“That’s not where your heart is,” he murmured.
“What?”
“I said, that’s not where your heart is.” Connor walked over to the viewscreen in the wall and ordered it to show him the evidence menu again. He selected the video footage of the beating, obtained from a security camera. He skipped to the point where one of the boys thrust the shaft of wood into the girl’s chest. It penetrated on his third attempt.
“You sly bastard,” he said.
“Who’s a sly bastard?” asked the foreman.
“The defense attorney.” Connor jabbed a finger at the image of the girl lying on the bloody pavement. The action brought up a menu with her name and a list of the evidence attached to her.
“When he was questioning the expert witness about vampires, he asked him what was the effect of someone slamming a piece of wood, a stake if you will, into the heart of a vampire. The expert said that that was one of only a few ways of killing a vampire, the others being fire and sunlight. The attorney asked if a stake to the heart would explain someone’s sudden lack of movement when they had withstood a massive amount of damage without falling down, damage that should have been enough to bring down a normal human. He asked if that was a good indication that someone was a vampire.”
“What’s your point?”
“He never once showed the witness the wounds the girl suffered. Not the video, not the coroner’s report, not even the weapon. He never once asked if her wounds were consistent with what was required to stop a vampire.”
Confused faces turned to face him, and they were all starting to look the same to him. He was losing control. A voice in his head told him that he had been stupid to worm his way onto this jury, that he had taken too great of a personal risk. He repeated silently to himself that he needed to finish what he had started. He closed his eyes and steadied his pulse.
“Listen, we know the girl was modded, like most of us are. Her bones were engineered from before she was born to be denser and stronger than normal, many times more so. There’s no way anybody anywhere is driving a piece of wood through engineered bone. That’s why the boy with the wood had to try three times and eventually…”
Connor called up the evidence of the girl’s wounds. Zoomed to her chest. Zoomed to her left breast where a ragged wound was visible between her ribs, to the left of her sternum. To the description beside the wound stating that it did not extend to any vital organs but had severed an artery. Death by blood loss, not by heart trauma.
“That piece of wood never went through her heart. If she had been a vampire, this wound here wouldn’t have stopped her. She just went into shock. She was just a girl. That weasel made sure never to specifically mention in court that the stake went through her heart, meaning that the prosecutor-bot wouldn’t object to the evidence. Everything he said was a fact, but he twisted everybody’s perception so that we would draw our own conclusions and that damned robot was too prehistoric to reason it out.”
He looked at the faces around the table. A few had the decency to look ashamed.
“The prosecutor saw a wound,” said Connor. “The defense saw an opportunity.”
Connor stepped out of the courthouse onto a poorly lit sidewalk. There were few people about and he could hear the constant hum of the underground city’s air circulation system. Someone placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey,” said Mr. Angry. “Guilty for murder. I never would have thought.”
Connor nodded. “Well, it was you who pointed out that by abandoning her, the boys were accountable for any attack she sustained afterwards. Are you okay after what happened in there?”
“Yeah, I’ll be all right.” The man’s shoulders drooped as he thrust his hands into his pants pockets. “It just brought up a lot of memories I thought were long gone. Ancient history, you know?”
“I understand,” said
“What?”
“I said, that’s not where your heart is.” Connor walked over to the viewscreen in the wall and ordered it to show him the evidence menu again. He selected the video footage of the beating, obtained from a security camera. He skipped to the point where one of the boys thrust the shaft of wood into the girl’s chest. It penetrated on his third attempt.
“You sly bastard,” he said.
“Who’s a sly bastard?” asked the foreman.
“The defense attorney.” Connor jabbed a finger at the image of the girl lying on the bloody pavement. The action brought up a menu with her name and a list of the evidence attached to her.
“When he was questioning the expert witness about vampires, he asked him what was the effect of someone slamming a piece of wood, a stake if you will, into the heart of a vampire. The expert said that that was one of only a few ways of killing a vampire, the others being fire and sunlight. The attorney asked if a stake to the heart would explain someone’s sudden lack of movement when they had withstood a massive amount of damage without falling down, damage that should have been enough to bring down a normal human. He asked if that was a good indication that someone was a vampire.”
“What’s your point?”
“He never once showed the witness the wounds the girl suffered. Not the video, not the coroner’s report, not even the weapon. He never once asked if her wounds were consistent with what was required to stop a vampire.”
Confused faces turned to face him, and they were all starting to look the same to him. He was losing control. A voice in his head told him that he had been stupid to worm his way onto this jury, that he had taken too great of a personal risk. He repeated silently to himself that he needed to finish what he had started. He closed his eyes and steadied his pulse.
“Listen, we know the girl was modded, like most of us are. Her bones were engineered from before she was born to be denser and stronger than normal, many times more so. There’s no way anybody anywhere is driving a piece of wood through engineered bone. That’s why the boy with the wood had to try three times and eventually…”
Connor called up the evidence of the girl’s wounds. Zoomed to her chest. Zoomed to her left breast where a ragged wound was visible between her ribs, to the left of her sternum. To the description beside the wound stating that it did not extend to any vital organs but had severed an artery. Death by blood loss, not by heart trauma.
“That piece of wood never went through her heart. If she had been a vampire, this wound here wouldn’t have stopped her. She just went into shock. She was just a girl. That weasel made sure never to specifically mention in court that the stake went through her heart, meaning that the prosecutor-bot wouldn’t object to the evidence. Everything he said was a fact, but he twisted everybody’s perception so that we would draw our own conclusions and that damned robot was too prehistoric to reason it out.”
He looked at the faces around the table. A few had the decency to look ashamed.
“The prosecutor saw a wound,” said Connor. “The defense saw an opportunity.”
Connor stepped out of the courthouse onto a poorly lit sidewalk. There were few people about and he could hear the constant hum of the underground city’s air circulation system. Someone placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey,” said Mr. Angry. “Guilty for murder. I never would have thought.”
Connor nodded. “Well, it was you who pointed out that by abandoning her, the boys were accountable for any attack she sustained afterwards. Are you okay after what happened in there?”
“Yeah, I’ll be all right.” The man’s shoulders drooped as he thrust his hands into his pants pockets. “It just brought up a lot of memories I thought were long gone. Ancient history, you know?”
“I understand,” said
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