None So Blind by Barbara Fradkin Read Free Book Online Page A

took four days to reach a verdict. Arguments must have been fierce, because they finally brought down a compromise verdict of second-degree murder. The Crown was going for first.”
    “That wouldn’t be punishment enough for her,” Sharon said. It was a statement, not a question. Opening her eyes, she ran her finger down her daughter’s plump, pink cheek.
    For a moment he found it difficult to speak. His inexpertly laid fire sputtered and he disentangled himself to prod it back to life. “The jury split over the notion of premeditation. The Crown argued that Rosten had strangled her in the course of a sexual assault gone wrong. Murder committed in the course of another crime is automatically first degree. But the evidence for sexual assault was pretty flimsy. The post-mortem found signs of sexual activity, but no lacerations or semen. It was enough for the defence to drive a small wedge of reasonable doubt into that argument.”
    “Evidence of sexual activity wasn’t enough?”
    “A condom was used. Rapists don’t usually bother with such niceties.”
    “They might if they’re a biology professor familiar with DNA.”
    “The Crown tried that argument. But she had a boyfriend too. Marilyn was furious. ‘How can they say it wasn’t rape,’ she said. ‘Jackie was half naked! Her hands were bound and a gag stuffed into her mouth! And how can they say it wasn’t premeditated? She was way out in the country on a remote logging road that wasn’t even on the map. She wouldn’t even have known that road existed, and in any case she had no car. He drove her there! If that doesn’t show planning, what the hell does it take?’
    “I kept trying to explain how the law and juries’ minds worked. A first-degree conviction carries a mandatory twenty-five to life sentence, which is almost as brutal and final as an acquittal. Second-degree allows the hope of parole at the discretion of the judge.”
    “So he gets to walk free some day, while her daughter never does.”
    “More or less. The judge gave him eligibility after fifteen years, which is pretty stiff, although almost the whole world wanted at least twenty. We’d just had a high-profile sex killer get off on a technicality because his previous rape history was excluded. So the public was in a lynching mood. But the judge was afraid of giving the defence more grounds for appeal.”
    “Was that likely?”
    “Oh yes, and they took every goddamn ground they could get. The case was largely circumstantial. The victim was last seen walking across campus with Rosten. One of her long hairs was found on the passenger headrest of his car. A car matching his was spotted in the vicinity the afternoon of her disappearance. The dirt in its tire treads was consistent with the dirt in the woodlot where she was killed. Rosten had dirt on the knees of his jeans and a small cut on his forehead. But there was no tissue under her fingernails and no evidence she’d fought her assailant before being bound and gagged, and as Rosten’s lawyer pointed out, the dirt could have come from his cottage near by.”
    “So the mother hit a brick wall.”
    “The whole thing finally wore her down. She hung on through all the appeals and motions, which dragged on for years. But I don’t think she had a restful night’s sleep or ate a full meal for years, and by the end she was a wraith. When she was finally admitted to hospital in complete collapse, every organ in her body had rebelled. For a few days, even her survival was in doubt.”
    Green fell silent, reliving those days sitting in the ICU waiting room during his off-duty hours, fending off Julia’s anxiety and Lucas’s drunken tears. Gordon was already overseas and not inclined to return home for his mother’s latest drama. Call me if she dies seemed to be his message.
    Green knew he should have seen the collapse coming. Marilyn had been fighting Rosten and the justice system with the fanaticism of someone running for her life. As