UNDER SIEGE (A Story Of Hope)

by Ciuri Di Badia

  Everyone in this courtroom is looking forward to see ‘the action’: An action that is coming from none of you knows where. You just want to see the implementation of that sentence that has been dormant for a long time. Oh yes; you want to see the implementation of the capital punishment. What you don’t realize is that, if you succeed in fulfilling that desire, an innocent man stands to loose all that he has been fighting for, he stands to loose his all and most importantly, he stands to loose his life.

  With the bang of the gabble, you want to see my name being added to the black list of the death-sentenced. It’s good. You will go home with your desires fulfilled; but, on the other hand, I’ll go home to my creator with my innocence. For you, it would be fun seeing that; but, for me, it would be agonizing to undergo what you’d be seeing. Besides making your day, my misery will leave with you a legacy of ignominy; a discomfiture for, instead of opening your eyes to look into what actually happened, you allowed your desires blind you.

  To my content, I know that truth will reign. It will not only set me free but also, it will set the ill-fated, just like me, free. When that day comes, you will thank me. You will thank me for what I’m telling you now”

  When Tommy ended his charismatic statement, Silence crept into the court that had been filled to a chock-a-block. Members of the jury were seen to deliberate with each other as if they were reaching a verdict but nothing came out of it. The judge then called for a recess and directed that the case would continue in three days time. It was expected that he would deliver his judgment then.

  Before everyone stood up, the court-clerk handed the jury’s recommendations to the judge. He was to use those recommendations together with the report from the three assessors to determine his judgment. Everybody then stood up before the court went into a recess.

  The judge then summoned the secretary to the jury into his chambers. They were to discuss some jurisprudence precepts before he made his judgment on the case. At this point, Tommy's fate lied on the hands of Judge Campbell.

  Inside the chambers, Judge Campbell sat on his chair as Mr. Hawkins was walking in. He opened some pages from his journal as he welcomed Mr. Hawkins to a seat. The judge then closed his journal before putting it aside and then they started their conversation.

  “Welcome Mr. Hawkins hopes you are not wearied out” justice Campbell said.

  “I’m well judge, just looking forward to the end of this case” Mr. Hawkins answered back

  “Speaking of that, how close was the vote amongst the jury?”

  “It was very clear. We had eleven voting in its favor and only one against.” Hawkins said vehemently.

  “Tommy has made an appealing defense for himself. How did you take it?”

  “I think it was so impeccable. However, it did not move me an inch. It was just some kind of a well, pre-meditated casuistry. I suppose that it’s a white elephant for him.”

  “We’ve got him pinched. He has murdered, at least going by what was presented before the courtroom”

  “I agree with you judge. He has had a large number of victims. Three suffices him to be a serial killer.” Hawkins Commiserated.

  “That is one bad-blood off the streets. And that’s why we are here; to clean the streets of bad elements.” Judge Campbell complemented.

  “That’s right, let’s go on and fulfill our calling. The country obligates us to do so.”

  * * * * * * *

  It was the judgment day and by counting back, Tommy's case had run for the past three weeks. Mary had already moved to another apartment and was almost recovering from her ordeal. She was lying reclusively on her avira fabric coach, thinking about Tommy and what lay ahead in his future. She had decided not to attend the final hearing as she, just like everyone else, was in no doubt of what the judgment was going to be. Despite the fact that she was expecting the worst, she was not sure of how she would react to hearing it personally from the judge.

  She could see Tommy’s brutal capital sentence in her mind's eye as she was imagining what the judgment would be. She pictured how Tommy would be executed, how he would be buried and how he would leave a legacy of shame behind. She continued envisaging and envisaging until she exhausted things to envisage about. Should he be sentenced to execution, he could be executed anytime after forty eight hours from the time the judgment was delivered. That is; if he doesn’t wish to launch an appeal against such a ruling. However, if he decided to appeal, he could issue a notice to the court of appeal before the elapse of those forty eight hours and possibly delay the sentence from being carried out.

  She needed to get her mind off Tommy lest she went mad. So, she turned her stereo on in order to listen to her favorite music. The music played well but after a short time, it stopped. What played thereafter shook her up more than what she had so far witnessed.

  Her face was ashen as she quickly walked out to her car. On her hands was what I could term as the replacement of the name Jesus in Tommy’s vocabularies. She got to her car and set off to the courts like madness.

  Inside the court room, Judge Campbell was delivering his judgment on Tommy’s case. He held a microphone close to his mouth and in an authoritative voice, he read out what he had prepared as judgment.

  It went like this: “According to our constitution, human life is considered sacred. No one is allowed to take it away, help others take it away or have others take it away on their behalf.

  If a person commits a willful murder or help others to commit one or better still have others commit one on their behalf; that person is considered as having committed a felony to not only the deceased but also, to this nation and our law code at large.

  Under the power and authority that has been bestowed upon me by the New Hampshire State, having enumerated through all the evidences that were tabled in this court, and as the jury of our peers declared in their verdict; I find the accused guilty of all the charges that were pressed against him. Tommy Rodgers Brown, you have been found guilty of avoiding arrest and being in possession of an unlicensed weapon.

  According to the law, the first charge carries a maximum sentence of six years in jail while the second attracts four years behind bars. However, for both charges, one has an option of paying fines instead of serving those sentences. But, considering that the accused is facing three murder charges, fines for the above charges are not applicable. Note - the law states that persons accused of committing criminal deeds such as murder are not eligible for being bailed out, or if found guilty, their sentences do not involve paying fines. Those two sentences will therefore run concurrently.

  The court dropped charges for the breakage into Mary’s house. That was done considering that the accused had lived there peacefully and at no time did Mary restrict him from going there. Nevertheless, that not withstanding, the court has determined that the accused has a case to answer on the three murder charges. This court finds him guilty of murdering three persons: Miss Birma, Miss Angie and Miss Quinsy. Two of the murders relating Miss Birma and Miss Quinsy involved use of guns and were rated as first degree murders. The other murder involving Miss Angie was classified as a second degree murder since poison was used as an indirect bump off.

  Having gone through all the evidences and testimonies that were produced in this courtroom, I find the accused guilty as charged. The sentence of the law states that; if a person is found guilty of a wanton murder, he should be………”

  He was interrupted by a lady who walked into the courtroom wilding a court interjection placard and a radio cassette. She looked fussy and agitated as her face went red with fervent.

  As she walked about, the court room went silent in anxiety to what Mary was up to. Some started to consult in low tones as others neurotically turned side by side. Eyes gazed at her as she walked towards Tommy’s barrister. She then handed the cassette to him.

  After a short converse with Mary, the barrister stood up before beseeching the judge to grunt him an opportunity to present his final evidence. As he sa
id, the evidence would change the course of the case completely. But, unfortunately, the judge sustained his plea.

  The judge proceeded to read the remaining part of his judgment that saw Tommy sentenced to execution. The hammer went down with a clout, marking the beginning of the end of Tommy’s pathetic life. Tommy was then arm-twisted out towards an awaiting van. He was to be taken back into his jail cell pending his execution.

  People ululated on their way out, happy that justice had finally been served. ‘Tommy must die, Tommy must die’ they bellowed in unison. And as news went around the country that Tommy had been sentenced to execution, every one jubilated. There was no doubt in where people’s faith lay: in the law and in the judge’s judgment. According to them, Tommy’s dooms day had come and he couldn’t run from it. They all looked forward to the day when the actual execution would be carried out.

  * * * * * * *

  Two prison wardens went into Tommy’s dungeon. They grabbed him by the arms before dragging him to the prayer room. There, they dropped him on a hassock before directing him to make his last rosary.

  When he was done, they picked him up again and yanked him towards an awaiting Black Maria (prisoner’s van). He was then shoved inside before the doors were locked. And in an outright pandemonium, he was driven to Carsons Execution Centre (CEC).

  It didn’t take a lot of time before they got there. He was then heaved out before being taken through a cloistered walkway. Many irate butt inners were waiting for him there. They stood on both sides of the pergola, jeering and heckling at him. He tried to slow down so that he could focus on them but, one guard hit his back with the butt of his gun, forcing him to move on.

  “Die! You murderer” one disparager shouted.

  As if walking to the gallows was not a punishment enough, another detractor blubbered

  “You deserve it, rot in hell”

  What tore his heart apart was when he passed Mary. She stood amongst those onlookers, sobbing drearily. She moved her left arm forward towards him, then looked into his eyes before softly saying.

  “Goodbye cousin, May God forgive you and may he redeem your soul”

  He was then pulled away; no one wanted him to drag his ass; not even the hangman. They all wanted to see him dead as soon as possible. He was then taken into a booth where he was given a set of four cards; each having a number, from one to four.

  He was told to erratically single out one of them. He pulled out number three. A box engrossed with his number of choice was brought, opened and his way of execution read out. He was to be executed by the now defunct hanging by the loops.

  The other numbers point to; being executed by chopping his head off on the guillotine, the use of a gas chamber and lastly but not least, the use of the lethal syringe. Nevertheless, Tommy had made his Hobson’s choice of his death-trail as he was to be hanged.

  Immediately, he was taken into a small room. It did not have much besides a hanging noose, a guiro and a network of suspended pulleys.

  To his bolt from the blues, Judge Campbell was the hangman. He hastily braced his neck before fastening a loop around it. He then hit a button and as pulleys begun to wind, Tommy started his journey to the dead. Soon after, Tommy begun to dangle on the ropes and as the rope was tightening up, he felt his neck being drawn out.

  Suddenly, the cord snapped and Tommy dropped to the floor, waking up abruptly in his murky jail cell. His heart pounded heavily and his whole body sweated profusely as he screamed with fear. And before he could realize that he had been dreaming, his blanket and pillow were already bloated with sweat. But however shaken, He was glad to discover that he was still alive.

  The nightmare had been abysmal and perhaps, it was foreshadowing what was to come. Tommy remained awake in insomnia for the remaining part of the night. The only thing he could see was his ghastly dream. It was like in Disney’s world where a raccoon was dreaming of being strangled by a creepy vampire only to wake up and find a thick tarantula’s web around his head.

  Tommy was necrophobic as he could not contain the thought of being dead. What made it more frightening was that he knew that he would die, and to make matters worse, he would die by way of execution. And when thinking of being dead, he couldn’t resist thinking about his after-life. “Will I disappear in thin air or will I go to eternal world? And if I go to the eternal world, will I end up in heaven or hell??” Tommy thought to himself.

  By the crack of dawn in the following day, major newspapers and tabloids front-paged Tommy’s case. They had animated pictures of Tommy in the courtroom that depicted him as disillusioned.

  ‘A serial killer to face the gallows’ the sun headlined.

  ‘Tommy the murderer is finally slapped with a death sentence” the national TV reporter said.

  ‘The end of the horror’ a state radio presenter was quoted saying on news coverage.

  * * * * * * *

  Detective Allen was the happiest man on earth. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he was reading the newspaper. He had finally succeeded and all his hard work had finally paid off. It felt god, so good. He toasted with his colleagues as they looked back on the difficulties they faced during the course of the case. His success motivated him a lot and he looked forward to resuming his other cases.

  In the same day, Tommy’s lawyer filed for a petition and a hearing date was set. The Supreme Court clerk issued him with a citation which he was to send to the state counsel. However fruitless it seemed, the appeal was the last chance for Tommy.

  The day for the hearing finally came and only a handful of people made it to the court. Most of the others knew that those were just some final kicks of a dying horse. In their opinion, the current judgment was unchangeable.

  People inside the court waited patiently for the judge to come so that the proceedings would start. Among them, only Tommy’s cousin and barrister were conspicuously recognizable. Majority of the other attendees were just some idlers who had gone to while the woo hours of that evenings away.

  As the appeal judge was robing up in the robing-room, he had a puckered brow on his face. In his mind, he was in no doubt that he was prepared to handle the case and determine Tommy's kismet. The judge then proceeded to the courtroom where formal conventionalities were carried out. The court clerk asked everyone to stand as soon as the judge entered the courtroom. He then asked everyone to sit down as the judge reached his seat. The clerk then play-read a summary of the previous court preceding that led to a guilty verdict.

  The defense counsel was then called upon to present his new evidence. He stood up and tenaciously urged everyone to listen to what he had to table before the court.

  The new evidence brought a shocking truth that left everyone’s heart in their mouth. By pulling out all the stops and going all-out, I’ve dissertated what happened below. Let us now look at the nittie gritties of what had happened.

  The notary asked everyone to be patient as his assistant connected a tape player. He then urged the judge to listen to the evidence as it played in the tape player.

  The tape player started playing music. It then hissed off and a short silence engulfed the music. Then a voice of a man is heard saying

  “You look good this afternoon” a mans voice is heard saying

  “Thank you. You don’t look bad yourself” a woman voice responds

  “How have you been?” the female voice asked

  “I’ve been good Quinsy” the male voice answered

  “I can’t believe that am speaking with the most wanted man in this nation” the lady voice commiserated.

  “You know, sometimes one has to do the unimaginable to clear their name” the male voice explicated.

  “I really admire your courage Tommy.”

  “Anyway, hello Quinsy”

  “Hello Tommy”

  “You really got guts. You’ve managed to come here safely in spite of every one wanting a piece of you” the female voice said.

  “I should be the one who should be asking
you that question inversely. Why should you make the N.Y.P.D. and the police crave for me?” the man’s perplexed voice was heard saying.

  “What do you mean? I don’t get you?” the lady objected.

  “Don’t confute me; I know that you are the one who is behind all this. You plotted all that has happened to me. You have won since I can’t run forever.”

  The man’s voice pauses for sometime and then it proceeds.

  “I deserve to know what happened. If you love or rather loved me, grunt me the privilege of knowing how you plotted the lethal scheme” the man obtruded.