The Price Of Redemption
A Magnum P.I. Fanfic
Followup to my fanfic Long Ago and Far Away posted at fanfiction.net
Not Complete. Yet...
"And in your professional opinion, doctor, would you say that the combination of drugs and emotional manipulation would have caused a psychotic break in the average person?"
"Most certainly."
Hopkins nodded sagely, "And would this person be a danger to other people? A lethal danger?"
"Yes."
"Thank you Dr. Kasset."
"Of course the average person would be more of a danger than a trained military person."
"No further questions your honor."
"I said the average person would be more dangerous."
"I said I have no further questions for this witness."
"You may step down Dr. Kasset."
"The defense would like to recall the prosecution’s witness your honor."
"Stay Dr. Kasset."
"Would you tell the court what you were trying to say before Mr. Hopkins so rudely dismissed you, please Dr. Kasset." Owen smiled, letting his eyes glide over the jury box and to the prosecutor’s table.
"I was saying that the average person off the street would be more of a danger after such treatment than would a military trained person."
"So, for instance, Mr. Hopkins would be more dangerous than say, a navy seal like Mr. Magnum in your professional opinion."
"Yes, much more so."
"And why is that Dr. Kasset?"
"Mr. Magnum has been trained for combat, he knows how to kill people and when. That training would keep him from just going off into a murderous rampage that the average person would have no such compunctions against."
"You’re saying that a person trained to kill would be able to differentiate between a need to kill and a want to kill? Even under such trauma as drugs and torture?"
"Yes."
"Fascinating." Owen raised his eyebrow and turned to the jury. "Isn’t it ladies and gentlemen? Military training would keep someone from killing another person unless they felt their own life was in danger?"
"Correct."
"So when Mr. Wright took the knife away from Dr. Marcum and stabbed him with it, he was doing so because he felt his life was in danger?"
"Absolutely."
"And if he had not felt threatened?"
"He would have disabled the man and left."
"Objection, your honor!" Hopkins called "the witness can’t know how the defendant was feeling or thinking at the time of the attack."
"Sustained, move on Mr. Carpenter."
"And how what makes you so certain of this?"
"I too am a former marine - honorable discharge after being wounded while in Iraq. I had the same kind of training as Mr. Wright; I know what I would have done."
"Why do you think he would have done that?"
"Mr. Wright is a good man, he’s worked with many charities, children’s organizations and he’s been an ambassador to numerous visiting foreign dignitaries."
"I call to the stand Mia Metcalf. Miss Metcalf how long were you a patient of Koana?"
"Almost seven months."
"How did you come to be a patient there?"
"My stepmother signed papers to have me admitted there after I witnessed the death of my father."
"That was a rather traumatic even for you wasn’t it?"
"Yes. I was talking to him while he stood on the balcony, he fell two stories onto a steel and concrete fence that bordered the swimming pool."
"You became hysterical and were admitted to Koana via Queens Hospital correct?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell us what you remember of your stay at Koana."
"I remember Mr. Wright sitting outside and talking to me."
"This happened after you’d been a patient for more than six months, is there a reason you don’t recall anything before that?"
"Dr. Marcum was keeping me drugged so I couldn’t think or talk."
"Objection your honor, my client’s son is not on trail here and cannot defend himself."
"Sustained. Strike Miss Metcalf’s statement from the record and the jury will dismiss the statement. Please continue Mr. Carpenter."
"It’s safe to say that because of medications you were being given by order of Dr. Marcum that you were incapable of any coherent thought or motion of your own violation?"
"Yes, Mr. Carpenter that is true."
"Are you aware of a reason that you may have begun to become more coherent after Mr. Wright arrived at the facility?"
"The medication I was being given was changed."
"And was it Dr. Marcum who changed your medication?"
"No, it was not. Mr. Wright switched out the medications in my medication container and I started receiving the medications that had been prescribed for me."
"So for six months you had been getting the wrong meds?"
"Yes sir."
"Six months of consistently being given the wrong medications, I’d say that was quite an unbelievable coincidence. The last day you were at Koana, what happened?"
"I was in my room, pacing around because my legs ached so badly."
Owen interrupted, "Why did your legs ache?"
"Because I hadn’t been walking for the last six month."
"Ah, continue please."
"One of the aids -- Marcus came in and grabbed me he had a gun and he dragged me to Dr. Marcum’s office. He kept shaking me like a rag doll and asking me what I was doing up walking around." She sniffled. "I was really scared. I was afraid he was going to kill me."
"What happened when you got to Dr. Marcum’s office?"
"Marcus shot at Mr. Wright and something was wrong with his gun, it wouldn’t fire again. Marcus let go of me and Mr. Wright locked the door so he couldn’t get us."
"How was Mr. Wright behaving? Were you frightened of him?"
"No, no I wasn’t afraid of him. He was very kind he asked me if I was okay and he said we had to get out of there before Marcus came back."
"Was he acting strangely?"
"Strangely? I don’t understand."
"Was he talking to people you couldn’t see, being threatening, yelling, anything like that?"
"Oh no he was very calm."
"Did Mr. Wright have a weapon?"
"He picked up the broken gun but that was it."
"He didn’t have a knife?"
"No. I didn’t see a knife."
"What did you do next?"
"There was a noise like someone was trying to break down the door so we ran outside. Mr. Wright took me to one of the gardener’s sheds and he opened it and helped me in and told me to stay there, that I’d be safe there."
"Did you feel safe there?"
"Not after Mr. Wight left."
"You were scared because he left you alone?"
"Yes. I was afraid that something bad would happen to him and then to me."
"But you stayed where he left you?"
"Yes, I hid there until the police found me. I’m certain that if Mr. Wright hadn’t hidden me I would have been killed that night."
"Thank you Miss Metcalf, no further questions your honor."
"Prosecution would like to cross examine the witness your honor. Miss Metcalf, how many days were you a patient at Koana."
"Almost seven months, I already told you that."
Hopkins smiled, "And during those months you were given the wrong medications and that kept you in a nearly comatose state, correct?"
"Yes."
"And how many days were you on the correct medication before Mr. Wright killed the doctor and Mr. Marcus?"
"Two."
"Two days and you feel that your mind had cleared enough to fully grasp what was occurring that night."
"You believe that you were not still under the lingering effects of the drugs inadvertently given you and that may have clouded your perception of the events?"
"I was perfectly lucid and completely aware of what was happening. They were going to kill me and make it look like Mr. Wright had done it." She replied angrily, leaning toward the lawyer.
Hopkins took a step back, glancing at the jury to see if they had noticed Mia’s reaction. "Do you have feelings for the defendant?"
"What are you implying?"
"Do you have romantic feeling for Mr. Wright?"
"I hardly know him; I’d say that I could not very well have ‘feelings’ for him."