“Please do so I can take off my heels,” Shane dared him.
“Yo big foot ass shouldn’t have on heels in the first place. You need to take them canoes off.” Dexter frowned. Only then did Tyler snicker. She told Shane his pointed-toe pumps looked like boats, but he still wore them.
“I’ll slap you in the back of the head if you laugh at this nigga jokes,” Shane hissed. “His Jheri curl wearing ass ain’t funny. Sitting over there looking like a fake ass Mexican. Nigga wanna be a thug but wearing fucking finger waves.”
“Please calm down,” Gene whispered as the doors to the judge's chambers opened.
“All rise,” the court officer requested as the judge marched toward her seat.
After taking a seat, the judge picked up a stack of papers and read through them. Once she understood what was going on, she nodded and placed the stack of papers to the side.
“This is a preliminary examination; however, it is my understanding that both sides are looking to get the case resolved today instead of dragging it out in trial. I’ve read over the information from the prosecution, and while I’m all for not wasting the taxpayers' dollars, this ruling will be fair and unbiased,” she stated. “The plaintive has the floor.”
As soon as the judge gave him permission, Dexter’s lawyer painted Tyler as a young, out-of-control singer who couldn’t control her temper. He played clips of Tyler’s public disputes, voicemails, and showed records of hospital visits. If the goal was to embarrass Tyler, he succeeded. She didn’t remember half of the videos and the voicemails made her cringe. She’d go from cussing him out to crying to threatening to kill him. The entire time his lawyer spoke, Dexter sat back snorting and making side remarks. The judge warned him several times to chill out, but her words went in one ear and out the other.
When it was Gene's turn to speak, he told the story of a troubled girl who got caught up with the wrong guy. Tyler wasn’t willing to air her dirty laundry, but Shane did. If it were going to keep his best friend out of prison, he told Gene everything he needed to know so he could counteract Dexter’s lawyer's story. So, for every text Dexter’s lawyer showed, Gene combatted with a text, the same thing with pictures, videos, and he even had statements from witnesses. Gene never denied Tyler’s ill-tempered behavior, but he did explain that Dexter was the source of the problem.
“On the night of the stabbing my client found out she was trending for a lie her former label told to the world, she was kicked out of a residence that she believed was hers, the car shedrove for years was taken, she saw her boyfriend cheating on her with her cousin, and to top it off, she found out the cousin was pregnant by said boyfriend. My client snapped,” Gene explained. “This situation is enough to drive anyone crazy, and my client blacked out.”
“Damn right her crazy ass did,” Dexter mocked, making Tilly laugh.
“Sir, you’ve been warned.” The judge stared at him, unimpressed.
“My fault, my fault.”
“As you can see, this man taunts my client at every turn, and even though she’s wearing an ankle monitor, he still pops up and harasses her. Where is her protection?”
“Harass her?” Dexter frowned. “How the fuck am I going to harass her and she the one who stabbed me?”
“Sir!” The judge banged her gavel.
“I apologize, Judge. I just can’t take these lies and shit. She crazy. She stabbed me, but I'm the problem,” Dexter explained. “And she just beat up my baby mama. Lock her unhinged ass under the jail.”
“You can express that through your lawyer. The next time you have an outburst, I’m going to have you arrested.”
“Aight, Aight,” he snorted.
“Young lady, could you please stand?” The judge addressed Tyler.
Doing as she was told, Tyler stood to her feet along with Gene.
“This case is very serious and it’s not as simple as one may think to just drop the charges,” she explained.
“Hm,” Dexter just couldn’t keep quiet.
“From what I can see, you have a pattern of poor behavior,” the judge continued, causing Tyler to shift on her feet. “In our community we see too many stories of toxic love that ends badly. Young people are so caught up in drugs, alcohol, money, and the fast lane that they lose sight of the value of life.” She glanced down at the paperwork in front of her and then back up. “Although I sympathize with your situation, the law is still the law, and I cannot drop the charges altogether. I do believe this was a crime of passion, but I’m not convinced you would’ve walked away under normal circumstances either. The knife that penetrated the victim barely broke skin and that’s your only saving grace. This charge has been downgraded to a misdemeanor.”
“Downgraded?” Dexter shouted, jumping out of his seat. “The fuck she saying?”
“Dexter, please.” His lawyer tugged at his sleeve. “Have a seat.”
“Nigga do something! You telling me to have a seat and she about to walk.”
“Sir!” The judge banged her gavel. “Take your seat,” she demanded before turning back to Tyler. “You will serve three hundred hours of community service that will be discussed with you and your lawyer in a different setting. You are responsible for enrolling in anger management and I also recommend that you find a therapist. Allowing someone to help you sort through your feelings can be beneficial. You are young and still have a lot of years ahead of you. How you spend those years is up to you. I am advising you to stay away from the defendant because the next time you will not be so lucky.”
“Hold the fuck up!” Dexter jumped up, this time knocking his chair over. “She stabbed me and you giving her community service?”
“Dex,” Marty tried to intervene, tapping his shoulder. “Calm down, bro.”
