Photo credit: J Hardy Carroll
Written as part of a challenge called Friday fictioneers, https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com
The crowd has left. The flashes of cameras. The loud reporters shouting over each other just echoes. The victim’s family fled. The curious court visitors appetite satisfied. The only thing left is the Prosecutor.
He sits on the cold wood benches. Her looks up at a statue of Justice. Half blind she holds her scales up before the world.
His mind wanders to the story. Comatose man found next to his murdered wife and a bloody knife. The man has no memory. He has no wounds. The press had him from day one. Faking amnesia and coma…the nerve of him.
The Jury did four hours of diligence sentencing the man to die for what he did. A Prosecutor ‘s dream case.
Except for the note left on his car.
“Thank you for the Guilty verdict. Now, I am free.
The Real Killer.”
He sits staring at Justice. The reason she is only half blind still eludes him.
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Great piece 🙂
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Thank you darling 😀
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Extremely powerful!
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Thank you. I hoped to catch that gut punch visceral pain that would haunt someone.
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That you did!
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😃
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Happens all the time. Only here the note made it clear. Justice IS often blind.
Recommend watching the movie “A few good men”.
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Very much so an underlying faction is that the people charged with keeping the law true aren’t open to all options. Blind Justice wasn’t supposed to be tricked by illusions
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Very sad. Without the death penalty there might be a chance for justice. Maybe an appeal would work.
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How does he go from pushing for death change course?
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I don’t know, fortunately we don’t have the death penalty where I live. I thought there was some kind of appeal at least?
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There’s an appeal process. But the prosecutor would have to be part of it. His position would be questioned of he changed his stance without proof. Most of these prosecutors are elected, he’d be soft on a killer if he changes now. It’s the ultimate problem of justice
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Ah, thanks for the explanation. A very difficult situation indeed.
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The 100 words gave me a chance to turn loose an ethical dilemma with no good answer. The responses that it generates are better than story
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That’s part of the appeal of flash fiction, I think. A place to experiment, and to throw out ideas and see where they go.
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It’s great when they come back in a different light. 🙂
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An awful,scenario for the husband. Unfortunate what a role media can play in a case, indeed making justice more than half-blind. Scary that the killer is still out there.
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It’s terrible that the spouse is automatically guilty. The half blind Justice is prefect for the situation. The weight of knowing you may have the wrong personwould be horrible
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Yeah, I think it would.
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Perhaps the letter is a fake; perhaps someone’s playing with him. Or perhaps an innocent man will die. Good story.
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Thank for the kind words. All good possibilities. But the weight of not knowing would be crushing.
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I wonder if he’ll try to find the real killer or if getting the conviction (even though the man’s innocent) will keep him quiet.
By the way, we were thinking alike this week. 🙂
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I know it’s bus station or court. The picture is limiting but creativity can find a story anywhere. Whether they are good or not can be a problem. 🙄
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So true. A picture’s worth a thousand words… or a thousand stories in this case. 😉
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A chilling tale… like the reverse of 12 angry men… that’s how it goes without Henry Fonda in the jury.
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Exactly. What would be worse than knowing you condemned the wrong man? Living with it and not being able to change it. Many thanks
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Clever one. Well done.
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Thank you my dear!
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