Page 147 of Precise Justice

“We’ll adjourn for today,” Foster announced while Camille was leaving the witness stand.

She went straight to Robbie who stood to greet her. With tears in her eyes Camille apologized several times.

“No, no,” Marc and Jennifer both told her. “We should’ve brought it out during our questions,” Marc said. “These things happen. Don’t worry about it.”

Maddy left with Camille to drive her to the airport. There are flights between Minneapolis and Chicago about as often as city bus service.

“How much did that hurt us?” Carvelli asked. He was back in attendance with Paxton O’Rourke.

“I don’t know, what do you think?” Marc asked Paxton, an experienced trial lawyer herself.

“A little, maybe but not too bad. I think you still made a crack in reasonable doubt. From what I’ve seen, on that score, you’re ahead on points. Probably by quite a bit.”

Marc asked Carvelli, “How are the girls doing?”

“Fine, in fact, they’re eager. Ms. Moore here did a great job of preparing them.”

“Good, tomorrow, have them here by, say, ten o’clock,” Marc told him.

“I’m sorry, what time? You’ve told me this now eight times,” Carvelli said.

“Did it sink in?”

“I’ll see to it,” Paxton said.

FIFTY-THREE

“If it please the court, the defense calls Angela Carlson-Maher,” Jennifer called out.

It was almost 10:30 on Friday morning. The court was running late because there had been a huge argument in chambers this morning.

Tony Carvelli had found two trans girls who were willing to testify. Both had been processed into the transgender affirming treatment by the same route as Robbie. Both had been pushed along by domineering mothers and the administration of Margaret Sanger Middle School. Both had expressed serious reservations about it which were ignored.

They were also willing to testify that they had written threatening letters to Dr. Friedman. Of course, the letters were done after the fact and never acted upon.

The prosecution argued vehemently, and with justification and persuasively, against it. Their testimony was irrelevant to the issue of guilty or not guilty. Too prejudicial and insufficiently probative.

Since they were Jennifer’s witnesses, she argued for the defense. Three hundred complaint letters held three hundred suspects. The defense had not only a right to bring this to the jury’s attention, they had an obligation to do so. Robbie was fighting for her life. There were other suspects that Lucy Compton admitted the police ignored.

The argument went back and forth in Judge Fosters chambers for almost an hour. This was long after Foster should have allowed it. In the end, Foster took the safe, non-appealable by the defense route. He agreed to let one of the two trans women testify. Since both were going to tell the same story, it was a win for the defense. By the end of the day, it would be a moot point.

A tall, almost six feet, heavyset, unattractive woman was escorted into the courtroom. The large woman in her mid-twenties was sworn in and took the stand.

Her birth name was Andrew Maher and she had legally married another trans woman. Angela provided half of the surname Carlson-Maher.

Jennifer spent three hours with both Angela and her wife, Ava, the evening before. Uncertain as to whether either of them would be allowed to testify, Jennifer prepared them both.

“What was your birth gender and your name on your original birth certificate?” Jennifer asked getting to it right away.

“I was born a boy, my birth name was Andrew Samuel Maher, after both of my grandfathers,” she answered.

“How old were you when you began to think you were a female in a male’s body?”

“When I was around eight or nine. But it wasn’t my idea. I mean, somewhere, sometime probably when I was even younger than that, I may have said something to my mother. It was when I was eight, I think, she started telling me I was a male in a female’s body.”

Jennifer was able to prod her along with short, open-ended questions. Angela, at first obviously nervous, quickly became relaxed and told her story. It was almost an exact repeat of Robbie’s.

A domineering, progressive mother, submissive father, took total control of Andrew’s life. The only significant difference was Andrew’s athletic skills. He was never a star, but at an early age he displayed athletic competence. No matter, his mother saw a girl.

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