March 10, 2010

It’s 5 am. I’ve been awake since 2. Yesterday was harrowing.  Detective Hanson testified about what they found at the crime scene and Detective Kelly described what they found at the apartment where Tim’s 3 killers were arrested. That was in the morning. After lunch, which I couldn’t eat, Detective Whitfield, the lead detective on the case, testified about her interview with Archunde at the jail. They showed the video of the entire interview. Tomorrow, Rick will give us transcripts.

Although the interview was difficult to watch, it was great to hear Whitfield ask the same questions that I have been asking for two years. If you just wanted to rob  him, why did you shoot him? Where did you get the gun? What was disappointing was the answers from Archunde: I don’t know, I wasn’t thinking, etc. I was outraged, but couldn’t show it, couldn’t stand up in the courtroom and say, “Really? You just weren’t thinking? You stole our lives and don’t have an answer that makes any sense at all?”

I think I sat in court with my “zen” face on, but I’m not sure. It was so hard not to jump out of my chair when they were talking about Tim, because they weren’t talking about Tim, they were talking about “Mr. Royce’s body”: he was just an object in an investigation. I know that’s how it has to be, but it was so hard. The court advocate tells me that it is my task in the impact statement to give “Mr. Royce’s body” form and substance and life so the judge sees him in all his living-ness. How do you condense 27 years of stories and joy and heartache into a few short minutes?

At the end of the day, when we left the courtroom, I was still walking and talking like normal. Picked Little Timothy up from day care, made him dinner, took a bath, played a bit and put him to bed. As I walked out of his room, it was like I was hit by a truck – I was exhausted. I went to bed myself shortly after 7. My legs felt like they were full of sand and I had just finished a marathon. My arms were shaking as if I had been using a jackhammer all day. And my mind was numb. Thank God for the respite sleep provides: the best escape from this other world that I am in.

Today, the Medical Examiner will testify as to Tim’s injuries. I don’t want to hear it and yet, I want to know everything. I am so hungry for any information about Tim’s final moments. Talk about a rock and a hard place! It is 5 1/2 more hours until court starts again and all I can do is sit and wait feeling that my heart is going to be ripped out again and there is no anesthesia.

March 8, 2010

So, like I said about the legal system: things change. Now that the defense has agreed to make the guilty plea and eliminate the trial, they still have to present their mitigation evidence; but they scheduled their witnesses as if they were going to trial so their witnesses are not available until mid to late March. Hmmm.

So the scheduled that sounded to complete and compact a week ago is much more drawn out. The prosecution will present aggravation evidence tomorrow and Wednesday. There will be no court on Thursday. On Friday, Alicia, Melissa, and I will present our impact statements. No court on Monday or Tuesday, then, if the judge decides the prosecution has proven aggravation, mitigation will begin on Wednesday and Thursday. No court on Friday.

We’ll pick back up again on the 23rd for the final mitigation witness. Then another break while the judge decides his verdict.

Don’t memorize this schedule, though. I suspect it may change.

February 27, 2010

What I am learning about the legal system is that when things happen, they happen fast. On Thursday I was doing the usual things when I got a phone call from the DA saying there was a new development: Ruben Archunde, the man who shot Tim, had agreed to plead guilty to the 4 charges against him (1st degree murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and aggravated assault). The most amazing thing about the offer was that they did not ask for any changes to the possible outcomes, in other words, the death penalty would stay on the table. Rick, the DA, told me there would be a hearing on Friday morning at 9 am to present this to the judge. I know I surprised Rick when I told him I would be at the hearing.

I hung up the phone at 1:45 and two hours later I was on the road to Tucson. It’s a good thing I have been planning this trip for such a long time because I just went in to ‘automatic’ as I threw clothes into a suitcase and packed up the dog. The drive to Tucson is one that I dread because it is so long and tedious, but this time, I was motivated to get to that hearing so I was the energizer bunny of drivers. I got into town at 8 am just in time to make it to the hearing.

At the hearing, the second thing that I have learned about the legal system became apparent-things change. While Thursday, Archunde was willing to plead guilty to all charges, by Friday at 9 am he had changed his mind. So why is this such a big disappointment? Because by agreeing to plead guilty to all the charges Archunde would give up any rights to appeal the verdict in the future, and he would waive his right to a jury trial leaving the judge alone to determine his sentence. Damn! We leave the courthouse with another hearing scheduled for Monday morning and the hope that the defense attorneys would be successful in getting Archunde to agree to plead guilty – again. And Rick, the DA, asks for my cell phone number in case anything changed.

We left the courthouse around 10:00. Remember what I said about change? Well, around 11 Rick called. Archunde would plead guilty to all charges and the judge had a hearing scheduled at noon, could I get back to the courthouse by then? Mind you, it’s still Friday, I have been up since 7 am on Thursday morning, and a nap was sounding so good. But my purpose in being here is to attend the hearings, so back to the courthouse I go.

In a hearing that lasted about 30 minutes, Archunde pled guilty to all the charges, waived his right to a jury trial and his right to appeal the verdict. The judge spend a lot of time reminding him of his rights and what he was giving up by making the plea. I have to tell you that as I sat there and watched Archunde say he was guilty of murdering my son, I felt absolutely numb. I look at this young man and want to hate him, but I don’t, I only hate what he did.

Shortly before the hearing started a woman approached me. She is the mitigation specialist working with Archunde. (Mitigation specialists look into the background of the accused and look for all the past experiences the accused has had that would make some excuse for why they do what they do.) She told me that Archunde was not proud of what he did and that knowing he felt bad about it might help me feel better. I appreciated her desire to try to help me somehow, her need to feel like she could offer some comfort. I had to tell her that it really doesn’t matter to me whether Archunde felt remorse or whether he stood there crowing about what he did, my son was dead and Archunde is responsible. Rather than feeling sorry now, I would have preferred that he thought about his actions before he pulled the trigger. I makes me think a lot about a general philosophy that some people have – even me in my past life – do it now and apologize later. Apologies can be pretty hollow.

Back to Archunde’s decision to plead guilty and what it means. Like I said earlier, it means he can’t appeal the verdict and there will be no jury trial. The 200 people who where going to receive questionnaires to see if they were likely candidates for the jury will not be coming to the courthouse on Wednesday to take the survey. There will not be 6-8 weeks of sitting in the courtroom listening to witnesses trying to prove that Archunde murdered Tim. It is a huge relief and yet…

I feel like I have spent the past two years arming myself for battle. I have been imagining what it would be like and trying to prepare, what will they say, what will I see, how will I react? And now, feeling like I am fully armed, the opposition has surrendered. What do I do with the armor?

I will still need some of it. Even though there is no trial phase to determine whether Archunde is guilty or not, there is still the sentencing phase and there are three possibilities for the sentence: death, natural life with no possibility of parole, or 25 years to life (meaning that Archunde could petition for parole after 25 years). In addition, the judge still has to determine the sentences for the other three offenses and whether those sentences will run concurrently or consecutively.

Starting on March 9, the prosecution will present the aggravating factors. They will be trying to show that Archunde should receive the death penalty based on the facts that the murder was committed for monetary gain and was heinous and depraved. Rick thinks that will take a couple of days. After that, the defense will present the mitigating circumstances. They will present witnesses and evidence trying to avoid the death penalty for their client. Finally, the family will have the opportunity to present impact statements telling the judge how Archunde’s callous disregard of Tim’s life has changed our lives forever. After these three phases, the judge will determine the sentence.

I can’t emphasize enough the relief I feel that there is no trial. Even though Archunde confessed to the police and there is a video of him bragging about the crime to his brother (who was in jail at the time) it does not mean that a jury would find him guilty. I like to think they would, but there is no telling how people will react. And maybe they would not find him guilty of first degree murder, maybe they would think it was only second degree. I would be spending the time on eggshells only being able to hope that they would deliver a guilty verdict to first degree murder.

Now, the verdict is in, he is guilty of all charges and the only thing left is the sentencing.