Chapter 9 - The Trial and Sentencing
The criminal trial was a media spectacle, but it was incredibly brief.
The evidence I had compiled was insurmountable. The prosecution played the audio recordings of David trying to cancel Chloe's medication. They showed the forged court documents that had kept Rachel away for four years. They traced every single stolen dollar from the insurance payouts directly to Helen’s country club dues and David’s gambling debts.
David’s defense attorney tried to argue that David was suffering from stress and made "poor administrative errors." But the final nail in the coffin came from Chloe herself.
Via a closed-circuit television feed from a child advocacy center, Chloe bravely told the judge how her father had thrown away her pills, told her to stop faking her seizures, and threatened to send her to a mental asylum if she complained to her teachers.
When the verdict was read, there was no dramatic outburst. Just the heavy, final thud of the judge's gavel.
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Helen was sentenced to seven years in federal prison for her role in the money laundering scheme. She sobbed uncontrollably as she was led away, begging the judge for leniency because of her "frail nerves."
David was sentenced to twenty-two years without the possibility of early parole. Medical neglect, child endangerment, and massive federal wire fraud had guaranteed he would spend the best years of his life in a concrete box. He looked back at me as the bailiffs took him away. His eyes were empty. He had finally realized that he had never been the smartest person in the room.
