Chapter 40 The Verdict
Forty
The Verdict
The next morning, both sides gave their closing arguments, and the jury was excused to decide the verdict.
I texted Priya an update.
Gray put us in a small conference room adjacent the courtroom to wait. I wasn’t sure how many times Dad stood up from the table, paced to the window, wrung his hands, and then came back again to sit with Mom, Eric, and me. A dozen at least.
Waiting was horrible. Especially when it was to find out whether he’d face jail time or not.
An hour went by. Then another.
I pulled Eric aside. “I’ve been thinking, and I have an idea.”
“About what?”
“I was doing some research, and it’s the university who has to request that an athlete’s NCAA eligibility be reinstated.
Then the NCAA reviews the case on its merits and makes a decision.
So you’re right about Plunkett. About things having a way of coming full circle.
He’s the one who would have to submit for Dallas’s reinstatement.
Do you think we could convince him to do it? ”
Eric paused, stared, and blinked a couple times. “That is a good idea. He did tell us to come to him if we needed anything.”
After one of his laps, Dad sat and stared at his hands, clasped together on the table. “I want to thank you all for being here with me through all of this. It’s been rough and nerve-racking, but you’ve stood by my side, and I’ll be forever appreciative.”
Mom moved behind him and put her arms around him.
Dad moved his hands to her arms. “I’m sorry. Really sorry. For the mistakes I made. How what happened and what I did affected more than just myself.” He looked at Eric and me, his eyes red and watery. “I love you all so much.”
Eric reached out and put his arms around Mom and Dad. I got up and did the same thing.
My family and I were all wrapped in this gigantic family pretzel when Gray entered the room.
“Well, this picture warms my heart,” he said.
We pulled apart, laughed, and dried our eyes.
“Especially since I’m here to tell you that it’s done.” Gray put his hands on the table and leaned against it. “Court is to resume in fifteen minutes. The jury has reached a decision.”
We all inhaled.
Finally, it would be over. Almost a whole year of trauma, almost a whole year of heartache, so many sleepless nights I couldn’t begin to count them, and it came down to this. Twelve people were about to speak my father’s fate.
“Oh, Ade,” Gray said. “There’s someone asking for you in the hallway.”
Every raw emotion hit me at the same time. Dallas. It had to be Dallas. On Valentine’s Day.
Eric opened the conference room doors, and I rushed out.
Standing there was Priya in her puffy winter jacket.
I didn’t know what I was thinking when I thought it was Dallas. He never once tried to declare his undying love for me.
“Priya!” I hugged her. “I had no idea you were thinking of coming. How’d you get here?”
“The train.”
Then Emma walked out of the bathroom.
Tears clogged my throat, and my mouth tipped into a smile. I hugged both of them at the same time. “I can’t believe you two are here.”
“We can’t let our bestie spend Galentine’s Day without us.” Priya beamed.
“Especially when she needs us for moral support,” Emma said.
Unlike the rest of my body, my voice came out steady and strong. “You two are the best friends a girl could have.”
Emma’s gaze flickered to the right.
Probably to check out Eric. I sighed. Poor thing was going to have her hopes about my brother crushed. He was secretive about the girls he dated, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he had a girlfriend that none of us knew anything about.
“You’ve met my mom before, but let me introduce you to my dad and brother.” I gestured to them. “Dad, Eric, I’d like you to meet my roommate, Priya, and my friend Emma.”
Dad scanned the group of us and grinned. He knew that this was a big deal. I was letting him into my new life. Letting him meet my new friends.
He shook both Priya’s and Emma’s hands. “So nice to meet you ladies. Not, of course, on the greatest of occasions, but no matter. This is long overdue.”
Eric punched my arm. “Thanks for befriending Ade here. We know how difficult she can be—”
I shoved Eric back.
Gray clapped his hands. “Come on, gang. We need to be in our seats before the judge appears.”
I bit down hard on my lip before we all shuffled into the courtroom.
Gray touched my arm and whispered, “By the way, your dad agreed to the media interview. Hoping for a not-guilty verdict, and we can do it right after.”
“Great.” I pasted a smile on my face. “Thanks.”
Before we got down to the atrium, I needed to give my friends a heads-up because after the big TV reveal, I was going to need their support. Especially at the dorm. I had no idea what people’s reactions were going to be like.
The room was packed, hardly a seat to be had. Many of the people were journalists with their notepads and pens.
Eric, Mom, and I sat in the first row, like usual. Priya and Emma filed in a couple rows behind us.
The procedure to read the verdict started first with the foreman giving a piece of paper with the decision to the bailiff, who handed it to the judge for review. Next, the judge gave it back and said, “Mr. Bianchini, please stand.”
The foreman cleared his throat. “In the matter of the United States versus David Joseph Bianchini, we the jury find the defendant, David Joseph Bianchini, not guilty—”
My heart threatened to jump right out of my chest.
“Of the crimes of solicitation of bribes, honest services fraud conspiracy, honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud…”
Mom grabbed on to the guardrail and whimpered like she’d been holding her breath for the entire week.
Dad looked back at us, his mouth open, smiling, while Gray patted him on the shoulder.
My gaze was locked on Dad, my wet eyes making him appear blurry. Thank God. Thank God. I’d been hopeful but not confident.
“Of the crime of bribery conspiracy, we have found the defendant, David Joseph Bianchini, guilty.”
My heart dropped, crashing straight to the ground. Guilty? Was that what the man just said?
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is this your verdict, so say you one, so say you all?”
In unison they stared at us with blank expressions and said, “It is.”
The jury filed out, and Gray and my dad started hugging everyone. Being found guilty of only one of the crimes must not be that bad if we were celebrating, right?
When Dad finally got to me, I hugged him tight.
I glanced behind me at Priya and Emma. They waved and gave me thumbs-ups.
But then the judge started tapping her gavel on the wood block. “Please be seated.”
Everyone returned to their seats, and the noises quieted.
“With one guilty verdict returned, written arguments of the Blakely factors and factual findings need to be completed in one week,” said Judge Thomas.
“An order for presentencing investigation will be returned immediately and sentencing scheduled for two weeks from now. Is there a motion on behalf of the United States?”
“Prosecution moves to have the court revoke the defendant’s bail and remand him into custody pending sentencing.”
“Bail is revoked, bond is discharged, and the defendant is remanded into custody. Court is adjourned.” The judge stood and walked out.
What?
Gray got up and started conversing with the court administrator, but I needed to talk to him. I needed to make sense of the verdict. Of what the judge meant by Dad being remanded into custody.
Then suddenly, I saw a flash of metal.
The bailiff told my dad to stand up and put his hands behind his back so that he could handcuff them.
Omigod. Omigod.
My mom grabbed my thigh and squeezed hard. “What’s happening?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“It looks like they’re taking him to jail,” Eric said.
The bailiff started leading my dad away, and Gray held out his hand to speak with him, but I couldn’t hear a word. Then in seconds, my dad disappeared.
Even though I was shaking, I could feel Mom trembling next to me.
Gray approached us.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I need to work on a new bail and bond for your dad for between now and the sentencing.”
“Why?” Eric asked.
“Pretrial bail is supported by a constitutional right to a presumption of innocence, but post-conviction is not.”
“But they said he’s guilty on just one count—there are also a bunch of not-guilty verdicts,” Eric said.
Gray tilted his head. “The judge can sentence your dad for up to ten years for the count he was found guilty of. Don’t worry, I’ll work hard to make it less than a year. Even harder to get him probation with no jail time, but that also means we need to ask for bail again.”
I swallowed. My dry, scratchy throat wouldn’t clear. “When can you get him out?”
“Maybe today. More likely tomorrow. And, Ade, I’m sorry. I’m not going to have the time to do a media interview at this point.”
I nodded and kept trying to swallow. With my dad stuck in jail, me whining about my insomnia problem was completely inappropriate.
As I walked to the back of the courtroom where Priya and Emma sat with confused looks on their faces, I numbed. Like when I’d jumped into frozen Lake Nokomis a few weeks ago. But this time, it wasn’t only my arms and legs that I couldn’t feel. It was my whole body.
I thought after today everything would be resolved—well, everything except for getting Dallas’s eligibility reinstated—but things weren’t even close. After Gray figured out how to get Dad back home with Mom, then we all had to get through two more weeks until the sentencing.