Chapter Seven
Jacob's birthday has already passed. I wasn't able to do anything special for him, because I have been so busy. I have been wanting to give him a late birthday party and to surprise him with a special gift. I just haven't had time to do anything.
Every day of the week I have been spending time preparing for one case or another, so I have had no time to spend with Jacob. I am now free, as I have finally caught up with everything. I called Jacob downstairs to the living room. He saw me holding a present. I handed it to him. He took it with a big smile on his face.
"Oh, I love surprises," he said, grinning excitedly.
I shrugged, "oh, you'll like this gift, trust me," I said.
Jacob smiled as he opened the present. I watched with anticipation.
"I hope you like it," I said, with a smile.
Jacob gasped in surprise. The gift was a watch, exactly like the one dad wore just before he died.
"Thank you, Ryan!" Jacob said, excitedly as he hugged me.
"No problem, buddy," I said, rubbing my brother's cheek.
Jacob stepped back a little as I told him to try on his watch to see if it fits. Jacob was elated! Nothing could have been more meaningful to him. I smiled, because my brother deserves the best of everything in life.
"It fits," Jacob said.
"Great!," I replied.
"You didn't have to do that," he said.
I chuckled, "Are you kidding? You deserve it. I love you, and you're a great brother. You really are!"
Jacob kept looking at the watch. "It's exactly like the one dad had," he said.
"And it is yours to keep forever." I responded.
Jacob is probably a little spoiled, but that's okay. I love giving him gifts. Sometimes our parents would spoil both of us just like I was spoiling Jacob now. I had a great weekend with Jacob, but now it was time to go back to work. I walked up to the prosecution table and sat down. It was located facing the judge on the right hand side of the courtroom next to the jury.
The bailiff walked into the courtroom and said, "All rise!" Everyone stood including the spectators, jurors, and the attorneys.
Sawyer Gufferson, age 33, an Episcopalian minister, had been convicted of brutally murdering two of his own church members. Their names were Bethany Jackson and Tiffany Thomason.
They were both murdered shortly after Gufferson decided they had sinned against God to such an extent that they could never be forgiven. He claimed to have seen a vision from God telling him he must kill them.
The defense attorney tried to get him off with an insanity defense, but the jury did not believe Gufferson didn't know the difference between right and wrong even though the psychiatrist diagnosed him as schizophrenic.
The jury found him guilty on two counts of first degree murder. This was his sentencing hearing. My job was to represent the state which had asked for the death penalty. It shocked the nation to think that a minister had committed such heinous crimes. The jury ultimately decided he should suffer the death penalty.
Let me tell you the little bit I learned about Sawyer during his trial and the sentencing hearing. He always appeared to be a good guy. He did well in school, and got along well with other people.
No one mentioned that he had any bad habits or that he had been in any kind of trouble before this case. Sawyer was always nice to the people around him, which included his neighbors, friends and other people he knew. Everyone loved Sawyer.
No one saw the dark side of him except for his parents. Up until the trial they never said anything negative about their son to anyone. When asked under oath, however, they couldn't lie even though he was their own son.
Mrs. Gufferson knew immediately upon giving birth to Sawyer that something was different about him. As he was growing up she saw him act in inappropriate ways to various circumstances. He was obviously very different from his siblings.
However, he was very good at disguising his idiosyncrasies. Even though both parents knew their son was different, they never imagined he was capable of killing anyone. His parents are very religious and say they have prayed for him daily ever since he was a baby. Sawyer seemed to always feel left out when growing up.
He, himself, knew he was different, but didn't know what to do about it. Mrs. Gutherson tried very hard to protect him. Mr. Gutherson mentioned the possibility of taking Sawyer to a psychiatrist on various occasions but his wife always rejected the idea. I feel bad for Mrs. Gufferson as she says she feels guilty for not doing more.
She said she tried very hard to protect Sawyer, but never imagined she needed to protect other people from him. Now it is too late. He will spend the rest of his life on death row.
I still had one more thing to take care of before I could go home. A young man, Caleb Smithson, was in my office along with his mother Amy Smithson. Mrs. Smithson has three sons and one daughter. Mrs. Smithson claims that Caleb's teacher, Becky Ross, has been having sex with him for the last three years.
He is now seventeen. The mother was very angry. Apparently, this whole affair started when Caleb was just in middle school. His teacher is now twenty eight years old. She has been working at the middle school for the last five years.
"Mrs. Smithson," I asked, "may I speak with Caleb alone? I think he might be more open if you weren't present."
She was a little reluctant at first but finally agreed. Caleb looked at me in an awkward way. I asked bluntly, "Did you have sex with Ms. Ross?"
Caleb took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He cleared his throat but didn't say anything. "I understand this is very uncomfortable to talk about, but I hope you understand it's my job to stop her from doing this to you.
She is committing a felony if you are having sex with each other. She is taking advantage of you as a minor. You are too young to have consented. She is an adult and you are still underage," I said.
Finally, Caleb answered in a voice I could barely hear. "We are in love with each other so it can't be wrong. I am in love with her and I know she is in love with me, too. How can it be wrong if we are in love?"
"You are too young to know what love is," I said to Caleb. "I know you don't think so now, but,when you get older, you will understand." When did this all start?" I asked.
"I was in gym class and Ms. Ross kept coming over and talking to me after class. She always listens to me and doesn't think my ideas are silly like my mother does. She really cares about what I think."
"How old were you when this all started," I asked.
"I was fourteen," Caleb answered.
"Is this affair still going on today?" I asked Caleb.
"Yes," he answered.
"As soon as I turn eighteen we are getting married. We have lots of plans for our lives together."
"How many times have you had sex together?" I asked.
Caleb answered, "We have sex as often as we can. We are in love with each other and want to be together all of the time."
"Where does this happen?, I asked.
"Sometimes we have sex at school and sometimes Ms. Ross pays for a hotel room so we don't have to worry about getting caught." I nodded my head indicating I understood.
"Caleb, my job is to put criminals in jail and Ms. Ross must be charged with statutory rape," I explained to Caleb. He didn't say anything. He just kept staring at the floor. "Okay, well, Caleb, if you don't mind, please bring your mother back into my office? She and I have an important conversation to have," I said.
"Yes sir," he replied politely and opened the door, motioning for his mother to come in. As soon as Mrs. Smithson entered, I asked her to close the door and sit down. "When did you first find out about what was happening between Caleb and his teacher?" I asked.
"just found out yesterday. Caleb came home from school and said he had some good news to share with me. He was very excited. He told me he and Ms. Ross are getting married as soon as he turns eighteen, which is only a few months away."
"You had no idea before then that something might be going on between them?, I asked.
"No," she said hysterically," I would never have let this happen if I had known about it."
I told her that Caleb did admit that he and Ms. Ross had been having ongoing sex for the last three years. This is enough to charge her with statutory rape," I said. I will file the proper paperwork tomorrow first thing and have her arrested immediately.
I told her Caleb would have to testify against Ms. Ross but we would discuss that later. Finally, I could go home. I was really tired and just wanted to rest.
I began to think about Jacob as soon as I got in the car to head home. I know Jacob is innocent. But, I need proof. I wanted to begin searching for answers to my questions, but I was still waiting for the results of my investigator's inquiries.
The next morning I went for a three mile run. It was the middle of September. Even though it could be hot in the afternoon, it was starting to cool down in general. The mornings were very pleasant. I ran into town until
I came across a bench just two blocks away from the restaurant I liked to take Jacob to. I decided to sit and rest for a while. I finally got up from the bench and went to the restaurant to buy some Mexican food from our favorite restaurant and then continued my run.
I got back home and saw Jacob and Mrs. Baker watching TV in the living room. They really seemed to be enjoying each other's company.
"Oh, hey, you're back," Mrs. Baker said, standing and turning towards me.
"Yeah," I said, trying to catch my breath, "It was a great run. The day is beautiful. I stopped and got some Mexican food," I said.
"Oh, Mexican," Jacob said, excitedly.
Jacob grabbed the containers inside the bag and went into the kitchen to start preparing for our lunch.
"Oh, that's so sweet, you didn't have to get me anything," Mrs. Baker said.
"Come on, Mrs. Baker, I hardly do anything for you. On the contrary, you do so much for me. I will never be able to repay you," I replied.
"I will go help Jacob," Mrs. Baker said, heading to the kitchen. I chuckled knowing that Jacob could make quite a mess not realizing he was doing it.
Jacob had forgotten to turn off the television. I grabbed the remote from the coffee table and got a glimpse of Mr. and Mrs. Miller on the news. They were wanting justice for Izza. We tried to ignore the news and went into the kitchen to eat.
Mrs. Baker, Jacob and I, decided to play a board game to get our minds off of what I had just seen on the news.
Jacob's favorite game is Monopoly so we decided to play that. We were all laughing, and having a great time. It reminded me of game night when mom and dad were still alive. We used to laugh so hard at Jacob's enthusiasm.
He loved to win!
I was suddenly startled out of my memories when Jacob shouted out. "I won, again!" shouted Jacob.
"You're not cheating, are you?" I asked.
"No, Ryan, I am not cheating," Jacob said, softly laughing. Mrs. Baker said that Jacob is becoming smarter than the both of us together.
"You better watch out, I can beat the both of you," Jacob retorted. I chuckled to myself before taking a sip of water. I asked Mrs. Baker if she wanted more wine? Mrs. Baker told me she didn't. I stood up from the chair and left the dining room.