Thirty Days of Text – Day 11 – Jury

September 15, 2009 at 8:27 am (Short Stories, Thirty Days of Text, Writing) (angry man, courtroom games, drama, jury, lots of swearing, manslaughter, murder, screenplay, script, Short Stories, Thirty Days of Text, trial)

Sorry guys, but major language warning here . . . having a bit of a play with a script/screenplay format . . .

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Blasphemous Rumours

INTERIOR. SMALL INTERVIEW/MEETING ROOM WITHIN COURT COMPLEX, SPARSE, UTILITARIAN FURNISHING. MARCUS MATTEO IS SEATED AT TABLE WITH BRIEFCASE OPEN IN FRONT OF HIM AND SEV BAKAS PACES THE ROOM.

SEV: They’re killing me out there. Understand? They’re ripping shreds off me and what are you fucking doing about it? Huh? What are you doing? You may as well be on the prosecution side for all you’ve done for me out there!

MARCUS: Sev, please. Calm down.

SEV: How can I calm down? How? Their fucking pathologist is full of shit! His evidence was deliberately misleading and what did you do about it? Here’s an idea, Marcus, how about you grow some fucking balls and cross-examine the bastard properly! Now the jury thinks she was killed with a weapon! They’re going to be looking at the report, seeing the words “blunt force trauma” and they’re going to think she was hit over the head with something and they’re going to think “oh, that Sev Bakas! He plays that wife-beater on that soapie on the telly! Well, he must’ve done it! He’s the bad guy!” . . .

MARCUS: Look, we’ve discussed this. We’ve got to stick to the game plan . . .

SEV: The “game plan”?! What fucking game plan?! Sure, we might have a game plan but it seems to go out the fucking window when you’re out there in front of the goddamn judge. I mean, what am I paying you for, Marcus? I could represent myself and do a better fucking job than you. Is that what you want?

MARCUS: Sev, mate . . . look, just sit down. The weapon thing is just a ruse. We’re going to blow that one out of the water: the simple fact is there is no weapon and yes, they’re going to try to insinuate there was one but we’ve got that covered. We’re countering with our own forensic evidence, and most of what they’ve got is circumstantial so everything they’re saying we can undermine . . .

SEV: But who’s going to believe that? They’re going to see, ooh, forensic science, police in overalls and crime scene photographs! Ooooh, it’s frigging CSI! The real thing! The CSI guys are always right, aren’t they? That’s what they’re thinking out there!

MARCUS: Look, I know it’s hard for you, but you need to remove yourself from the media for a moment. That stuff doesn’t apply in a real life court of law and we’re reminding the jury of that fact at every opportunity . . .

SEV: You’re kidding me, right? You’re fucking kidding me! You’re a fucking barrister and you’re that naïve? They see this stuff on TV and their minds are already made up. I mean, when they see me, they don’t see Sev Bakas. They don’t see the guy who has to live with the image of his girlfriend dead on the bathroom floor, who is still in fucking mourning for her, who has to put his whole life on hold and lived through this hell – for what? Nearly a year? – while they put him through the wringer. No, they don’t see Sev Bakas: they see Andy Mawson. They see the character. They see the arrogant, abusive arsehole that everybody loves to hate and the prosecution are playing on that!

MARCUS: They’ve been warned about that. You know that.

SEV: But it’s not good enough! The thought is already in their mind. The prosecution basically said, right off the bat, that I play a character that hits women, therefore I have the ability to do the same in real life. That was their opening argument . . . Look, Marcus, just call our pathologist. I don’t give a shit about your game plan right now. I know, I know, you’ve got some overarching scheme to the whole thing but you’ve got to get that idea that she was hit out of their minds. She fell. I didn’t kill her. No one killed her. She fell. And while the prosecution’s planting lies and twisting evidence . . .

MARCUS: . . . all they’ve got is circumstantial, they can’t stand on it and we’re going to get most of it thrown out anyway . . .

SEV: But that’s not the point! Just call our expert now. Please, Marcus, do something! (door knock) Please . . . ?

MARCUS: Alright, alright. I’ll make an application and we’ll get our path in. You alright to go back in?

SEV: (calming down) Yeah, I’m good.

MARCUS: Good. (both exit)