Omniscient
Thursday
September 9
8:52 am
📍The Courthouse
"Remember what we practiced. Do not let these people intimidate you. Any question they throw at you, any witness that speaks you still maintain your story." Mrs. Hillman reminded Jahir as Indya fixed his tie.
The three of them sat in a meeting room waiting for the trial to start in a couple of minutes.
Jahir nodded his head in response not saying much of anything. He had a lot of thoughts scrambling in his mind and was trying to get them together before he got into the courtroom.
"And Indya, keep your composure regardless of what information you hear or what anyone says about your husband. Do not speak out of turn to the judge and we know the Mills family has been very vocal about how they feel about Jahir but do not feed into that." Mrs. Hillman told Indya.
Days leading up to the arrest most of Jawaun's family was talking big shit about Jahir & his family to several news stations and on social media. The old Indya would have definitely addressed the issue but with the severity of the situation she has remained silent.
Its been easy since they weren't physically in front of her talking but today it would be hard for her but she was prepared for it.
"I got you Mrs. Hillman." Indya assured her.
Mrs. Hillman nodded in response checking her Cartier watch seeing the time was now 8:55 am.
"Alright, I'm going to take my seat. I'll give you guys some time to yourselves before it starts but please be seated by 8:58am." Mrs. Hillman told them. Both of them nodded in agreement.
Once she walked out the room, the couple stared at each other for a moment before embracing each other. Enjoying their last moments together until who knows when.
Meanwhile, in the judges chamber, Judge Donald Reed was getting himself together like he would any other day.
He fixed his attire in the mirror as he heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." He told whoever it was. Reed looked through the mirror seeing Alexander Parker enter the chamber.
He internally rolled his eyes at the entitled rich man.
"A lot of press out there Reed. This might be your most infamous case yet." Alexander told him excitedly.
"I've noticed. You don't think it's suspicious that a case about two black men clearly in a gang related incident is getting this much media attention?" Reed asked.
Reed had been a judge for 35 years fighting small local cases like this. They usually don't get attention because they are stereotypical stories especially in Eastover.
"Hell no, these people around here aren't that smart. Especially since the man on trial has a successful community business. Don't tell me you're going pussy on me Donny." Alexander said nudging him.
"I'm not, just trying to think smart about it." Reed said shrugging. Next thing Reed knew he was pushed against the wall being held up by his collar.
"I don't pay you to think Reed, just to do what I asked. Understood?" Alexander said through clenched teeth.
"Understood." Reed responded losing breath in his lungs. Alexander released the older man leaving him standing there catching his breath.
"Glad we have an understanding. You're a dear friend of my father's, I would hate to have to hurt you and your family because you didn't do a simple job. Don't be stupid Donny." Alexander said fixing his suit, sending Reed a smirk before leaving out of the chamber.
Reed knew he shouldn't have been greedy and accepted Alexander's offer just because he was his colleagues son. Donald Reed's job was simple: Give Jahir Brown the highest sentence possible. He accepted $500k in cash from Alexander to do so.
But was Reed going to do that? No. He was going to make sure Brown had a fair trial. His sentence will add up to whatever evidence is laid out. Next, he would retire before putting him and his family into witness protection. That was his plan to be safe from what Alexander Parker would do to him once the sentence is set.
That was his original plan anyway. With the way Parker just approached him, Reed was starting think it would be better to go with what they initially agreed on.
"All rise!" A bailiff said causing everyone in the courtroom to stand as Judge Reed stepped into the courtroom.
Reed's mouth became dry meeting eyes with Parker and all the press in the back of the room. He managed to hold his composure and told the courtroom they may be seated.
"Alright, so we have Jahir Brown Vs. the state of Florida in relation to the disappearance and alleged murder of Jawaun Mills. I see here that the defendant is pleading self defense. Mr. Daniels, you have the floor." Judge Reed told the prosecution lawyer that Alexander hooked the Mills family up with.
"Thank you, Your Honor..." Mr. Daniels started. He went on laying out the evidence for the court in a summary before calling Jahir to the stand.
"How did you and Mr. Mills meet?"
"The first time I spoke to him was the night he tried to kill me." Jahir spoke.
"And exactly why was Mills allegedly trying to kill you?" Daniels asked.
"Because of a personal issue he had with my father."
"Hm, are you sure it wasn't because of the relationship between your wife and Mr. Mills?" Daniels smirked.
Indya's heart started to speed up at the mention of her. Ms. Fay instantly held Indya's hand feeling her tense up beside her, which definitely calmed her down.
"Objection, relevance?" Mrs. Hillman said.
"Please get to the point Mr. Daniels." Reed told him.
"Like I was saying, is this really about protecting yourself and your family? Or was this a jealous rage that you went into once you found out that the woman you loved was conversating with Mills?" Daniels poked making some people mutter but Jahir sat unfazed.
"I was protecting myself and my family." Jahir said simply.
Reed was impressed. He could tell Mr. Brown was well prepared for court but he should've expected nothing less from a client of Hillman's.
"I'm finished Your Honor." Mr. Daniels said taking a seat.
"Very well, Mrs. Hillman." Reed said giving her the floor.
Mrs. Hillman began questioning Jahir. The footage outside of the club was shown. The other shootings that were Jawaun's doing were also mentioned by Hillman but were dismissed since it's no evidence of Jawaun being related to them.
Mr. Daniels countered Hillman's claims by mentioning the shooting that took place at the gas station years ago but with no proof it didn't hold much weight.
Hours went by and eventually Jahir's father, Monty Brown was put on the stand as a witness.
"Mr. Brown, how did you know Jawaun Mills?" Mrs. Hillman asked.
"I've known Jawaun since he was a kid growing up in Brooklyn." He said.
"So would you say that you were pretty close with Jawaun?" She asked.
"We were, he was a good kid. I looked out for him since he didn't have a father figure in his life."
"What changed to make Mills attack you?"
"As years went on he grew up to be a selfish person. I tried to put him in a position that he wanted but he felt like with me still being alive that position would never truly belong to him." Monty explained sugarcoating.
"Thank you Mr. Brown. Your Honor, if you look on page 15 you can see the medical records that coincide with the attack."
His medical records were pulled up proving bodily harm on Monty. This went over well with the jury because it matched up exactly what the defense was proving and what Jahir was claiming for Jawaun's motive.
Once Mr. Daniels got the floor again he decided to keep Monty on the stand. This gave him a chance to bring up Monty's past to paint a picture to the court about how dangerous The Brown's are.
But through questioning Daniels really couldn't bring up Monty's past without mentioning Jawaun's.
So it didn't go exactly as planned once Monty got off the stand.
Jahir sat beside Mrs. Hillman feeling a little at ease. Daniels arguments weren't really sticking so he had confidence that he wouldn't go to jail.
"Alright well if that's all. It's time for th-." Judge Reed started about to send the jurors off to deliberate. But he was interrupted by Mr. Daniels.
"Excuse me Your Honor, I would like to bring one more witness to the stand if that's alright." Mr. Daniels said.
Mrs. Hillman and Jahir shared a "did you know about this?" type of look, both of them equally confused.
"I'll allow it." Judge Reed said. The doors of the court room opened and Jahir's heart dropped as the sound of her heels echoed while she walked towards the stand.
Indya's eyes followed her almost in slow motion, blood boiling as the women made it to the front of the courtroom.
"I would like to bring Mrs. Zania Caine to the stand." Mr. Daniels said as Nia took a seat facing the court.
Reed gave him the floor.
Once Mrs. Hillman finally figured out that Nia was the girl Jahir had told her about before she felt for the first time during the entire trial that she might lose.
In her eyes, Daniels didn't have much of anything going on in his argument until this very moment. It was in the Lord's hands now.
"Good morning, Mrs. Caine. First, how are you a relevant witness to this case?"
"I-um I-." Nia stuttered looking at Alexander's cold stare on her. She tore her eyes from him and looked at her husband, Princeton, which calmed her down.
"Take your time." Prince mouthed to her.
"I was at the crime scene the day Jawaun Mills was murdered." Nia said making the courtroom gasp.
"Walk me through that night if you can Mrs. Caine." Daniels told her.
Zania went into the whole story about what she saw and how she was involved. The bullet found was used as evidence which Jahir and Mrs. Hillman already knew about.
"Objection! Where's the proof of her actually being at the scene. A bullet can be found anywhere." Mrs. Hillman argued. Judge Reed looked towards Mr. Daniels.
"Actually, Mrs. Caine sent in some video evidence." Mr. Daniels said gesturing towards a bailiff as a video played that nobody had seen before. Not Jahir, Indya, Mrs. Hillman, nobody.
A video that Nia recorded at the crime scene played showing Jahir and them setting the building on fire. Once the video was over, you could hear a pin drop. That's how silent it was.
"Thank you for your time Mrs. Caine." With that Zania stepped off the stand.
Walking past Indya, Nia made sure to look straight ahead knowing she couldn't bare to look at her. Meanwhile, Indya's eyes followed her every move as Nia and Prince left out the courtroom completely.
Indya felt played. She couldn't figure out why Nia would meet up with her apologizing about everything just to do some even more fucked up shit, worse than anything she's ever done to her. She blamed herself for trying to see the good in people who don't deserve it and that was stopping today.
If it wasn't for the growing fetus in her stomach things would've played out differently and she might've been the one on trial next.
Both Mr. Daniels and Mrs. Hillman gave their final arguments before the court which was their last attempt at persuading the jury to believe there cases.
"Alright, we will come back whenever the jurors finish deliberating." Judge Reed said hitting the gavel.
"What you thinking?" Jahir asked Mrs. Hillman hoping she would say something different than what he was thinking.
Them two plus Indya were back into the meeting room they were in before the trial started.
"With Mrs. Caine showing up and her testimony it's not looking good." Hillman told him honestly.
Jahir didn't say anything but you could tell the original confidence he had when the trial started was completely gone. Sensing this Indya grabbed his hand to console him.
"Regardless of the sentence you receive today we can always do an appeal which can bring down your time. That should go well since we have a lot of evidence in Jahir's favor. So don't give up hope." Mrs. Hillman reassured them both.
After that she gave them two some space as everyone awaited the results of Jahir's sentencing.
Five hours later, the results were in. The suspense rose as everybody in the courtroom were seated once again and Judge Reed walked up to the podium. Both the prosecutors and defense stood up.
"In the case of Jahir Brown Vs. The State of Florida, the jury finds the defendant guilty of murder in the third degree. The self defense charges were thrown out by the jury as well. Brown had the intent of killing Jawaun Mills. Though his life was in danger from what we saw at the club, Brown still sought out Mills and killed him at a completely different location which rules out self defense." One of the jurors explained.
"With that Mr. Brown I sentence you to 10 years in the Miami Dade Penitentiary, no chance of parole right now but the sentence can be appealed after 2 years served." Judge Reed said hitting the gavel ending the trial.
Jawauns mother cried in excitement that justice was served for her child.
Indya sat heartbroken watching her husband get cuffed and taken out of the courtroom. Ms. Fay tried to stay as calm as possible to keep Indya calm. She didn't want her second grandchild to be harmed because of all the stress.
Outside of the courtroom, floods of people came outside being met with a bunch of reporters ready to get an interview with everybody about the case.
Jawaun's family of course spoke ready for the media attention. Claiming that they didn't receive any justice and Jahir should have been charged to the fullest extent of the law.
Jahir's family declined to speak per the request of Mrs. Hillman. Indya only agreed so the appeal can go better and once all this is over she was definitely making a video on it because if she was gonna speak it would be on her own terms and a check would come along with it.
A couple of bystander's were interviewed as well. Giving their opinion on the case. One of those people being Erickson Chambers, a 35 year old man who grew up in Eastover and has interacted with Jahir before.
"Now, we have Mr. Erickson Chambers speaking with us. Mr. Chambers what do you think about the sentencing?" A news reporter asked.
"It's simple, just like Kendrick Lamar said in Money Trees, "Everybody gon respect the shooter, but the one in front of the gun lives forever."
THE END