Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
Michael delivered his closing first thing Monday morning. He took the jury through the last day in the lives of Jose Borges, Timothy Sargant, and Mark Domingos. Earlier, he warned the boys’ families of what he planned to do so they could prepare themselves.
He reminded the jurors of the argument the boys had with the defendants in the arcade, talked about the testimony of the boys’ friends who witnessed the fight, and reiterated the evidence offered by the detectives and ballistics experts.
“You heard the eye-witness’s chilling account of the shootings and her description of how ruthlessly the defendants shot first Mark Domingos, then Jose Borges, and finally Timmy Sargant.
All of this over an arcade game.” He paused for effect like he practiced with Juliana.
“Throughout the course of the trial, you’ve heard the victims’ names repeatedly.
You already know they liked to play video games and they spent their last moments skateboarding in the parking lot of Jose’s apartment complex.
What you maybe don’t know is they were honor roll students.
” Michael smiled as he paid tribute to boys he’d never met but had come to know so well over the last year.
“Jose was an outstanding baseball player—a promising pitcher with a fierce curve ball—who loved to torment his little sisters. Timmy made the all-city basketball team in sixth and seventh grade, and he knew everything there was to know about Star Wars. Mark was on his way to being an Eagle Scout and played a mean guitar. His hero was Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi.”
The parents of the boys wept quietly in the gallery as Michael moved over to lean against the jury box.
“They were good kids who made the fatal mistake of arguing with two men who were capable of murder.” He paused to let that thought settle and was satisfied when two of the female jurors dabbed at their eyes.
“My job is to leave you with no doubt that Marco and Steven Benedetti murdered Jose Borges, Timothy Sargant, and Mark Domingos. If I’ve left you with reasonable doubt that it was the Benedettis who pumped one round after another into those defenseless boys, then you’ll have no choice but to acquit them.
But if I’ve done my job and you have no doubt—no doubt whatsoever that it was them,” he said, turning to point to the defendants who were both looking elsewhere, “then you must convict.” Making eye contact with each of the jurors, Michael said, “Jose, Timmy, and Mark are counting on you. Don’t let them down. ”
With an empathetic glance at the boys’ families, he returned to his seat next to George Samuels.
“Perfect,” George whispered. “Spot-on perfect.”
“Let’s hope so,” Michael replied as the lead defense attorney got up to do her closing. He said a silent thank you to Juliana who suggested the last line—don’t let them down. George was right. It was perfect.
Michael found it interesting that the defense attorney didn’t refute Rachelle’s videotaped testimony in her closing, which told him she too believed her clients probably had something to do with the arsenic attack.
No doubt the defense attorneys had a few difficult moments of their own during this trial.
She summed up her closing by saying, “They didn’t do it. You must acquit.”
After she sat down, Judge Stein gave the jury their instructions. Before Michael knew it, the jurors were filing out to begin deliberations. The Borges, Sargant, and Domingos families were effusive in their praise of Michael’s closing.
“Thank you, Michael, for bringing them to life again,” Mrs. Sargant whispered as she gripped his hand, her face pinched with grief and wet with tears. “Thank you for everything.”
“I just hope it was enough.” Michael would have felt much more confident if Rachelle had been able to testify in person.
“It’s in God’s hands now,” Mrs. Sargant said.
As Officer John Tanner escorted Michael and George back to their office, Michael tried to remember what life had been like before he was accompanied by police officers everywhere he went.
“That went really well,” George said. “I don’t think there’s anything else we could’ve done.”
“I guess,” Michael said, thinking of Rachelle and how desperately he wished he had the whole thing to do over again.
“Your closing was really good, Mr. Maguire,” Tanner said, surprising Michael.
The young officer hadn’t had much to say since the rock went through Michael’s window on his watch. “Thank you.”
When they arrived, Michael went into his office and closed the door. He hated waiting for juries. Usually, it was the most stressful part of any trial. Not this one, though. The whole thing had been stressful. He picked up the phone to call Juliana.
“Hey,” he said. “What’re you up to?”
“Having lunch between appointments. How’d it go in court?”
“Good, I think.”
“Did you use my line?”
“Sure did. I ended with it, just like we practiced.”
“I wish I could’ve been there to watch you.”
He wished he’d thought to bring her. “Me, too. Next time, maybe? If there is a next time…”
“I’d love that.”
As he was thinking about how much he loved her, there was a knock on his door.
“Hang on a sec, hon.” With his hand over the phone, he said, “Come in.”
“They’re back,” George said.
“Already? It hasn’t even been an hour.”
George shrugged. “We’ve got thirty minutes to get there.”
“Tell Tom.” Into the phone, Michael said, “I’ve got to go. The jury’s back.”
Juliana gasped. “Are you worried it was too fast?”
“That’s often good news for us, but you never know.”
“Good luck, Michael. I love you.”
“Love you, too. Turn on the news in about forty-five minutes.”
“I will.”
The jury filed into the courtroom half an hour later. Michael was encouraged when several of them glanced over at him as they were seated. In his experience, it was when they didn’t look at you that you needed to worry.
After they were settled, Judge Stein asked, “Have you arrived at unanimous verdicts?”
“Yes, your honor,” said the foreman, a tall, burly man who worked on the docks in the port of Baltimore. He handed the verdict paper to the bailiff who walked it over to the judge.
Judge Stein read the verdicts, passed the paper back to the bailiff, and asked the defendants to rise. “In the matter of the People versus Marco and Steven Benedetti, murder of Jose Borges in the first degree, what say you?”
Michael held his breath.
“Guilty,” the foreman said.
The gallery erupted.
Judge Stein wrapped his gavel. “Order!” he bellowed. “There will be order in this courtroom!”
When the only sound was the quiet weeping of the victims’ families, Judge Stein continued. “In the matter of the People versus Marco and Steven Benedetti, murder of Timothy Sargant in the first degree, what say you?”
“Guilty,” the foreman said to more whimpering from the gallery.
“In the matter of the People versus Marco and Steven Benedetti, murder of Mark Domingos in the first degree, what say you?”
“Guilty,” the foreman said.
Michael rested his head on his hands and fought the urge to weep.
Guilty.
Thank you, God.
Pandemonium broke out all around him as the families of the victims rejoiced and the people sitting behind the Benedettis sobbed.
It took Judge Stein several minutes to restore order. He thanked the jury for their sacrifice and hard work. “Sentencing is set for one month from today. We are adjourned.”
Michael stood up to accept the congratulations of George Samuels, Tom Houlihan, the paralegals who worked with them, and the overjoyed families of the victims.
He was talking to Mr. and Mrs. Borges when out of the corner of his eye he saw Marco Benedetti lunge for the gun belonging to the sheriff deputy who was attempting to cuff him.
Michael screamed and everything shifted into slow motion.
Before the other deputies could reach him, Marco waved the gun erratically and fired a wild shot.
The people still in the courtroom dove for cover under chairs and tables. Michael, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to make his legs move. He watched, transfixed, as Marco grabbed one of the other deputies, held the gun to her head, and screamed for his brother to help him.
Michael glanced over to find Steven locked in an epic struggle with another deputy. Steven prevailed, wrestled the gun from the deputy, and rushed to his brother’s side.
Marco flashed a victorious grin at the people who remained in the courtroom before he shoved aside the woman he’d held hostage and zeroed in on Michael. “Fuck you, Maguire.” He aimed the gun at Michael.
Too surprised to even move, Michael locked eyes with Marco, and for a brief, sickening moment he found out what goes through the mind of someone who’s about to die.
Marco fired, and another shot rang out from behind Michael, who was suddenly flying through the air. He landed on the floor under John Tanner as one of the other deputies put a bullet between the eyes of Steven Benedetti.
With that final shot, the case of the People vs. Marco and Steven Benedetti came to a bloody and deadly end.
Juliana forced herself to stay busy at home while she waited for the local news to break into programming to announce the verdicts.
When she couldn’t sit still any longer, she paced back and forth, praying they would be found guilty.
While she wanted justice for the families of the three boys, she had her own reasons for wanting to keep the Benedettis in jail.
She opened the front door to ask the cops if they’d heard anything.
“Not yet. We’ll let you know as soon as we do.”
“Thanks.”
She went back inside and paced for another ten minutes before the local anchors came on with the news that verdicts had been reached in the Benedetti trial. They went live to their reporter on the scene.
Juliana sat down on the sofa and clasped her hands together in prayer as anxiety and adrenaline coursed through her.