Chapter 13: The Closing Arguments & The Verdict
By Friday afternoon, the courtroom was packed to maximum capacity for closing arguments.
Arthur Sterling made a desperate, final plea to the jury, painting Victor as a desperate businessman who fell victim to a corrupt doctor's bad diagnosis and a chaotic series of misunderstandings. But his words sounded hollow against the weight of the trial's revelations.
District Attorney Sarah Chen stood before the jury box, holding the heavy steel crowbar that Rosa had used to break the coffin lid.
"Victor Vance did not make a medical mistake," Chen said, her voice ringing clearly through the silent courtroom. "He didn't panic. He didn't mourn. He carefully calculated every step of his wife's murder, down to the choice of a seal-tight, air-locked casket that would guarantee her quiet suffocation six feet underground. If not for the extraordinary courage of Rosa Perez, Emily Vance would be a memory rotting in a marble vault today."
She placed the crowbar on the evidence table with a loud, metallic clang. "Send a message that no amount of wealth or power can buy a license to commit murder."
The jury deliberated for less than two hours.
When they returned, the foreperson, a stern-faced woman in her fifties, stood up to read the verdict.
"On the first count of attempted first-degree murder, how do you find?"
"Guilty."
"On the second count of conspiracy to commit murder..."
"Guilty."
"On the third count of fraud and falsification of legal documents..."
"Guilty."
Victor closed his eyes as a wave of gasps and weeping broke out in the gallery. Judge Eleanor Vance wasted no time, ordering Victor to stand.
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"Victor Vance, your actions were marked by a level of cruelty that defies human comprehension," Judge Vance stated, her voice icy and uncompromising. "I sentence you to life in prison without the possibility of parole, to be served consecutively with twenty years for conspiracy and fraud. You will spend the remainder of your natural days inside a concrete cell—where you will have plenty of time to reflect on the darkness you tried to inflict on another."
As the officers cuffed Victor and led him away through the side door, he looked back at Emily one last time. She didn't look away. She watched him disappear into the shadows of the holding block, free of fear at last.
