Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Alternative Reality



If Kraszhinsky had not escaped from jail this could have been his fate. In fact, it is his fate in an alternative universe.
I originally wrote it this way but decided it just didn't feel right... yet.
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The meat-grinding wheels of justice turn slowly and steadily. A month or two after the arraignment, I had a midnight plane-ride in a four-seater from Sacramento to Santa Barbara. There were no reporters awake to greet us at the time of the morning when we arrived at the Santa Barbara Airport. I was old news by then. 
A year of delays and extensions passed, along with another three months before a jury was finally gleaned and selected for approval by the prosecution and defense. I sat in the courtroom next to my attorney, Walter (aka. White Bear) Gibbons, on one side and across the room at a table on our left, the Prosecutor’s team, a effeminate young man dressed immaculate in suit with a bright pink tie and one anorexic looking women in a knee length grey skirt and cadmium red silk blouse, led by Assistant DA, Amanda Barron.
Everyone from a truck driver, cocktail waitress, and aerospace engineer were selected; a jury of my peers. Peers, what a joke… cocktail waitress, sure… but not one graveyard cab driver. The prosecution seemed determined to keep Viet Nam Vets off the jury but Gibbons manage to get three. That’s what took so long since PTSD was part of the case for the insanity plea. I didn’t believe in PTSD as a defense but that didn’t mean I didn’t believe in it. Hell, what do I know?

The opening statements were by Assistant District Attorney, Amanda Barron… Amanda Barron! Hell, I’d taken her home several times in my cab and had thrown down a couple of Jack Daniel’s with her at Pascual’s. She was a bit thicker in frame then… standing almost six-foot-tall and had shoulder length brown hair. I didn’t know she was a D.A. I figured she was a cop though. We didn’t talk shop. She was a devoted Celtics fan and knew more about the professional basketball than any man. My knowledge of sports was nil except for baseball when Willy Mays played for the Giants… I knew absolutely nothing about the NBA but went along and pretended I did. 
She wore a gray pinstripe business suit that first day. Her slacks were slightly stretched full-wrapped around a nice looking... inviting... not large but... a good sized tush. Her short-cropped blonde hair was slightly disheveled as though she’s just rushed over to the courthouse from a cozy bed fifteen minutes before. I fantasized about who it was she’s been in bed with… hmmm a female? … Imagined myself squeezed in between her and her companion. Yep, I knew she’s a dyke alright but that didn’t stop me from thinking of that warm booty in my bed. She did not look me in the eye.
I whispered in Gibbon’s ear, “Doesn’t she have to recuse herself or something? We know each other for Christ sakes.”
Gibbons was stoic in his answer, “We have our reasons. We want her on the that side if we need an appeal.”

The Bailiff stood with his belly hanging over his belt revealing twenty years of kissing ass to achieve this high mark of accomplishment, “All rise. The Santa Barbara Superior Court is now in session. The Honorable Judge Robert Caccini presiding.”
“You may be seated. The Bailiff will call the day’s docket.”
“Your Honor, today’s case is The People of the State of California vs David Craszhinski.”
“The prosecution will begin the trial with the Opening Statement.”
 “May it please the court and ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my name is Assistant District Attorney, Amanda Barron, counsel for the State of California in this action. We will prove that, on November 20th of 1987 the defendant, David Kraszhinski, committed the crime of grand theft of a motor vehicle, the Mzz Sherlock, owned by his friend, Santa Barbara Police Detective, Sean Ryan. Ms. Anadel Bonnaire will testify that Mr. Kraszhinski lured her onto the boat, abducted her and held her against her will at Lady’s Harbor on Santa Cruz Island. She will further testify that Mr. Kraszhinski raped her repeatedly while mentally and physically abusing her. On November 23rd 1987 Doctor Lawrence Spawnn will testify that Robert Casey informed him, that he saw the Sherlock sailing towards Santa Cruz Island. Dr. Spawn took his boat The Doctor’s Dream with unarmed deck hands, Raphael Alvarez and Donald Risner out to seek out the Mzz Sherlock and return her to Detective Ryan. Mr. Kraszhinski, an Army Counter Intelligence and Psychological Warfare expert during the Viet Nam War, killed Mr. Alvarez with a Mac 10 machine pistol.”
The prosecutor held up pictures on matt board. “I ask the court to accept this picture of the Sherlock as exhibit A., a picture of a Mac 10 machine pistol as exhibit B, and of Raphael Alvarez, as exhibit C.” She placed the picture of Raphael, his wife, and three children, with the others on a display easel facing the jury.
Donald Risner will testify that he swam to safety and was stranded on the island in foul weather for three days and nights before he was found by hikers, dehydrated, and near death. Doctor Spawn will testify that Mr. Kraszhinski held Ms. Bonnaire and himself hostage. At Avila Beach, he met Robert Casey, a friend and fellow Viet Nam Veteran. Dr. Spawnn will testify that David Craszhinski sold Casey a bill of goods, saying they were being pursued by Russian Mobsters or KGB. It will be shown that Ms. Bonnaire did not use this opportunity to escape because Mr. Kraszhinski was trained by the US Army in Counter Intelligence and skilled at brainwashing his… uh, subjects. And that decorated Vietnam Veteran Robert Casey helped David Kraszhinski sink the Doctor’s Dream. Please accept this picture as exhibit C.”
She held up an older picture of the Doctor’s Dream on a trailer with the good doctor and wife Rachel in front of it. Placing it with the others on an easel she continued, “They sailed for San Francisco Bay on Robert Casey’s boat, the Dinky Dao, December 3rd. If it pleases the court, accept this picture as exhibit D.” Another picture of the Dinky Dao, when she was brand new, before Casey bought her was added to the easel. “Mr. Casey will testify that, at Loch Lomond Marina, Mr. Kraszhinski was so manipulative that he convinced another friend, Gabriel Mendoza, of the same story about Russian Mobsters.
Anadel Bonaire will testify that Mr. Casey and Mr. Mendoza, in order to rescue her, convinced Mr. Kraszhinski to split forces against his imaginary enemy. Dr. Spawnn will testify he had been given LSD against his will and brainwashed to believe he too was being pursued and fled with Mr. Kraszhinski to Mr. Mendoza’s trailer at another location in the Sacramento Delta. It was there that Mr. Kraszhinski shot and killed the brothers Raymond Gutierrez, and Leonardo Gutierrez, while they were tending Crayfish traps at Prospect slew. Please, I ask the court to accept this as exhibit E.” She lifted the Bullpup rifle and paraded it back and forth in front of the jury box as she spoke. She returned with dramatic flair to pick up a picture of two middle aged men in suits looking nothing like crayfish trappers, “If it pleases the court, accept these as exhibit E.”
“Doctor Spawnn will testify that the defendant further tortured him while on the Mr. Casey’s craft to perform surgery to extract a 9mm round from this automatic pistol. It was then that Mr. Kraszhinski brutally assaulted Yuri Chernayevsky with a pipe-wrench and murdered with this 9mm Browning automatic pistol,” She held my Browning up to be appraised by the jury. “Please accept this as exhibit F.”
She paused for dramatic effect and after a pin could be heard to drop in the hallway outside of the courtroom, “And furthermore, the defendant murdered his longtime friend and Vietnam War veteran that had earned two bronze stars and a purple heart.”

“In conclusion, the jury must decide what is to be made of this crime spree. The defense will try to convince you that the possibility that there was a plot by the Russian Mob, the Bratva to harm or kill Dr. Spawnn and Ms. Bonnaire. Failing to prove that, they will make one more desperate ploy to convince you that Mr. Kraszhinski suffers PTSD and was unable to distinguish right from wrong or that he believed his delusion and thought he was doing the right thing by murdering and maiming, drugging, kidnapping, committing grand theft of three and sinking two, boats and, most the most egregious of the crimes, raping his victim, Anadel Bonnaire. If the jury could have seen Ms. Bonnaire on the day she was rescued, you would be crying for justice.” She placed another foam board on the easel with several discretely cropped pictures of Anna nude body parts scratched, smeared with mud, and bleeding. “Please accept these photos as exhibit G. While Mr. Kraszhinski might be mentally impaired but his total lack of remorse exhibits a typical sociopathic or psychopathic profile that cannot be tolerated in a civilized country. The full weight of the law ought to fall heavy on the head of this fiend and, if ever there was a case for the death penalty, this is that case.”

Th audience burst out in cheers and applause. The judge hammered the gavel until it was quiet enough for all to hear him bellow, “This court will not tolerate such outburst and I swear by God, that I will empty the courtroom for the duration of the trial if there is another such display of disrespect for my court.”

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