Chapter 7: Summation

The courtroom sat after Judge Hernandez took her seat. After reviewing some papers on her podium, she turned to the two lawyers, “Are you ready with your final arguments for the jury?”

Both men nodded. Brad James said, “We are, Your Honor.”

“Please begin.”

Brad James stood and casually walked to near the front of the jury box. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am the prosecutor for this case. The charges are not trivial: spousal abuse and attempted murder by way of inducement of that spouse to commit suicide. My task for the next few minutes is to walk you through the evidence we have put before you and to remind you of the linkages of that evidence to the charges the state has brought against Brian Coswell.

“To start with, based on email and text evidence subpoenaed from two Internet service providers, we showed you a trail of abuse going back over five years. That evidence was specific and to the point of abusive statements designed to undermine, demoralize, and demonize the victim in this case – the then Mrs. Joan Coswell.

“We showed you that Mrs. Coswell made attempts too fix her marriage during that time period, initially by suggesting counseling to her husband. In one specific email read in court he rejected that idea out of hand, telling her that she was the problem and she was the one that should fix the situation.

“You heard the testimony of Amanda Tyler, Mr. Coswell’s mistress. She told you how they met in a bookstore, had coffee, and developed a relationship. She told the court that Mr. Coswell had told her he was in the middle of a contentious divorce as a way to earn her trust and to develop a subsequent sexual and friendly relationship with her.

“You then heard from the Clerk of the County that no divorce papers by either Mr. or Mrs. Coswell had ever been filed until AFTER Mrs. Coswell found out about her husband’s infidelity and learned of his intentional abuse and attempt to lure her into committing suicide – all this, while she was in a rehabilitation center recovering from her abuse.

“You heard Miss Tyler also describe other lies that Mr. Coswell had told her to sustain his relationship, specifically lies about people he worked with and his relationship with them as well as his workload, lies about his home life, and lies about his intentions regarding his relationship with her. These points were brought to her attention on September 19 last year when several people accompanied Sheriff Carl LaCroix as he was served the divorce papers and a restraining order on Mr. Coswell at Miss Tyler’s apartment. You heard testimony that Mr. Coswell lived with Miss Tyler from the time Mrs. Coswell left for her rehabilitation treatment until he was served.

“We presented the diary or journal of Mrs. Coswell, started almost five years ago. You were shown how he ramped up his abuse and suggestive comments about the time began his relationship with Miss Tyler. His abusive behavior to his wife rose a significant degree and she didn’t know how else to cope other than to write down in greater detail what he was saying to her and trying to hold on to the vestiges of what had been her happy marriage. We showed you matching quotes between what Mr. Coswell wrote in his emails and texts and what she wrote about in her diary.

“The prosecution showed you the books collected under a warrant in Mr. Coswell’s den on psychological warfare, and quotes were read from those books that duplicated notes that he prepared separately, often in his own handwriting, and emails, texts, and-or remarks he made to her that she wrote about in her diary. By way of a receipt found in one of those books, we proved to you that those books were purchased a month after Mr. Coswell started his affair with Miss Tyler and coincident with the start of his intensified abusive campaign on her sanity and, as we have shown, her life. Further, you heard from the deposed author of one of those books talking about how well his book could be used to implement an intentional program of spousal abuse leading to suicide by the victim.

“We showed you papers and the contents of computer files written by Mr. Coswell that were essentially shopping lists of abusive comments and remarks he could make to his wife that would drive her increasingly into a deeply demoralized and deeply depressed state of mind, insanity, and drive her eventually to suicide.

“Doctor Samuel King from the Austin Recovery and Rehabilitation Clinic in Austin, Texas, then testified about the state Mrs. Coswell was in when she was brought by friends to his Institute. Multiple renown psychiatrists examined and worked with Mrs. Coswell for four months restoring her mental health, including recovery from the depression and near suicidal state she was in upon arrival. He told how various doctors determined that Mrs. Coswell was suicidal at the start of her treatment, so suicidal that they put her on a special round-the-clock observation watch for her first ten days with them.

“Dr. King talked about reviewing Mr. Coswell’s list of things to communicate to his wife, her diary citing his remarks and her reactions, and the marked passages in the books we just mentioned. He concluded that a carefully planned and orchestrated campaign of intimidation had been created to drive Mrs. Coswell to end her life after suffering through a long period of deepening depression. He cited the reviews by four other ‘experts’ – Drs. Cliner, Whitney, Heinbach, and Jones from different rehabilitation institutions in the United States that drew the same conclusions from that data.

“Dr. King also discussed the treatment that Mrs. Coswell went through at the Institute. Other women with the same conditions recovered in the same way she did, a point that further validated her condition upon arrival: abused and suicidal.

“The prosecution showed the adverse financial impact on Mr. Coswell should a divorce goes forward in this state, where, at a minimum, all holdings are considered community property.

“The situation should Mrs. Coswell have committed suicide was also examined in this courtroom, proving that he would become a relative rich man. About a year prior, at the same time he started his affair with Miss Tyler, he took out a life insurance policy on his wife, ensuring that her self-induced death would not jeopardize payment of a four-million-dollar benefit. He did not take out a policy on himself that would similarly benefit his wife with his demise.

Brian James ran through a few other points and then summarized grouping the evidence as it supported the state’s claims of spousal abuse and attempted murder.

“The prosecution urges you to consider these points, but more importantly to consider how you would like to have been in Mrs. Coswell’s shoes as her husband tried to drive her insane and to suicide. What would that feel like as your sane life eroded before your eyes and the one person you trusted, your husband, methodically set about to destroy you without your knowledge or awareness of his diabolical plan.

James turned to the judge, “That is all, Your Honor.”

The defense attorney stood and strode to the front of the courtroom. He said in a loud tone, “Rubbish. What the prosecutor just summarized to you and attributed to my client is rubbish – a fabrication of disjointed facts laced together to create a web he intends to use to put my well-meaning client in jail.

He went on in a dismissive tone about the emails and texts, commenting only that they were normal communications between an errant wife that was already sliding into a depressed state and her sane husband. He cited the hobby of writing a novel as the reason for the books and some of the notes collected from his desks.

The defense attorney admitted to his client’s affair with Amanda Tyler, but cited the reason as having been cut off from sex by a depressed person, and the need for intimacy with another sane person outside the confines of work.

He tried to discount the imputed motive the prosecutor had built regarding avoiding a divorce and presiding over a suicide. He stated that Mr. Coswell was glad that his wife had sought treatment and returned to health.

The attorney cited Brian Coswell’s background as a pillar in the community and in his workplace, and then he painted a picture of Joan as a woman who went slowly nuts almost forcing her husband to try to keep her in line and from slipping further into her wayward lifestyle. That, in turn, led him to discredit the way she was currently living, making the cohousing project sound like a den of iniquity and the people she ‘consorted’ with as free-love radicals with no morals. He claimed that they had rescued Joan only so they could have her join them after some time taking a breather in Austin

He made a few sideswipes at the expert witnesses and their approach to dealing with Joan’s supposed condition. He said at one point, ‘You can claim to fix anything if it isn’t broken.’

Joan, Emily, Dave, and Dale sat in the courtroom for every part of the trial. They didn’t miss a word.

Despite the overwhelming evidence in her favor, Brad James warned her that juries can be very fickle animals that render verdicts with little regard for what actually transpired in the courtroom. He said, “Beside the evidence that gets presented, you get everyone’s biases, prejudices, view of the world, religious underpinnings, and so on. You just can’t predict a verdict, especially when you think it’s a sure thing.

The judge adjourned for the day, but set a time for the jury to meet the following day and deliberate. All would be called back to court once the jury indicated they had a verdict.

Dave was working the bar at five o’clock as the others slowly filtered into the core from their jobs. A few worked at the Circle as the norm: Mike, Kat, Pam – when she was in town. The students also tried to be present for the social hour, often studying at home until the hour began: Clarisse and Rachel. Christie also was often at home in the afternoons, since the prime work hours in her business were from eight p.m. to two a.m.

Maddy came out onto the patio carrying Mark and Linda. Dave greeted her.

“We’re just taking a little stroll and came to visit a real live Daddy!” He reached out and took little Linda jean from her arms. He nuzzled the baby in and kissed the top of his niece’s head. The baby studied the new force in her life almost without blinking.

“How’s everything going?” he asked of Maddy.

“Great. One of the mom’s always helps, so I have adult company almost all the time. The kids at this age are a dream to care for. It’s after they can walk that this job will change in a big way.”

“I assume that any questions you have you’re getting answered.”

“Oh, yes. Your wife especially has been so helpful.”

Just then the baby monitor clipped on her belt started to make crying noises.

“Oops, somebody else just woke up. These two are ready to go back to sleep.” He passed Linda back, and Maddy headed back inside to the nursery gently rocking the two babies in her arms.

Heather came out of the house, half nude and looking as though she wanted to harden every male tongue within a hundred miles. She came to Dave, kissed him romantically, and then walked to the edge of the pool and dove in. The pool heaters were on almost every day trying to keep the temperature around eighty. For April, that was sometimes ambitious.

Bobbie Wyatt came out of the kitchen area carrying two large platters of hors d’oeuvres. She set them down on the bar. “Hi, Dave. See if people like these. Honestly, are they just tolerating them or do they really like them. I’m still trying to learn the collective palate for the Circle.”

Dave chuckled and patted the stool beside him. “Sit, or are you in the middle of something?”

“My timer is running, but it says I have about seven minutes.”

“Good.” He set a glass of Chardonnay in front of her. He’d learned that this was her favorite drink of choice. “The hors d’oeuvres will be wonderful on many counts. Everyone is raving about your cooking and worrying about sprouting excess inches around the waist.”

Bobbie shook her head, “They shouldn’t unless they’re really piling on the second or third helpings. I am ever mindful of the national epidemic of obesity. I plan my menus with that in mind. My version of empty calories are very few calories in a gourmet meal.”

“Thank you. Except for that isolated concern, everyone is raving about your cuisine.”

Bobbie said, “Please don’t hold any negative comments back. That’s the only way I’ll grow and evolve to something better for everyone.”