Spill

Please tell. I could seriously use the distraction right now.

I want to hear all about it.

I am quite ready for the Summer of Grieving and Loss to be over. Grandfather, friend, watching friends lose loved ones, grandfather's cat, the end of a promising relationship (broke up with M, don't want to talk about it), Robin Williams, Gaza, Iraq, crazy violence in my city, young unarmed black men getting shot to death…

I just want to sleep for a week.

smonster, I am right there with you. And it's weird to say that while at the same time doing things that are fun -- it's been a full and enjoyable summer, but so full of loss that's so hard to carry.

I understand completely, smonster. I want to bury my head in the sand. At least the flow of clips of Robin Williams can still bring a smile between the tears.

Hugs to you, to all of you with crazy losses this summer. It is, indeed, too damn much.

it's been a full and enjoyable summer, but so full of loss that's so hard to carry.

Yes, this exactly.

OK, I'll spill details. Feel free to ask questions. This is 2 days of testimony condensed.

warning. This is a criminal case about brothers beating each other. If you are sensitive to these kind of things, please skip. I certainly do not want to trigger any bad memories for folks.

To keep it a little easier, a few abbreviations:
D= defendant
V=Victim (younger brother to the defendant)
M= mother to the D & V.
P= Prosecutor
DefAt = Defense Attorny

The D is 31, the V is 29 years old. Both large guys. The D is more muscular, the V a little less so, but not flabby/obese by any stretch. But D is taller, and stronger.

M lives in a 2 bedroom trailer home. She moved in a few months prior to the incident. She charectorized the 2nd bedroom as "the spare room". The brothers charectorized it as D's room. M didn't want either of her boys home, due to previous incidents at their old residence. Apparently (it was discussed, P wasn't happy that the info was slipped, but no evidence or details were presented) their was a restraining order on V from previous incidents at the old resident.

D is home on probation. It was revealed he has a number of priors that were burglery, robbery, and petty theft (that was elevated to a felony level due to priors) Specifics were not given. D has served time. D has been living with his mom, "on a temporary basis" since around November.

The day before the incident, V arrived at the residence. He had apparently been kicked out of a sober living home. No details given. DefAt kept harping on this point discretely, that the V had a fifth of vodka that night. Known drunk. etc. etc.

Incident:
Some time in the afternoon, D girlfriend shows up. Unknown reasons, she didn't testify. They are having a disagreement in D bedroom. D says she dropped by to pick up something, and yell at him for stupid stuff. Those two walk off to the bus stop so the gf can go home (or where ever). While at the bus stop, they continue to argue. The bus stop is across the street from the entrance to the mobile home community, which apparently has a guard shack. The guard shack calls M to say the discussion is getting heated, and the cops might be called. M sends V to bus stop to get his brother, so he doesn't get arrested again. D says he ignores V, because he's been drinking, and when he is like this, he doesn't pay attention to him. M finally arrives with the car (she has great diffiuclty getting around, plus the car was having trouble starting, or some such). Anyhow, when M arrives, D pays attention, and the family get in the car and head back to the home.

Apprently, while at the bus station, another person was waiting for a bus. This guy had a knife. He apparently "laid hands on D, wanting to pick a fight". V says D was pestering him, trying to solicit his help to fight this stranger. V did not want to do this. So D was pestering V about being a pussy. And V was calling D a pussy for being chicken to pick a fight with stranger, but willing to pick a fight with his brother. [editors note: this section is really questionable. No evidence was presented about this other guy. D didn't testify to other guy. And M didn't see other guy. V was the only one who mentioned it. P brought it up on the first day, but didn't really establish how it all connected. When we were deliberating, we guessed it was to show the D was in a fighting mood. ::shrugs::].

As if that section wasn't foggy enough. Here is where it gets even foggier. There were 3 folks in the residence, and they each give a different order of events.

What they agree on is, the V was sleeping in M's room, on a mat on the floor. D was laying on the mat talking to M, who was sitting in her recliner, which looked to be right next to the mat. V walks into the room and wants to go to bed.

This is where we have story divergence.

M says the boys were goofing off in the mat, and it got messy.

D says there was some words, but he got up and went to his bedroom.

V says the incident started here. There were (continued...)

( continues...) words, that led to rough housing, that led to D pinning V and pummeling him. When asked how long was D beating him, V responded "felt like forever. 3 or 4 minutes".

(highlights of V side of the story)

V says the D finally stopped, and left room. V got up and went to the bathroom to clean up blood and assess injuries. At that time, had puffy eye, bleeding from eye, chipped tooth, split lip. V says he was at sink, and D forcefully entered the tiny bathroom, and started pushing V around. V landed against the shower doors, which collapsed. V ended up on the ground. V says D unscrewed the rubber from the plunger, then repeatedly beat him with the wood stick from the plunger. Eventually D stopped beating him, left the bathroom, and went to the dining room. V went to the kitchen, where M was with a cordless phone. V grabbed phone from M. D grabs the phone from the V and says "you're not calling anyone, bitch" (incidently, this is the power point error, the P had "you're not calling anyone bitch" on multiple slides. One little comma changes things a bit. Whatever!). Anyhow, grabs the phone from the V, and throws it into the living room, or some such. D starts hitting V again in the dining room/living room area. Pushes V to ground in Dining Room, and starts kicking him in the face. Eventually D stops, and goes to his bedroom. V got up and pursued him. Found D laying on his bed mat (apparently only M had a bed). Got on top of D and tried to beat him. Glancing blows about 6 of them on the D. Then the D bit V to get him off "He's a biter, he's bitten me a lot in the past". Pushed V off of him, and picks up a 2' sports trophy and tries to beat V with it. V says he was hit with trophy base several times. V escapes and goes outside, where M is. She grabbed other cordless phone (first came apart when tossed) and called 911. V sat on the curb. D came out of the house, and kicked V one last time, and then the police arrived.

OK, that's the V version of the story.

Mom was the next witness. She did not see everything. She was sitting in her recliner in the bedroom. She has trouble moving around. Her version of the story has it starting in her room, then moving to the spare room, then the bathroom. M says she was hitting Ian on the back trying to get him to stop beating his brother when they were in the kitchen/dining room area. She also said D spit on the V when they were outside. M says flat out, D is bigger and stronger. If she had to pick who would win a fight, it always has been, and always will be D.

Next was the police officer tesitmony. When he arrived, all three were outside. He observed the D was "amped up". Observed no injuries to the D (although he did have a gash on his left thigh, and bruised/bloodied knuckles). The V had a towel to his face. Left eye was swollen. Lip bleeding. On cross examination, the DefAt showed the officer was 8 months on the job. Questioned how he gathered evidence. Officer said it was by the book. [editorial: I think evidence gathering sucked. The pictures taken were difficult to determine what was where. Pictures of walls with blood on it, but no way to tell what wall. No detail pics of weapons. No frame of reference for how big/small items were. I dunno, maybe I watch too many proceedural shows with little ruler thingies in the picures. Labels. Etc.]

With that, Prosecution rested.

The DefAt did her opening remarks. Made a big tado that her client wants to testify, and will. That he does not have to, but he is innocent, and wants to.

D takes the stand. They start by discussing prior incidents where the V was abusive to M and/or D. The second incident was what prompted the restraining order. Due to the incidents, M moved to new house. V was not living there.

On the day of the incident, D says it happened more like this: D laying on V bedroll. V lays next to D. D gets up. V says "Next time I'll make you get up". D says "I'd like to see you try, I'm not a 60 year old lady that you can push around" (refering to earlier incident at old residence). This pissed (continued...)