Evidence of Darkness

by J L Walker

  “We are not disputing the fact that Ms. Castillo killed Mr. DeWald.” Shaking her head, she added, “Not at all. She willingly confessed to stabbing him with his own knife, in self-defense, while he was attempting to rape her. She even called 911 to seek medical assistance for him after she stopped him from attacking her.

  “Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in the coming days, I will help you see that Adele Castillo acted in self-defense when she stabbed Mr. DeWald. Her desire was not to kill him, but to stop him. I’m sure after you hear the testimonies of our witnesses, you will come to the correct conclusion – that on the morning of August 5th, Victor DeWald had every intention of committing a violent act against Adele Castillo. An act that every human being on the face of this earth has the right to protect themselves against. Rape.”

  As she said the word ‘rape,’ her eyes accidentally locked with the eyes of the juror sitting in the middle of the front row of the jury box. In that instant, she saw Bryan staring back at her in distain. Consumed with terror, she froze. She could feel her face flush and sweat began permeating from every pore on her body. Finding it difficult to breathe, she forced herself to pull her eyes away from his and redirected her attention to Mike. The courtroom was silent while she stared at his panic-stricken face as he watched her falling apart. She was still trying to catch her breath when she noticed him put his hands on the table and start to push his chair back, ready to come to her rescue.

  Determined to finish the opening statement, she resorted to the only emotion she knew that could forge through her intense fear – anger. She let her internal rage take over and continued, her heart pounding viciously in her chest.

  Her voice reflected fury as she quickly turned back to the jury. “Mr. Mahoney obviously believes that just because Mr. DeWald gave Adele a place to stay for a few weeks, he had the right to violate her. She wasn’t a prostitute! She was down on her luck and needed a place to stay. Did that give him the right to sexually assault her? To dehumanize her? To take away her dignity?”

  Suddenly realizing she had gone way off the script she had rehearsed with Mike only hours before, she glanced up at the ceiling, cleared her throat, then addressed the jury again. “As you consider Adele Castillo’s innocence or guilt, I ask you to consider one thing.” She looked at the women juror’s faces. “If you were being sexually violated, to what extreme would you go to protect yourself? What would you do to STOP the person who is about to cause you harm?”

  She then glanced at the men jurors, deliberately avoiding the distraught face of the juror in the middle of the front row. “Or, if your wife, your sister, or your daughter was being sexually assaulted, to what length would you hope they would go in an effort to protect themselves? Is stabbing the assailant going too far? After hearing the testimonies of our witnesses, I think you’ll conclude that when Adele Castillo was being attacked, she truly believed stabbing Victor DeWald was the ONLY way to stop him.”

  When she finished the opening statement a few minutes later, her legs were shaking so terribly that the twenty steps to the defendant’s table seemed like an eternity. Once seated, Mike put his arm around the back of her chair and whispered in her ear, “Are you okay?”

  She tried to smile and nodded her head, wishing she really believed she was all right.

  Testimonies of the detectives, police officers, and paramedics who first arrived at the scene after Adele had called 911 consumed the first week of the trial. One by one, they took the witness seat, were sworn in, and answered countless questions Mahoney meticulously threw at them.

  They all gave lengthy narratives describing the repugnant conditions of the crime scene – the crimson walls, the bloodstained furniture, and the dark puddle of blood on the floor surrounding Victor’s dead body, while graphic photos of the blood and gore appeared on a large monitor in the front of the courtroom.

  Reesa could hardly contain herself when she saw Mahoney’s boisterous expression as the witnesses commented, in great detail, on each of the gruesome pictures, taking great effort to leave them up on the monitor as long as possible. Some of the photos even had sections of the more grotesque aspects enlarged for a more dramatic effect.

  A few jurors turned their heads, unable to continue watching when they showed a picture of Victor’s corpse leaning oddly against the coffee table with the bloody handle of the knife still protruding from his chest. His eyes were open, and it appeared he was staring directly at the camera when the photo was taken.

  Reesa turned to Adele and made eye contact with her, holding her gaze in an effort to keep them both from viewing the treacherous evidence.

  The arresting officer gave an in-depth grisly description of Adele’s blood-soaked clothing. Reesa cringed and felt like she might vomit when he described her blood-splattered face and hair when she answered the door in a trans-like state. One officer referred to Adele’s expression as sinister, to which Mike immediately clutched Reesa’s arm in an effort to keep her from blasting out of her chair to raise another objection.

  When the medical examiner gave his testimony, pictures of Victor DeWald’s dead body lying on the metal autopsy table flooded the monitor. He proceeded to give a lengthy descriptive account of the location and depth of each wound he sustained during the attack, as well as the exact cause and time of his death. It was clear that the fatal wound, a traumatic aortic disruption, had occurred after Adele had stabbed him multiple times in his stomach and side.

  Adele had tears pouring from her eyes during the entire testimony.

  Reesa was thankful she hadn’t been able to eat lunch that day, because it would have inevitably came back up. She began making notes in an attempt to avoid viewing the remaining photos.

  When the physical evidence was being discussed, Mahoney appeared to enjoy holding up the evidence bag containing the murder weapon, a Sog Force six-inch steel knife. When he referenced, for what seemed like the hundredth time, that Adele’s fingerprints were found on the knife, Reesa became agitated and whispered in Mike’s ear, “What the hell is his problem? Does he think the jurors are deaf?”

  Mahoney also produced the affidavit Adele had signed confessing to the murder after her lengthy interrogation following her arrest. He verified both the officer’s and Adele’s signatures, then proceeded to poignantly read the affidavit into record.

  Reesa once again wished the court had assigned her the case prior to Adele’s initial interrogation by the police force.

  Over the course of the testimonies, if Reesa remotely thought their assertions bordered on hearsay or relevance, she would object, each time watching as Mahoney’s eyes pierced through her in anger.

  Mike cross-examined only a few of the prosecution’s witnesses regarding the horrifying exposition of the forensic evidence, not wanting to give them yet another opportunity to reiterate the negative aspects of the case to the jurors. But, he made sure Victor’s high blood alcohol content at the time of his death was mentioned. He also asked numerous questions to pin point, for the record, a few of the discrepancies in their facts, or to dispel what he perceived to be bias statements.

  Throughout the testimonies, Mike and Reesa watched the facial expressions and body language of the jurors, trying to guage their reactions to the explicit explanations of the events. Reesa found it very difficult not to keep a close eye on the juror sitting in the middle of the front row. She couldn’t shake the negative vibe she got from him, and felt confident he was ready to convict Adele of first-degree murder by the end of the first week of the trial.

  Mike and Reesa left the courthouse late Friday afternoon exhausted.

  Reesa spent a large portion of the weekend reviewing her notes in a desperate attempt to derive something positive from the first week of the trial. She found nothing, and went to sleep Sunday night sure that Adele was doomed to life in prison, and she, her attorney and representative, was powerless to change the direction of her impending destiny.

  15

  ADVERSE EXHIBITION

  As
Reesa grabbed her coat and umbrella from the foyer closet, she felt a familiar chill of despair and sorrow surge through every cell of her body. On this dreadful day, the deep-seeded feelings of misery she had been unable to shake for more than a decade had intensified, oppressing her with an immense feeling of impending doom.

  She hardly recognized herself when she glanced in the mirror briefly before leaving her apartment. Thick, gray strands of hair now framed her hollow face, accentuating the deep creases resulting from the stress and anguish she’d been suffering from for the past ten and a half years.

  After sliding her coat on, she ran her hand gently across the back of her neck to lift her straggly, long hair to the outside of the heavy wool jacket. She took a deep breath, then tucked the umbrella under her arm, slung her purse over her arm, and left the apartment wondering how she’d be able to face the rest of her life.

  What seemed like a second later, she was sitting on a hard metal chair in the front row of a dreary dimly lit room. There was a glass wall a few feet in front of where she sat, separating her from the well-lit room on the other side which contained a large wooden chair interlaced with harnesses and electrical wires.

  She glanced to both sides of her. The chairs were empty. She quickly looked behind her. The chairs were empty. Panicking, she searched the room for Mike. Where’s is he? She thought. Did he abandon me just when I need him the most? As she relentlessly scanned the room for him, an overwhelming feeling of sadness consumed every ounce of her being when she remembered he had remarried and moved away several years ago. Her body shivered, and she experienced a sensation so low it rendered her unable to weep as she sat there alone, numb and lifeless.

  A split second later, Reesa gripped the sides of her chair as she watched the execution team lead Adele to the chair in the center of the luminous room. Two men dressed in white uniforms strapped Adele’s decrepit arms to the large wooden armrests, then proceeded to shave the hair off her head. Adele slowly looked up as long locks of dark hair slid in front of her face, landing in her lap and the surrounding concrete floor. Their eyes met. Reesa knew the piercing gaze would be etched into her mind for eternity. Feeling powerless, she stood up and screamed, “NO! NO! YOU CAN’T TO THIS! PLEASE DON’T KILL HER!” No one heard her cries. The dark room was empty.

  Suddenly, Assistant DA Mahoney was standing beside Adele and handed her a phone. “Is there anyone you would like to call before you die, Ms. Castillo?” he asked with an evil expression on his face as he glanced through the glass at Reesa.

  Adele took the phone from his hand.

  A second later, Reesa heard her cell phone ringing from inside her purse. She was looking into Adele’s eyes as she slowly retrieved it and put it up to her ear. Her voice was quivering when she answered, “Hel…hello?”

  A frail voice echoed into her ear, “Why couldn’t you save me, Reesa? I don’t want to die. Save me. SAVE ME! PLEASE SAVE ME!”

  Reesa sat motionless, feeling as if a piece of her soul was dying as she watched Adele’s deep brown eyes penetrate her through the glass while Mahoney viciously laughed.

  He looked at the men in the white uniforms and nodded. At his command, they pulled a wide leather strap across Adele’s chest and firmly connected it to the other side of the chair. Then they placed a metal skullcap-shaped electrode onto her scalp and forehead. After they checked to make sure everything was secure, one of the men walked to the back of the room and placed his hand on a large electrical switch on the wall behind Adele.

  Reesa bolted out of her chair and ran to the glass wall, crying uncontrollably while pounding the glass with her fists. “NO…NO…NO!”

  The man flipped the switch and a horrifying electrical sound pierced through the room.

  BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ.

  Reesa’s body slowly slid down the wall and to the hard, cold floor as she sobbed and screamed, “NO! NO! NOOOOOO!”

  BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ.

  “MOM! MOM, WAKE UP!” Jade screeched as she slammed her fist on the top of the alarm clock, putting an end to the deafening sound.

  After the noise stopped, Reesa felt someone shaking her and began mumbling louder, thrashing her arms and legs.

  “MOM, IT’S ME, JADE! PLEASE WAKE UP!”

  Reesa slowly opened her eyes and saw her daughter staring at her as if she were insane while tears trickled down her distraught face. She suddenly stopped thrashing and lay there, trembling.

  “Mom, are you okay? You didn’t turn off your alarm clock and I could hear you screaming from my room. You must have had another nightmare.”

  Reesa lay there, attempting desperately to return to reality. She raised her hands to hear face and felt sweat permeating her forehead. Wiping her hands over her eyes, she replied, “Yes…yes, I’m fine.”

  “This is the third time in a week you woke up screaming from a bad dream. It’s this case, isn’t it? Can’t you let Mike do it? Why do you have to keep doing this?” Jade’s face contorted and she started crying. “It’s not fair!”

  Jade slid under the covers and Reesa wrapped her arms around her. As they held on to each other, Jade said softly, “Mom, I can’t stand seeing you like this. You’re uptight all the time. Sometimes you yell at me for no reason. You hardly eat, and I’ve made some really cool stuff for dinner a few nights. We haven’t had any fun either. And I know you’ve not seen Dr. Wilson in months. How long is this going to last?”

  Reesa kissed her forehead. “Just another week or two. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

  “I wish I could believe you. If you keep this up, you’ll be dead before the trial ends.”

  Reesa cupped Jade’s chin in her hand and held her face up to hers. “What a thing to say! I’ll be fine, sweetie. Really. It was just a bad dream.”

  “I hope so. I just want things to get back to normal.”

  “They will. Soon.” Attempting to smile, she said, “Hey, why don’t you go make us a quick breakfast while I take a shower and get ready. How does that sound?”

  “Do you promise to eat if I make something? You haven’t eaten breakfast in weeks.”

  “Yes, I promise I’ll eat whatever you make.”

  “Okay, you’d better.”

  Jade got out of bed and headed to the kitchen. Reesa lay in bed a few minutes, remnants of the nightmare still running through her head. Trying to shake it off, she abruptly climbed out of bed and headed for the shower.

  After forcing herself to eat breakfast, she headed to the office to meet Mike to begin the second week of Adele’s trial. The terrorizing sensation of the nightmare was still lingering in her heart and mind as she walked down the corridor toward her office.

  16

  TESTIMONY OF MRS. NORA DEWALD

  The state finally called their last witness to the stand on Monday morning, the second week of the trial. After a brief lunch recess, the defense finally had their chance to present their case. Reesa, feeling powerless and disparaged from the testimonies of the prosecution’s witnesses, as well as the incriminating evidence presented against Adele, was anxious to call their first witness. Somehow, she needed to resurrect Adele’s chances for an acquittal.

  Shortly after they had taken their seats, Judge Regnier returned to the bench. After cleaning his glasses, he put them back on and glanced toward Reesa. “The defense may call their first witness.”

  Reesa stood up. “The defense calls Mrs. Nora DeWald to the stand.”

  The bailiff escorted Victor DeWald’s wife to the witness stand. She appeared to be in her mid-fifties, but it was obvious she tried to look like she was in her thirties. She was dressed provocatively and wore a ton of makeup. Her hair was an unusual shade of reddish orange and gathered behind her head with a gold barrette.

  After Nora DeWald was sworn in, Reesa walked up to the witness stand. “Mrs. DeWald, are you the biological mother of the defendant, Adele Castillo?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Were you the wife of the deceased, Victor DeWald?”

  “Ye
s.”

  “How long were you married to Mr. DeWald?”

  “Almost five years.”

  “And how long had you known him before you were married?”

  “About three years.”

  “So you knew Victor DeWald roughly eight years prior to his passing. Is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. Where do you reside, Mrs. DeWald?”

  “1101 E. 92nd Street, Brooklyn, New York.”

  “How long have you resided at 1101 E. 92nd Street?”

  “Almost six years.”

  “Who’s owns the house. Let me restate the question, whose name is on the title of the home?”

  “My name is on the title.”

  “So, Mr. DeWald, didn’t actually own the home. Is that correct?”

  “He was my husband. It was his home, too.”

  “Where was Mr. DeWald employed at the time of his death?”

  “He wasn’t working. He lost his job a few months before…before he died.”

  “Okay. Do you work Mrs. DeWald?”

  “Yes. I work at the Holiday Inn Express on Union Street.”

  “What hours do you normally work?”

  “I work third shift, from eleven at night ‘til eight in the morning.”

  “What days of the week do you typically work?”

  “I work every Monday through Friday.”

  “What is your position at the Holiday Inn?”

  “I work at the front desk. I check people in.”

  “Were you working on the evening of August 4th?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Was your daughter residing with you on August 4th?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long had she been staying with you prior to August 4th?”

  “About two weeks.”

  “In your opinion, why was she residing with you?”

  “Because her boyfriend had beat her up and she needed to get out of there. She had no place else to go, so I let her stay with us until she found her own place.”