no time to die // J. Barber ✔

fifteen

Jacob and Amelia went down with their 'trial' suits, and once they were set and ready, they hopped in the car.

the garage door opened and revealed hundreds of reporters, making Jacob hold Amelia's hand.

"do that, our poker face", Jacob and Amelia mouthed to each other in unison, making them smile.

Andy drove the car as reporters and photographers surrounded them inside the car.

this was it, the moment where they decided whether Amelia and Jacob were guilty or not,

the final trial.

Jacob and Amelia sat on the chair in front of Laurie and Andy, Jacob bouncing his leg up and down, making Amelia hold his hand to make him stop.

"indictment number 08-44-07. Commonwealth versus Jacob Owen Barber and Amelia Skye Barber. a single count of murder in the first degree, for the defendants, Joanna Klein. for commonwealth, assistant district attorney, Neal Logiudice", a woman announced.

"any preliminary motions before we begin the voir dire? ", the judge asked.

"a couple things, yes, you honor, first, the defendants' father, Andrew Barber, would like to enter an appearance in the case on the defendants' behalf and with the court's permission, he's going to second chair with me at trial", Joanna said.

"is this a wise decision, Mrs. Klein? ", the judge asked. "it is the family's wish, your honor", Joanna smiled.

"all right, Mr. Barber, you can come forward, what else? ", the judge asked.

"you honor, i have filed a motion in limine to exclude any mention of the defendants' grandfather, William Barber, who is currently serving a life sentence for first degree murder, we believe commonwealth may try to introduce this fact to the prejudice the jury", Joanna requested.

"Uh your honor, the commonwealth contends that the family's history of violence is of great relevance", Logiudice cutted Joanna off.

"your honor, my clients have never once met the-", Joanna said before getting cut off by the judge.

"I get it, I read the motion", the judge nodded before thinking, "defendants' objection is noted and tabled".

"should the commonwealth decide William Barber's criminal record is critical to his case, he will notify the defense and then we'll have a hearing on the matter", the judge said, "otherwise not a word about this to the jury".

"thank you, your honor", Joanna nodded. "yes, your honor", Logiudice nodded.

"lastly, the defense moves to expand it's witness list by 2: Matthew McGrath and Leonard Pats", Joanna said as she handed a paper.

"commonwealth? ", the judge asked. "we're fine with it, your honor", Logiudice spoke.

"all right, let's bring the jury venier", the judge said.

"all rise for the jury", an officer said loudly, making everyone stand up from their seats as the jury came.

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ BREAK ROOM ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

"he kept staring at us", Amelia blurted out. "oh, both of you'll get used to that, just keep your eyes on the judge as much as possible or on each other or on your dad or on me", Joanna said.

"don't give him any reason to not like you guys, no faces, okay? ", Andy said.

"you're going great so far, you all are", Joanna smiles as Jacob looked at Amelia.

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ BREAK ROOM ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

"you see, this wasn't just a pair of average siblings, the defendants, no, something set them apart. his father, a father who was the first assistant district attorney, topman, right here in this building, for years the defendants watched his father prosecute every major murder case in this county.. he listened to dinner conversations, overheard phone calls, shop talk. might even say that murder was the family business, but still, the question remains why? why? would an eight-grade siblings kill their classmate? well, we've all been to school, we know kids can be mean, your gonna hear a testimony that the victim, in this case, Ben Rifkin, teased the defendants, nothing shocking but still mean but to make matter worse, the defendant, Amelia, had a 'thing' by Ben as she described it as Jacob was mocked by Ben, Jacob hated Ben and now so did Amelia and Ben foolishly mocked this young man and soon the young woman, unaware of their hidden capacity, even desire to kill", Nail explained as he walked around.

"objection! ", Joanna announced. "sustained! the jury will disregard the last remark about the defendants' desire which is speculation", the judge said.

"and so, on April 12th, the defendants walked into the woods of Cold Spring Park with a knife in their pocket and the same idea on their mind. did they ambush the victim? or were there words exchanged first? maybe Ben called them a name, or even threatened them, we don't know. all we know Is that the defendants punched their knife six times, three for each into Ben Rifkin's chest, killing him. six. evenly spaced wounds. one. two. three. four. five. six", Neal explained.

"you see a tragedy as enormous as this and it makes you furious, you want someone to pay, I do too, I do, it's only human, but Jacob Barber and Amelia Barber are innocent, and I wanna say that again so that there is no misunderstanding. Jacob Barber and Amelia Barber are holy and completely innocent. when you understand what really happened that day, you'll see this case for what is, a rush to judgement. the fingerprints, for example, that the prosecution made such a big deal about, you're going to hear how that print got there just as Jacob and Amelia told the police officer who arrested them the moment they were asked. they saw their classmate lying on the ground and they tried to help and when they discovered that ben was dead, saw all that blood, they panicked, they feared that if he told someone about the body, they'd become suspects. after all, this was Ben Rifkin, the boy who bullied them, the boy that liked Amelia, everyone knew that. how would it look? does Jacob and Amelia wish that they had been braver from start? and told the truth? of course, they do. it was the worst mistake they ever made. it was a horrible, terrifying mistake, but they were kids. now I don't give a damn how the state chooses to try them, they were a thirteen-year old girl and a fourteen-year-old boy, and kids make mistakes, but we're adults, with gave responsibility before us. a child is dead, don't destroy two more kids' lives to make up for it, that isn't justice, that's another tragedy", Joanna explained before she sighed.

word count: 1090 words.