Chapter Carah's appeal

Carah was in panic when she found out that the brakes of her car is not working. It's a good thing that she's cruising on an empty highway and less dangerous because she's on a minimum speed. she tried to maneuver the car to lessen it's speed not paying attention to the damage it will give to the vehicle and skid it to the side of the island barrier. slowly it reduced it speed. suddenly a deer came crossing her path, she instinctively pumps on the brakes repeatedly it came to an abrupt stop, throwing her forwards hitting her head on the windshield. slowly her world turns to darkness. She heard tires screeching and voices before she passed out.

She opened her eyes and surveys the unfamiliar sorounding.

"You're awake," her mother said, she was looking at the stranger beside her mother and she asked,

"Who are you?"

"Hi, I am Andre Mortel I was the one who brought you to this hospital." the stranger smiled.

"Oh... my head, Mom?"

"I'm right here dear , I already went to settle the bill. It was a good thing that Andre here saw the accident that he immediately rush you to the hospital. " really mom you're on s first name basis with a total stranger, she thought smiling , her mother is a good natured friendly person. she doesn't have any bad bones in her.

"Thank you Mr. Mortel. If not for you I don't know how long I will stay on that lonely highway."

"We're on our way back to the city when it happened.' the man has very comfortable personality, good looking with long black hair tied neatly at the back. straight nose a pair of black to brownish eyes, and matching long eye lashes. He is smiling at as he notice she is surveying him. She blushed and turn to her mother,to cover her embarrassment.

"Mom, are we discharged?"

"Yes dear, the test shows that there's nothing serious only bruises. you just got shock that's the reason you passed out. but if you got headaches we can come back for a check up." her mother said patting her hand. " You're car was sent to the repair shop,."

"Good, let's go home mom"

"Let's just wait for your release papers dear."

They exchanged conversation with Andre while they waited. he also drove them home and got a dinner invitation from her mother.

The next day she was in court in one of her case it would be the verdict day .she was on the prosecution side and she was giving her final rebuttal. This is one of the case that she had a hard time nailing the accused because of weak evidences. even though all of it points to the accused as the culprit. they cannot establish guilty beyond reasonable doubt. although she had a solid evidence at hand she cannot use it in court due to the technicality on how the evidence was acquired. she had to gamble on this, because this might be her first lost in court.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury[1] , I would like to appeal on your sensitivities and compassion the crime committed has left behind an orphan lucky enough to escape death at a tender age of four. but who can say how the crime that she had witness affect her in the future. Her parents been brutally slaughtered her brother missing and believed to be dead. she had survive but what kind of life would that be if we let the culprit escape punishment because we, cannot come to a decision of guilty beyond resonable doubt[2] and she herself suffered being manhandled by this maniac,,, but what if we can present to you the only witness that can tell us the truth that the accused is not insane but acted with premeditated intention of committing the crime on his mind and had plan it thoroughly to achieved his goal.. would you believed if the brother itself Mark Sosa is here to enlightened us." at the same time the door opened someone walk-in. And all the eyes of the people inside turn to look at the door except the accused.

" I rest my case" she said, and the jury was send to a room for deliberation. The Verdict will be announced after the deliberation in the afternoon.

'What are you doing here Andre?"

" I just passed by after doing some business in another room, and checkout the on going proceedings, and got the shock of my life." she can't help but giggle,"Your timing couldn't be more exact."

After the deliberation the judge released the verdict of guilty beyond reasonable doubt meaning all of the jury voted guilty. Carah was overwhelmed with the result of her gamble. she had the evidence but she cannot present it to the court because it was illegally gathered by her team and it might backfired on them.

On the other hand the accused didn't turn his head because he was sure that Mark Sosa will not present himself to court he killed him and have his body cut into pieces and feeds it to his pets. And that was how the jury got around the guilty verdict.

she can't help but laughed at the expression on Andre's face when all turned their heads looking at him and the bailiff questioned him of his identity.

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[1]. the jury are chosen randomly from people from all walks of life.

[2] beyond reasonable doubt meaning the jury agreed and voted unanimously on the verdict.

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