Chapter 11 - DAVID'S TRIAL BEGAN WITH THE SOUND OF MY BODY HITTING THE FLOOR
The criminal cases were divided.
Financial charges were extensive.
The assault-related prosecution came first.
The prosecutor played the kitchen recording.
No introduction could compete with it.
My voice:
Please... can I sit down for just a minute before everyone eats?
David:
You've been sitting at home all day. Stop acting like being pregnant makes you helpless.
Then the impact.
My body against granite.
Tile.
My gasp.
The courtroom became silent.
David stared at the table.
Then came:
My baby...
Then:
Get up. You're not ruining Christmas.
Then the phone breaking.
Then:
You're an orphan. No parents. No family. No one standing behind you.
I didn't look at him.
I looked at the jury.
Not performing.
Just existing.
Evidence doesn't need theatrics when it is clear.
David's defense argued he had not intended serious injury.
That the push occurred during a heated argument.
That he panicked afterward.
The prosecutor asked:
“Is smashing the victim's phone after she requests an ambulance panic?”
No good answer.
Rebecca testified.
Others testified.
The paramedics.
Police.
Doctors.
Then me.
David's attorney approached carefully.
“You still had access to family support, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Chief Justice Ward.”
“Nathaniel Ward.”
“An extremely influential person.”
“He was my guardian.”
“Did his position affect the investigation?”
“No.”
“How can you know?”
“Because he disclosed our relationship and removed himself from any judicial involvement.”
“Yet police arrived quickly.”
“It was Christmas morning and a pregnant woman reported an assault.”
The attorney changed direction.
“Your husband didn't punch you.”
“No.”
“Kick you?”
“No.”
“Strike your abdomen intentionally?”
“No.”
“So this was one push.”
I looked at him.
“One push put me on the floor at twenty-nine weeks pregnant.”
Silence.
“One broken phone prevented me from calling an ambulance.”
Silence.
“One sentence told me exactly why my husband thought he could do it.”
The prosecutor later asked:
“What sentence?”
I looked at David.
For the first time.
“He said I had no one.”
May you like
Then I turned back.
“He was wrong.”
