The first thing I needed to do is find out what sort of person Jimmy was. I asked his mother to visit my office again so she could tell me about him. Jimmy was born when she was only a teenager. He was born very early and had to stay in the hospital for weeks. When she finally took him home, her mom and Dad helped raise him. Despite the hard birth, he was an easy child to have. He ate and sleep and hardly complained at all. There were no signs that he was handicapped in any way.
As Jimmy grew older, his parents found out that despite he was a loving child, he was very slow in doing things such a sitting up, walking and talking. The doctors informed the parents that Jimmy was in some way brain damaged. This did not stop the parents from loving him and giving him the best possible upbringing. In time they knew that he was perfect in any way except that he was mentally not developing.
When Jimmy was a teen, the doctors suggested that he would be sent to a special home with staff trained to give children the best possible future. This was especially after his father died of cancer. The doctors were worried that Jimmy would be too much work for his widowed mother. She refused to send him anywhere as she thought what he needed was a home that was full of love. I liked this and imagined that I would do the same if Wendy (my daughter) was brain-damaged.
So there was nothing in the past to indicate that he did not know the difference between right and wrong. His mother showed nothing but love and raised him in a protective environment. She devoted her life to him and from what I could see, she has done a perfect job.
I decided that I would visit Jimmy again. Again he was brought in a small room. I started to explain to him that I am his lawyer and would try that he can go home to his mother. Jimmy did not understand a lot as he was restless sitting on the chair.
" They have no toys here!" he said.
" No this is a jail. It is for people who commit a crime."
" Is that small girl still mad at me?"
" I told you that she is dead the last time I came. People say that you hurt her very badly."
" I didn't mean to hurt her, I couldn't find a band-aid."
Jimmy started crying saying people thought that he was a bad boy. He wanted his toys and painting stuff. It was hard speaking with Jimmy, and some things he said could be considered as an admission. He said he did not mean to hurt her and wanted to find a band-aid. Any jury would understand that this was an admission. I could not seem to be able to speak to him about the case, as his answers were not concise and in some ways made the answers made him look guilty.
When I came back to the office, I read the newspapers. The headlines were news that I have accepted to defend Jimmy. The Editorials were very harsh about that saying I would do anything for fame. This upset me. This is possibly one of the worse ways of getting fame. I knew that people would hate me for taking the case. They would assume that I was helping a child murderer go free. I honestly thought that there were easier ways of becoming famous.
I threw the newspapers in the dust pin.
Then I opened a report from a psychologist. It was a long report that explored the mind and personality of Jimmy. There was nothing surprising in it. Jimmy had the mental capacities of a child. He knew he was different but loved life. It was the small things that made him happy. He was very close to his mother and he knew that she made a lot of sacrifices for him. Jimmy loved cartoons and he loved painting. He attended a community center several times a week, where he would sit and paint. He had some very good friends there.
One interesting thing about Jimmy is that he had no sexuality. He never showed any interest in females and never tried having a girlfriend. This would be an important factor for those that thought he wanted to molest the girl and she put up a fight. Jimmy simply did not understand about sexuality or think about it. It was not something that he needed.
Another interesting fact was that Jimmy did know the difference between right and wrong. Morality had no gray regions for him and his morality was close to what the church and his mother taught him. Jimmy did not like it when he was in trouble and he just wanted to make his mother happy. I sat down thinking if this could help the case. It obviously showed that Jimmy wanted to be good and not get in trouble,
I worked with the case for days and still had the same thought in the back of my head. Was I defending someone who killed a young girl? The media concluded that I was defending a child murderer, and that made me just as bad as him.
One evening, when I was at home, my daughter jumped on my lap. She was not happy. She was being teased at school!
"They tease me about you!" She started explaining.
" What do they say"
" They say you are helping a bad man that kills children."
" Well in a way, I am helping a man accused of hurting a girl. We do not know if he did it"
" Why help someone who did such a bad thing?"
" Someone must help him!"
" Not you!", My daughter cried, "The other children are teasing me because you are helping a child killer go free. Today a girl even pushed me on the ground saying my dad was evil!"
I didn't know what to say to my daughter. I just sat and hugged her and told her that she knew she nor I was evil. Children could be so cruel to each other. Adults could be mean with each other as well. If you read the newspapers or listened to the TV, no one had anything good to say about me. My old reputation of being a good defense lawyer was changed to a scum lawyer, that would do anything for fame.
One thing is that people did not like me for defending Jimmy. There was no excuse for how my family was treated. It was not Wendy's fault. Her teachers should have explained the situation and helped protect her. She was not old enough to understand and the same would be with any child that went to that school. Wendy was getting bullied about something that they did not understand. It can be hard for someone to understand that someone had to defend Jimmy!
The next day at work, I was skipping through the police report. It didn't give me any hope on how I could defend Jimmy. The evidence against him was so convincing. However, there was something in my mind telling me that something was not right. There was no mention of any man in the cap or why the backdoor was open. There was no indication that there was a fight or anything in the house was missing. The evidence was that Jimmy was holding the girl, and his fingerprints were on the frying pan. I must have looked at that report all morning to see if there was anything that could create a doubt. The police report was condemning. This would be a very hard case to defend. I had nothing to help me.
I decided to visit the girl's family. This is always a hard thing to do, especially when you are the defense lawyer. However, they let me in and were very hospitable. While they were giving me coffee, I looked around the house. It was a normal two-story house with nice furniture and it was kept clean. There were a lot of pictures of grandparents and the family. It was hard to sit and think that the girl in the pictures that was always smiling was now an angel in heaven.
Her mom did not say anything and I suspected if she did say something, she would end on tears.
" She was the best daughter one could have." her Dad explained, " She was always happy and full of life. She done well at school and had a lot of friends there. Her friends liked that she was so cheerful and always there when they needed a friend. She did not fall in the traps other teens experience. She did not flirt with boys or drink or take drugs. She was interested in other things. The family was very important to her and having good friends. She also was interested in gymnastics, and could have made it to the Olympic team."
I didn't know what to ask or say.
" Now she is gone." he continued, " I feel that it is my fault. I should never have left her alone in the house. However we were going shopping and she asked if she could stay home, as she had a project for school that she had to finish. I did not think twice about it, as I thought she was old enough to be alone. I never considered what would happen."
I decided that Wendy would never be left alone until she was 21.
" That handicapped retard killed her." the girl's dad said, " He came into our house which is a house he never was in before. He did not know my daughter and for some reason, he killed her. I never believed in the death penalty until now. That child killer needs to be punished. Even when he is punished, it will be nothing compared to how we feel and what my daughter felt. She is gone and we won't see her smile or hear her voice anymore. Life is so hard and lonely now! You are defending this man. How could you even help a man that caused so much pain?"
" Many people including my family are asking me the same question." I explained, " I will not pretend that I know the pain and sorrow you are going through. I can understand that you want to punish the person that has done this. I am defending the man because someone has to be his voice. We have to make sure that he is guilty. We have to make sure we do not convict an innocent man. I can tell you this, if he is proven guilty, I will lose the case and be happy I lost it. If he is guilty, he will be punished and punished hard."
I decided that I was not helping the parents, so I excused myself and go back to my office. They were convinced that Jimmy killed their daughter. Even though they wanted justice, they knew it would not bring their daughter back or stop the guilt that they had because they left their daughter alone at home.
My wife was waiting for me back at the office. She told me how hard this case was for the family. She knew that Wendy was being bullied at school. She said that she was suffering too. All her friends seemed to stop talking with her and the ones that did think that I was nothing more than a corrupt lawyer, like one that worked for the mafia. It was hard seeing my wife crying and begging me to make things better. She was not being unreasonable. She was telling me the family was suffering because of my work.
I gave her a hug and admitted that I thought that this case was a mistake. All the evidence shows that Jimmy killed the girl. I still had something in my mind saying that he is innocent, but that being said, the evidence is evidence. I explained to my wife that I could not leave the case now, as it was my belief that he needed a voice.
I told my wife that I was about to visit Jimmy and tell him that he would most likely get the death penalty. I wanted him to admit he was guilty and in this way, he could get a life sentence. This plea would make sure everyone got justice. I was surprised that my wife agreed to this as she said that the death penalty would mean he would not suffer enough. He needed life to repent on what he has done.
I met Jimmy at the small room once again and tried to tell him about the plea bargain that would mean he would get a life sentence. I was asking him if I could offer this bargain to the prosecution. It was obvious that he did not understand a word.
While I was thinking about how I could explain this to him, I swatted an annoying fly that was doing its best to destroy my concentration. The fly was dead on the small table and suddenly Jimmy started to panic and shout. He held the fly in his hands and shouted and asked how I could hurt it. He blew on the fly as he was trying to give life to it. I knew that I would not be able to get anywhere with him. So I left him at the table holding the fly.
That evening, my wife was reading some magazines and Wendy was playing with her dolls on the floor. Then it hit me. Jimmy was holding the dead fly and worried because it was hurt. The same happened with the dead girl. He was holding her as he knew she was hurt. It was obvious that Jimmy could not hurt a fly. How could he hurt a girl?
Maybe Jimmy was innocent.
I was bought back to my family when I heard Wendy scream. There was a brick on the floor next to her and broken glass all over. Someone threw a brick through the window, and it missed hitting my daughter by a few inches.
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