Chapter 37
“Has he been told?” Hojo whispered to me. He raced into the courtroom on my heels. He was still tying his tie. A group of reporters set up along the back wall.
A moment later, the deputies led Jamie Simmons in.
He wore a suit, but his hair was wet as if he’d just been pulled out of the shower before transport.
Bennett Cutler was already at the defense table.
Simmons leaned over and whispered something to Cutler.
Then Simmons scanned the back of the courtroom.
Claudia Luke and Erin Simmons were obviously not present.
“I don’t know,” I said. Cutler straightened, then turned toward me, scowling. He whispered something back to Simmons then walked over to me.
“My client wants to know what you know about his wife’s condition,” he said. “What happened? The sheriff has been less than forthcoming.”
“I don’t have all the answers,” I said. “But Erin made a suicide attempt. She swallowed a lot of pills. She’s improving, but when I left the hospital, she was starting to give limited responses to stimuli. That’s a good sign.”
“You were with her? Who else was there?”
“Her daughter, her father. There was …”
Cutler’s attention went to the courtroom doors. George and Hayden walked in together. Cutler frowned at me and charged over to them.
“On it,” Hojo said. He got to George and Hayden before Cutler did.
There were harsh whispers. “Unauthorized!” I heard Cutler say.
“All rise!”
Judge Saul took the bench. Cutler was still trying to harass George and Hayden. Hojo physically pushed him back. Every reporter in the room took note of it.
“Mr. Cutler?” Judge Saul said. “Is there some sort of problem?”
Cutler shook his head and he stormed back to the table.
“Your Honor, it’s come to my attention that my client’s wife is being harassed by members of her family against her wishes.
Against Mr. Simmons’s wishes. She is incapacitated in the hospital.
But Mr. Simmons still holds her medical power of attorney.
He’s still her next of kin. While I know this is unusual, I’d like to move for a restraining order against them. ”
Judge Saul barely looked up from her notes.
“And I know you’re aware those aren’t issues I have jurisdiction over.
I’m sorry to hear about Mr. Simmons’s wife.
I wish her nothing but a full recovery. But those are matters you’ll have to take up with the probate court.
Are we ready to proceed with the matter at hand? ”
“We are, Your Honor,” I said.
George and Hayden moved into the row behind me. George had his arm tightly around his granddaughter.
“I demand to know what these people have been telling my wife!” Simmons shouted.
Judge Saul looked up, startled. It shocked me too.
Simmons was about to hear whether he’d been convicted of aggravated murder.
He was worried about what George and Hayden were telling Erin? He didn’t ask about her condition.
“Enough, Mr. Simmons. Mr. Cutler. Can you control your client? The verdict can be read in his absence, if not.”
Cutler gripped Jamie Simmons’s arm. Simmons gritted his teeth, but kept quiet.
“We’re ready, Your Honor,” Cutler said.
“All right. Bailiff, can you please bring in the jury?”
The side door next to the jury box opened. Each member of the panel filed in. Most of them looked at Simmons as they made their way to their seats.
I felt a tap on my arm. Sam was there. “She’s awake,” he whispered. “I’ve got a deputy with her now. She asked for it.”
“What’s going on?” I mouthed.
“Mr. Foreman,” Judge Saul called out. “Have you reached a verdict in this matter?”
“We have, Your Honor,” the foreman said. It was juror number seven. The retired plumber Hojo thought hated Dane Fischer.
Judge Saul’s clerk walked over to the foreman and took the verdict form from him. She brought it up to the judge. Vivian Saul slid her readers up her nose and read the form. She folded the paper and handed it back to the clerk.
I’d known the clerk for a long time. Janine Bosko was famous for her stoicism. You simply could not read the woman’s face as she held countless defendants’ lives in her hands before she read out their verdicts.
“Is your verdict unanimous?” Judge Saul asked the foreman.
“It is,” he answered.
“Read it into the record, please,” Judge Saul instructed Janine.
Janine brought a fist to her mouth and coughed into it. Then she unfolded the paper and lowered the microphone to her level.
“We, the jury in the state of Ohio versus James Baldwin Simmons, Case No. G-83010-CR-23109, on Count One of the complaint find the defendant not guilty of aggravated murder.”
I didn’t dare breathe as Janine read the verdict on the second charge.
“On Count Two of the complaint, we, the jury find the defendant James Baldwin Simmons guilty of murder.”
A rush of heat went through me, settling in my feet. For a moment, it felt like my legs didn’t work. I gripped the table. Hojo grabbed my arm and shook it. Behind me, Sam put a hand on my back.
“Oh God,” Hayden whispered. From my peripheral vision, I saw George Luke sink to the bench. Sam leaned over and whispered in George’s ear. They didn’t understand what they heard.
Murder. I hadn’t proved premeditation. But he was guilty of murder. It meant he would still be in prison for the rest of his life. I would see to it.
“What did she say?!” Simmons shouted. “You tell me. Right now. What did Erin say?!”
“Mr. Simmons, I’m warning you,” Judge Saul said. “You will be silent or you will be removed. Ms. Bosko, please continue.”
There were other counts. Kidnapping. Abuse of a corpse. Obstruction of justice. One by one, Janine read the jury’s decision.
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.
“Mr. Foreman,” Saul said. “Is this verdict unanimous?”
“It is, Your Honor,” Juror number seven answered.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Simmons. He glared at George Luke and his own daughter. Cold hatred in his eyes. Only it didn’t seem to be about the verdict itself. Instead, he was more concerned about whatever he thought his wife might have said to them, or vice versa.
“All right,” Judge Saul said. “The jury is discharged for now with this court’s gratitude. Deputy Stryker, can I trust that you’ll ensure the members will be escorted safely to their cars?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Stryker answered.
“This case has garnered significant media attention,” Judge Saul continued.
“You may be asked for interviews when you leave this building. Whether you choose to grant them is entirely up to you. Counsel, we will reconvene for sentencing in one week. Mr. Simmons is remanded back into the custody of the Maumee County Sheriff. We stand adjourned.”
She banged her gavel. Two deputies stepped forward.
“You stay away from her,” Simmons shouted. “You hear me? She doesn’t need you. She knows who you are.”
Hayden was closest to the aisle. George hadn’t picked himself up off the bench yet. But as Jamie Simmons passed by his daughter, he spit at her. In full view of the retreating jury.
Sam sprang into action. He got between Hayden and her father. The deputies jerked him forward away from her. Hayden didn’t move. She kept her back straight as they led her father out. When the door closed behind him, she finally sank next to her grandfather and wept.