Cal.E.'s Korner

C.: And now, part seven of D.C. Scott's

MURDER OR MERCY?

When Joel left, Joaquin took a shower and popped open the first of several beers. It took a while and more than a few beers for the large man to become inebriated because he was a large man with a high tolerance to alcohol. When he fell asleep, though, he could only dream about the possibility of being tried for and convicted of the murder of his employer. He also wondered if The State would try to convict him of murdering his abuelo. He shuddered at the consequences that a guilty verdict would bring him. 

“No, I don’t think that he would have a key to the cabinet,” Judith stated. 

“Thank you for your time, Ms. Payne. You should receive a call by this afternoon. The D.A.’s office should tell you that you’re free to go about your business once I turn this information over to them.”

-Michael Morales looked around the jury room that had been provided by the court. As he asked if anyone wanted to be the jury foreman, all eleven of the other people in the room shook their heads. “I’ll do it, then.” It was as if fate had smiled on Michael for the first time in his life.

Michael Morales had moved to this small ranching community outside of Houston when he’d turned eighteen. He had been raised in foster care after his mother passed away. His father was so distraught that he began to increase his habit of taking recreational drugs to the point of feeling numb. When his money ran out, Michael’s father turned to a life of crime to support his habit. He was in and out of jail so much that the state decided that Michael would be better off in foster care. That’s where he met his foster brother, Tellez Torres. Tellez was a few years older than Michael, so he took the part of a big brother.

Tellez had always wanted a sibling, but his parents had been killed in a car wreck when he was five. Tellez had tried desperately to save both of his parents before the EMTs arrived, but he was only five and not well-versed in life-saving procedures. However, the EMTs were impressed with his efforts. As a result, Tellez set his sights on becoming a paramedic. He took a slight detour, though, when he met and fell in love with a girl who had her sights set on being a nurse. That relationship ended when they were both in their second semester of nursing school. By that time, Tellez had set his sights on being a nurse.

Tellez met an instructor who was fifteen years his senior in nursing school. She encouraged him to use his kind heart to be a palliative care nurse. When he graduated, the instructor was going through a divorce, and she volunteered to help Tellez study for his NCLEX exam and find a job. He followed her to her hometown, where she had moved after the divorce was finalized, and that led to a relationship. Six months into the relationship, Tellez decided to follow his heart and buy an engagement ring. To cover the cost of the ring, a wedding ceremony, and a decent honeymoon, Tellez decided that he needed a roommate. That would defray some of his living costs so he could save some money. His foster brother had just turned eighteen and needed a place to stay since his father had never relinquished his parental rights and the state would no longer pay his foster parents to feed, house, and clothe him. Consequently, Tellez asked Michael to move in with him.

After a few months, Michael found a job that paid a living wage. He worked hard and earned a substantial raise. After two years, Tellez still hadn’t worked up the nerve to give the engagement ring to his intended.

Tellez felt comfortable discussing his work life, in generalizations, with his roommate. Michael was more interested in how the family of the people that Tellez stayed with was paying for a nurse to be with a dying loved one than the job his foster brother was doing, though. He was intrigued by the process that some families had to go through to get the insurance company to pay for a continuous care nurse. That led him to become interested in becoming a lawyer to help such people, so leading a jury would be a good way to learn the ins and outs of the trade, he reasoned.