If only he had not proposed to Terrie that very day,
If only they had not gone to the four seasons hotel,
If only they had not gone there at 8:33,
If only they did not meet the drunk men,
If only they hadn’t taken a narrow empty short-cut to the four seasons hotel that night,…
These thoughts were running through the mind of the person who had been the victim of miscarriage of justice as two well-built officers were taking him to his cell. “I didn’t do it” said FelaxÖ shouting and pleading for innocence he was slapped yet again. “This is the last time I wish to inform you Mr. Caprio that once more you trouble us, I will make sure you serve double your sentence in this prison. I hope you understand”.
His reputation, his innocence and mostly his freedom was taken away from him by two men, who were complete strangers. He was thrown into the cell of a man who seemed to be a professional gentleman and another man who seemed to be a body builder. “I didn’t do it” he whispered to himself as tears began rolling from his eyes. The gentleman smile, “You can’t do much about it, I guess you should learn to live with it. By the way, my name is Alex, pleased to meet you”
Alex had turned out to be a very friendly gentleman. Within hours they were friends. His other cellmate was a man of few words but he too was cheerful. They had explained to him the proceedings that took place in prison. They had also informed him that he could choose every week what type of leisure he would want and what type of job throughout the week he would be doing. FelaxÖ decided to be a barber as there were none in prison and job had just fallen vacant. As a barber he would get paid 25 dollars per normal hair cut and 35 dollars for trimming. It was decent pay for 8 years he thought as he quickly calculated that by the end he would have about $2500 by the end of his sentence. Once he was out he would take revenge against Monty and Santino, whose names he had just learnt during the trial.
“You’re lawyer has come to meet you” said the officer.
FelaxÖ had learnt after his short meeting with his lawyer that they would need fresh evidence before 7 months time and Terrie will be helping him with that. If they found no evidence then there would be no escaper for FelaxÖ.
FelaxÖ had explained the whole story to his cellmates who felt bad about him being at the end of such brutal injustice. He had also learnt about how they ended up in prison.
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3 months later one of his cell mates had informed him that Santino had ended up in prison for attempting burglary, and that he kept a diary of all the incidents that had taken place in his life which were of some significance. They felt sure that he would have written about the incident where his best friend murdered Dave.
Santino had become a sweeper in prison. FelaxÖ had decided to change his profession to a person who collects letters and gives them to prisoners. During the second week of his job he made a letter of his own which read as:
Dear Santino,
I am sorry about what happened to you and express sorrow from all your friends. I have one request for you, can you please send me the diary that you have made as I would like to read about your life and write a biography on it.
Thanks,
Monty Paesar
Quite a lame way of getting hold of getting hold of someone’s diary he thought. He even doubted that Santino will give his diary.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FelaxÖ was reading the diary and highlighting all the evidences possible proving that he was not guilty. He would give the diary to his lawyer next Sunday when they would meet. Only 5 days were left for his trial to take place.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Did you murder Dave on Friday the 13th of November 2007? You may pleasd either Guilty or not guilty” asked Judge Hawthorne
“Not guilty” replied FelaxÖ
As suggested by you’re Lawyer, new evidence will be brought ot court to prove you’re innocence, so without further ado I call Mr Inzaghi to bring out the new evidence.
“Thank you, my lord. I do have new evidence but let me remind the jury of the incidents that took place near the Four Seasons hotel.” Mr Inzaghi Said
There will be no need for that as the jury has already read the case in detail” retorted Judge Hawthorne.
“Sorry my lord, I will bring out the evidence” Said Inzaghi as he pulled out a diary from the front pocket of his jacket. He waited until the jury had seen the diary, “This my lord, is a diary written and kept by Santino, one of the people who witnessed the murder and lied under the oath of the court to save his friend who murdered Dave”
“Is there any credibility for this diary my lord?” Asked Santino’s lawyer
“For that we must ask Santino, before we proceed, and since he is serving a sentence, he will be interrogated in tomorrow” Said the Judge
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Santino put his hand on the holy bible and recited,“ Under the oath of the court I will say the truth and only the truth”
Did you, Santino, at anytime in your life posses a diary where you wrote what happened everyday in your life? asked Mr Inzaghi
“Yes”
From when did you start writing he diary?
“From the age of eleven sir”
“When did you stop writing this diary?”
“I stopped writing the diary when I received a letter from Monty to give him my diary”
“Did you then give him your diary?”
“Yes I did”
“Did you mention the incident which took place on the 13th of November 2007 in this diary?
“Yes I did”
“Is this that very diary in which you wrote all your accounts?” Asked Mr Inzaghi after reproducing the diary
After staring at the diary in shock for about two minutes, Santino managed a “No, this is not my diary”
“Is that so Mr Santino? I want to make sure, can you please write the sentence, ‘I was very happy that the police did not suspect us and we got away with it’
Santino wrote this down, and handed it over to Mr Inzagh who held it up for the jury and the judge to see
“This my lord, it the same handwriting in the diary” Mr Inzaghi said
The judge Frowned and said, “Mr Inzaghi I would expect to see more concrete evidence”
“In due time my lord” Said Inzaghi as he continued “Santino as a kid what was your favourite hobby?”
“Collecting stamps”
“Do you still pursue such a hobby?”
“Yes I do”
“Which is the most valuable stamp according to you, which you still collect?”
“The Queens Counsel Stamps, there are different editions to that stmp which come out every week.”
“Is that right Mr Santino?” asked Inzaghi
The judge frowned at Mr Inzaghi and said “please Mr Inzaghi, do not deviate from the topic”
“Yes my lord, I will be producing the required concrete evidence in due time” said mr Inzaghi he continued “Mr Santino, are these stamps available every week, for example will I be able to purchase last weeks stamps at today?”
“No, Mr Inzaghi”
“My lord, if you’re lordship allows me to, may I introduce a witness?” asked Inzaghi
“Yes you may, Mr Santino please take your seat” said the Judge
“My lord I call Mr Hagensacker” The witness confidently walked into the witness box
“Mr Hagensacker, are you the sole publisher of the Queens Counsel stamps?
“Indeed I am” said the witness
“Do you recognise these stamps?”
THE END
