Chapter 29: A Slow Return To Normal

July 23, 1986, McKinley, Ohio

Clarissa and I arrived at the courthouse on Wednesday morning and went to the courtroom to wait for the trial to resume. Sophia had called the previous evening to say that Nadine Bush had not been called to the stand before the trial was adjourned for the day because the attorneys had spent nearly two hours arguing about whether she could testify. In the end, they had called Melissa to the stand to testify that Frank Bush had spoken openly in front of her and Nadine, and the judge had ruled, as he had earlier, that Nadine Bush could testify against her husband.

At precisely 9:00am, the bailiff called out for everyone to rise, and the judge came into the courtroom. We stood, the judge came in and sat down, asked everyone to be seated, and then called on the prosecutor.

"Your Honor," Mr. Robbins said, rising from his chair. "I renew my objection."

"Your objection has been heard and overruled," the judge declared. "You may take it up with the Court of Appeals once the trial is concluded. Nadine Bush will testify. Bailiff?"

Nadine Bush took the stand and was sworn in. The initial part of her testimony recounted a call from her husband, renting a car and picking him up, then traveling to the farm where the family had been arrested.

"Tell the court, please, what your husband said to you about the accident."

"Objection, Your Honor," Mr. Robbins said, once again standing up. "She may only testify to things which were said in Melissa's presence and nothing more."

"Sustained," the judge said. "Ms. Bush, please confine your answers to things said in the presence of your daughter."

"Yes, Your Honor," Nadine Bush replied. "Frank told me that he'd run over, please forgive me, 'two faggots' and that he'd done it on purpose."

"What reason did he give?" the prosecutor asked.

"He didn't give one in front of my daughter."

"Do you know who he meant when he said 'the two faggots'?" the prosecutor asked.

"Yes. The boys who were in a fight with my son and his friends."

"Is one of them in the courtroom now?"

"Yes. He's in the third row, on the end, in the blue-and-white checked shirt."

"Let the record show that the witness identified Robert Jackson, one of the victims of the hit-and-run, as testified by three witnesses. Ms. Bush, what did Faith Bible Church teach about homosexuality?"

"Objection," Mr. Robbins exclaimed, rising from his chair.

"Goes to motive, Your Honor," Prosecutor Taft replied.

"I'll allow it. Objection overruled. You may answer, Ms. Bush."

"That it is a perversion and ought to be illegal."

"And how were homosexuals to be treated?"

"With scorn and contempt as irredeemable sinners."

"And your husband expressed this view?"

Mr. Robbins objected once again, but his wife stated that he had expressed those views in public many times, including teaching them at Faith Bible Church.

"I have no more questions," Prosecutor Taft declared. "Your witness, Counselor."

"Mrs. Bush," Mr. Robbins said, "tell the court, please, what the Prosecutor offered you in exchange for your testimony."

"Nothing," Nadine Bush said. "I agreed to testify without any promises."

"Isn't it true that they reduced the charges against you to criminal conspiracy to aid a fugitive? With a sentence of time served, plus two years of parole."

"Yes. But my attorney proposed that to the State, not the other way around."

"But a deal was made, was it not?"

"Yes."

"No further questions, Your Honor."

"The witness may step down. Mr. Taft?"

"The prosecution rests."

"We'll take a twenty-minute recess," the judge declared, "and then the defense will present their case."

"They're really pressing that point about spousal privilege," I said when Robby, Sophia, Clarissa, and I moved to the hallway.

"They really beat it to death yesterday afternoon," Robby said. "I'm pretty sure the prosecution needed her for the 'premeditation' to get the death penalty. Without her, they couldn't prove he planned it in advance."

"I found it interesting that she went to the State with the deal," Clarissa observed.

"It makes sense when you think about it," Jocelyn said. "She avoids a murder charge and walks away free by handing them her husband on a silver platter. I'd bet she's been abused by him."

"That point was argued yesterday without the jury in the courtroom," Robby said. "She made the statement in her plea bargain that she only went along because she was afraid of him. The defense successfully argued that it wasn't material and would prejudice the jury."

"You think?" I asked. "But they have him dead to rights, don't they, Jos?"

"I think it'll take them longer to write out the verdict sheet than to convict him," Jocelyn replied. "The penalty phase could go either way."

"How?" I asked. "He's obviously guilty, and there are no mitigating circumstances I can see."

"In my pre-law courses, they talked about how juries are reluctant to sentence rich, white men to death. And even more reluctant to sentence women to death. Poor whites and blacks disproportionally receive the death penalty, with poor blacks being worst, especially with juries in the South."

"But all of them said they were open to the death penalty," Robby protested.

"Yes," Jocelyn agreed, "in the abstract. But when it comes down to signing your name on a document that says 'kill this specific person', it's a very different thing. And it's one thing to sentence Charles Manson to death, and a whole other thing to sentence Doctor Frank Bush, an apparently well-liked pediatrician from McKinley, to death."

"So what do you think?" I asked.

Jocelyn smiled, "No clue! Reading juries is a difficult thing, and while lawyers have a feel for a jury, they don't always get it right. There are people called 'jury consultants' who supposedly can help you shape a jury and figure out what they're going to do, but I feel they're just charlatans making a buck off guessing right."

"What area of law do you want to practice?" Robby asked.

"Civil litigation. Basically, business law."

"And she'll be earning big bucks while we're still slaving away as Interns or Residents!"

"Right," Jocelyn replied with a laugh. "Firms in Cincinnati and Columbus don't pay like firms in New York or Chicago! And Residents are not paupers! Sure, you work a lot of hours, but the pay is reasonable, and after a couple of years, you're making great money. Heck, you could be a GP after two years and they make WAY more than a starting sole-practitioner lawyer."

"Let's not even talk about how badly lab rats are paid!" Robby groused. "And that's where all researchers start, unless they're working at a university and teaching. And professors don't live like kings!"

"You'll be a kept man, Robby Jackson," Sophia said with a smirk. "What are YOU bitching about?"

"Being a kept man!" he chuckled.

We all used the restrooms and got drinks of water before returning to the courtroom. The judge returned, and Mr. Robbins stood.

"The defense calls Doctor Kenneth Young."

"Objection," Mr. Taft said, quickly standing up. "The court has already ruled that the defendant may not make an insanity defense, temporary or otherwise. This witness could certainly be called during a penalty phase, but not now."

"Mr. Robbins," the judge said, "to what will this witness testify?"

"State of mind, Your Honor. The state has claimed premeditation and this witness will give evidence refuting that claim."

"I'll allow it," the judge said. "Objection overruled."

"The State will need to call rebuttal witnesses," Mr. Taft said.

"As is your right," the judge declared.

That set up two hours of dueling psychiatrists, who, in my mind, did nothing to change the fact that Frank Bush had lain in wait, knowing Robby and Lee would visit the Quick Mart and had intended to run them down. Talking about his 'state of mind' didn't, at least as I saw it, change those facts. This wasn't coming home to find your wife in bed with your neighbor and shooting him. This had been planned and executed with intent to injure or kill. When they finished, we broke for lunch.

"Are you really OK with missing your classes?" Jocelyn asked after we sat down at the diner across from the courthouse.

I nodded, "Yes. The textbooks are solid, and our other study group members are taking notes. Some students actually only show up for quizzes and exams and pass."

"It's basically all memorization," Clarissa said. "The only hands-on experience we have this semester is learning to insert IVs, draw blood, and give injections. And Mike aced that his first time!"

"I wouldn't call it 'aced'," I countered. "It took me several minutes to do what the nurse could do in less than thirty seconds."

"Don't listen to him," Clarissa declared. "He did it perfectly, even if he was slow and methodical."

"That's for sure!" Jocelyn said with a smirk.

"Excuse me?!" I retorted.

"The first time was perfect, even though it was slow and methodical!" she declared mirthfully.

"You're a married woman, Ms. Mills," I said.

"Oh, please! Every person at this table, and scores of others, know we had sex!"

"Yes, and as much as I love you, that's in the past. And please remember that if someone overhears this kind of conversation, it could cause me all kinds of grief. In private, it's OK, so long as it's not too much."

"Jocelyn, he's WAY less uptight about it than when I first met him, but he does have a point," Clarissa interjected.

"Thank you, Lissa," I said. "Robby, are they going to put Frank on the stand?"

"He was on the witness list for the defense, but I can't imagine how that would do any good at this stage. He's going to be convicted. He can beg for his life in the penalty phase, when he can avoid cross-examination if he so chooses, but the jury is allowed to take that into account, which they aren't if he refuses to take the stand."

"So he can just, what? Make a statement?"

"Yes," Robby answered. "So can anyone impacted. I'm going to make my case for frying the bastard."

"The odds are ten to one he gets life without parole," Jocelyn said.

"I know," Robby replied. "The Prosecutor actually expects that outcome for the reasons Jocelyn gave earlier. That's especially true, given the victims were gay. They polled the jurors for biases, but when you add it all up, a gay kid killed by a doctor isn't going to end up with the doctor getting the death penalty, even if he deserves it. Maybe the jury will see it my way, but if they don't, the SOB is in prison for the rest of his life, bleeding hearts like Mike notwithstanding."

"That's not fair, Robby," Sophia said quickly.

"Sorry, Mike," Robby said. "Lee's death hurts, but I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"Apology accepted," I replied. "I love you, Robby."

"Thanks," he said with a smile. "Most straight guys wouldn't have the «cojones» to say that to another guy, especially one who's gay or bi."

"The problem is," I said, "that in English, we have one word we use for love, whether it's ice cream, your cat, your spouse, your child, or baseball. Koine Greek, which is the original language of the Christian Bible, has six, though only three are used in the text of the Bible."

"Hang on!" Jocelyn protested. "The Old Testament was written in Hebrew!"

The waitress came to our table, and we placed our orders, then continued the conversation.

"It was, Jos," I said with a smile, "but I said 'Christian Bible'. The Old Testament used by the authors of the books of the New Testament was a Greek translation called the Septuagint, abbreviated LXX, because of the seventy translators who, according to legend, created it for Greeks in Alexandria. Quotes in the New Testament come from the Septuagint, not the Hebrew or Aramaic texts.

"The key is, the Greek version is older and more well attested in antiquity than what's called the Masoretic Text, which is the basis for the translation in most Protestant Bibles, including the one you use, Jocelyn. But that's a late development, with the earliest fragments being from the ninth or tenth century, while the Septuagint texts we have date from the fourth or fifth century. Remember, too, that Paul, the Apostolic Fathers, and the Greek Church Fathers all quoted the Septuagint in the first, second, and third centuries.

"Anyway, theology aside, the six words for 'love' are «érōs», which I think is fairly self-explanatory but also includes romantic love; «philía», which means affection between equals, or as it is often translated as 'brotherly love, which I suspect you know because of Philadelphia; «storgē», which is familial love, never appears in the Bible and rarely in other texts; «xenía», which is basically hospitality; «philautía», which is self-regard, and can be both positive or negative, as self-esteem or vanity; and last, which is the greatest, is «agápē», which is unconditional, self-sacrificing love.

"«Agápē» is the word used in 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son', as well as 'no greater love has a man, than he lay down his life for his friends'. It's also the word used for 'God is love' and in 1st Corinthians, which I riffed on, when it says 'the greatest of these is love', though sometimes translated as 'charity'.

"Notice, in those six words, of which only «agápē», «érōs», and «philía» appear in the Bible, there is no room for 'I love chocolate' or 'I love baseball'. That would be a different word, or group of words, well, assuming the Greeks played baseball, which they didn't. The ideal Christian life is the one where we love our neighbor as God loves us, and that's «agápē».

"And, if you'll pardon a bit of a homily, it's a form of the verb «agápē» that is used in Paul's instruction that is so often misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misapplied. There are two parts to what he writes — 'Wives, obey your husbands' and 'Husbands love your wives', and that's where so many who use that verse stop reading. The thing is, what comes next is the most important part of the instruction for husbands — 'just as Christ loved the Church, giving himself up for her'. Both of those instances of 'love' are forms of «agápē», and a husband who loves his wife in that way will NEVER be an ogre or an abuser, and would never command her to do something not in her own best interest, or the best interest of the marriage."

"And in Mike's case, he has to do both the loving AND the obeying!" Clarissa teased.

I chuckled, "Paul didn't know any Russian women!"

"But he did know Greeks!" Robby replied, laughing. "How did he miss THAT one?"

"You got me," I replied with a grin. "But it's not just them! Remember, Jesus only performed his first reported miracle because his Mom told him to do it after the servants went to her for help! Which, Jocelyn, is exactly what we do when we ask Mary to intercede for us!"

"You and Mary!" she said, shaking her head. "We can debate that another day."

"Anyway," I said, winking at Jocelyn, "my love for you, Robby, is «agápē»."

"I remember a conversation like this from a few years ago," Robby said, "though not as extensive. You really do know your stuff."

"When you've come to church for long enough, you'll start to absorb it. Just listen to the hymns and prayers, and take the homilies to heart, and it'll be as natural as breathing."

"I'm not sure I buy it all, though," Robby said.

Clarissa laughed, "Neither does Mike, so you're in good company!"

"What do you mean?" Robby asked.

"Mike believes the dogmatic teachings of the church without reservation," Clarissa replied. "The rest is open to interpretation, though, obviously, if he's teaching at church, he sticks to the 'party line' as it were."

"What's she's saying," I said, "is that to be Orthodox is to accept the decrees of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, and to worship God as a congregation according to tradition. On pretty much anything else, we're allowed private opinions, though in my capacity as a teacher and servant, I have to toe the party line in a public forum, and in some private fora."

"Only Mike would say 'fora' instead of 'forums'!" Jocelyn teased.

"So sue me for taking Latin!" I said with a grin.

"I might just do that!" Jocelyn retorted. "It wouldn't cost me anything because I'd just represent myself!"

"Proving the adage that a lawyer who represents themselves has a fool for a client!" I teased.

"I'd say 'get a room'," Clarissa declared with a smirk, "but neither of you would ever even think about cheating on your spouses."

"Jocelyn, because she's both ethical and moral," I said with a silly grin, "me because I'd be dead!"

"Not true," Sophia replied. "I mean, yes, Elizaveta would kill you, but that's not the reason you don't. You gave your word, and that's the end of it for you."

"True."

The waitress brought our meals, and after I gave the blessing, we all began to eat. When we finished, we headed back to the courthouse for the resumption of the trial. It came as no surprise when the defense elected not to call Frank Bush to the stand and, instead, rested their case.

"Mr. Taft, your closing argument?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Prosecutor Taft replied. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, this case is as open-and-shut as any I have seen in my eighteen years as prosecuting attorney. The facts in this case are incontrovertible. Frank Bush, with planning and malice aforethought, lay in wait and purposefully, with complete knowledge of the possible consequences, drove into two young men in a crosswalk, killing one and severely injuring another. He expressed animus towards both young men, and his son pled guilty to assaulting both of them and served six months in the county jail.