Madam President (EDITING)

Chapter 45: Watch Me Work

Rachel's POV

"We're not prepared. If you didn't OD we would have had time to go over this together", Jacob says infuriated with me.

I roll my eyes,"I didn't OD you dick. We'll be fine, just follow my lead. We're going to win this."

In walks Jennifer with her famous prance,"Is everyone ready to present? Perfect. I'll read the case and then the prosecution will tell me the sentence they are recommending and why."

Nina looks over at Jacob and I, "Good luck you're going to need it."

I roll my eyes. I do feel a little unprepared, but I can't let them see me sweat.

"Before we begin please hand in you case briefings", Jennifer instructs.

I collect mine and Jacob's to hand them to her. "Here you go", I say with a slight smile. She looks at me suspiciously.

Avery walks up next to me to hand in their papers, "Good luck" she says with a smile

"You too", I respond.

"Ok let's begin. We're here today to discuss The People vs Ceballos 1973. The defendant lived alone in his home. His regular living quarters were just above his garage, but the defendant chose to sometimes sleep in his  garage. He had approximately $2,500 worth of property stored there. One day he noticed some tools were stolen from his home, after finding his lock on the garage doors bent and tampered with.  The next day he mounted a loaded .22 caliber pistol that was connected to wires in the garage. A few days later 2 teenage boys went to the defendant's home to break into his garage, they were met with gunfire as the weapon discharged shooting one of the teens in the face. So the question stands, is a person entitled to use deadly force to prevent a burglary that did not threaten death or serious bodily harm? Prosecution please start us off."

We spend the next half hour debating back and forth. As Jennifer calls for closing arguments we dig deep to construct our best points.

"The law says a person is not justified in using deadly force to protect their property from burglary", Nina interjects.

"The teens went to the defendants home to commit a crime. He had every right to protect his home from intruders", Jacob adds

"According to the section code we referred to earlier, mechanical devices may never be used for the protection of property", Avery brilliantly mentions.

I freeze.

Jennifer looks over at me, "Defense?"

Jacob looks at me and shakes his head. I can't believe I just lost.

"Well if there's nothing else to add, it looks like Nina and Avery are our winners", Jennifer says looking at her notes.

"Wait", I yell out as I try to quickly come up with something.

"No she can't do that. You already announced us as the winners", Nina says about to blow a vessel.

"I'm the judge I'll allow it. Defense you have 30 seconds", Jennifer says looking at me.

Besides the fact that I hate losing, winning this will give me an opportunity to hang out with Jennifer for a night. I have to win this.

"There is no evidence to suggest that the defendant meant to inflict deadly force. Guns are also used to wound, just look at hunting. The defendant was under the assumption that the culprits were adults, which would make them taller than the teens. If you turn your attention to board you can see the gun is angled to the left which would hit the target in the shoulder. It would have wounded not killed, but because the teens are shorter, it unfortunately delivered the fatal blow. The defendant meant to wound the culprit, he's an elderly gentleman that lives alone. The teens saw that as an opportunity to exploit. The teens committed elderly abuse on two separate occasions. The defendant just wanted to defend what was his."