Cal.e.'s Korner

C.: Cal.E’s Korner now continues with the penultimate chapter of d.c. scot’s

                                       MURDER OR MERCY?

Micheal 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 Micheal for the first time in his life.

Micheal 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, Micheal’s father turned to a life of crime to support his habit. He as in and out of jail so much that the state decided that Micheal would be better off in foster care. That’s where he met his foster brother, Tellez Torres. Tellez was a few years older than Micheal, 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 nevigated him through the headaches nursing school causes some people.

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. Tellez and Micheal also shared a passion for outdoor activity, Tellez knew. Consequently, Tellez asked Micheal to move in with him. After a few months, Micheal 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. Micheal was more interested in how the family of the people that Tellez stayed with were paying for a nurse to be with a dying loved one than the job his foster brother was doing, though. He was intrigued at 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.

“Okay, we’ve heard the evidence, and the judge has left it pu to us to decide this man's fate. Do we think that Joaquin is guilty of murder? Yes or no?”

“It’s not that simple,” Janice Plumley objected. “We’re deciding a man’s fate on circumstantial evidence-“

“And the longer this drags out, the longer you get to ogle a big, handsome stud with arms like tree trunks,” remarked Jeremy Leone.

He was anxious to get back to his farm and ranch work. The paltry sum of money he was collecting for being on the jury wouldn’t pay his rather large bank loan, and he didn’t trust his hands to do the ranch work properly if he wasn’t overseeing them.

“You just don’t like Joaquin, because you think that he also killed his abuelo,” Janice objected.

“Look, Alfredo was in a lot of pain when I went to see him. He was a tough man, but I could see the pain in his face. I know that boot prints from boots that would have fit Joaquin were in both houses, but the D.A. had no reason to pursue that case, because  he wasn’t running for re-election like he is now. If an autopsy had been done, it might have cleared or convicted Joaquin. The poor kid was so strung out from the speed he was taking to try to go to class and practice and play football at the J.C. that it was pathetic. He had to run the ranch when his abuelo got sick, in addition to going to class and playing football. And, that shoulder injury he had was what got him hooked on narcotics, I’m sure. Poor Joaquin…”

Jeremy’s voice trailed off and he began to think, “Look, even if Joaquin did kill his abuelo and his father figure, Jim Payne, it was mercy, not murder in both cases if you ask me. The poor kid just didn’t want someone else to suffer the way he was suffering with all that was going on in his life. I don’t think that a man should be put in prison for life for trying to relieve someone of his pain. I vote not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.”

C.: Well, that's the wrap

for today folk.s. That's the end of today's cat ta(i)le.

Please join me, your host, Calculating Einstein Katt tomorrow for the conclusion of d.c. scot's MURDER OR MERCY?