Page 88 of Noah

The judge nodded and looked down at Jamal. "I'll ask you to stick to the facts, please."

It was the turn of the defence to cross-examine. I let him have the floor.

"Jamal, yes?" he asked.

Jamal nodded.

"Jamal, did you see who stole the computer equipment?"

"No, it happened overnight when I wasn't there."

"So … you have no way of knowing who committed the crime, correct?"

"No, sir, I don't." Jamal slumped his shoulders.

The judge banged his gavel. "Okay, let's get the accused up here."

The defence attorney turned to his table. "I'd like to call our first witness, Tommy Duncan, to the stand." The accused, Tommy, rose and made his way to the seat beside the bench.

"Tommy, how did you come to be in possession of that computer equipment?"

"A guy sold everything to me. It was a good deal. I jumped at it."

"You were never inside the youth centre? You didn't break in?"

"No, sir." Tommy shook his head. "I'm not a thief."

Well, that was a blatant lie. Tommy had a record of burglaries, but I was going to let it slide. I hoped my prepared set of questions would convince the judge that Tommy was guilty.

"Crown," the judge said. "Your witness."

"Almost every item of that computer equipment was visibly destroyed. It was worth nothing, yet you would like us to believe that you purchased the pile of junk. How much did you pay and what were you planning on doing with what was essentially parts?"

Tommy frowned at me. I had looked up what the parts of that equipment might be worth. Tommy likely hadn't. What he said next would prove that he had no intention of selling the computers and printers for parts … or that he was a very bad businessman.

I hoped the judge would see it as the former.

"Five hundred bucks," Tommy said finally.

"Your honour, I'd like to submit into evidence the approximate value of the usable parts of the equipment that was recovered." At best, the parts were worth one hundred fifty dollars.

The judge read the evidence sheet and raised his eyebrows at Tommy.

"I'd also like to submit printouts of the defendant's social media posts that clearly show he is an aggressively homophobic person, who brags about how he's taught those queers a lesson."

The defence attorney grumbled, but none of this was new to him. He knew his client didn't have a leg to stand on. It was just a matter of sitting it out.

I turned back to Tommy. "No further questions for the defendant."

My closing argument included how I believed the crime was motivated by hate that the accused had a history of committing against the LGBTQ community. The reason the equipment was damaged was because he wanted to deprive the youth of having the resources.

The judge leaned back in his seat. "I'm satisfied. Will the accused please stand?"

Tommy knew he was going down. He stood with his arms crossed.

"I find the accused guilty as charged. Eighteen months probation and fifty hours of community service. Twenty hours of those hours in service to the LGBTQ community."

Tommy whispered fuck under his breath.

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