to in this setting. It felt very wrong.
"Did you bring a weapon with you to every drug deal?"
"Yes." He said, eyes downcast. "After I was nearly beaten to death the first time without it. I never used it unless the deal went wrong somehow."
"Just how many of those deals went wrong?" She ventured to ask.
"...too many."
"How many deals would you say you completed while working with the Donquixote family?"
Law sighed, shaking his head. "Hundreds...could be a few thousand."
He heard a few quiet whispers from the jury's direction, but forced himself not to look.
"Then will you explain to the court how these deals were not of your own volition when there have been a such great number of them? Surely you could not have been forced to participate in so many?"
His gaze still lowered, he couldn't help but fidget with his hands. "I never wanted to join a gang, Ma'am. And the one thing about organizations like that is that once you are in, they don't let you out. I had nowhere else to go, and if I did try to leave, they would have killed me."
"And you know that for fact?"
He lifted his head and stared at her straight on. "Yes."
Though the moment only lasted a few seconds at most, both prosecuting attorney and defendant stared each other down, neither wavering in their intent to project what they were feeling for the other in that moment. She obviously held a distaste for him, no doubt due to his crimes. He felt an overwhelming and unexpected desire for her to understand that had he been given the choice, he gladly would have chosen a different life path.
"No further questions." She said quietly, straightening and returning to the prosecution's table. Law's eyes followed her back there, wondering if she had picked up anything in his eyes, or if her own blind yet understandable hatred for him had prevented her from seeing his pain.
Not entirely listening, Law realized that the judge had said a few things but he hadn't caught them. Thankfully it didn't seem like he had anything to do with it, as no one was watching him expectantly-other than the jury, of course, but that was their job. Hitomi stood and took the place of where the prosecuting attorney had been, regarding him with an indifferent expression
"Mr. Trafalgar, how often were you tasked with completing these drug deals during your time with the Donquixote Family?" She began, cocking her head slightly as she awaited the answer.
"Every day, or every other day occasionally."
"And as you stated before, you claim you were figuratively 'held at gunpoint' or forced to commit these crimes, correct?"
"Yes."
"You mentioned 'encouragement...'" She started, trailing off a bit before looking at the jury passively. "Could you explain to the court what that might entail?"
Law bit the inside of his lip but did his absolute best to keep his face passive. "It was usually one of a variety of things...Beatings, verbal abuse, manipulation..." His voice trailed off quietly, but Hitomi swung her gaze back to him and pinned him in his seat.
"Manipulation? I'm sorry to sound like a broken record but...please explain for the jury."
Law didn't have to fake the hesitation, eyes staring back at Hitomi desperately hoping that he didn't have to go into great detail about what they'd done. But she simply stared back, willing him to talk, because it was the only way the jury would understand his mindset at the time.
For the first time, Law couldn't help glancing just past Hitomi to focus on a certain woman sitting in the gallery. Her face so openly expressive with worry and sorrow, yet she somehow still found the strength to smile sadly, encouraging him that she was being strong for him.
And right beside her, the man who'd supported him through all of his worst fears, dug him out of the grave Law had put himself in. He drew strength from those he loved, hoping that despite it all, they wouldn't think of him any differently. His head lowered of it's own accord.
"They'd use the others...make examples of the kids who weren't performing up to the family's standards. Beatings were the lightest punishment. If you were lucky, you'd get some bruises and wouldn't eat for a few days. A lot of the kids looked dead on their feet, they were so skinny."
"Were you subjected to this treatment?" Hitomi went on, carefully watching the jury out of the corner of her eye.
"Yeah. After seeing something like that, you think to yourself, 'I'll do whatever it takes so that doesn't happen to me.'" He stated.
Hitomi nodded in understanding, walking another few paces in no specific direction. "Surely after some amount of time, a person would rebel, and refuse to take anymore of that treatment? If you truly didn't want to be in the gang, why didn't you rebel in some way?"
The silver-haired woman saw him looking off to the side, gaze far away as he remembered something. "Baby 5." He said, then shook his head. "I didn't know her real name but...that's what everyone called her. The family recruited her after her mother abandoned her. But when she wanted to leave to go back to her mother, they decided to use it as an opportunity to teach us what happens when someone tries to betray or abandon the organization."
"What happened to her?" Hitomi prodded gently, after a few silent seconds passed. She could tell this wasn't easy for him, but she knew having it come from his own mouth and having the jury see the real emotions would go a long way in their defense.
"They...beat her. More like tortured her, actually. Bats and knives, and then guns. They'd pick spots that would hurt but wouldn't kill. Just to make it more painful." His head shook minutely, still not entirely looking at one particular thing, but far away past his defense attorney's head. "They made us watch, threatened to kill anyone who tried to leave. She screamed for almost an hour, begging for them to stop, for someone to help, anything."
He suddenly looked down at his lap and swallowed. "When she was dead, they told us that the same thing would happen to us if we ever tried betraying the family, and that they had eyes everywhere, so there was no use in even trying."
After a moment, he looked up at Hitomi and looked her in the eyes. "After seeing that they're capable of doing something like that, you believe what they tell you without question."
Hitomi risked a glance at the jury and saw exactly what she wanted to see: pity. Perhaps Law didn't want others to pity him, but when it came to trying to avoid a 20 year long sentencing in prison, he'd best be hoping for a reaction like that. They believed what he was telling them, and they were now beginning to believe that he wouldn't and couldn't have done such a thing if not for the circumstances.
But she knew she'd have to go even a step further. Law was a victim, and she wanted them to see that as well.
"Did you endure such brutality personally?" She ventured to ask, and he nodded.
"Yeah, I took my fair share of beatings." He shrugged, trying not to appear like he was trying to sink into the chair behind the witness stand. Part of him hoped the floor would just swallow him whole so he didn't have to recount this. "One man in particular, Vergo, he liked to use metal pipes."
Her head cocked to the side. "Were you ever forced to participate in doling out these beatings?"
"Yes." He bit out regretfully.
"Did any of these instances result in the death of another person?"
"No."
Hitomi inclined her head. Law's jaw was tight, his body language rigid. He was becoming defensive to the questions, knowing what she was going to ask next, but she needed him to relax. Getting angry would totally undo this victim label she'd worked so hard to create for him. "Were you at any time responsible for the death of another person while in the care of the Donquixote Family?"
"..." Law's leg bounced nervously from behind the witness stand, venting his inner feelings out somehow without lashing out in anger. He was trying desperately to keep his expression from cracking. "...yes."
His admission caused a few of the jury members to whisper amongst themselves, too low for him to hear, and he didn't dare look any of them in the eyes at this point. He was terrified of what he'd see lurking in them.
"What were the circumstances of this incident?"
"It was a drug deal that went wrong. They pulled a gun on me and I-" He shook his head. "I stabbed him before he could shoot me."
Someone in the gallery behind them coughed under their breath, trying their best to muffle it. Hitomi didn't even look his way. "Had there been any possibility of escaping, without killing him?"
"No. I wasn't familiar with that part of town, and he wasn't the only one of his gang in the area. They would have just hunted me down if I'd ran."
Her head cocked to the side again, regarding him carefully. "And what were you feeling at the time?"
"I felt..." His eyes took on that faraway look again, and his fists clenched in his lap. "...numb. Like, a sensory overload sort of numb. I was afraid of running into one of his friends, and I was happy I was alive, and I was terrified because I saw the expression on his face when he took his last breath and that..."
The taps of the court writer's typewriter filled the space in between his words. They stopped, catching up to where he'd ended his last sentence. A pause, and then he sighed. "That moment isn't something you just forget. I can still see it clearly, but I wish I couldn't."
Hitomi watches him for a moment, looking a little more broken than he had before. Good. She turned to the judge and nodded. "No further questions, your honor."
"Does the prosecution wish to re-examine the witness?" The judge questioned, writing something down on his desk.
"Yes, Your Honor." The blonde woman stood and made her way near the witness stand, mindful to keep a good distance away. Law didn't bother even looking at her as she approached.
"Mr. Trafalgar, I would like you to answer one thing for me. Have you ever caused a death in which it would not be possible to claim self-defense?"
"No."
Kalifa cocked her head, hands clasped behind her back. "You were fairly quick to answer that. You were part of the family for quite some time. Are you certain of that fact?"
"Yes." He stressed, thinking that despite being under oath to tell the truth, the justice system was still severely distrusting of their witnesses.
"Hmm." She nodded, watching him another moment. "You know, one thing we haven't brought up is how. How did you find yourself in the Donquixote Family in the first place?"
"My family was...murdered." He started. "My mother, father, and sister...gunned down at a playground near our house. I was the only one to live."
"And why is that?"
Hitomi thought about objecting to the question, hands placed on the desk to lift herself from her seat, but something in Law's posture made her resist. Perhaps he could handle this one on his own.
Law's eye twitched, and slowly raised his eyes to hers, an icy stare locking her in place. "You know...I've wondered that myself, Ma'am. Every day for the past 13 years."
Kalifa inclined her head silently, seeming to understand that she touched upon a tangent that she shouldn't continue with. Not only would it seem insensitive, but it wouldn't do anything to help her case.
"What happened after the night your parents and sister died?"
Law shrugged. "I was sent to a state house, since I had no other living relatives."
"And how long did you reside there?"
"A few months. I ran away after that."
"Did you run away from the state house specifically to join the Donquixote Family?"
"No." Law shook his head vehemently.
Kalifa spread her hands, gesturing upwards. "Then, why did you run away from the state house, a place meant to provide you with safety?"
"Objection: Speculation." Hitomi stood.
"Overruled." The judge said, turning back to Kalifa. "Continue."
Hitomi sat back down, mouth pressed into a thin line.
"Please answer the question, Mr. Trafalgar." The blonde repeated, gesturing at him to signal him to begin.
"I ran away because I was alone. I just lost my family, that feeling of safety and comfort, and I was whisked away to this place where I didn't know anybody. I was grieving, but I didn't know what to do with it, or how to handle it. So...I ran." He finished with a shrug. "I was 10 years old. I didn't know what else to do back then."
"So, you made a choice to run away, which ultimately lead to the choice to join the Donquixote Family, is that correct?"
"It was a stupid choice but...yeah."
"Can you describe the circumstances in which you were recruited into the family?" She asked.
Law scratched at an itch on the side of his face. "After I ran away, I was cornered by some thugs and beaten within an inch of my life. I probably would have died if I'd been left there on my own. I blacked out. When I woke up, I was being treated for my wounds by the family.
"They told me that I could either join their ranks as payment for saving my life, or they'd kill me so they didn't have to waste their time any further." He looked at her again. "So I don't know about you, but I didn't see any other choice than to take their offer. Anything sounded better than dying."
Kalifa regarded Law again, and for once, he thought he saw a hint of understanding behind her glasses, but then she turned to the judge and nodded. "No further questions, Your Honor."
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