Crypto Murders: Catharsis

“My client knows he was wrong. He knows that what he did to these women is horrendous and ugly and wrong. But we must look at his mental state. He was abused, he was raped and this connects to his behavior.”

“If you have any kind of conscience, you will be lenient with him. He just wanted to see beautiful women dressed up and like a child playing with dolls, he set them up like a playhouse. He didn’t set out to harm anyone. But his mental disorder, manic schizophrenia and a personality disorder. He should be hospitalized instead of rotting away in solitary confinement or on death row.”

“If there ever was a chance for you to be good, decent human beings, now is your chance to say he is not guilty so he can get the help he so desperately needs. I yield my time, your honor.”

The prosecutor displayed a grave face. “My opposition, the defender of this miscreant, beseeches you to be ‘good, decent human beings.’ Was the defendant a good, decent human being when he killed Mr. Howard Helm, Helene Wang, Ling Li, Caitlin Wong, Jenny Otang, Denise Zhao and held hostage Bao Jing, and Meredith Zhang? It’s amazing they didn’t see death as well. We thank the law enforcement officials who rescued them from what would have been certain death.”

“This man is a criminal. He deserves the swift hand of justice to have him put on the table where three chemicals combine to take him swiftly out of this life. He needs to be punished for these particularly vicious crimes. Nothing further, your honor.”

Then the room fell deathly silent for a good ten seconds. Then Judge Tina Fiennes looked at the jury.

“We the jury find the defendant guilty on all charges.”

“This was one of the worst murder cases I have ever had to preside over in my career,” She then turned to the defendant. Mr. Archibald Fetterman, you do not deserve to spend one more second in freedom. What you have done is destroy and damage lives. It would be fitting for you to go to the electric chair or the firing squad or experience a dose of lethal injection. But I will not do that. You will be strapped to a table, heavily sedated and you will be only allowed restroom breaks and one hour of sunlight on a concrete slab with supervision. You have no rights because you didn’t respect the lives of these women. The ones you killed and the ones who still remain were and are career women. They were just trying to find their way in the world. They used their cryptocurrency skills to advance their monetary lives. You stole and tried to steal that away from them with your stolen money from the wealthy man. Not only was he wealthy, but he also was extremely productive like these women you preyed upon in all of this. I am going to make it certain that you never leave the hospital for the criminally insane.”

The court officials allowed Fetterman to stand. He walked out of the courtroom on his own power. Meredith and Bao hugged each other, crying. The survivors felt a sense of catharsis. The feeling of weight had lifted from their shoulders. They shuttered with intense emotion as their family members shielded them.

With all of the media circus, Kim had just sat in the back of the courtroom and considered that justice had been served…to an extent. The mental disorder part seemed too pat to believe. Kim got up and removed herself as well.