“Look at that,” Nellie said. “She knows her baby.” Nellie wrapped her sticky arm around my shoulders and hugged me.
We got on our feet and leaned on the side of the stall, watching the mare and foal form their bond.
Within a few minutes, the foal made its first attempt to stand. Unsteady and unbalanced, it started with its hind legs, and then pushed up, one front leg at a time.
“I believe that’s a boy,” Nellie said.
“Looks like it,” I agreed.
As if overwhelmed by the news, the foal fell sideways with a grunt, landing by his mother in the hay.
Within minutes, he was up on all fours again, starting to take a few steps. After a few tries, he managed to find his mother’s udder and commenced to suckle.
“Definitely part of our family,” Nellie said. “Gets right down to eating.”
We laughed. It’s funny because it’s true. I nudged Nellie.
“I was considering calling him Thunder. What do you think?”
She scoffed. “You and those weather names. Tornado, Thunder. Foghorn.”
Foghorn.It was the first time all day I’d thought about my rooster.
I was quiet for a bit, contemplating that. My close call. The dangers the trial created. The uncertainty of the outcome, for everyone touched by it.
Then Nellie spoke. “This is what I miss about the farm. Times like this. Seeing nature at work, you know what I mean?”
I did know. Watching Tornado and her colt, it felt like I’d witnessed a miracle.
So miracles did exist. That was a good thing.
We’d need one in my courtroom.
CHAPTER
77
BULLOCK COUNTY COURTHOUSE UNION SPRINGS, ALABAMA
Counsel for the State and the defense were making their closing arguments to the jury.
Robert Reeves kicked it off. The DA always goes first in closing, because they have the burden of proof. It’s the job of the prosecution to prove that the defendant committed the crime.
But the DA gets the last word, too. I give the State and defense equal time for closing. In this case, thirty minutes each. But the State always has the option to reserve part of that time to make a rebuttal when the defense attorney’s argument is done. That day, Reeves was breaking it down twenty-five/five. So the DA would speak first, for twenty-five minutes. The defense would have thirty. After Benjamin Meyers completed his argument and sat down, Robert Reeves would have the last five minutes to poke holes in Meyers’s summation.
Reeves did a reasonably good job in the initial portion of his argument. He summarized the State’s case, talked about the evidencethat proved the elements of the crime. He checked off all the boxes, raised his voice a time or two, pounded his fist on the wooden lectern he stood behind. Pretty standard performance.
Then Benjamin Meyers had his turn. He outplayed Reeves from the start. He bypassed the lectern, stood directly before the jury box. Commanded the attention of all of the jurors.
“The prosecution, in the DA’s argument, recounted the testimony of the witnesses for the prosecution. He took twenty-five minutes to do it. But he left out some extremely significant statements. Swept past crucial pieces of this case without a mention.”
Meyers took a step to the right, gripped the edge of the jury box. “The DA talked about the testimony of Dr. Thompson, who examined Nova Jones when she fell ill and was brought to the hospital. But the DA made no mention of the dangers that Dr. Ron Thompson, the State’s own witness, told you that Miss Jones would have faced if she’d carried that pregnancy to term. Do you remember that? Dr. Thompson said Nova Jones had a greater risk of death or disease. He cited multiple health risks. It’s in the record of his testimony!”
He paced to the other end of the jury box, directed his argument to the people sitting there. “The same complications Thompson named were raised in the defense case by our expert witness, Dr. Steinfeld. So the State’s own evidence corroborates the defendant’s expert witness! The State’s case supports the defense we’ve raised! You heard that, ladies and gentlemen, in this very courtroom.”
He paused, looking up at the ceiling for a couple of moments, before turning back to face the jurors. “Here’s another thing. Something curious about this case, just can’t stop thinking about this.”
He sounded sincere, looked genuinely baffled.
