The ‘den’ Triplets
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2011 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 16  

The Verdict

Judge Zastera was prompt, if she wasn’t anything else.  Court was resumed exactly ten minutes later.  She looked at the bailiff, “Bailiff, can describe the markings on Mr. Fuller’s body if there were any?”

“Yes, Your Honor.  Mr. Fuller does have the Superman symbol on his right breast and there are two sets of red lips leading to the left side of his pelvic area.”

“Thank you.  Mr. Naylor, do you have any other witnesses that you wish to call?”

“Your Honor, I have some other evidence to present.”  I handed her a stack of the handwritten notes the participants of the counseling sessions had written.  “These are the accounts written by victims of the ring, during the counseling sessions that were conducted with the assistance of some of the members of the ministry of our community.  I deliberately had the people who wrote the notes not sign them, to protect them from being exposed.”

Judge Zastera looked at the notes and was reading the first one when Mr. Fuller stood, “I object, on the grounds that the notes or letters are not signed.  Who’s to say that Mr. Naylor didn’t write them all, or have someone write them?”

I stood, “Judge, I resent the defense counsel's insinuation that I would create evidence.  If you will notice, there is a number on each paper which tells me who wrote it.  I chose to do it that way so that we could protect the young people involved from being exposed.”

Mr. Fuller raised his voice, “Judge Zastera, I believe that the defendants are guaranteed the right to know who their accusers are, under the constitution.  The letters should not be allowed as evidence, since there is only Mr. Naylor’s word they were written by people who were supposedly victims of an alleged prostitution ring.”

There was a voice from the spectator section, “Your Honor, I would like to testify, to prove that there was and is a group of police officers who are running a prostitution ring.”

 

It was Aaron Shoemaker who was speaking.  Judge Zastera looked at him, “Young man, have you been involved in the ring?”

“Not exactly, Your Honor.  I’m the person whom Mr. Naylor saved from being violated in the jail cell, after my father called and asked for Mr. Naylor’s assistance.”

I looked at Aaron, “Are you sure you want to testify?”

 

“Yes, Mr. Naylor, if some of us don’t step forward, it will seem as if Jacob was an isolated occurrence, and the people involved in the ring will go free.  I was at the counseling sessions you and the pastors conducted, and I feel it is my religious obligation to see that the people involved in the ring be made to pay for causing people to be running scared.”

“I call Aaron Shoemaker to the stand.”

After Aaron was sworn in, I asked, “Aaron, please describe to the court how it was that you and I came to be acquainted.”

Aaron told the entire story of how he was picked up at the rest stop, and how I found him in the jail cell.  His story corroborated what Mr. Fish had said.  He ended, “I stepped forward so that the identity of the other victims would be protected.  Many of them are scared to death of what would happen to them if their parents were to find out what was happening.  My parents are very supportive of me being here today.”

District Attorney Howard stood, “Aaron, you are a very brave young man for coming forward.  Judge Zastera, I would like to share something that will show what the ring was doing to our young people, and their families.  As many of you know, my wife and I lost our son about a year and a .  It was reported that he fell asleep and drove his car into the river.  I have here a note that says he couldn’t continue living in fear that my wife and I would find out what the ring was making him do.  To top it off, his best friend, Jacob Stocker, left home, and Danny felt isolated.”

I stood, “Your Honor, the prosecution rests it’s case.  We have proved that the people involved in the prostitution ring have not only ruined the lives of the young people involved, but those of their families, as well.”

Mr. Fuller apparently wasn’t prepared to attempt to refute the evidence presented by Aaron and District Attorney Howard, “Your Honor, in light of the most recent testimony, the defense requests that the trial be delayed until such time as the defense has a chance to respond to these new allegations.”

Judge Zastera pounded her gavel, “Request denied.  Please proceed with your defense.”

Mr. Fuller stood and faced the jury, “The people who have been identified as the defendants in this case have been loyal servants of the community for many years.  There is no way that they would have done anything to endanger our young people.”

Judge Zastera pounded her gavel, “Counselor Fuller, if you don’t have any witnesses that you’re going to call, then I suggest you rest your case, or I’ll find you in contempt for wasting everyone’s time.  Do you have any witnesses?”

“No, Your Honor.  The prosecution has not proved it’s case and we have nothing to defend anyone for.”

Judge Zastera was definitely getting frustrated, “Mr. Naylor, please present your closing argument.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.  Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I think that we have proven beyond a doubt that there has been a prostitution ring operating in this area, with the assistance of some of our law enforcement personnel.  The unfortunate thing is that it also involved some of our elected officials, as well.  We hope that you will find them all guilty and make sure that they are never again in a position where they can ruin more young people’s lives.  I rest my case.”

 Judge Zastera nodded, “Thank you, Mr. Naylor.  Mr. Fuller, have you anything further to say?”

 

“Mr. Naylor’s case has to be the weakest case that I’ve ever faced.  I’m sure that you jurors are intelligent enough to recognize that no one could make young people do things that they didn’t want to do.  The charges against my clients should be dismissed.”

Judge Zastera issued instructions to the jury.  “This court is in recess until the jury reaches a verdict, or four o’clock.”

The jury had only been gone about ten minutes when the bailiff returned and announced, “The jury has reached their verdict.  Please rise for Judge Zastera.”

The judge looked at the jury, “Have you reached your verdict?”

The foreman handed the bailiff a piece of paper which he took to the judge, “Yes, Your Honor.  We find all of the persons who have been identified by Mr. Naylor are guilty as charged.  We recommend that they be given the maximum sentence possible.”

“I want to thank you members of the jury for being part of the these proceedings.  I will be studying the transcript of the trail and will be handing down my sentences one week from today, at ten o’clock.”

After everyone had departed, I hugged Aaron and Jacob, “Guys, thank you for putting necks on the chopping block.  Jacob, you need to get over your anger with your parents.  Aaron, I hope you had spoken to your parents before you took the stand.”

“Mr. Naylor, it was my parents who convinced me that it was my moral responsibility to step forward and protect the young people who were involved.”

I went back to the office after the trial, and David and Jeff fell down on their knees.  David asked, “Do we get a raise now that you’re going to be so busy?”

Jeff handed me some messages, “These calls have just come in since the verdict in your court case hit the air.  People are calling about you handling cases for them.  There was even someone who wanted you to run for political office to clean up the corruption.”

“How about I just go back to being your everyday boring lawyer.  I do have three sons who are going to need to be able to spend some quality time with me.”

We finally called it a day, and I was locking up when David returned, “Boss, you might want to skip out the side door.  The media is waiting to mob you if you exit via the front door.  Give me your car keys and I’ll bring your car around to the side door for you.”

“Thanks, David.  I might just as well face the media and get it over with, since I really have nothing startling to say to them.  The first thing that they’ll ask for is a complete list of the people who were involved in the ring, and then they’ll want a complete list of victims who were trapped into working for the ring.  I’m not telling them anything.  The names of the guilty will be a matter of public record when Judge Zastera sentences them.  They probably will be having kittens, trying to find out the names of the victims.  The only two names they know so far are Jacob’s and Aaron Shoemaker's.”

Jeff frowned, “Why do the media people think it is so important to find out who the victims of the ring are?  Why not concentrate on the people who used the services the ring provided?”

I grinned, “Thanks, Jeff, you just gave me a way to get around answering the media’s questions.”

When I exited the building, the media people were yelling out all sorts of questions.  I put up my hands, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have a simple statement to make, and that is all that I am going to say with regard to the court case.  The names of the guilty parties will become available when they are sentenced.  I will not divulge any more names other than the ones that have already been made public.  The names of the other victims are nobody’s business, and could do a lot of damage if the names became known.”

“You people should be concentrating on obtaining the names of the customers who used the services of the prostitution ring, rather than dragging the names of young people through the mud.  We already know that there were some elected officials using the services of the ring.  I’m sure that if someone were to be energetic enough, they would be able to uncover some additional public officials who were using the ring’s services.  That is all that I have to say.  As far as this case is concerned, I’ve suddenly developed amnesia.  I can’t make enough to feed my three sons by dwelling on the past.  I’ll see you in the future, when you decide to move on to more interesting news.”

I walked to my car without answering any further questions.  I turned the radio on to catch up on the news, since I hadn’t really been paying much attention to what had been happening lately.  The newscaster started, “The case of the prostitution ring went to the jury late this afternoon.  The jury wasted very little time before returning a guilty verdict against all the defendants.  The defense attorney was even implicated.  Talking to Mr. Mike Naylor, who was the special prosecuting attorney, is like trying to get blood from a turnip.  His main concerns were that the guilty be identified, but the victims should remain anonymous.”

“The best part of the case was when Mr. Naylor was participating as a witness and the prosecution lawyer at the same time.  At first, it seemed a little hokey, but it turned out to be very effective, since he was the person who realized what was happening.  We want to commend Mr. Jacob Stocker and Mr. Aaron Shoemaker for stepping forward to save the other young people from being exposed.  Neither of these young men have been available for further comments.”

I’m sure that we haven’t heard the last of Mr. Naylor.”

‘Oh yeah?  Wait until they find out how boring I am.’

When I arrived at the house, Miss Mille was out in the yard with a woman, “Mike, come meet my sister, Maude.  She just happens to be Todd’s mother.  Her husband is in your house checking on the triplets.”

I went to the two ladies, “It’s a little cold to be standing outside.  I thought Todd’s father disowned him when he found out that Todd was gay?”

Mrs. Stodola shrugged her shoulders, “Men do strange things when they think they’re a grandfather.  After Millie told us about Todd living next door and being a nurse for the boys, Jerome asked, ’What’s the relationship between the triplets’ father and Todd.’”

Aunt Millie giggled, “When I told him that the two of you were sleeping in the same bed and that you had a porn star living with you, he decided that he needed to go protect the triplets and we haven’t seen him since.  In fact, we were on our way to make sure that everyone was still alive.”

When we walked into the house, Aunt Millie introduced me to Jerome.  He looked at me and shook his head, “There is no way anyone as ugly as you could have produced three such beautiful boys.  The boys’ mother must have been a beautiful lady.”

Aunt Millie answered, “Jill was a very striking woman.  Jerry, I believe you owe Mike an apology.  There are a lot of people who would be willing to go to bed with him.  I’m surprised that his phone isn’t ringing off the hook, after he won the big victory in court today.”

“Aunt Millie, there isn’t going to be anyone chasing after me, other than the bad guys.  You will need to make sure that they don’t try to burn the house, now that the prostitution ring has been exposed.”

Mr. Stodola commented, “Mike, the porn star here was telling me about the prostitution ring.  You need to make sure that you get all of the major players convicted.  Once they get started, they’re like fast growing cancer cells, and in many cases, can’t totally be eliminated.”

“Mr. Stodola, I thought that you wanted nothing to do with Todd, once you found out he was gay!”

“After what happened to our other son and daughter, Todd is a saint. His sister and her husband decided that they didn’t want any children so his sister Julia had a hysterectomy.  Meanwhile, her husband has been knocking up every chick he can convince to have sex with him.”

“Todd’s twin brother, Rod, was married, and he and his wife had four children.  Unbeknownst to us, they weren’t his children, at all.  It turns out that he was impotent and the four children had four different fathers.  We wouldn’t have found out if we hadn’t popped in for a visit and the woman was in bed with a strange man.  The children told us that their mother had lots of friends who came to spend the afternoon, when their Daddy was at work.”

“Rod kicked the woman and her kids out and has become an alcoholic.  It’s only a matter of time before he will lose everything.”

Mrs. Stodola shook her finger, “You old goat, we could have stopped the problem if you would have admitted that the two marriages were doomed from the start.  But you were so upset because Todd told us he was gay, that you were trying to find any excuse you could to prove that he wasn’t a real man.”

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of the phone.   

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  I do hope that the convictions stand, since I have the feeling that the stupid defense attorney will appeal the convictions.

I do think that Mr. Naylor has a pretty iron clad case, and that it will hold up to any scrutiny.  The victims have a really good person protecting their identities. 

I wonder who is calling.  I suspect it is Rev. Stocker. That man, and I use that word loosely, has a habit of making his presence known whenever he thinks he can get something out of showing up or calling.

I can hardly wait for another chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 01/07/11