As he slithers through The Halls of Justice and comes upon the Security Checkpoint, he felt some compulsion to lean over to whisper to one of the guards he had assisted at one time. His victim in this case was a retired cop and detective on disability. He was not being friendly, as he was not a true friend to any man or woman. He had a purpose as usual, as it was time for another payback. He had no conscience and he used people. “ I need for you to do a favor for me, see me at noon at the coffee shop,” he dictated.
The guard in question was Steven, and he was quietly seething as he had to wait and waste his entire lunch hour when he had planned to use the time to pick up needed medication for his wife. He was very anxious because when this man, known as the Prosecutor, asked for a favor, it was always something he knew would be putting himself at risk. Steven also knew he had no choice.
Although a half-hour late, the Prosecutor appeared and got right to the point. “ Steven, I am so pleased I was able to secure this job for you. I know your wife’s health due to her pancreatic cancer treatment has brought expenses that are staggering. We may have had to bend the rules a little but I got you what you wanted, this full-time job with excellent benefits which you are not suppose to have with your disability. But I am always here to help more if you need it.”
Then came the veiled threat. “We don’t ever want the monies to stop flowing for any reason now do we ? Now I need you to get something for me in the police files on this gentleman.”
The Prosecutor slipped Steven a piece of paper with a man’s name and birthdate scribbled on it. “ Really, as quickly as possible and focus on anything mentioning drugs or prostitution that you can find. Now, can you do that for me ? I know you still have friends in the department. I need this ASAP !”
Steven was upset but tried not to show it, but knew not to cross the Prosecutor. He again felt he had no choice. One call from the Prosecutor could screw up his job or disability or both.
Then the cold-hearted Prosecutor sauntered up the oak steps to where the courtrooms were located, and saw Judge Jacobs removing his overcoat as he was just about ready to enter his private chambers leading to his courtroom. “ Good afternoon Your Honor, I will have the pleasure to begin prosecuting a case before you this afternoon. And I have good news about your son that I will tell you about later.”
Two hours later the Prosecutor was indeed beginning the trial in Judge Jacobs’ Courtroom. The case was against an oriental young man, who recently became a citizen of the U.S. and had been through his arraignment and pre-trial hearing and chose a Jury Trial at the recommendation of his Public Defender. He had pled not-guilty for a supposed ‘criminal hit and run’ charge, which ended in death for the other person. There were many mitigating circumstances. The accident occurred on an unfamiliar, sparsely travelled country road, at dusk. Dodging potholes and being lost, trying to get directions on his Map Quest to no avail, his car veered left of center and collided with the victims car that had also veered left of center, apparently trying to dodge the same series of potholes. It was , admittedly, a terrible tragedy.
The defendant tried to get a signal on his cell phone to call for help, but he was out of range. He said he checked the victim he hit who was unresponsive but alive and needed medical attention quickly. After fifteen or twenty agonizingly long minutes and not seeing another car on the road, he checked again for a pulse on the injured man. He was still breathing. There was an ugly gash on the man’s forehead but the bleeding seemed to have stopped. He could not see any other obvious wounds. He was afraid to move the injured man as he expected there were internal injuries. The defendant drove away in a panic to find a town with a police station or hospital to get help but was picked up by a rural Deputy for speeding when the report of the accident came over his police radio. The Deputy saw the damage to the defendant’s car and figured it was the hit and run perpetrator that had just been reported, and he had caught him leaving the scene. The Deputy was further agitated by the fact that he could not understand anything of the broken-english the defendant was speaking and so he thought the young man was high on something.
The Prosecutor muddied the waters and cast his spell on the jury by badgering the accused and embellishing on the many things he did as a juvenile from a father-less home, petty things really. But the Prosecutor knew how to make anything sound worse. The defendant, upon reaching the age of twenty-one, immigrated to the United States and had become a Citizen. He was working nights as a janitor and trying to attend school during the day. He was using marijuana to help him relax and sleep when he could. Aha, drugs, the Prosecutor argued.
Being alone with no family or support system of friends here in the States, it did not help his cause that he was a loner by nature and so there were no character witnesses to shine a light on all he had done to improve his life since being in America. The defendant became so agitated and over-whelmed at the ambush of exaggerated accusations made by the Prosecutor, that it made him look even more guilty. He began having panic attacks in court, and the Prosecutor tried successfully to cause that to make him look like he was using anxiety to plead for mercy or that the defendant was prone to panicking and should not be driving.
“ Isn’t it true that after you hit and killed the victim, you panicked like you are now and just ran, leaving the victim to bleed-out !”
Although the defendant pleaded it was not a hit and run, and that he was going for help, the Prosecutor was effectively molding thoughts in the minds of the jury. The Prosecutor could read their faces, and he focused on the few he could tell were more sympathetic to the accused. He used his skills to shame, blame and guilt anyone who would possibly feel sorry for the accused. “ You must find this drug user guilty of criminal hit and run so you can sleep at night knowing you did the right thing !”
While the Public Defender objected repeatedly, he appeared to be weak and threatened by the Prosecutor. The Judge allowed the badgering to continue even though anyone could see how mesmerized the jury was by the Prosecutor’s convincing words and contrived emotional pleas for the victim and his family. After two court appearances and the show put on by the Prosecutor, the trial was over and the young man was sentenced for hit and run, manslaughter. Another masterful performance by the well-known, but very disliked Prosecutor.
After sentencing, the court cleared and the Prosecutor took the opportunity to slide into the Judge’s Chambers. He reported to the Judge that he was able to indeed, “Squelch any story and follow-up of the Judge’s son using cocaine and his rape of a minor. The accuser had a history of drug abuse herself and she and the family had been convinced that things would not go well for her if she was to proceed. Furthermore, the accuser’s father had been rumored to have abused his wife and although repentant, did not want to face scrutiny as he had other issues on his record that were never prosecuted. ”
The Judge smiled nervously but he knew he was owned by the Prosecutor.
When he left Judge Jacobs’ chambers, out of the corner of his eye he saw the Public Defender whose client was just sentenced so unfairly. So never passing up a chance to boast of yet another successful joust, he walked up to the opposing attorney and whispered, “ I understand you are having an affair with one of the stenographers, hope she is worth it ! Your career and marriage would be in ruins if you were to be exposed. I would be more careful ! ”
After a full day of patting himself on the back and feeding off the self-pride and sense of control he felt for his manipulative prowess, he left for home to run with his daughter, make a quick dinner for the two of them, and then enjoy an evening of being the Lord of the Flies* at a special Men Only Club, snubbing entirely his wife who was hiding away in their bedroom. He would deal with her later.
The Prosecutor’s name was Lucius B. and he was the epitome of a controlling, manipulative man without conscience, a sociopath. Lucius B. was not without his faults, but he did not care. He made a point of researching and knowing each potential adversary’s weaknesses and had no moral compass. He felt invulnerable. All of us who are mere mortals and have a conscience are potential victims to a person like Lucius B.
* A Reference to William Golding’s 1954 novel “Lord of the Flies” which tells the story of a group of young boys who find themselves alone on a deserted island. They develop rules and a system of organization, but without any adults to serve as a civilizing impulse, the children eventually become violent and brutal.
O M TO THE G!!!! OooooWeeee.. I can relate to this personality of disgust…my son’s father is this AND for YEARS I was bound by fear! NOT ANY MORE! I LET HIM KNOW….NO MORE! I AM NOT PREY ANY LONGER! I AM FREE! THANK GOD FOR MY SUPPORT GROUP!!!!!