Bicycle Shop Murder 12

Kyle Serpentine started to shake his head as he left his seat and walked toward the jury box. It was time to get back fully into ‘country boy’ mode. “I gotta admit it. The District Attor­ney is right, folks. I’m as impressed as all get-out.” He turned and looked at Angela Hammerly. “You proved it, Ms. Ham­merly. You did.”

Then back to the jury. “She proved beyond a reasonable doubt that somebody murdered Sam Spokane. That person viciously ‘choked the life out of him,’ as the D.A. put it. Yes, they did. She is 100% correct about that.

“And we heard a witness testify that they saw the defendant wrap that cold, greasy bicycle chain around Sam Spokane’s neck and… Wait a minute. That’s not right. Nobody witnessed the murder. Nobody saw Mr. Spokane get strangled.

“But we’re fairly sure that some black fella did it. We did hear testimony that a black man was leaving the bicycle shop at around eight o’clock. But…” He seemed to have a revelation. “…what if that was just some guy who walked in to look at a new bike, and instead found a dead body. And what if he was scared out of his wits, and ran away because he didn’t want anybody to see him there, and think he was the murderer?

“The prosecution’s 83-year-old witness claims that the black man she saw that night was the defendant. But, come on—it was dark. Sure, she did pass her eye exam. But folks, it’s com­mon knowledge that old people have a harder time seeing at night. Think about your own friends or relatives who avoid driving at night, now that they’re older.

“Mrs. Albertson even admitted she only went out driving one night a week—to her prayer group meeting. She made a special effort to get to that meeting every week because it was so important to her.

“But why didn’t she drive on other nights of the week? Why not make a trip to the Dairy Queen, or to visit a friend or to buy groceries? We don’t know for sure. We didn’t get a chance to ask her that question. But I think it’s pretty easy to it figure out if you just use the common sense God gave you.

“So, what do we have here? On the one hand, we have a witness who probably saw a black man leaving Sam Spokane’s Bicycle Shop. We’re not sure whether it was actually Mr. Jami­son or somebody else. And we have no way of knowing whether that black man, whoever he was, actually committed the mur­der.

“On the other hand, we have the testimony of Ella Jamison, Kantrell’s mother. She said Kantrell was at home all night, watching a movie with his mom and his little sister during the time of the murder.

“Now in my book, folks, you’ve got a ton of doubt here. And I’m telling you: if you swallow what the District Attorney is trying to feed you, it’s gonna leave a bad taste in your mouth. It may seem good when you first take a bite—but wait ’til the aftertaste kicks in. There’s all kinds of reasonable doubt here. In fact, so much doggone doubt that it’s downright unrea­sonable to find my client ‘Guilty.’

“You’ll never be able to live with yourself if you go along with the D.A. This young man is innocent. And you must not take away his innocence and his future, based on evidence that’s flimsy, at best.

“I’d like to thank each one of you for your participation in this trial. I feel in my heart that you’ll do the right thing, and that justice will prevail.”

It made sense to Greg Tenorly. There was just too much doubt.

Alexander Littleton had no idea which way he would vote. He just wanted to be jury foreman. That would earn him some respect.

At 69, Nancy Olstead thought her eyesight was just fine. She had no problem seeing at night. She was not afraid to drive anywhere at any time of the day or night.

Ronnie Nalestorm was trying to listen carefully, but he kept worrying about his hardware store—and the truck driver he had just hired. The last guy did major damage to his truck and a load of lumber when he fell asleep at the wheel and went into a ditch. Fortunately, he had only suffered a few scratches and bruises. He hoped this new driver was the type of guy who went to bed at a decent hour.

Many in the courtroom may have noticed that one juror, 30-year-old William ‘Sparky’ Biscayne, was looking down much of the time. It appeared as if he was about to doze off. But he was listening as intently as anyone else on the jury. He just had to dig the rest of that grease and grime out from under his finger­nails. The effort was pointless. As soon as the trial was over, he would be back at his auto repair shop, rebuilding the crud he was now removing. But he was proud it was Ford and Chevy crud. He refused to work on imports.

During Kyle Serpentine’s closing, Angela Hammerly had been steaming. But she would not let that second-rate ambu­lance chaser throw her off her game. “If you had walked into Sam’s Bicycle Shop on April 1, 2006 and found him murdered, what would you have done? You would have called the police. If you were driving by Sam’s shop and you saw someone looking suspicious and in a big hurry to get away—would you study their appearance carefully so you could identify them later if needed? Probably. If your son had committed a murder, would you lie to keep him out of prison? Quite possibly.

“So, you see, there is every reason to believe the defendant is guilty. Let’s not wait until he kills somebody else. Get him off the streets and put him where he belongs—in prison.”

Angela knew she had just undone all of Kyle Serpentine’s damage.