Judge Kinner glanced at the clock on the back wall of the courtroom. 10:45 AM. He had a lunch appointment later, so he couldn’t call a recess now, but he didn't want to start another trial so close to lunch either.
"The state vs. Johnson," announced the bailiff.
Two gentlemen stood up in front of their respective tables.
"I see we have Davidson from the district attorney's office
and Thompson you're the public defender in this case?"
Both lawyers affirmed the judge's remarks.
"Well, come forward for a minute."
The attorneys approached the bench.
"It's too early for lunch, but I don't want to get into
anything long and involved before we break. What do you gentlemen have for
me?" asked the judge.
"Felony mischief case, your honor," replied the district
attorney. "We could have gone with attempted murder, but held back. This
could be a messy case."
Judge Kinner sighed quietly to himself.
The defense attorney spoke up, "Your honor, I think it's
actually possible to wrap this whole case up before lunch. If I could talk with
both of you in the judge’s chambers for a moment . . ."
The judge perked up and looked expectantly at the DA.
The district attorney shrugged, "That's fine with me."
Judge Kinner nodded and sent the attorneys to their places.
"There will be a 15 minute recess. I'd like to see the prosecution and
defense in my chambers."
A few moments later, Judge Kinner sat down on his desk and looked
at the defense attorney. He knew Thompson from previous trials and found him to
be a conscientious and dedicated lawyer.
"So, tell us what you're thinking."
Dave Thompson began, "This seems on the surface to be a
simple case, your honor. Justin Johnson is a 53 year old male. He's worked in
the morgue at city hospital for 20 years. An exemplary employee. Not the promotable
kind, but a guy who is reliable and does his job well."
The DA nodded his agreement.
"So what did he do?"
"About a month ago, there was a car accident downtown and the
victim, Miss. Julie Mills was taken to city hospital."
Kinner nodded, "OK. I know the story."
The mention of Miss Mills brought the whole story back. Julie was
a moderate celebrity in town, serving as the prettiest and most available news
personality among the three local stations. She had been hit by a car while
filming a story. When the ambulance brought her to the hospital, the defendant
ran out from the morgue and stopped them half a block from the emergency room
and held the ambulance there for about two minutes.
Once the two minutes had passed, Johnson, the defendant, stepped
away from the ambulance and let it continue. He went back down to the morgue
only to be arrested by the police about ten minutes later. The story was, of
course, all over the news and Johnson was portrayed as a potentially dangerous,
deranged city employee in need of incarceration or, at least, mental health
treatment.
Thompson nodded, "It's hard to find someone in town who
doesn't know the story."
"So what's the big deal?"
"There are a couple of things. First, this is the only time
in his whole life that we can find where Mr. Johnson has done anything other
than the banally ordinary. The guy is so bland and nice that some people who've
worked at the hospital for years couldn't recognize his photo."
"True?" asked Kinner.
"Yes," replied the DA.
"Here's the other piece," continued the public defender.
"Johnson has an incredible story to explain his behavior."
Kinner eyed the attorney.
"According to Mr. Johnson, when he began working at the
morgue, his coworker had already been working there for 30 years himself. One
day, during their lunch, Johnson heard over the radio that an ambulance was
arriving and its ETA was 12:54 PM. Immediately on hearing the radio call, his
coworker got up and began preparing the paperwork to receive a body into the
morgue.
"Now, Johnson knew from the ambulance chatter that the
patient only had a broken leg, so he asked his coworker what he was doing. The
man replied, 'There's never a good time to die, but if you get here at 12:54
you're guaranteed to come down here.'
Kinner's eyebrows raised as Thompson continued.
"So, Johnson says that he asked his coworker to explain
himself and the guy told him that in 30 years on the job whenever a person
arrived by ambulance at 12:54 it didn't matter what their injuries were, they
would die.
"Then the coworker ticked off a series of deaths both men had
worked on. One was a heart attack, another an emergency appendectomy, and
another was a premature birth. In all three cases, even though the injuries
were not life-threatening, all three people died for one reason or another.
"The defendant wasn't sure what to make of his coworker's
story, so he continued to eat his lunch. Not half an hour later, though, they
got a call from the emergency room to come get a body and, sure enough, it was
the 12:54 arrival. He had a blood clot in his leg travel up to his brain and
kill him almost right as they wheeled him into the ER.
"Now, all that was several years ago and Johnson's coworker
has since retired. But Johnson swears that he has kept track of arrivals ever
since then and has had only two arrivals at 12:54 in the past five years - and
both have died in the ER. So, when Miss Mill's ambulance announced a 12:54 PM
arrival, the defendant ran outside to try and save her."
Judge Kinner rolled his eyes. "Do you expect me to believe
that?"
"I don't know that I can believe it," replied Thompson.
"But I am convinced that my client does and I'm convinced that he was
certain that he was acting in Miss Mill's best interests."
The judge looked over at Davidson from the DA's office.
"I agree with the defendant’s attorney. We've interviewed the
defendant numerous times and I'm certain of his sincerity. There's a thing
called issue-specific psychosis and we think he may suffer from that. Best
thing for this guy is to get him out of the healthcare field and he'll be no
further trouble to anyone."
Davidson continued, "We could have charged Johnson with
attempted murder or attempted manslaughter for what he did, but there was no
way we could justify those charges."
"Then why press any charges at all?"
"Come on, your honor. With the amount of media coverage on
this case? Do you think we could do nothing? We got enough flak for the simple
felony charges.”
Kinner sat quietly. He had seen a lot of strange situations in his
day, but this one was definitely unique. Something in his gut spoke for
leniency, but the judge could hardly accept the defendant’s story as true.
Thompson spoke up, “My client is prepared to plead guilty and accept
whatever the court decides. I have advised him against that, but he’s the kind
who wants to cause the least trouble possible for everyone, so he’s not
inclined to fight or disagree with anyone.”
“So,” the judge commented, “What about this?”
Just about an hour later, with just enough time left for lunch,
Judge Kinner pounded his gavel and closed the case of the State vs. Johnson.
Poor Mr. Johnson avoided all jail time and received a suspended sentence.
Provided he did well while on parole, he would face no further legal issues.
The judge severely reprimanded the defendant, though, so the news media felt
satisfied with the outcome.
Kinner tossed his robes onto his chair and headed out the back
door so that he could make it to lunch on time. In his hurry, Kinner failed to
notice the ice at the top of the stairs.
The next thing the judge was aware of was the radio chatter. “This
is ambulance 138 with a male patient, possible concussion, ETA 12:54.”
(c) 2015, Kevin H. Grenier
