Two years and two weeks earlier.
- Will the defendant please stand up?
I stood up. My lawyer did the same.
- Ms. Nakamura, did your lawyer explain the charges to which you are pleading guilty today?
- Yes, Your Honor.
- Before I can accept your guilty plea, I must make sure that you understand the charges, the effect of this plea and that you have a right to a trial. The procedure we will be doing here today is called an allocution. I will ask you a series of questions and then you will have the opportunity to make a statement on your own behalf before sentencing. Do you have any questions about this procedure?
- No, Your Honor.
- You've been charged with violating section 242 of the California penal code. Felony serious bodily injury. Did your attorney explain the elements of this crime to you?
- Yes, Your Honor. He did.
- And do you understand that you have the right to a trial by jury and that a guilty plea today will automatically waive that right?
- Yes, I understand that.
- And do you wish to waive that right today and plead guilty to the crime of which you have been accused?
- Yes.
- In your own words, can you please state the elements of the crime you are being charged with?
- I am being charged with physically assaulting another person and causing them serious bodily harm.
- Right, Ms. Nakamura. This court considers that you understand the nature of the crime with which you are charged and the implications of your confession. The public prosecutor and your lawyer have submitted an agreement. One of the conditions of this agreement requires you to provide explicit details of the crime you committed and the reason why it was committed. This removes any doubt as to the nature of your guilt. Are you prepared to provide the court with your statement?
I turned and looked at the almost empty courtroom. A bailiff was removing dirt from his fingernails. A few men in gray suits had their heads down, typing on their cell phones. It was as if nothing relevant was happening. This was something that happened every day. There was only one face that looked devastated. I did my best to convince her not to come, but she insisted. There, in the third row of the courtroom, sitting alone on one of the wooden benches, was my half-sister, Ryujin. Tears were silently streaming down her face. I hated that she had to hear the details all over again.
Turning my attention to the waiting judge, I nodded and spoke calmly:
- Yes, Your Honor. I'm ready.
- Good. What do you say, Ms. Nakamura? Tell the court what happened on the night of July 10th.
I swallowed.
- On the night of July 10th, I went to a drug dealer's house and threatened him...
The judge interrupted me and spoke to my lawyer:
- He's an alleged drug dealer, right? The victim hasn't been convicted of any crime?
My lawyer replied:
- Yes, Your Honor. The victim hasn't been convicted of any crime.
Isn't that outrageous? I'll be sentenced before the real criminals.
The judge addressed me.
- Ms. Nakamura, you can refer to the victim as a victim, an alleged drug dealer or by name. Anything else will not be tolerated. Is that clear?
My jaw clenched so hard I thought I might crack a tooth, but I nodded. There was no way I was going to call that trash a victim. Ryujin was the only victim in this whole tragedy.
- Carry on.
- As I was saying, I went to the house of an alleged drug dealer, Hwang Hyunjin, and threatened him. The alleged drug dealer is the brother of my sister's girlfriend. I heard that he and Hwang Yeji had had a fight with another rival alleged drug dealer. I threatened Hyunjin so that he would tell me where the other dealer was. The police had been looking for him for two weeks, but had had no success. I wanted to help. Hyunjin refused to tell me where the guy was.
- And why were the police looking for the other alleged drug dealer?
I looked at the bench and then at my sister. She took a deep breath and lowered her head, and I continued:
- He tried to kill my sister. To get revenge on the Hwang brothers, because Ryujin was the only person with whom Hwang Yeji had an emotional bond. Ryujin fell in love with Yeji. Then the other alleged drug dealer, after cowardly shooting my sister twice and leaving her bleeding on our doorstep in the middle of a cold night, told her he would be back.
It was the first time the judge's face softened.
- And what did you do when Hwang Hyunjin refused to give you the information you wanted?
It was a small victory, but the judge had finally stopped calling Hyunjin a victim.
- I assaulted him.
- Was a weapon used in the assault?
I looked at my lawyer and back at the judge.
- I don't believe so, Your Honor.
- Do you? You mean you're not sure?
- Well... No weapon was found at the scene, and I don't remember having one on me. But, no, I'm not sure.
- And why is that, Ms. Nakamura?
- Because I don't remember most of the episode.
- I see. What's the last thing you can remember?
I remembered what it was, but I didn't want to have to repeat it out loud.
My lawyer whispered to me:
- You need to talk, Kazuha.
I cleared my throat.
- Hyunjin said something to me. And it's the last thing I remember.
- And what did he say, Ms. Nakamura?
My lawyer had warned me not to show anger. It took all my willpower to unclench my fists and speak.
- He said... that my sister was a drug-addicted idiot who deserved what had happened, and that she should have learned from the start, so that she wouldn't come back the following week for a carton and end up screwing his sister. He said this because he didn't like the idea of his sister abandoning her "business" with him because of Ryujin.
The judge seemed to sympathize for a moment.
- And do you know the nature of the injuries Hwang Hyunjin suffered?
- As far as I was told, he had a fractured nose and eye socket, a concussion and some broken ribs.
- And you don't remember any of the actions that caused these injuries?
- No, Your Honor. I don't remember. I only remember what I told you, and then he said 1925 Harmon Street.
- All right, Ms. Nakamura. We're almost finished here. I have a few more questions before we take a break and come back in the afternoon for the sentencing.
I nodded.
- Do you regret your actions, Ms. Nakamura?
This question was discussed between me and my lawyer. Although he hadn't told me to lie, I could read between the lines. It was just that I had come so far. I was going to stand my ground. Less than three hours after Hyunjin was taken away by ambulance, the drug dealer who attacked Ryujin was arrested. I looked straight into the judge's eyes and, as I had sworn to God, I spoke the truth:
- No. I don't regret my actions.
~~~☆~~~
It was almost four in the afternoon when the judge called us back into the courtroom. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before speaking.
- Ms. Nakamura. Do you understand that, as a result of your guilty plea, you may lose certain valuable civil rights, such as the right to vote, the right to hold public office, to sit on a jury and to own a firearm?
Even after two months of thinking about the consequences of my actions, I didn't care what I would lose. I just wanted Ryujin to know that I would do anything to keep her safe, even if we weren't the same father's children.
- I understand, Your Honor.
- Right. Ms. Nakamura, the two-year prison deal made with the public prosecutor is considered an adequate punishment and therefore accepted by this court. While I sympathize with your family's pain, our system must be reliable to serve its intended purpose. We can't have vigilantes avenging crimes across the city at our convenience. Your request for time to put unfinished business in order has been granted, on the condition that you surrender your passport and do not leave the state of California. You must surrender to the Los Angeles County Jail in fourteen days. - The judge slammed the gavel down and thus I became a criminal.
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hey guys! I would like to apologize for the delay.😔 And I would also like to apologize in advance if I have some grammatical errors, as my first language is not English.