Ordinary Day

"There was no physical evidence that my client was found at the scene of the crime," the dreary and overweight defense attorney droned on. I looked over at my fellow judges and wondered if they had the same thought that I did. There was no way this buffoon in front of us was serious, he had to know that we were going to deny him the appeal that his client so desperately needed. "You have no choice but to overturn this conviction and set my client free."

"No choice?" Judge Joyce Rivers asked her voice full of anger. She was on the fast track to the Supreme Court, many thought of her as a brilliant attorney or as one publication said 'the voice of her generation.' The thing about the praise is not only is it all deserved but she downplayed it. No one person should be that smart, beautiful, and humble. It wasn't fair. "Surely sir, you are not telling this court that we don't have a choice in the matter. I mean you do realize that we have quite a few options, don't you?"

"To add on to what she is saying," The third Justice in our group started. Judge Nolan Johnson was the most radical of our trio. One day he would vote to set a convicted serial killer free but the next day his vote would spare a corporation billions of dollars. There was no telling what his ideology was or how he came by it. The one thing that every woman and gay man that made their way through our court could agree on was that the man had the looks of Channing Tatum and the mind of Stephen Hawking. Yes I had a bit of a crush on him but as a Judge I was usually professional. His eyes darted to the prosecutor of the case, a new guy who was riding the wave of positive publicity for this conviction. "Why aren't you up here interfering and setting him straight about your case? Unless of course you think that he's right and in which case maybe we should take your silence as a sign that you agree with the defense."

"N-n-n-no sir. Not at all." The Prosecutor spat out. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair but never stood up. I almost pitied him but I actually agreed with Nolan, he needed to be standing and arguing with the defense.

"What do you mean there is no evidence? Wasn't the hair of your client found at the scene of the crime? If I recall correctly there was also a jailhouse confession from your client," I shot at the defense. It was fun watching him deflate like a balloon whose helium was being sucked out of it. With every depleted breath of his opponent, the prosecutor seemed to come alive. I couldn't have that, it would look like I was taking sides. "Of course that confession was thrown out and deemed inadmissible because the prosecution got it illegally."

My name is Judge Billie King, and I was the third point in our little triangle of judges. If Joyce was the smartest and if Nolan was the hottest, I somehow was the middle of both of them. My philosophy was to look at the evidence in front of me and follow the Constitution of the United States to a T. Of course this often meant that I would be passed over for some of the more prestigious benches that opened up but I was happy with where I was. The only thing that I wanted was a husband, and Nolan was high on my list of potential mates. We would have beautiful babies.

After the attorneys both failed to make any valid points, we decided to let them dangle a bit and recessed to our chambers. After fifteen minutes, we all convened in Joyce's chambers where we would debate the case and come to our conclusion. When I walked in, Nolan and Joyce were talking in hushed tones. I often wondered if there was something going on between them. However Joyce wouldn't let me debate the thought today, "What do you think Billie? I'm thinking that we overturn the conviction and send him back to trial. Really it's the only thing that makes sense."

"Nah, I say we set the dude free. I mean the confession was thrown out, and while there is DNA evidence, he admitted that he and this girl was a couple. Why wouldn't his hair and fingerprints be all over the place?" Somehow I had known that Nolan would try to get us to let the defendant go free. There was no way that I was going to vote for that and both of them knew that. I was a fair but tough Judge and the evidence was overwhelming that this guy had killed his.

"I disagree with you both. I think that we need to uphold the conviction, not only is the evidence compelling but he did confess to it. Despite the way that it was proffered, I think that it's compelling enough to leave things as they are." Joyce sneered at me, as she usually did when I went against her. One of the things about her being so smart was that she hated it when someone disagreed with her logic.

What transpired was an hour of debating, name calling, and looking through the evidence again. Nolan never changed his stance that we should let the guy go, Joyce made a compelling case for a retrial but not one that I agreed with. Finally Joyce and I exchanged a look that we both knew well, it was one that said it was up to us to bring this to a close. My rival, friend, coworker shook her head and I knew the answer.

Back in the courttoom I delivered the news to the courtroom, the conviction was standing. Deciding a man's fate was an ordinary day for us.