Interpretations

A short three days after being sequestered, the jury came back with a verdict. The court reporter then recalled the District Attorney and the Defendants teams back to the courtroom.

The bailiff came into the room, stood in front of the room and announced, "Everyone please rise for His Honorable William T. Framm." The judge walked into the courtroom on cue and sat down sat his desk behind the dais. "Everyone please be seated." The bailiff announced as he walked towards his desk to the right side of the bench.

The Judge rapped his gavel on the counter and looked at the jury who had only been deliberating for two days. "Madam Foreperson, have you come to a decision on the case of The County of Orange versus Jeffery Raven?"

The woman sitting in the front left seat rose and said, "Yes sir, we have."

"Will the defendant please rise?" He paused until Raven and his attorney were standing. "What say you Madam Foreperson on the charge of Murder in the First Degree with Special Circumstances?" The judge continued with the utmost of decorum, knowing that there was an army of people from the press watching at this moment.

"Your Honor, in the matter of case number 97-7489, we the jury find the defendant Jeffrey Raven, guilty as charged on the charge of Murder in the First Degree with Special Circumstances." She stopped with the growing volume of noise within the courtroom. Raven had collapsed into his chair and Rebecca was trying to get him to stand back up.

The judge rapped his gavel on the bench numerous times and yelled, "I’ll have order in my court or I’ll have the bailiff toss everyone out of here!" He then banged the gavel on the bench several more times for effect. "Please continue, Madam Foreperson, what say you on the charge of Rape?"

"Thank you Your Honor." She replied. "Furthermore, in the case of Jeffery Raven, we have found that the defendant Jeffrey Raven is guilty on the charge of Rape."

"And what say you on the charge of Kidnapping?" Framm asked.

"We, the jury, find that the defendant, Jeffrey Raven, is guilty on the charge of Kidnapping." She replied.

"Thank you Madam Foreperson. We’ll reconvene next Monday to adjudicate the sentence on the defendant during the penalty phase of the trial." He announced, noticing that the Foreperson was still standing. "Madam Foreperson is there a question?" he asked.

"Sir, I don’t know if this is within guidelines but we agreed upon the verdict without question and sir, well . . . "

"Spit it out!" the judge barked.

"Your Honor, we feel that this monster should be given the death sentence." She announced and then sat down. The room erupted into a total uproar. It took the judge almost fifteen minutes to quiet the room again, at which point he made it clear that he would find everyone in contempt of court if there were another interruption.

Rebecca immediately jumped up and yelled her objection. Framm overruled her and then she yelled out, demanding that he declare a mistrial. The judge almost told her no but decided to tell her that he would take it under advisement.

Nothing like this had ever happened in his courtroom before with the hundreds of murder trials that he had presided over, including the first-degree murder cases that ended up with a death sentence. The judge sat and thought about what he was going to do. Although the jury was supposed to go through a penalty phase of the trial, it was obvious that they already had made up their minds. He then decided that he needed to call for a recess and consult with the presiding judge of the district before things became more complicated. He banged his gavel, ordered the bailiff to sequester the jury and called for a thirty-minute recess.

Raven was in total shock that his life had all but just ended. He had no idea why this was happening to him but it was and this woman was asking for his death. Unfortunately, he was the only person in the room that did not know that Judge Framm was cornered into this very precarious situation by the Foreperson asking for the death sentence without the chance of the trial going through the penalty phase. He was dead.

Sitting behind Raven was his pregnant wife Teresa who did not know if she should cry or yell out in anger. After listening to the attorneys perform their closing arguments, she was starting to have some doubts about her husband since he had supposedly worked all of those late nights.