Jane nodded "Good thinking doc. Too bad we can't use the fact that you declared her dead, these people need to go down for murder."
Max smiled "We do have the death certificate! You could probably use it to get them to confess, avoid a messy trial."
Max looked at his watch. "I have to wake her up now, why don't you come with me and you can ask questions."
They went to Tina's room. The monitors were beeping and the vitals looked good, but it was clear that she was on a roller coaster. It was like part of her was trying to die, and another part was fighting to live.
Interrogation
Max put his hand on Tina's shoulder "Tina, time to wake up. I have some people who want to talk to you."
Tina woke with a smile "I was having the nicest dream."
She opened her eyes and saw the officers "Hi, can I help you?"
Jane started "We are investigating your assault and attempted murder. What can you tell us about the attack?"
Tina smiled "You have beautiful eyes; your partner has beautiful hair. I'll tell you as much as I can remember, and then you can ask any additional questions."
Tina spent the next 20 minutes telling about how she met Betsy, her relationship to Tom, how she spiked her drink, how she slipped her the drug, then how they woke her up. She remembered the whole thing as if it was a movie playing in her head. She described the beatings in detail."
Diane had been taking notes "Did you hear any names?"
"She was careful not to most of the time. She did call one Mike, and another was John. They were all wearing military boots so I'm guessing that they were cadets. Probably friends of Tommy's. One might have been Betsy's boyfriend."
Tina had provided so much detail that there were few follow-up questions. She even described a couple of tattoos she had seen.
Tina raised a hand "Talk to Alice, three of the girls were taking plate numbers."
Identifications
A few days later, Jane and Diane came back to visit Tina. This time, they brought pictures.
"Tina, we'd like you to look at some six-packs, to see if you can identify any of your attackers."
She looked at the first one "That's Betsy. Nice picture, she's really pretty, when she's not trying to kill you!"
Number two "This is one of the guys, he was the first to kick me in the groin."
Number three "He held down my right arm, he also kicked me 6 times. Each was only supposed to kick or stomp me twice, but he was really into it."
Number four "He held down my left arm. He also stomped on my stomach." She pointed to her lower abdomen. "He also kicked me in the side twice."
Number five "He held down my right leg the second time. The first time he kicked me in the groin twice, and once here "pointing to just below her ribs."
Number six "That's Tommy, he wasn't there that night, I didn't see him. Betsy said he was confined to base."
Tina went on to identify the remaining attackers. She only had doubts about one, because there were two pictures that seemed to be the same person.
Jane was awestruck "You seem to be very good at recognizing faces."
Tina smiled "I am great at remembering faces, and associating them with a person's interests or activities, but I'm terrible at names."
Jane put away all the pictures. "Thank you, Tina, would you be willing to testify at trial if necessary?"
Tina nodded "Yes, we have to make sure this doesn't happen to any of the other girls."
Diane jerked "Other girls?"
"Tommy has set up a bunch of other girls to be groped, the same betting tactics, or a dare to one of his drunk friends. If any of them have reported the attacks, Tommy might come after them too."
Diane pulled out her pad "Can you give me the names of the other girls?"
Tina rattled off a list of names and gave visual descriptions of a few more.
Diane nodded "Thank you Tina, you've been very helpful, we'll be in touch."
When they got to the police car, Diane was thrilled. She looked at her notes as Jane drove back to the precinct.
"We hit the jackpot with Tina. She identified every single one of the attackers successfully. The idiots used rental cars, but the cars had been rented in their own names, and when they saw blood on the seats, hand holds, and floorboards, they called the police. We were able to match the prints with cadet prints on file. They were all in Tommy's unit."
Jane nodded "We need to track down those other girls. Tommy's a slippery character, he was driving one of the getaway cars, but he didn't take part in the actual attack."
Diane smirked "I think we should show Tommy the death certificate and threaten to charge him with murder for hire."
Jane laughed "Let's show it to a few of the attackers to see who might roll on him. We can plea bargain to aggravated assault and attempted murder."
Diane nodded "One thing's for sure, Elizabeth is going away for a very long time. She's already been in prison for aggravated assault, and the heel punctured Tina's lung, so there is no way she can claim she didn't intend to kill. She may be a Senator's daughter, but she's also a 3-time offender with a history of violence."
Jane nodded "No death penalty, but a few decades without parole should keep her out of trouble. Maybe she'll have an "accident" in prison."
Diane nodded "One can hope."
The only case that went to trial was Tommy and Betsy's. Everybody else saw the death certificate and wanted a plea bargain. The defense attorney tested Tina's memory herself, showing her a picture of a friend's daughter.
"Yes, Lucretia hall, second floor, nursing student, quiet, Alice introduced her to me, but I only saw her for about 3 minutes. They talked about some psychology assignment."
The defense attorneys told all the guys to take the deal and tell everything they knew. They would be dishonorably discharged from the Academy, but they wouldn't do jail time, just probation.
Tina and Tommy however, had a hot-shot lawyer, hired by their father. He tried everything he could to discredit the whole case, including going to the press and showing pictures of Ted and Tina, calling him a faggot, queer, and pervert who should be locked up for perverted acts and attacking trying to pass himself off as a girl, so he could rape girls in the girl's dorm. It seemed that one of the girls told him about the noises that Tina and Alice made in Alice's room.
The Trial
During the trial, he tried to discredit all the witnesses, and tried to claim that Tommy had driven the car in Colorado Springs, but not in Denver, that he had been confined to quarters. Unfortunately, nobody saw him in his room that night.
When Tina took the stand, the prosecutor had Tina tell her tale. Tina was a very effective witness. As she recounted the details of the attack, the jurors were visibly ill, even the men were wincing as she described being kicked in the testicles. She came dressed as Tina, and was sworn in as Tina because she had legally changed her name. Alice's father hired a lawyer to help with the name change.
The defense attorney tried to paint Tina as a sexual pervert and sexual predator who was raping girls in the dorm. He described the screaming and noises heard by the other girls in the dorm and was quite surprised when the prosecution didn't object.
The prosecutor simply said, "Does defense have a question for the witness?"
He took the bait "How do you explain those terrible noises!"
Tina smiled "I'm a lesbian. Alice and I are lovers, and we get quite noisy at times. In fact, some of the noises that you described as screams of agony were ME and I can assure you I was enjoying what Alice was doing to me quite thoroughly."
The jury started laughing, several of the men were laughing, smiling, and nodding. Several of the women were giggling.
"Can you prove that you weren't in fact assaulting that girl!"
Tina smiled "You could ask her. She's waiting outside."
Defense realized he'd just lost his case "No more questions your honor."
The prosecutor smiled "I would like to c
all Alice Thomson to the stand."
Defense tried to object.
The Judge, Sandra Connor, nodded "You opened the door counselor, you can't close it now. The witness will testify."
Alice Testifies
The prosecutor started smiling and asked Alice to describe how they met, the first time with Daisy, and the nature of their relationship.
Alice smiled "I love Tina, she is a wonderful girl, and she is very loving and affectionate. She's so sweet and kind to everyone, and she is an amazing lover."
The prosecutor grinned "Can you explain the loud noises described by the defense?"
Alice grinned "Tina is a truly amazing lover, she is more than eager to give me as much pleasure as I want. It's not unusual for her to keep me in orgasms non-stop for an hour or more. I'm not quiet during those climaxes. I'm a bit of a screamer."
The prosecutor gave a broad smile "Is that the only explanation of those noises?"
Alice giggled "No. Tina doesn't like her teeny weeny peeny touched." She held her finger and thumb an inch apart as the jury laughed. "So we do other things. She can orgasm for hours, and she isn't exactly quiet about it either."
The Defense was desperate; "But isn't it true that Tina is a man, a SISSY, a cock-sucking little faggot!"
Prosecution objected "Inflammatory"
The Judge warned "Language sir."
The Prosecutor thought maybe he had lost one of the men.
"Miss Thomson, isn't it true that Tina, or Theodore as he was called when you first met, engaged in homosexual relationships?"
Prosecution objected.
The judge overruled "The witness may answer the question."
Alice smiled "Yes, since Tina is a girl mentally and emotionally, and we did in fact routinely engage in lesbian sex, you could say that Tina is a homosexual. Of course, it could be argued that since he had a penis, regardless of how tiny, that it was heterosexual sex since it was between a biological female and a biological male."
The jury was nodding and smiling. Even the gallery had been won over.
The Defense was desperate, "So to your knowledge, Tina has never had sex of any kind with any man?"
Alice shook her head "That's not what you asked before. Daisy tried to hook Tina up with a guy. She gave him a hand job, but she didn’t like it. She wouldn't let him touch her down there, because the second he tried, Tina was in pain. No, based on what she has told me, Tina has no interest in sex with boys at all. She's into girls, THIS girl in particular. We've been exclusive since Daisy met her fiancé'"
The prosecution rested, and Defense made the pro-forma request for dismissal. The judge denied the request and adjourned until the following morning.
Demonstrations
The Jury was smiling and giggling. The guys were even looking a bit envious. The defense had lost the jury.
That night, conservative talk radio hosts were trying to paint Tina and Alice as a couple of lesbian perverts who were trying to dishonor an Air Force Cadet to discredit the military. It seemed that the Senator was calling in some favors.
The next morning, the defense was supposed to start. There were hundreds of protesters outside the courtroom. They carried signs like "Die Faggots!", "Kill the Sissy", "Abominations should be put to death", "Queers must Die", and a hanging effigy of a girl with a huge penis with "Tina" on the chest.
As Tom and Betsy walked in, they were greeted with cheers. The mob chanted "Christians live, Faggots die"
Other signs saying, "Religious Liberty", "God Hates Fags", and "Christianity Rules."
Tina's parents had taken her to the court. As soon as she got out of the car, people started throwing rocks and fruit. Four police officers formed a human shield to protect her as she went in. One man tried to hit her with a baseball bat, he was arrested by one of the officers who was following behind.
As Tina went to the top of the court-house steps, reporters tried to get her to turn around and face the crowd so they could interview her. She turned and saw that the crowd had grown to about 3,000. She looked at the reporters and smiled.
Grilled by the Press
A reporter from Fox News stuck a microphone in her face "Is it true that you're a transsexual and baited Thomas into groping you?"
Tina smiled "I am transsexual, and Thomas didn't grope me. I told him I was transsexual, and he got someone else to grope me. Just like he got someone else to beat me up."
Another reporter from the Christian Broadcasting Network asked, "Isn't it true that you have been attacked like this before, and that many of your injuries are not new?"
Tina nodded "I've been attacked hundreds of times and have scars of many injuries from those attacks, which is why the doctor was able to identify the injuries caused by this attack!"
A reporter from ABC said "Is it true that you were pronounced dead at one point?"
Tina nodded "Yes, I was legally dead for about 2 minutes, after which I made a miraculous recovery. I'm very grateful to God for that little miracle."
The CBN reporter was shocked, "Are you a Christian?"
Tina nodded "Yes, I'm a Presbyterian, I am ordained as a deacon and an elder, and I sing in the choir."
"How can you consider yourself a Christian when you flagrantly violate God's laws?"
Tina smiled "Which laws do you think I'm violating?"
"A man should not wear a woman's clothing. A man should not lie with a man like a woman"
Tina smiled "I've read about 15 different translations of the Bible and found those verses to be concerning. To begin with, I'm not a man, I'm a Eunuch. The Bible has LOTS to say about Eunuchs, none of which is bad, other than we can't enter the Holy of Holies to offer sacrifices. A eunuch helped Esther win the heart of the king so she could save the Jews from genocide. A eunuch was the first gentile baptized as a Christian. Many wise ones were eunuchs, it's possible that some of the prophets, possibly Daniel, Shadrak, Mishak, and Abednego may have been eunuchs."
"But what about the laws against homosexuality?"
Tina raised a finger "Keep in mind that women were to be married within two years of their first period, so around 13 or 14 years old, and usually to an older man. The marriages were arranged through the families, and the girl had no choice in the matter."
"What does that have to do with the law against gays?"
Tina smiled "It's quite possible that the law was designed to prevent parents from selling their 10-12-year-old sons in arranged marriages. Leviticus is the directives to priests and was based on actual disputes between the people. What was the dispute here? A man who had paid a bride price for his son to marry the first daughter of a fellow landowner? Did dad try to pass the son off as a girl? Did he offer his young son as a consignment to the other man, because he had no daughters and couldn't pay the man back?
The reporter countered "Paul condemns homosexuality in Romans."
Tina smiled, "yes there was a particular activity he found especially offensive. Tax collectors took the daughters of delinquent tax-payers and prostituted them to soldiers. The prostitutes were often forced to work in the temples of other gods. Was Paul offended by the Rapes? Was he offended by the idolatry? Was it some combination of the above?"
The reporter was frustrated "But it's a SIN, the Bible condemns it."
Tina smiled "How many verses in the Bible?"
The reporter admitted "I don't know"
Tina smiled "There are roughly 30,000 verses in the Bible. How many condemn homosexuality between men?"
The CBN guy was stuck "The bible has hundreds of references that condemn homosexuality."
Tina laughed "Actually, there only 8 verses, and most of those are in the same section that says we shouldn't eat pork, cheeseburgers, egg drop soup, shellfish, and pie with whipped cream."
"But the Bible says that homosexuals are an abomination and should be put to death."
"Actually, it only mentions male-to-male sex, not female to female sex. How many verses condemn lesbian sex?"
&nb
sp; The CBN reporter was getting upset. "I have no idea!"
Tina smiled "None that condemn." On the other hand, one possible translation of the relationship between Hagar and Sara was that Hagar was her lesbian lover. The King James Version translated it to "Handmaiden". You know what Jesus hated most don't you?"
CBN got smug "Sinners!"
Tina smiled "No, Jesus loved sinners, and even forgave tax collectors who continued to be tax collectors. No, Jesus had a special hatred for self-righteous religious fanatics who placed unrealistic expectations on people, to exploit their guilt. Matthew 23 and Matthew 25 are excellent examples."
The CBN reporter pulled back his microphone and tried to leave quietly. The reporter told the cameraman "Is there any way we can chop this up to get some damaging sound bites?"
The camera man shrugged, "I doubt it, not without it being obvious.
Meanwhile, the NBC affiliate reporter turned to her camera man "Did you get all of that?"
He nodded "Every single word!"
Finally, Tina turned and went into the courthouse.
The Defense - Freedom of Religion
The defense started. First they tried to discredit the forensic evidence, but on cross-examination the witnesses admitted that since the car had been wiped clean before the rental, and the rental agency had held the car and not detailed it, any prints on the car would be the occupants during that rental. Since Tom's prints were the only ones on the steering wheel, he was obviously driving and therefore part of the conspiracy.
Defense turned to the Judge "We would like to change our defense to Gay Defense Panic. We will show that my clients were so upset by the deception and immorality of Theodore Clark, and they were acting based on their strongly held religious beliefs, and simply exercising their Religious Liberty!
Prosecution objected "Your Honor, this last-minute Hail Mary pass seems to be an attempt to put Miss TINA Clark, the VICTIM on trial, and evade legal responsibility for the crimes committed."
Religious Liberty On Trial Page 21