david sheffield
The written word has more meaning than most other types of communication.
You read a story, you remember the main plot/story lines & maybe it even gets you thinking about yourself. As a writer I am trying to get myself across boundaries and maybe along the way influence, even help someone in difficulties.
The motivation for me to write comes from edger Alan Poe, H. G. Wells & Steven King. Even some inspiration came from Terry Pratchet's Discworld. These renowned authors are some of what makes me write, and indeed influence my writing style.
email - sheffield.steel@hotmail.co.uk
Condemned
The idyllic mid sized townhouse in Monona , Wisconsin , was the scene and through the hallway into the living room, a mother and daughter are laying on the sofa. The television was playing cartoons. The air was still and the pair on the sofa were cold and still.
“I need to see them!” The lawyer quoted from the deceased's statement. The witness stand was occupied by a doctor
He looked up from the sheet on his desk, towards the witness box. “Is this not what you heard from Jacob Michael?
Was this what he was shouting while being held in a padded room?” the lawyer asked.
“Yes, we were ordered to keep him restrained. The police informed us that he was dangerous”, the Doctor continued with a sympathetic look towards the jury stand. “We found we could go into his room and sit, talk to him and comfort him as he broke down.”
“Would you say he could have been, as one of your staff put it in their statement, ‘crying like a baby' because he had just killed his wife of fifteen years and his five year old daughter? Was their last breath taken with unadulterated fear as he watched?”
The doctor shifted awkwardly in the witness stand. “Yeah, er”. The doctor paused. “While my staff was with him he told them what he had seen. He had described how they lay on the sofa”.
The lawyer shuffled the papers on his desk and read a few lines.
“Please doctor, can you tell me what he had said in these conversations?”
“Yes, but anytime a member of staff goes into a patient's room, a recorder in the wall records any sound made by the room's occupants. I believe the tapes have all that was said on them”.
“I understand that, but can you tell me what he told your staff?”
“He told my staff that he found his wife and his daughter in the living room”.
“Did he say if they were alive?”
The doctor bowed his head, flicking through the small notebook in his hand. He read a few highlighted lines and answered the lawyer reading from the book. “He said ‘He walked into the house and called his wife to let her know he was home', he said ‘he moved though the hallway into the living room. His daughter lay still in her mothers' arms on the sofa. There was blood every where. They were dead'”.
“What did he say after that?”
“Well at that point he broke into tears. That conversation was ended there”.
“Ok so for the benefit of the court,” the lawyer paused to read his notes and continued, “Could you tell me, what was the reason he was transferred from the police custody to your facility?”
“The police had acted on advice of a doctor, stating, ‘he was a risk to others and himself'”.
“In your professional opinion from what you saw in his behaviour and by his general appearance, would you have reached that same diagnosis?”
Doctor Grayson answered quickly. “No. I wouldn't have”.
“Thank you Dr Grayson”. The lawyer directed himself toward the judge. “No more questions your honour”.
The silent courtroom was now filled with hushed whispers which rose to muttering and exchanges of reactions between the public galleries. The judge brought down his gavel and hushed the room. The judge ordered the court retire for the jury to reach a verdict.
The courtroom rose as the judge entered. Once seated, he turned his attention toward the jury and asked the spokesman, “Have you reached a verdict in which you all agree?”
“Yes” replied the juror.
“How do you find the accused, guilty or not guilty?”
“Not guilty”.
The courts occupants began to talk and members of the press began phoning their respective newsrooms.
The judge ordered silence, told the users of the mobile phones to end their calls and proceeded to close the trial.
“Today this court and a jury of his piers have found Jacob Michael Not guilty on two counts of murder of the first degree. The State of Wisconsin has great cause to apologise to the family of Jacob Michael.” The judge paused. He looked around the room slowly, through the bifocals on the tip of his nose. He Continued, “I hope that the Michaels family can understand, in his previous trial neither the state nor the Michaels lawyer did not have the conversation tapes we do today. I don't think any amount of words will make this mistake easier for Mr Michaels' family, but I do hope one day this verdict will bring a little comfort. No-one can ever be certain that any person sentenced to death and that sentence carried out, maybe innocent. We can only pray that such mistakes will not happen again”. The judge announced to the court that the case was closed. The judge stood and left the courtroom. His head bowed.
all written word from this artists -
You'll Never Walk Alone Again.pdf
