Forgive?
Copyright© 2019 by Barry James
Chapter 12: And Justice for All
Mr. Coulton was a fair and honorable man. Beth and I asked Mr. Gaines to settle for five million or seek ten if it went to trial. We settled for $4.5 million in a structured settlement. Eventually, all six other victims settled for $1 million each.
Sonia was fired 5 minutes after the meeting in the conference room. At the time she was the breadwinner in her family. She decided to disappear with her daughter, thus leaving a dead-beat husband to fend for himself. Nobody knows where she went, but it’s suspected she went to live with relatives in the Dominican Republic.
Five months into her pregnancy, Beth had severe abdominal pain. Joshua Freed was stillborn a day later and the family deeply mourned his passing at his funeral. I had no mixed emotions. I grieved for our son as did Beth. There was no blessing in disguise. Our child died. That tiny casket was the most heartbreaking sight I’d ever seen.
Don Baird was convicted for raping Beth and two of the other women. Evidence for the other four victims was too weak to hold up. The horrendous trial judge gave him a surprisingly light sentence of six years. His wife divorced him and she was granted all assets by a very understanding judge Dunn.
Don was released after two-and-a-half years. Despite a restraining order, he called Beth the day of his release and made ridiculous threats.
Don went missing the next day and was found five weeks later in agony on the side of the road in Georgia. His tongue and mouth were severely burned from what was thought to be a large pipe inserted and heated with a torch for a prolonged period of time. All his fingers were missing. He had a catheter sticking out from where his penis used to be. He was repeatedly attacked with a baseball bat to the scrotum and his testicles were so badly damaged that they had to be surgically removed. I can’t even begin to describe the work needed to repair his backdoor. He would depend upon a colostomy bag for the rest of his life.
Paul and I asked each other the same question. We each gave the same answer: “No, I had nothing to do with it.”
We had a chat with Mike, and I asked point-blank, “Mike, do you know anything about it?”