Synonym

Chapter 8

At certain points I had to look away from all of the people in front of me, the blank faces that greeted me. My voice would shake or a few tears would fall but I would force myself to continue if not to convict those three men, then to uphold the little dignity I had left in these moments.

By the time I had finished my story, my tall and lanky lawyer with a balding head took his spot to question me. I inhaled deeply in anticipation.

"Ms. Mason, what was your relationship to Mr. Griffin Riley on December third, 2019?" My lawyer, Mr. Tarsky asked.

"We were friends." I replied easily. These were not the hard questions that the opposition would ask so I forced myself to relax a little but I couldn't fully even out my tone or erase the sound of my crying.

"You say 'were'. What is your current relationship to Mr. Riley?"

"My boyfriend."

"Had you and Mr. Riley engaged in any sort of sexual or romantic contact up to this point?" His voice was slightly monotone and his face gave nothing away.

"No, I did not."

Even I saw the slight smirk on his face with that answer. He knew we had a good prosecution. Technically I'd given him a lap dance but that was a dare. I broke the law and lied under oath, but I didn't think it was that bad. I didn't want to explain myself. "Why was Mr. Riley staying behind after the game? And did you know he was still at the school?"

"He wanted a ride home from me because we lived close together. I did not know he was still there because I had assumed he went home with our teammate, Samuel Valentino, who he had arrived with which was evidently not the case."

"Did you feel that your life was being threatened when Mr. Alverez put his hands around your neck?"

I answered without hesitation. I might have been weary about charging Ryan with attempted murder before, but now that the moment was here I was ready and determined to give him what he deserved.

"Yes. I feared for my life when my air supply was cut off my Mr. Alverez in the middle of being assaulted. There was not doubt in my mind that he would have gone further if given the opportunity."

"That is all, Your Honor." Mr. Tarsky said before returning to his seat at the table I previously resided at. Now for the cross examination. By the time the defending lawyer, Mr. Smith, had started speaking to me, I felt like I was going to vomit.

"Ms. Mason, let us confirm some facts. Did you or did you not engage in sexual intercourse with Mr. Jack Green?"

I gulped. Where was he going with this? "Not consensually. But yes, by definition there was sexual intercourse."

"Where you or where you not 18?"

"I was."

"See? The defendant was 17 at the time of the sexual intercourse while Ms. Mason was 18. The State of Connecticut states that a seventeen year old can not consent to have sexual intercourse with an 18 year old, only a 17 or 16 year old. In reality, Ms. Mason should be the one on trial for statutory rape."

My eyes went wide and I felt everything inside of me crushing when my lawyer shot up from the chair and spoke loudly. "Objection, Your Honor!"

"Permission granted." The old woman replied.

"While there was sexual intercourse, it was not consensual which is in the definition of statutory rape. It is that consensual sexual intercourse between a person or persons over 18 with a person or persons under 18. The fact that Ms. Mason unwillingly was forced by three men, just a few months younger than her, is rape regardless of their age. The fact that she protested to the act multiple times is evidence that she had no say in the matter making the claim of statutory rape inadmissible."