Chapter 16 - The Verdict
The jury deliberated for nine hours.
James and I waited inside a small courthouse room.
Lily remained at home with his sister and two security officers.
She was improving.
She could walk across the living room while holding someone’s hand.
Her speech was clear.
She still tired quickly.
No verdict could return the months she lost.
No sentence could erase the sound of her head striking tile.
But accountability mattered because silence had protected Gerald for decades.
The courtroom filled when the jury returned.
Gerald stood beside his attorney.
Patricia sat in the rear under guard.
Travis and Vanessa were not permitted near us.
The clerk read the first count.
Guilty.
Aggravated child abuse.
Guilty.
Assault with a dangerous instrument.
Guilty.
Reckless endangerment.
Guilty.
Conspiracy to abuse a child.
Guilty.
Witness tampering.
Guilty.
Attempted custodial interference.
Guilty.
The remaining counts followed.
Gerald did not react until the judge ordered him remanded.
Then he turned toward me.
“You did this to your own father.”
I stood.
“No.”
“You did this to your granddaughter.”
Deputies moved him away.
Patricia began sobbing.
For once, no one rushed to comfort her.
Sentencing occurred three weeks later.
Victims from the correction room submitted statements.
Travis’s sons described fear inside their own home.
Vanessa’s daughter wrote that adults watched and called pain love.
A former neighbor revealed Gerald hit him when he was nine.
Caroline spoke about the cost of being disbelieved.
I spoke last.
“My daughter took a soda.”
“She was three.”
“She apologized.”
“Gerald decided her apology did not matter because the purpose was never teaching.”
“The purpose was power.”
The judge sentenced Gerald to thirty-eight years.
He would be nearly one hundred if he completed the entire term.
Patricia received twelve years after her cooperation was considered.
Travis received eight years for abuse, corruption, and conspiracy.
Vanessa received five years, with part suspended after testimony and mandatory treatment.
Howard Mills received twenty years for the attempted abduction plan.
The criminal case ended.
Then the state announced a grand jury investigation into Hutchinson Construction.
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Gerald’s control had collapsed.
The damage beneath it was still being counted.
