Beach Wedding(20)

“This is all about a man. A man who had once been a baby and then a toddler and then a schoolboy and then a teenager. A man who was a son and a brother and a husband and a father. A man who people loved and who had loved other people. And it is that—”

My dad tapped the jury rail with his finger softly.

“That man, Noah Sutton. That poor man—whose full life was violently and viciously and painfully taken away from him on the morning of July 5 in his own home—it is that man that we are all here for.

“We have come here for him. To speak for him and to stand up for him no differently than we would speak for and stand up for our own sons and brothers and husbands and fathers if they were brutally and horrifically taken from us.”

My father paused again as he looked straight up at the coffered ceiling sadly as if he could see Noah Sutton up there in heaven.

“Who could do such a thing?” he asked quietly as he looked back down at his feet. “Who could raise a heavy pistol and point it at the head of a man—a sleeping man—and pull the trigger. Feel the jerk of the kickback, hear the clink of the spent casing. See the round strike flesh and bone. Then do it again. Not once but twice?

“We have heard in this courtroom the deposition of Hailey’s maid, Jailene Mercado, taken on the morning of July 5 hours after the murder. In that testimony she admitted she had seen a gun in the closet of Hailey Sutton. On the morning of July 5 hours after the murder, Ms. Mercado identified this very type of gun from a book of guns.”

My dad went to the evidence table and lifted a binder with the photograph of the Smith & Wesson Model 52 semiautomatic on the front page.

“Out of all the hundreds of guns in the book, she identified this quite distinctive type of gun, a Smith & Wesson Model 52. The very same type of very specific target gun that is known for shooting the very same target round wadcutter bullets that were found embedded in Noah Sutton’s brain.

“Now, the other day we all sat here and heard Ms. Mercado attempt to change her statement on the stand. Which Ms. Mercado are we to believe? The one rushed down to the police station after seeing her employer brutally murdered? Or the composed, some might say professionally coached and polished, Ms. Mercado who sat here and told us she’d somehow made the whole thing up?

“We are actually supposed to believe this? Really?”

The binder landed with a dramatic clattering bang as he tossed it back onto the prosecutor’s desk.

“Or perhaps not. Perhaps, we need to believe her original statement that actually makes common sense.”



29

My dad slowly approached the jury box again and leaned against the rail as he tented his fingers.

“Because, as science dictates, there is no effect without a cause and no action without a motive. In any murder without witnesses, before we can find out who the perpetrator is, the question arises as to why. Why was Noah Sutton murdered? Who would want him dead?

“We’ve heard testimony in this courtroom concerning his wife Hailey’s behavior prior to the murder. We have heard from witnesses that she was having an affair with her contractor, Mark Disenzo, a man with a criminal history of violence and, most alarmingly for our case, illegal gun possession.

“And we have heard testimony that Noah himself was also having an affair and, on the very night of the party, was seen dancing with and kissing other women in front of several witnesses. Some say he had even been swimming with a few of them.”

I smiled despite the tension, as my father was referring to me.

“At this party, we have also had witness testimony given that Hailey Sutton was intoxicated.

“With all this evidence in hand, we can surmise the following most plausible explanation for Noah Sutton’s murder.

“Hailey was intoxicated when she saw her husband disrespecting her with other women at the party, and it galled her. Maybe it was the drinking that fueled her rage, but whatever the case, at some point in the early morning hours, Hailey took the gun—the gun Jailene Mercado had seen in the marital bedroom two weeks before—and Hailey went down into Noah’s office, where he was sleeping, and she shot him twice in the head.

“We have heard testimony that when the first police arrived they did not find Hailey in the house. Not in her bed. Not on the scene. Then after ten minutes, when the police arrived back from their safety check on the guesthouse, they suddenly did see Hailey, looking very awake and wearing workout clothes, including running shoes.

“Where had she been? After she had committed her crime, Hailey sobered up a little and simply, like all remorseful killers, decided to try to cover up her crime, so she left with the gun and got rid of it. She was still in the process of this cover-up and had not yet returned when the first police arrived.

“These are the facts of the case. This is why I, and any other reasonable person with knowledge of the facts, can only conclude beyond the shadow of a doubt that that woman—”

My dad pointed at Hailey Sutton.

“—killed Noah Sutton.

“I know it is hard to believe on the face of things that this beautiful young woman would be capable of such an act.

“But beauty often has a side effect called pride. Noah hurt that enormous pride, and this beautiful reckless hustling young woman decided he wasn’t going to get away with it anymore.”

Hailey had stayed completely silent and graceful throughout this accusation, but at the word hustling, she bristled in her seat and a murmur quickly spread throughout the courtroom.