Officer Jenkins and I slowly made our way out of the Kalispell courtroom during the recess. She seemed okay to me, but I knew that my legs were getting close to falling asleep. I needed to move about for a bit.
"I think the DA's got him," Officer Jenkins commented as I lapped some water out of a water fountain, "from a common sense slash logic point of view. His story about someone else shooting him still seems like a fabricated lie to me."
"Me too," I nodded, "but we have no witnesses that can say for certain that MacClure fired the gun. The forensic evidence combined with common sense might be enough to get him on the murder charges... but since our witnesses can only for certain say that MacClure was there on the night of the murder... he can still deny that he actually committed the murder and give some cause for reasonable doubt..."
"Hopefully the jury accepts the common sense part of the argument then," Officer Jenkins commented, "I'd tend to believe that most people can understand common sense."
"Sometimes I'm surprised by how many don't," I grumbled, "the junk that R.A.M. pulled to try and get rid of Molly and I seemed to lack it..."
Officer Jenkins only shrugged, "I'm sure many of them thought they were doing the right thing at the time... it doesn't excuse the crimes that the Smiths committed or the crimes that Beauregard, himself, encouraged... but they saw themselves as defenders."
"Rather stupid ones," I grumbled.
"Maybe," Officer Jenkins sighed, "but in the time that Officer Howard has had me working with you, a lot of that seems to have relaxed quite a bit. I still think you and your wife might be able to petition the city council and the school board to have the restrictions that R.A.M. got placed on you to control you removed."
"I'd almost prefer to wait until they do that without being urged to... or at least if they are urged... then not by me or Molly," I replied.
"Why? You and your wife have the most at stake on the issue," Officer Jenkins pointed out.
"Yes, but this is still a highly conservative area," I reminded her, "those early restrictions may have been put in by a racist group, but because that racist group was popular when the restrictions were made, most of the people who passed them would see me as some uppity and opportunistic goon seeking to "profit" off of Beauregard's last mistakes. And that would run the risk of me not only losing the few rights I have... but potentially making things worse for myself if I'm the one asking for it."
"I... I don't understand," Officer Jenkins said slowly.
"The City Council felt they were being kind and generous when the placed the restrictions I'm under on me," I replied, "the School Board felt the same way when they did the same to Molly. If we ask for more now, since R.A.M. has been exposed, they are liable to say, "you respond to our kindness with this? Beauregard was right! Arrest them both!" And that would be the end of us..."
Officer Jenkins was silent for a moment.
"Which is where I suppose where something I believe you've said early comes into play," I sighed, "Molly and I wait for more people to buy individual doses of the serum, and as Animal People become a larger voting block, our "collective voice" becomes bigger and the various governments can not simply ignore what we have to say... it might be one of the few plus sides of the result of the lawsuit for Molly and I."
Officer Jenkins only sighed, unsure of what to say.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
An hour later, the trial started up again. It seemed that today's trial was progressing faster then the ones I'd been in before. But then, maybe the other judges had other appointments that had to be met, or other cases that had to be heard that day. I couldn't tell what the reason was, but if it insured that justice was done, I wasn't about to complain.
The DA began with calling me to the stand. Now, MacClure had already mentioned that he had been arguing with Marksman over Beauregard's behavior as part of his testimony, which partially negated the effect my hearing would really have on the outcome of the trial, but before the court went back into session, the DA had explained that the discrepancy in what he had told us in the initial questioning might be able to get the jury to question the reliability of anything MacClure had said. So, I agreed.
After taking the stand, the DA approached and slowly began his questioning.
"Now, Officer Wayne, you are one of the investigating officers in this case, are you not?" the DA asked.
"Yes, along with Officer Danielle Jenkins," I answered.
"What can you tell us about the early part of the investigation?" the DA asked.
"Officer Jenkins and initially started with a visit to Mr. MacClure's property for a series of preliminary questions," I explained, "and would stay there as long as he tolerated us being there, as we had no warrant at the time."
"Did he tell you about the argument at all?" the DA questioned.
"Not directly or explicitly," I answered, "we asked him if he had been there, and he said he visited, but he made no mention of the argument and he grumbled a good many things under his breath, which added to our suspicions at the time."
"Such as?"
"Mostly grumbling about Joshua Marksman defending Beauregard," I explained, "now one can understand the sense of betrayal Mr. MacClure felt, but the closest thing he said in the initial questioning to admitting that that sense of betrayal had lead to an argument was what he muttered under his breath in the hopes that no one would hear him."
"So he was withholding information?" the DA asked.
"Likely to make sure that he didn't incriminate himself," I nodded, "perfectly constitutional, but it did add to our suspicions and encouraged Officer Jenkins and I to continue the investigation."
"And how did that go?"
"With help from the forensics lab here in Kalispell, were were able to identify the weapon and rounds used in the murder of Joshua Marksman," I explained, "and the Columbia Falls PD managed to secure a search warrant to check to see if MacClure owned ammunition that matched the round recovered in the autopsy... which we did, and is already in admitted as evidence."
"Did anything happen during this search? Anything not related to the murder of Joshua Marksman?" the DA asked.
"When confronted with the information that our search warrant allowed us to search his entire property, Mr. MacClure attacked Officer Jenkins physically," I spoke clearly, "before I could respond to pull him off, Officer Jenkins essentially immobilized him on her own. And MacClure was taken in for assaulting an officer."
"I see..." the DA mused.
"In addition, we also found several military grade weapons..." I began to continue.
"Objection!" the defense attorney cut me off, "the Federal ban on assault rifles was lifted by the George W. Bush Administration. It is perfectly legal to own them as stated by the Second Amendment to the Constitution!"
"Sustained," Judge Pax sighed, "I trust there is more to this portion then the possession of legal weaponry?"
"That is exactly the point, your honor," the DA spoke, "my counterpart cut my witness off, your honor. We have no way of knowing as to whether or not the weapons were modified, which IS still illegal."
"And were they?" Judge Pax asked.
"Yes, your honor," I answered, "some of the older weapons weren't as far as I could tell, but the more modern weapons were analyzed by both the officers under the command of Officer Jenkins and myself at the scene and again by experts both in Columbia Falls and here in Kalispell. The weapons were illegally modified for a higher rate of fire."
The DA then passed photographs to Judge Pax and the jury that pictured the modified weapons with clear notations as to where the modifications were and what was done to increase the weapon's rate of fire.
"The court will admit the information on the modification of the weapons," Judge Pax then informed the Jury.
"Thank you, your honor," the DA answered, "that is all that I have."
"Does the defense wish to cross examine?" Judge Pax asked.
"Yes, your honor," the defense attorney nodded.
Judge Pax allowed him to proceed.
"You say muttered remarks were what lead you to suspect my client and encouraged you to further the investigation?" the defense attorney asked.
"It made it seem like he had something to hide," I responded, "I can not simply ignore that..."
"We all hide things," the defense attorney answered, "we all have skeletons in our closet, not all of which is illegal."
"I would say that what was suspected in this case WAS illegal," I replied.
"So if someone doesn't tell you all their dirtiest, darkest, inner most secrets, you'd suspect them of committing a crime?" the defense attorney asked, "do you realize how paranoid that sounds?"
"Indeed it does sound paranoid, but no, I'm not going to suspect everyone of committing a crime if they don't tell all their secrets," I replied, "but when one is being questioned about a crime, and one withholds information related to the solving of that crime, THEN I would think that that suspicion is justified."
"So because of things muttered under his breath, you find it impossible for my client to be innocent," the defense attorney surmised, "is that it?"
"I don't believe he's innocent, but NOT because what he muttered under his breath," I told him.
"Merely paranoia," the defense attorney dismissed it, "no further questions."
And with that, I was allowed to step down. I returned to my seat and listened as both the DA and the Defense Attorney made their closing statements. The DA relied heavily on a call to common sense and the fact that all of the forensic evidence indicated that MacClure was the only possible person who could have committed the murder. The defense attorney relied heavily on their same story that the forensic evidence was being overused and that the real killer had merely found MacClure's dropped weapon. Once that was done, the court broke for the jury to deliberate the evidence heard and seen.
++++++++++++++++++++++
It took two hours for the jury to complete their deliberation, which I spent most of the time stretching my legs walking along the hallways of the courthouse looking at the various photographs and items that had been put on display in the courthouse. I would spend the rest talking quietly with Officer Jenkins. I mostly received updates on Megan's days at school and her "love" for the Tiger-Lady. It made me chuckle at how well Molly had managed to do with the kids. It seemed that our troubles always seemed to revolve around adults who knew what a mundane tiger could do, but kids, who didn't know, had their undying love.
The bailiff called everyone to attention as the jury and Judge Pax returned to the courtroom, and I turned my attention from Officer Jenkins' update on her daughter to the front of the courtroom.
"Has the jury reached a verdict?" Judge Pax asked.
The lead juror stood up and nodded, "we have your honor."
Judge Pax nodded as the juror shuffled some papers in front of him.
"By a vote of six to four, we find the defendant guilty as charged," the juror spoke, "though believe that because the worst crimes were caused by agitation brought on by anger that the minimum sentence be issued."
"Very well," Judge Pax sighed.
Officer Jenkins and I watched quietly as MacClure's sentence was handed down. It would be a relatively long sentence, but MacClure would stand a decent chance of living to return to his ranch, which wasn't awarded to the city of Columbia Falls the way the Smith's property had been, so it couldn't be auctioned off. That, however, wasn't an issue for me, as the verdict would give the two Marksman sons justice for the murder of their father. And that was my chief concern. Hopefully, MacClure would mellow when he was released in the future.
"And another bad guy bites the dust," Officer Jenkins commented as we made our way out.
I nodded, "and justice served."
"So what did you think will be our next item on the agenda?" Officer Jenkins wondered, "William's trial?"
"I don't think I will be officially involved," I answered, "and since my participation in his capture was minor and only providing help to Officer Sane, dealing with him won't be required of me... you may be required though since it was your daughter he tried to kidnap."
"I can't believe he would have done that," Officer Jenkins sighed, "William was actually a fairly decent officer in Spokane..."
"It seemed to me that he thought you hadn't changed from what he remembered," I commented.
Officer Jenkins only sighed.
"He could force a trial..."
"That may happen anyway," I told her, "I got the impression that he felt himself to be doing the right thing when you talked with him... and you may have to go it alone as my involvement was only as a supporting officer."
Officer Jenkins only sighed.