Sorry for the delay

Okay did you watch the video of not here is is again

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Again this video is kinda important in order to understand the chapter. It explains how in the Ja-America system attorneys can pull surprise evidence, witnesses all that stuff. But the surprise evidence is the important thing to know prior to the chapter. Anyway Enjoy!
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3rd Person's POV
Today was the day today was the trial everyone was nervous especially Matt this was the first time he would go against his parents. They all walked up the courthouse steps dressed as if going to a wedding Riley and Stephanie were the only ones wearing dresses (Stephanie wore a empire dress and Riley wore a strapless dress) Mark, Jack, Matt, and Shane wore tuxedos with shawl collars and Nate, Felix and Cameron wore plain colored t-shirts with long blue jeans. Nate grabbed Matt's hand "Ready?" He asked "No but at the same time yeah." Matt said. They all walked in the courthouse where they met Ashley "Hey you guys are here." She said greeting them "Hi my name's Cameron I'm here for moral support." Cameron said "Nice to meet you Cameron. Now if you guys can go and sit in the first row of benches with Sargent Harlow that would be great. The trial will begin soon so please keep your phones silent and let's treat it as practice okay?" "Got it." Matt said the walked in the courtroom the jury was already there waiting half of them looked at Matt and gave him looks of sympathy. The seating order was Sargent Harlow at the first end then Shane, then Riley, then Jack, then Mark, then Matt, then Nate, then Stephanie, then Felix and finally Cameron who sat at the second end.

"All rise for judge Collins." An officer of the court said everyone rose "You all may be seated," the judge said, it was the same one from arraignment. "This court is now in session." She said as she hit her mallet. Ashley stood up "Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Today where are here to decide what happens to two people. Two people who are wanted criminals, two people who abused their son, two people who killed hundred. So I'm here to prove that they don't deserve to be out on the street. So please for the sake of their son find them guilty." Dante soon gave his opening statement (Too lazy to write.) After the opening statements the witnesses and victims were called. "I call the first witness Shane Harlow." Ashley said Shane took the stand

"Ms. Harlow What were you doing on the night in question?" Ashley asked "I was walking in the neighborhood." Shane said "Were you alone?" "No." "Who were you with?" "My friends Mark, Jack and Riley." "Did you hear anything on your walk?" "Yes I heard a gunshot." "What did you and your friends do?" "We investigated." "And what did you find?" "An old house." "Did you enter the house?" "Yes." "What did you find?" "Broken furniture, picture frames. I started to take pictures on my phone. Mark found a picture and showed it to Jack. We then heard a noise from the kitchen." "What did you do?" "Each of us hid somewhere on the first floor." "Where did you hide?" "I hid in a closet that had a mirror door." "Did you hear anything while you were hiding?" "Two voices but I don't know what they said. Sorry." "Can you tell who the voices were if they talked again?" "Yes. I've even seen them-"

"Objection the witness was hiding in a mirror door she couldn't have seen them!" Dante yelled Shane turned to the judge "Your honor after the two left the room I heard the back door opened and closed. I went to go lock the door and when I did I saw both of them looking around." She said "Overruled." The judge said "After you locked the back door what did you do?" Ashley said bring Shane's attention back "We started exploring the house." "What did you find?" "Upstairs has broken furniture like the first floor. But we found a blood trail that lead the basement when we got to there..." Shane took a deep breath "Take your time." Ashley said "When we go to the basement we saw Matt. There was blood everywhere on the ground. Jack started panicking Riley wrapped the graze that was causing him to bleed. I called for an ambulance then we heard banging from upstairs." "What did you do?" "I came up with a plan that I would lead them out the house giving the others a chance to get out." "And how did you lead them out?" "I unlocked the door when they weren't looking, then I threw a piece of kibble at the door, next I showed them my phone and said 'You wouldn't want this getting to the cops do you?' Then I ran out the house towards the park. While I was running I threw my hoodie and heard gunshots behind me. I thought I was going to die." "What did you do once you got to the park?" "I hid in a bush and waited for them to leave. When it looked like the coast was clear I went out. The I felt someone gripping my neck and pushing me to the ground." "What happened next?" "I felt my arms being pinned to the ground and a voice asking me 'Where's the phone?'" "What did you do?" "I lied saying 'I don't know' trying to by myself some time. But the voice asked again 'Where's the phone? You either tell me or...' then I felt a throbbing pain in my shoulder. Next thing I know I'm waking up in the hospital." "Your witness." Ashley said Dante stood up and made his way to the center of the floor. "Ms. Harlow or do you prefer Shane?" He asked "Either way is fine." Shane said "Alright Shane, why did you and your friends investigated?" "Out of curiosity." "You said that you lead them out of the house. Why?" "I wanted to protect my friends." "Why didn't you wait for the cops to come? Why did you wait for the ambulance? Tell me are you suicidal?" "What no your crazy. I'm not." "Really because here in your school record from Maryland you didn't join any clu-"

"OBJECTION!!" Ashley yelled "The witness's school récords from another state has no relevances to the case." "Sustained. Stick with the case Dante." Judge Collins said "You still didn't answer my question. Why didn't you wait?" "I didn't want to face my brother at the moment." "Why?" "We had argument a few hours before about how reckless I was getting." "Is that why you went for a walk?" "It was one of the reasons." "What was the other?" "I wanted to clear my mind after the carnival incident that happened weeks ago." "No further questions." Dante said going back to his table. After Mark's, Jack's, Dodds', Riley's and Matt's testimonies it was Matt's parents' turn . "Anymore witnesses Ashely?" "No more your honor." "Dante?" "Yes I call Walter Pattrick to the stand." Walter went up "Mr. Pattrick what were you doing on the night in question?" "I was in the kitchen with my lovely wife." "And Where was your son?" "In his room. He was grounded after not coming home for a while." Dante turns to the jury "As you can see my clients did nothing wrong. Your witness." Dante went back as Ashley stood up "So Mr. Pattrick you said you were in the kitchen with you wife. May I ask what were you doing in the kitchen?" "Helping my wife make dinner." "So is that white powder on the island counter flour?" "Yes it is we were gonna make cake that night." "May I ask what for?" "Why for our wedding anniversary of course." "Strange because of the lab results we received that wasn't flour. In fact it was cocaine in the kitchen. So tell me were you and your wife going to bake a cake with cocaine?" "Are you sure it's cocaine I could've sworn it was flour oh well." "You also said your son Matthew Pattrick was in his room correct?" "That is true." "Then why was he found in the basement all bloodied?" "He must've fell down the stairs." "So your son fell down the stairs?" "That's the truth." "Did he fall on a gun?" "No we don't keep guns in the house." "Then why does your son have a bullet wound?" "It was probably that Harlow kid!" Walter yelled "She's got a brother in the police force easy access to guns." "Shane Harlow would be a suspect since she has a connection to guns but she wasn't in the house. You and your wife were in the house and your prints match the ones on the gun. Would you like to explain?" "There was a gun in my house and I grabbed it what's wrong with that?" "There was gun residue on your clothes when they were taken to the lab. Wondered how that happened?" "Listen laddie I don't know anything about gun residue."

"That's okay then would you mine telling me when was your son born and did the three of you always lived here?" "Objection! What would the son's birth and the residency do with the case?" Dante asked "Yes what would the son's birth and the residency prove?" Judge Collins asked "Its connected with the child abuse." Ashley said "Go on." "So when was your son born. Mr. Pattrick?" "We always lives here even before my son was born and he was born on March 10th 2004." "Are you sure about that?" "Of course I am how could a father not know his son's own birthday?" Walter asked Ashely pulled out a birth certificate "Because according to Matthew's birth records Matthew Pattrick was born of November 15 2003 and his last name isn't even Pattrick with two t's it's Patrick with one t and it says here that he was born in Medina, Ohio. If he was born in 2004 as you said he would be turning 15 this year but that would mean he's a freshman which his is not. Matthew Pattrick is a sophomore going on to his junior year. So how could a father forget his own son's birthday?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "It's quite simple actually. You aren't Matthew real father. In fact," Ashley turned to Taylor "You aren't even his real mother." Everyone in the courtroom gasped and looked surprised. Matt started gripping on Nate's hand and looked down "What?" He muttered "Your honor the people forgot to child abuse." "What is it?" "The people would like to add kidnapping in the first." "She can't do that!" Dante yelled "Approach." Judge Collins said as both attorneys walked up "Your honor she can't do that. Along with pulling out the birth certificate." "There is more then enough evidence to prove the kidnapping and surprise evidence is allowed." "I'll allow it but," Collins pointed at Ashley "This is the last time you pull one of these trick in my courtroom. Please add the charges before the court." "I will your honor thank you." Both attorneys went back "This is crazy why would I kidnap my own son?" "Well he isn't adopted there are no adoption papers and the both of your DNAs are different then Matthew you have blue eyes and your wife has green eyes. Matthew has brown eyes. Taylor Pattrick has red hair you have black hair. Matthew has brown hair more specifically hazelnut brown hair (I've read fanfictions where it's blonde but I don't think it is so I wrote hazelnut brown pleas don't hate me. If you know his real hair color please tell me so I can fix it.) What's even more weird is that you changed your last names." "What wrong with changing a name?" "Oh nothing unless your a criminal on the run. Mr. Pattrick or should I say Mr. Blair?" Walter started to get angry "Who's Mr. Blair?" "You are apparently you changed you last name 16 years ago. Care to explain?" "I wanted a fresh new start." "A fresh new start that involved abusing a kid that's not even yours?" "He deserved it." "HE WAS A CHILD!" Ashley yelled "He was a child that you and your wife abused. You messed him up so badly that the poor boy has depression now. Matthew tried to kill himself by overdosing on pain killers. If his friends didn't find he would be dead." "You still can't prove the kidnapping." "I'm getting to that. 16 years ago there was this family, a mother, a father, and two twin boys. One day one of the boys was sick and need to go to the hospital. The parents called a family friend to take care of the second child. That night there was a break in at the house the thieves killed the sitter and took the child. The family came home only to find the house was a mess, and their youngest son gone along with his birth certificate leaving no evidence that he even existed in the household until today. Fast forward 16 years later and here we are, you and your wife on trial for the child abuse and kidnapping of said child. Where all the evidence points to you and your wife. So maybe this story will have a happy ending." Ashley said with a smirk on her face "For all we know that story could be fake." "Oh the story's true," Ashley pulled out an article "This in the news report about the kidnapping. It says here 'The suspects go by the names of Walter Blair and Taylor Blair. The name of baby boy doe is Matthew Patrick. If you have any information on the suspects or Matthew Patrick pleas call the Medina county police.' Matthew Patrick it says it sounds a lot like Matthew Pattrick but hey it could just be a coincidence how a baby boy in Ohio went missing and how you two have a child without giving birth or adopting one." Cameron started to lean forward paying more attention than before "Where did you get that article?" "Ah Mr. Blair I ask the questions here now, why did you kidnapped Matthew Patrick from his home? From his parents? From his twin?" "I don't have to say shit." "Of course you don't have to speak there's already so much evidence against you." The courtroom was silent for 3 minutes "No more questions your honor." Ashley walked back

"The jury will now decide." Judge Collins said as the court officers escorted the jury out. Everyone on the benches left the courtroom "Jesus Christ Ashley," Daniel said walking out "Did you have to expose that much evidence?" "You did what them put away right?" "Well yes but-" "But I did my job just as I was taught how to do it." Ashley walked away. Matt was sitting on a bench with Nate holding him "It's okay." Nate said "They're not my real parents," Matt whispered "If they're not my real parents then who are my real parents?" He asked "We'll find them." Nate said "Yeah we'll help too." Matt looked up to see Mark, Jack, Riley, Stephanie, Felix and Shane. "We can run your DNA through missing persons your name's bound to pop up after that we can contact them and tell them your here," Shane said "I know a guy Carlos, he's a detective that works at the desk maybe he can help." "Thanks." Matt said Daniel walked over to them "Jury's back you guys might wanna see this."

Back in the courtroom everyone was seated at look at the jury "What day you on the count of Kidnapping in the first?"

"We find the defendants Guilty." A member of the jury said "What say you on the count of child abuse in the first?" "We find the defendants Guilty." The same member said this went on for the other charges. In the end they were guilty of all the charges and would rot in jail for the rest of their lives. Everyone walked out of the courthouse with mixed emotions "I need weeks for this to sink in." Matt said swaying a little bit "Matt you okay?" Jack asked "Yeah yeah I'm fine I'm-" Matt's body started to fall as Mark caught him "Matt?" He asked shaking him a little "Matt!" Nate yelled going over to him everyone else followed Daniel checked his pulse.

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I'm just gonna leave this here. 👋👋

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