[Lady Justice 07] - Lady Justice and the Vigilante Read online

  “So, in your mind, is there any question that Mario Bondell forcibly entered Mary Murphy’s apartment, threatened her and robbed her?”

  “No, the evidence would support that.”

  “Thank you Detective. No further questions.”

  Larkin’s next witnesses were the Medical Examiner and the CSI guy whose findings supported everything that had been said up to that point.

  Then Larkin dropped the bomb.

  “The prosecution calls Officer Walter Williams.”

  I looked at Suzanne and she shrugged her shoulders.

  Larkin began by asking questions about how I knew Mary and our working relationship at the hotel.

  Everything was pretty routine until finally, “Officer Williams, other than Mario Bondell, do you know of any other persons Mary Murphy has killed?”

  Romero jumped to her feet.

  “Objection, Your Honor! Ms. Murphy has no criminal record. This line of questioning is prejudicial.”

  Larkin was ready with a rebuttal. “Even though Ms. Murphy has never been convicted of a crime, Officer Williams’ testimony will establish that three months ago she took the life of another man. Two persons dead at her hand are certainly enough to establish a pattern.”

  After a moment’s thought, “I’ll allow it.”

  “Mr. Williams, did you or did you not, witness Mary Murphy bludgeon a man to death with a baseball bat.”

  “Yes, but ---.”

  “That’s all, Officer. Your witness.”

  I had seen Suzanne conferring with Mary and she approached me confidently.

  “Mr. Williams, the prosecution would have us believe that Mary Murphy is a serial killer. Perhaps you can shed some light on the event Mr. Larkin described.”

  “I certainly can. The man was Uri Hassan. He was a hired assassin and had killed seven people in Kansas City including a doctor and a police officer.

  “He was holding my wife and I at gunpoint and was about to pull the trigger when Mary hit him with the bat. My wife and I owe our lives to this woman’s bravery.”

  I looked squarely at Larkin, “As I recall, Ms. Murphy received a letter of commendation from the City of Kansas City.”

  “Thank you, Officer. That’s all.”

  Larkins next witness was Frederick Farnsworth.

  I was shocked to see the tenant from room #7 take the stand.

  “Mr. Farnsworth, you live at the Three Trails Hotel. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And how do you know Mary Murphy?”

  “She runs the place.”

  “And does she do a good job?”

  “She sure does. She’s a tough old cookie.”

  He gave Mary a wave and a smile.

  “What do you mean by ‘tough’?”

  “Well, she don’t take no crap off of no one that’s for sure. And if one of us does somethin’ bad, like pissing on the floor or throwing trash in the halls, she gets after us.”

  “Really? And how does she enforce that?”

  “She’s got this bat --- a really big one, and nobody wants to get on the bad side of Mary and her bat.”

  “So she threatens the tenants at the hotel with a bat?”

  “Yep, and it works, too.”

  “Your witness.”

  “Mr. Farnsworth, do you like Mary Murphy?”

  “Well sure! She’s a sweet old gal.”

  “But you said she threatens you. Has she ever hit you with her bat?”

  “No.”

  “Do you know of anyone she has ever hit with the bat?”

  “Other than that killer guy, I can’t say that I do.”

  “Do you think that she might?”

  “Don’t know for sure and don’t want to find out.”

  “Thank you Mr. Farnsworth.”

  Larkin rested his case.

  Suzanne Romero called her first witness, the officer who had taken the break-in call on Thanksgiving.

  “Officer, were you dispatched to the Three Trails Hotel on Thanksgiving Day?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what did you find?”

  “Someone had forcibly entered Mary Murphy’s apartment in her absence and had taken some money.”

  “Were any fingerprints found at the scene, and if so, could you identify them?”

  “We found fingerprints, but they didn’t match anyone in our system.”

  “Thank you, Officer.”

  Her next witness was the CSI at the shooting.

  “Officer, you testified that you found Mario Bondell’s fingerprints on the door casing the night he was shot. At my request, did you compare those prints with the prints found on the door on Thanksgiving Day?”

  “We did.”

  “And what did you find?”

  “Both prints were those of Mario Bondell.”

  “Thank you, Officer.”

  Romero’s last witness was Mary herself.

  Mary, how many times has someone broken into your home in the last four months?”

  “Three times counting this last one.”

  “And what was different about the first two?”

  “I wasn’t home those times.”

  “Tell us in your own words what happened the night of the last break-in.”

  “I decided to go out and eat and take in a movie.

  “I ate, but then I started gettin’ the sniffles and sneezing, so I went back home.

  “I made me a hot toddy, turned the lights down real low and was just sittin’ there sipping my toddy and listening to Johnny Mathis when I heard something at the door.

  “Johnny was just starting to sing Misty when this guy comes bustin’ in the door.

  “I don’t know who was more surprised, him or me. I don’t think he expected me to be home.”

  “What happened then?”

  “When he sees me, he pulls out this knife --- you know --- one of them knives where you press a button and the blade pops out. Anyway, he points the knife at me and tells me that if I make a sound, he’ll cut me, so I kept my mouth shut.

  “Then he goes to the box under the slot in the door where the tenants put their rent and starts stuffin’ the envelopes in his pockets.

  “While he was doing that, I reached into my sewing basket and got my gun.”

  “Where did you get the gun?”

  “From old man Feeney.”

  “Is he a gun dealer?”

  “Heavens no! He’s a tenant and lives upstairs. He give it to me after the second break-in. Said he didn’t want nothin’ to happen to me. It’s a Colt .45 Peacemaker with ivory handles --- just like General Patton carried. He brung it home from the war.”

  “What did you do then?”

  “I pointed the gun at the s.o.b. and told him to put Mr. Walt’s money down and get his ass out of my apartment.

  “But he didn’t. He high-tailed it out of the door with all of Mr. Walt’s rent money.”

  “What then?”

  “I ran out on the porch and yelled at him to stop.

  “He was on the sidewalk. He stopped all right. He turned around an’ flagged me a bird.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “He gave me the finger --- like this.” Mary said, extending the middle finger of her left hand.

  “It means F---.”

  “That’s okay, Mary. I think we know what it means. What happened then?”

  “He held up that frog-sticker of his and said, “I’ll be back, bitch.”

  “That’s when I shot him.”

  “Were you afraid for your life?”

  “Hell yes I was afraid. The man had been in my place three times, threatened to cut me and promised to come back and finish the job.

  “Who wouldn’t be scared?”

  “Your witness.”

  Larkin started to get up, but then thought better of it. Mary was a sympathetic witness and badgering her would only make matters worse.

  The judge recessed for lunch.

  When the trial
resumed, Larkin began his closing argument.

  “There is no disputing the fact that Mary Murphy shot and killed Mario Bondell with a .45 caliber pistol.

  “The commonwealth does not dispute the fact that Bondell had forcibly entered the residence and threatened Ms. Murphy.

  “Defense council, in her closing argument, is going to use what’s known as the ‘Castle Law’ to justify the murder.

  “What you need to understand is that the Castle Law was created to protect citizens who were defending their homes, from being prosecuted.

  “The law states that the person must be in ‘imminent’ danger and the protection under this law vanishes when the imminent threat is removed.

  “In this case, Mario Bondell, seeing the gun, fled the scene. There was no longer an immediate threat.

  “In fact, it was Mary Murphy who pursued Bondell who was nearly to the street, a full twenty-three feet from her porch, when he was shot.

  “Had the shooting taken place inside the apartment, we wouldn’t be here today, but the facts are that Mary Murphy pursued Bondell and took his life.

  “Mary Murphy was no longer in danger and chose to take the law into her own hands.

  “Mary Murphy is guilty of second degree murder.”

  Larkin took his seat and everyone’s eyes went to Suzanne Romero.

  “Mr. Larkin is correct. The Castle Law is most definitely our defense. It is there to protect citizens who are protecting their homes.

  “It’s always amusing when someone quotes a law and only quotes the part that supports his case.

  “What Mr. Larkin failed to mention that Section 561.030 of our State Statute also says, ‘a person may use physical force upon another person when she reasonably believes such force to be necessary to defend herself.

  “That is the question before you today.

  “Does the evidence support the notion that Mary Murphy could have reasonably believed that the action she took was necessary to defend herself?

  “Put yourself in her shoes. The same man had broken into her home three times, and this last time threatened her with a switchblade knife.

  “Furthermore, he promised to return.

  “If you were Mary Murphy, would you believe that you were no longer in imminent danger?

  “Or would you have reason to believe that as long as Mario Bondell was on the street, there was a clear and present danger?

  “Mary Murphy is not a murderer. She is a sweet, seventy-three year old senior citizen who bravely fought off her attacker.”

  Then she looked directly at Larkin.

  “The commonwealth, rather than bring murder charges against this woman, should be giving her another letter of commendation.”

  She was good! She was really good!

  It took the jury less than an hour to bring a ‘not guilty’ verdict, and when it was read, the courtroom erupted in cheers.

  On the way home, I marveled at how life can change your perspective on things.

  A few months ago, I was cursing Suzanne Romero for helping dirt bags go free and today, she was my hero.

  I thought about the blindfolded Lady Justice holding the scales, and I had a much deeper appreciation of what is involved in maintaining that delicate balance.

  CHAPTER 13

  Mary’s arrest and trial had affected everyone in our little circle of friends.

  Naturally, we were concerned about her and all of us were in court every day to give her moral support.

  The trial ended five days before Christmas, but with everything going on, holiday preparations had taken a back seat.

  Now that Mary was off the hook, we were free to turn our thoughts to more festive pursuits.

  We decided to have a get together on Christmas Eve.

  Everyone was invited including Ox’s new squeeze and Ed, our new recruit.

  Our little circle was growing larger.

  The only no show was Vince who was going to Arizona to spend the holiday with his sister.

  It was to be a simple affair. We would order pizza and Maggie and I would serve the drinks and everyone else would bring their favorite holiday goodies.

  Jerry wanted to do the ‘Secret Santa’ thing, so we all put our names in the pot.

  Maggie and I started assembling our assorted libations.

  She mixed up a batch of holiday punch and I made sure there was plenty of Arbor Mist --- it goes great with pizza.

  Of course there was the traditional eggnog and we had a bottle of Kahlua on hand in case someone felt that their nog needed an extra kick.

  Ox and Judy had spent the day baking cookies. It was hard to imagine my robust friend rolling out dough, but I sensed that their domestic time together was a positive thing.

  The Professor brought a fruitcake. I guess that was a throwback to his generation. I just hoped that somebody would eat a piece so that he wouldn’t feel bad. I knew it wasn’t going to be me.

  Jerry brought a cake from the Price Chopper bakery that said ‘Happy Birthday J’. He had rubbed out the rest of the name.

  His justification was that Jason’s family hadn’t picked up the cake, so he got it for a really good price.

  He then reminded us that Christmas was really a celebration of Jesus’ birthday and that’s what the ‘J’ stood for.

  How could we argue with logic like that?

  Willie brought a sweet potato pie.

  He said that when he was a kid growing up, there were some years when all his family had were the vegetables that they had grown and stored, and his momma would bake that pie for their Christmas dessert.

  I guess each of us have our own special memories of Christmases past.

  Ed had stopped by the Cheesecake Factory and bought a Butterfinger cheesecake.

  My mouth started watering the minute I saw it.

  Dad announced that he and Bernice had spent the whole day making her fabulous ‘female fudge’.

  “What the heck is female fudge?” Jerry asked.

  “No nuts!” Dad replied.

  “So how do you know its female fudge and not eunuch fudge?”

  “Because we didn’t make the fudge with nuts in the first place and then pick them out, smart ass. This fudge was born without nuts!”

  The pizza guy showed up bearing boxes of the tasty pies and we all dug in.

  As we were filling our plates, Jerry asked Willie if he knew what would happen if he ate the Christmas decorations.

  Willie, of course, didn’t have a clue.

  “You’d get tinsel-itus!

  “You’re crazy, man! Get away from me!”

  When we were all stuffed to the gills, Jerry announced that is was time to exchange gifts.

  Apparently he had drawn my name and he looked on expectantly as I opened my gift.

  It was a little box that had a guy on the front with the word ‘Poof!’ coming out his rear end.

  I looked at him quizzically.

  “It’s a fart machine!” he announced. “Remote control --- you can put it under someone’s chair and make it fart from across the room. Very high-tech --- much better than a whoopee cushion.”

  Maggie gave me the ‘look’. “Don’t even think about it!”

  “Maybe you could use it at your squad room. I’ll bet it would be a big hit.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure it would. Thanks, Jerry, I’ve always wanted one of these.”

  He beamed.

  Dad had drawn Bernice’s name and judging from the box, he had spent some time in Victoria’s Secret.

  Bernice squealed as she pulled the lacey thong from the box.

  I had to look away. The last thing I wanted was the image of eighty-six year old Bernice wearing the thing burned into my memory.

  Ox had drawn Judy’s name and everyone ‘awwwwed’ when she pulled a charm bracelet from the box.

  The charms were all miniature handguns, revolvers and automatics of every description.

  “I love it!” she gushed and gave Ox a big kiss.

&n
bsp; He blushed.

  After all the gifts had been exchanged, Jerry strode to the center of the room with a small tablet in his hand.

  “I wrote something special for our evening together. I hope you all enjoy it.”

  Twas the night before Christmas

  And my friends are all here.

  We’ll laugh and have fun

  And spread holiday cheer.

  We’re all overjoyed

  To see our friend, Mary.

  She just went through a trial

  That was really quite scary.

  There was a good lesson

  That each of us learned.

  Don’t mess with this gal

  Or you’re gonna get burned.

  There’s Dad and Bernice

  And I hope there’s a chance

  That before they arrive

  He’ll zip up his pants!

  This year our friend Ox

  Has got a new squeeze.

  From what I’ve been told

  The girl’s quite a tease.

  She’ll laugh and she’ll giggle

  And call you sweet names

  But if you get her pissed off

  She’ll blow out your brains!

  And here’s to Ed Jacobs

  Our newest recruit.

  He can kick a guy’s ass

  And he really can shoot.

  As a brand new cop

  He could sure raise the ante

  If he could somehow arrest

  That old vigilante.

  And who could forget Willie

  The guy from the street.

  He’s mended his ways

  And he’s really quite sweet.

  Throughout our fine building

  He’s been known to roam.

  All that we ask is

  Keep your chitlins at home!

  Then there’s the Professor

  Our venerable sage.

  He gets around pretty good

  For a man of his age.

  With a good constitution

  And a strong, healthy heart

  He’s in pretty good shape

  For such an old fart!

  Here’s to Maggie and Walt

  Our newly wed pair.

  They’ve built their new nest