The Determined Juror (standard:fantasy, 2049 words)
Author: JoeD	Added: Oct 31 2006	Views/Reads: 3667/2273	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Things do not go exactly as planned for Eddie in a murder trial.

2,038  words 

THE  DETERMINED  JUROR 

by 

Joe  DeMonte 

Edward R. Flint knew he was doomed.  He stared at his image - 

what he could see of it - in the grime covered metal mirror above the
tiny 

sink in his cell at the Clifford County Jail.  He brushed his sandy
colored 

hair with his fingers.  He had no comb.  His lawyer, M.P. Schwartz, was 

supposed to have brought him a comb two days ago but he forgot to do 

so.  The trial was into its third day and he still had no comb. 
Schwartz  was 

a bumbling fool in Flint's opinion, and he felt certain the judge and
jury thought 

so, too. 

Flint splashed some water on his face.  The sink shook and made an 

obscene sound as he released his finger from the cold water button. 

äHey, Eddie, you want supper?“  a uniformed guard called out to him 

from the metal opening in the cell door. 

äYeah, I guess so, “  Eddie replied, not even bothering to turn around 

to view what was on the plastic tray that the guard placed now on the
slab. 

He sat on his bunk and proceeded to devour all of the meal, not even 

sure what it was.   The brown stuff tasted vaguely like meat loaf but he
couldn't 

be certain.  As he sipped lukewarm coffee from a paper cup, he thought
more 

about Schwartz and the case itself. 

M.P. Schwartz had been the only attorney he could afford.  Now, after 

having seen Schwartz in äaction“ these past two days, he realized just
how 

little his money had bought.  This was a capital case in a death penalty
state, 

and Eddie had no desire to be executed.  This death penalty business had
been 

weighing heavily on his mind ever since that night  last January  when
he had 

shot and killed Emily in the bedroom of their home.  It was now
November, and 

he was on trial for murder. 

Eddie finished the coffee, laid back on his bunk, and mulled over 

the day's courtroom events, concentrating mostly on his lawyer's useless
legal 



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