The Trial - Chapter 8
I remember watching the OJ Simpson trial during our Social Science class senior year. It was so interesting how the lawyers argued the case. The OJ trial started in January 1995. He was found not guilty in October. For those 11 months we were all glued to our TV - the very first reality show.
Little did I know that just seven months later I would be involved in a murder trial myself.
In April 1996 I was about to move into an apartment when there was a plumbing problem. I called my uncle and aunt and asked if I could crash on their couch until my apartment was ready- maybe 2 weeks.
Just a few days in my grandmother called me and asked If I had seen my Aunt. We all thought she had taken off, finally sick of my uncle cheating on her- but there was so much that didn’t add up, especially the fact that she took off on her two young boys.
26 days later a voluntary search crew found her body.
Six months later my uncle and his girlfriend’s murder trial began.
Two years later, a jury had found them both guilty, and sentenced them to life with no chance of parole.
(One of my co-workers hung this on my phone one morning, with a note about the cartoon below)
The trial was enough drama, but in between there was so much more....
We went through three judges!
Halfway through the trial the first judge died during proceedings.
The second judge was arrested for a DUI!
A third judge took over, but had never served over a murder trial. We didn’t know if that was good or bad?
The press was a fiasco!
I had to call the police almost every day because someone from the press was coming up to the windows or climbing over our back fence.
We had to get a restraining order to keep the press from trying to approach the boys on the school playground. The school finally just put up a fence.
I had to make a deal with the press that I would answer questions every morning if they promised to let the boys walk to school like normal kids.
One of the reporters from one paper had an affair with another reporter from a different paper, and somehow the wife came and yelled at me!
The Judge's gag orders were broken and lawyers were fined.
One of the prosecutors started dating one of my friends and they had to break up so as not to cause conflict.
Investigators would call the car lot if I was gone too long on a test drive, or swapping out cars with another lot because they couldn’t find me!
I was only supposed to be in the house for a week or so- but it ended up being six months. I was constantly taken in for questioning, dealing with house searches, putting the house back together before the boys got home from school, going in and talking to the school to help with grief counselors ... it went on and on for two years.
Until one day the guilty verdict came in. It was time to move on with our lives. But in those two years my entire life had changed. I had to change my job since the press would come on to the car lot to try to interview me.
I was on the news several times a week. Every channel! I finally ran away to Phoenix for seven months because I was so overwhelmed by it all, but was called back to testify during penalty phase of the trial.
It was so much to deal with. I was still a child myself. But in those two years my grandparents and my two little cousins needed me- they were only 8 and 6 years old when they lost their mother. I grew up very quickly, and made them my focus going forward. I cannot express how much I love them, and how proud I am of the men they have turned out to be 22 years later.
I leave the rest of my family out of this post for their own privacy, but we all came out ok. Thicker skin, a little more callused. But ok.
I will come back to different moments in these two years, but for now- this is all I have to tell. If you would like to know more details you can read here on the LA Times