A Dark and Stormy Night

It looks like the most likely outcome will be getting everything settled in this Inquest. Then redoing my senior year of high school, reapplying for scholarships thus wasting a year of my life for a maybe, and end up a year behind my friends.

The best outcome is this tutor, if I can learn everything that I need to. I can challenge all my GED courses and all college entrance exams. But that might still leave me screwed on my scholarship. This might not allow me to get into school, unless I want to graduate with a crushing load of student loan debt.

Mr. Chopin said not to worry, he's burning through trees. He really is too, he's got so many papers filed through the court system I think that they've had to hire two extra clerks. I think that I'm suing everyone including several governmental agencies. So let's see, I'm suing; Benjamin Spalding, David Spalding, Principal Lane, the Mountain Central High school board, City Police department, our fair city itself, State Board of Education, Judge Lane and Mr. Chopin said when it all shakes out there might be a few more.

So I guess I'll try to believe Mr. Chopin when he says to not worry about money for school. Kelly and I'll just keep hitting the books, listening to the tutor, and trying not to worry.

It's Kelly and I that have changed; we've always been pretty tight. I don't know if I'd say best friends, but pretty close too. As we've grown older we've become each other's sometimes dates. Kind of a friend/casual date if neither of us has a significant other at that time. In the last year or so we've also become each other's FWB, not romantic just for fun and games.

I really thought that I might lose her, and that did something to our relationship. I know it did to me, for a while I worried about Kelly's. I hoped she hadn't changed because of some kind of hero worship, or maybe a subconscious gratitude, but I guess we'll see.

Two weeks before the Inquest something happened that made me think of those things 'behind the scenes' mysteries. With Judge Lane gone the only one left was Judge Thorn. He was supposed to be the Judge presiding anyway. Then he 'retired' early, two weeks before the Inquest. Judge Williamson was a retired federal judge that they brought in special.

In all the meetings with Mr. Chopin pre-inquest. We covered a lot of possibilities and did a fair amount of practice on testifying. I told him what my ace-in-the-hole was, and drew out the whole 'tree', with names included. He laughed, asked me why I'd been sitting on it this long. I just smiled at him.

An Inquest is not supposed to be a 'trial', it's meant to just find facts to see 'if' there needs to be charges filed and a trial held. This set up looked like a trial to me. Judge in his tall box, a court recorder, a bailiff. Then there were the two attorneys, one prosecutor, two defending, hell it even had a witness box.

The evidence was to be entered first, piece by piece. Each attorney got to inspect each piece before it was admitted into evidence. As soon as my 'statement' came up Mr. Chopin challenged it. The prosecution brought in their 'expert' that had validated it. Of course he said, yes it was my signature, yes he'd check to make sure that the sheet was the original. That he worked as the police handwriting specialist for fourteen years.

Mr. Chopin didn't ask him any questions but wanted to call in his own 'expert'.

"Please state your name and title please."

"Doctor David H. Porter, special instructor, FBI Training Academy, Quantico, Virginia."

"So if I get this right, you teach FBI specialists."

"Yes Sir, for about the last twenty years."

"Will you give us your opinion on this document?"

"Actually I had a chance to inspect it last night at the police station."

"And what's your opinion of it?"

"The document is the original but the signature is faked, not forged, faked."

"They're all one piece how can the document be good and the signature be faked."

"With all our Modern technology we're seeing a lot of these types of tricks and this one's pretty basic. In short this signature is not signed by a person; it's signed by a photo printer...

The noise in the audience raised several levels.

"It's actually fairly simple to do; all you need is a computer, a scanner, and a photo quality printer. You scan in the signature you want, and then scan in the document you're going to put it on. Put them both on screen of the computer; align the signature where you want it. Clear the original document from the image so all you have left is the signature in the correct place. Then put the actual original document in the paper tray of the printer, on the computer say print document. The printer will feed the original through as paper and the image will be printed on it, in the correct place."

"Are these types of tricks easy to spot?"

"Most of these tricks using a printer are fairly easy to spot. Usually it's the ink that's the easiest to spot. Printer ink looks flat and monotone. Where ink signed by a pen can go from shiny to flat, change thickness several places all in the same signature. Thickness is usually one of the dead giveaways on printer ink. The second thing that was wrong on this document was alignment."

"Usually the place to sign something is provided a blank line. The signature is signed on that line forming the bottom of the letters on a flat plane. Most people who do this trick remove the original line from the image of the signature. It's 50-50 whether to remove the line or not. If you leave the line and the printer or paper isn't in perfect alignment you'll get a double line or a crossed line. But if the printer 'is' perfect you can use one line to align the other."

"If you remove the original line it's easier to put together and less obvious if they're misaligned a little, but it's also harder to get close. That's what happened here they removed the line but didn't get the base plane of the signature in line with the document it was being put on. The young man has a neat concise writing and all the letters sat on the line. When the signature was transferred the first letters were on the line, but as the signature went on they got further and further away from that line, it was easy to see."

"So in your opinion this is a falsified document. But the officer who testified before said that it was real, so is there a test that will prove that it's false or good?"

"Yes of course, printer ink is a different chemical formula then pen ink. A simple chemical test will tell which it is. But in my opinion a simple inspection with a microscope will make it apparent."

"Well thank you Doctor Porter. Will you do the court one more service?"

"Sure."

"Please read the name of the officer who said that he witnessed the young man actually signs this falsified document."

"Detective Benjamin Spalding."

AND everyone in the audience started talking to everyone else.

"Mr. Chopin, who's your next witness?"

"I think that we need to talk to Mary Steward."

Mary was brought in and swore the oath to the bailiff.

"Can you tell us your name and where you go to school?"

"Mary Lee Steward and I go to Mountain Central high school."

"Did you witness an incident between Kelly Franks and Jimmy Hansen on the day Kelly was stabbed?"

"Yes I did."

"Will you tell us about it?"

"It was just before lunch time. Several of us were standing in the hallway getting ready to go into the lunchroom. Jimmy came up behind Kelly and said a nasty remark to her. She spun around and slapped his face as hard as she could."

"Did you hear what Jimmy said to her?"

"Yes I did, I guess I have to say it here don't I? He...he said that he was going to fuck her ass until it bled. Then she hit him."

"What did Jimmy do?"

"Hun, he fell on his butt. Then took off running with a couple of guys chasing him."

"What did Kelly do?"

"She, Ellen and I went to the girl's restroom. She was crying and we tried to comfort her."

"Did you girls do anything after that?"

"Yes, we both told Kelly that she should go report this to the principal. She said that she already had, several times. She said that he always just blew it off as a 'she said-he said' matter, and girls had to realize that sometime boys said crude things and that it was just words. But Ellen said that all three of us should go and report it because we all three heard what he said."

"So did you girls do that?"

"Yes we did."

"What was the principal's response?"

"Pretty much just what Kelly told us that it would be. He told us that girls just had to realize that boys could be vulgar and that was just part of being a boy at this age. Because he wasn't going to punish Kelly why should he punish Jimmy for his part in this misunderstanding?"

"Whoa, wait a minute. Principal Lane was going to punish Kelly, why?"

"He said that one student shouldn't strike another student, and if he had to punish Jimmy then he'd have to punish Kelly."

"Would it be safe to say that you girls felt intimidated then?"

"Well we didn't want to get Kelly in any trouble."

"No further question your honor."

"Any questions Mr. Prosecutor Parks?"

"Not at this time Your Honor."

"I think that I like to talk to Principal Lane. But he's at the school at the present time."

"We'll take a short recess while they call in Principal Lane, 30 minutes everyone please."

Well Principal Lane took 45 minutes to get here, and Judge Williamson wasn't very happy. But he was here and sworn in.

"Please state your name and occupation for us."

"Jerome Paul Lane and I'm Principal of Mountain Central High School."

"Jerome Paul Lane, Jerome Paul Lane...that's interesting. Do you know a Stephanie Ann Lane?"

"Yes she's my sisters' daughter."

"Do you remember an incident involving her and Steven Foster?"

"Vaguely I think."

"Oh, come now Principal Lane surely you remember an incident where you expelled a boy for three days for calling Stephanie a cunt."

"Your Honor I object to this language, and this line of questioning. I don't see that it has any relevance to this Inquest."

"Yes, Mr. Parks I'm kind of wondering too, Mr. Chopin, is this wasting our time?"

"No Your Honor, if I can continue for a few more minutes I hope we'll all see the relevance."

"A few minutes Mr. Chopin."

"Principal Lane, I bet you were pretty sick of that feud between Kelly Franks and Jimmy Hansen weren't you?"

"Well high school kids especially girls always have a lot of drama around them."

"Hold that thought Principal Lane. I'm going to do a little record clean up for a moment. I know that Your Honor realizes this but I bet some of the rest of us are a little confused. You see the newspapers and everything say that Jimmy Hansen was killed, everyone's heard that right, and everyone's heard that Jimmy Hansen was killed. But all the police reports say that James Paul Lane was killed."

"But you know the truth of that, don't you Principal Jerome Paul Lane. You know who James Paul Lane aka Jimmy Hansen really is don't you?"

"Yes he's my brother's son."

"Ah yes, your brother's son. Stephanie Lane who's your sisters' daughter complains about a boy once, and he's expelled for three days. Jerome Paul Lane do you remember how many times Kelly Franks complained of sexual harassment by James Paul Lane, to you, the Principal of Mountain Central high School?"

"I don't really remember, but a few I suppose."

"Would it interest you to know that someone kept track?"

"Well I said that high school girls always need a little drama around, so I guess that maybe some little girl put pencil to paper. But who's to say if it's right or wrong."

"Ah yes, marks on paper by high school girls, but what if it's not a high school girl. What if it's an adult woman, who's a member of the staff of Mountain Central High School? Furthermore what if she's the School Secretary who sits right outside your office every day, Mrs. Deanna Wilson."

"She watched and logged each of the 27 times that Kelly Franks came to the Principal of her school for help and was turned away. Because her stalker was your nephew. She started watching because just two weeks after the start of their freshman year, Sept. 18th, a young girl runs from your office crying. She feels the need to find out why, and then the need to help is some small way."

"27 times in the 36 months that a student goes to school in the four years of high school."

"Stephanie Lane came to her dear uncle once and got the boy a three day suspension. Kelly Franks comes 27 times and James Paul Lane gets nothing. Even for threatening anal rape, in front of witness. Then you threaten to have her disciplined for slapping a boy who said he was going to anally rape her. Jerome Paul Lane what was she supposed to do? Turn to James Paul Lane and say, 'thank you, but no thanks'?"

"No further quest...no wait I do have one more thing. Dear Uncle Jerome how far is it from where Jimmy Hansen lived to the field where everything happened that night?"

"I don't know maybe twenty miles."

"I checked its 26 miles to that field from Jimmy's home. It's less than one mile from Kelly's home. Do you think that if dear Uncle Jerome had told Jimmy that what he was doing was wrong and send him home. That he might not have come those 26 miles back to attack Kelly, and might be alive today. But don't answer that. Give your brother the answer to why his son's not alive today."

"No further questions Your Honor."

"Any questions Mr. Prosecutor Parks?"

"No Your Honor."

"Your Honor, may I ask the court's indulgence for a request."

"Go ahead Mr. Chopin."

"I ask this only for the court's expediency. I would like to bring Kevin Palmer up on the stand, and have him give ONLY his accounting of happenings on that night, with neither the Prosecutor nor myself asking questions. Then call in the Police Evidence Examiner to tell us what the evidence of this case shows. Then the Police Medical examiner to relate his findings."

"I would like to do this say, side by side comparison of all the evidence in this case. One right after the other while they're all fresh in our minds. I believe this will expedite the further questions and the courts understanding of the facts."

"Do you have any objections Mr. Prosecutor?"

"No Your Honor, but with the expectation that Mr. Palmer will be available for questions later?"

"Oh yes Your Honor. If more questions are desired without a doubt Kevin will be happy to answer them."

"Very well Mr. Chopin have Mr. Palmer take the stand."

"Please state your full name and what you do."

"Kevin David Palmer and I am a student at Mountain Central High School."

"OK Kevin, just tell us of what you saw and happened to you that night."

"Well I was lying on my bed at home when a text came up on my phone. It was from my friend Kelly asking for help at farmer Ted's pond. The text had the first word 'help' in all capital letter, that means she's yelling out that word. The last word which was also 'help' was also all in capital letters, plus followed by several exclamation marks. I took that as if she meant it as screaming for help."

"I had a really bad feeling about this so I didn't get anything from my house, no jacket or shoes, nothing more than what I'd been wearing in bed. I ran out of the house, jumped the fence into the field. Farmer Ted's field then ran as fast as I could toward the pond. When I got close I hollered for Kelly but I didn't get an answer."

"So I started to circle the pond, running and trying to look everywhere all at the same time. I tripped and fell, as luck would have it. I found Kelly lying right in front of me. She wasn't moving and then I smelled all the blood. I saw the wound on her chest first, as I went to put pressure on it. I saw the one on her neck spurt up in the air. I knew that was very bad, so I went to cover that first and I got my handkerchief on it."

"It was just a few seconds later that I must have heard or felt something. Because I ducked and felt something like a club swing by my head then slam into the back of my shoulder. Then I guess my training took over and I struck back. The training I had said; low strike with hand, followed by high strike with hand, then mid strike with knee. Just a basic quick return attack, 1-2-3 almost an automatic reflex."

"The low strike struck him in the groin. As I was trying to stand, the high strike went too high and just bounced off the top of his head. On the mid strike with the knee, he was bending over and falling back too fast, and my knee struck his face. That dropped him and he just lay there. Then I smelled blood again, remembered Kelly and went to help her."

"I got my handkerchief back on her neck and started ripping my tee shirt up to put on her chest wound. When I saw her phone lying down in the grass. I picked it up and called 911 told them that they had to get here fast, gave them the address and dropped the phone. I stayed there and put pressure on Kelly's wounds until the EMT's got there. They got IV's put in Kelly's arms just before the police showed up. A whole bunch of drama, Officer Ridge found the knife, Kelly's phone, and the tree branch that had been the club. He took a bunch of pictures; the ambulance from Saint Clair got there and took Kelly. I went with Officer David Spalding and Officer Glen Ridge to the police station. Officer Ridge went to take the evidence to the crime lab; Officer Spalding took me to interrogation room 3..."

"That's good Kevin; we'll get to some of the rest later. So ladies and gentlemen that's Kevin's account of what happened."

"Your Honor I think that we need to hear from Rodney Dunn next please. I believe that he's here Sir."

"Well Bailiff please bring him in."

"Please state your full name and what you do."

"Rodney Daniel Dunn, I'm the Evidence Supervisor for the police department."

"So you're the man who had to analyze these items?"

"Yes Sir."

"Well let's go through each of these. This is the knife found at the scene. What can you tell us about it?"

"That knife was checked for finger prints and type matched for blood, also for DNA match on the two blood types found."

"Two blood types? I was told that there was only one type found?"

"Well yes, mostly that's right. Almost all the blood was type and DNA matched to Ms. Kelly Ann Franks. But as quite often happens with these types of knives that don't have a finger guard. The wielder's hand will slide down the handle from the force of the stab, thus cutting themselves. That small amount of blood found on the handle end of the blade was type and DNA matched to James Paul Lane."

"Anything else we should know about the knife?"

"Yes Sir, we finger printed the knife and found that all the finger prints that were on the knife belonged to James Paul Lane. Furthermore we cleaned the knife up and put it in among other possessions of Mr. Lane's and had his Mother identify them when she came in to identify his body. She identified the knife as belonging to her son and as one he carried with him every day in a belt holster."

"Would it be safe to say that this is the knife that stabbed Kelly Franks, and that James Paul Lane was the only one who held it? Furthermore he cut himself with it as he stabbed Kelly."

"That would be a pretty safe assumption."

"OK, let's move to these cell phones, what do they have to do with this case?"

"The smaller blue phone belongs to Kelly Ann Franks, the larger white phone belongs to Kevin David Palmer. The why of their concern to this case are two text messages and one phone call. The phone call is the 9:47pm 911 call that summoned Police and EMT's to the 1641 Rawlings lane address. The two texts are the one from the blue phone, Kelly's, to the white phone, Kevin's"

"The text on both read; HELP farmer Ted's pond. HELP!! Both help words are capitalized and the second has two exclamation marks following it. The text on Kelly's phone was in the outbox; the text on Kevin's phone was in the inbox. Kelly's phone was picked up and put in an evidence bag at the scene. Kevin's phone was picked up and bagged by Officer Browning, and was taken from his bed sheets at the Palmer home."