Chapter 4: Just What’s On Trial

Joan Paige, previous Joan Coswell, sat with Dave Prentiss, Dale Harnett, and Emily Wilson, in the spectator seat of the court room at the Sarasota County Courthouse.

The sheriff’s deputy called out, “All rise for Judge Margaret Hernandez.”

The portly female judge whirled out the side door at the front of the courtroom and took up the position on the bench. She looked to her left, “Foreman, is the jury ready.”

“We are your honor.”

She looked at the two attorneys. “Is the prosecution and defense ready.”

Both lawyers nodded, “We are, Your Honor.”

“Please proceed. Prosecution, your open arguments.”

Brad James, the assistant district attorney handling the case against Brian Coswell, stood and walked to a position in front of the jurors.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a simple case to present to you, today. The accused, Brian Coswell, mounted a campaign of psychological warfare against his wife, Joan Coswell, starting about two years ago. This was in part to cover up an affair he was having with a woman named Amanda Tyler and to drive his wife to divorce or suicide. We will show that he researched how to conduct this campaign and then executed the moves to drive his wife towards suicide. Thus, not only is he charged with spousal abuse, a felony in the state of Florida whether it is physical or mental, but he is also charged with attempted murder as he sought to drive her to commit suicide. As you will hear from expert witnesses, he was almost successful, saved near the last minute by friends who deduced what was happening to her. The evidence is tangible, strong, often in the defendants own handwriting or found on his own private computer. We, the people of the state of Florida, ask that you convict on two charges: spousal abuse, non-physical, and premeditated attempted murder. Thank you for your time.”

Brad sat down. He looked primed and loaded to present his case.

The defense rose. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I also thank you for your time, especially because you are here to listen to case that should never have been brought to trial. Mr. Coswell started to see his wife disintegrate in front of him starting about three years ago. He tried to steer her back to health, but she went deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. Eventually, she became infatuated with a group of people – a near cult, if you will – that apparently practice free love and open relationships. She urged her husband to consider this group, something that conflicted with his moral fiber and upbringing in many ways. Shortly after that request, she disappeared, only communicating back that she was all right, was seeking treatment for her condition, and would be in touch once she was restored to health. By her own admission, she was mentally sick. Mr. Coswell awaited her return until he was served with divorce papers, and arrested with the bogus claims that the prosecutor just described to you. We urge you to see the flaws in his arguments, and to acquit the defendant of all charges, so that he may return to work and continue with his life. Thank you.”

There were some procedural arguments that had been posed to the judge before hand by both lawyers. These dealt with the inclusion or exclusion of evidence, the complete dismissal of the case, and how distant witnesses would be treated and interrogated. The judge ruled on all of the issues, one at a time, giving the edge to the prosecutor.

A short break for lunch followed.

As they filed out of the courtroom, Dale said, “Dave, you were right. They’re going to bore into the Circle as a morally corrupt group of people that unduly influenced Joan.”

Dave shook his head, “More than that, they’re going to bore in on ME. I reported to Brian. They see me as a threat that eliminated my competition so that I could move into his seat at work and benefit from the increased salary and perks that he used to get.”

“Ouch. Can they do that?”

“Watch. You bet. This guy is fighting for his freedom. His lawyer would do him a disservice if he didn’t go after the Circle and me.”

After the lunch break, the prosecution started laying out their case.

He started with Sheriff Will Tompkins, and had his describe accompanying the prosecutor and several others to the Coswell home to execute a warrant seeking evidence of plot of abuse and attempts to induce suicide by Mrs. Coswell. He described finding the books on psychological warfare, taking the computer, and finding the checklists and descriptions of things to say and do to intimidate the wife of the defendant.

“How did you know the pages found in the desk were to intimidate his wife?” Prosecutor James asked Tompkins.

“They were labeled as such in what our crime lab later determined to be the defendant’s handwriting.”

James turned to the jury. “We will now pass you copies of the documents in question. You will note at the top of the page the title, ‘Intimidation of Wife – Phrases and Actions’.”

When you read that page, Sheriff, what did you think?”

“I felt sorry for whoever was on the receiving end of those statements. It wasn’t so much any one statement, as it was the campaign that the statements all together represented. They were a consistent verbal plan to demoralize anyone at the receiving end of those words.”

“Do you know where those came from?”

“In some cases, yes. I studied the books on psychological warfare that we found in Mr. Coswell’s library. Together with Detective Sanders, we determined that the books specifically stated some of those phrases as to be used in a strategy to undermine and demoralize specific individuals. In some cases, there were checkmarks in the margin of the books next to the passages that had been copied to the other pages.”

“Did you examine the computer?”

“I’m sorry, I did not. Detective Sanders did, but I was not present.”

“Did you find any other documents relevant to this case?”

“Yes, sir. On October 4, we were summoned to the executive offices of the local utility company. The man who had assumed Mr. Coswell’s position at work had found further checklists and statements in the desk at work. We assumed possession of those, and reviewed them with the other paper documents. They showed the same kind of campaign, although they were more oriented to phrases that could be sent by email or text. Many had checkmarks by them. Our handwriting analysis indicated that Mr. Coswell wrote on the documents to add material to them.”

A few more questions passed by from the prosecutor and then the defense took over.

“Sheriff Tompkins, what made you assume that those books and pages were to wage a campaign of demoralization, as you called it, against Mrs. Coswell?”

“Errr, that was discussed in the van as we rode to the Coswell residence to serve the warrant.”

“Did you ever consider another logical explanation for the possession of those pages and books?”

“No, Sir. I did not.”

“So, if I were to explain to you that Mr. Coswell was an amateur author that hoped to write a novel or short story where one of the characters did indeed become on the receiving end of some of those phrases, would that surprise you?”

“I did not consider that option, as I indicated.”

“But that is a distinct possibility, is it not?”

“That’s not for me to decide, sir.” The sheriff knew better than to put additional judgments on the material he’d been asked to describe. He’d been careful to not specifically aim any of the material at Coswell’s wife. He was a ‘nothing but the facts’ kind of investigator.

Detective Sanders took the stage and described similar information found on the computer, some duplicating what had been found on paper.

The prosecutor asked, “Detective Sanders, is there any reason to believe that the defendant might have intended to use this information in connection with a novel or short story?”

Sanders responded crisply, “None, sir. We found no outlines or drafts of any kind on the computer suggesting what defense counsel suggested or any other writing project. Only the files I described to you in isolated folders bearing only dates instead of file names.”

The defense tried to get Sanders to say what the sheriff hadn’t, but he didn’t succumb to that trick either. These men had been on the witness stand many times before far better and trickier attorneys.

Court was adjourned after those two witnesses, although the prosecutor wanted to take Sanders in some other directions regarding the investigation.

“Are you glad you came?” Dave asked Joan as they walked to their car from the courthouse.

“Yes and no. I hate to see Brian raked over like this, but then, he did all that to me. He used those phrases on me.”

Are you ready to be called as a witness?”

“Brad James said I wouldn’t be, at least not by the prosecution. He thought they had enough evidence without me testifying.”

“Relax and just tell the truth if you do,” Dale said from the back seat. You should alert Brad ahead of time that if that topic comes up, you want to explain the timing and the situation to the jury. Don’t be concerned about the outcome of the trial. That’s the state’s problem, not yours.

Alice sat with Susan, Shelby, Kat, Wendy, Holly, and Pam. “Dave raised this issue a long time ago, well before any of us got pregnant, namely hiring a nanny. In saying that, how many of you want to go back to work?”

Every woman raised their hand for Alice to see.

“So, we need some kind of help. I made a list of the questions we need to answer in some way before placing an ad or contacting some of the agencies around town.

“My list might need some additions to it, so keep an open mind and make suggestions:

· Experience and plans for future; why this position?

· Daytime, evening, both, round the clock?

· Maximum number of babies she could care for?

· Minimum and maximum ages?

· How does she entertain them as they get older?

· What kind of space requirements would she need?

· Would she want to live onsite?

· Could she cover if one of us needed to travel for a day or two?

· Can she do overnights?

· Has she any formal training in childcare?

Wendy said, “Somehow we need to ask her about whether sex bothers her? She’ll run into some of us doing something sooner or later. We don’t want her to freak out if that happens.”

“Good point,” Alice said as she made a note.

Pam said, “Before you tell her any of that she should sign an NDA – a non-disclosure agreement. We don’t want some candidate that doesn’t get the job writing the ‘tell all’ book about us.” Alice made a note.

Kate asked about any medical or emergency care training. Shelby wanted to make sure the person was not a smoker or heavy drinker, and certainly no drugs. Holly raised the issue of pay and benefits.

The group discussed how they’d pool money to pay for the nanny, kind of a flat monthly fee unless there were specific needs one of them had for special care.

Holly also suggested, “It’d be good if they had others to back them up or help them in special situations. As we get more babies, we’re going to need a team of nannies, not just one. In the beginning, maybe one of us can take a day in rotation to be with her to get her started and to observe how she does with the kids.”

“Great idea.”

While the evening meeting about a nanny was going on in the core living room, Dave, Ty, Grace, Nancy, Donna, and Julie were meeting in the media room. Dave spoke, “Here’s my proposal. Fundamentally, we hire a chef and maybe a helper. I don’t know the hours but my vision is that they’d do five days a week, including over each weekend. They’d work with our meal planning squad, and then they’d take care of the implementation. Some of us would still help, but they’d be handling all the heaving lifting on dinners, and weekend brunches.”

There was silence as each of the others thought about the suggestion and the implications. The questions then started and Dave noted each of them. What about special meals for the children or diet restricted Circle members? What about extra meals when there are guests? Where would he live? Who would interview him and how would we know we were getting a good deal?