The Second Trial Read Online Free Page A

jail, not on a business trip, he remembered him returning with a triumphant smile and gifts for everyone. It wasn’t even Christmas yet, but he’d brought a stuffed mountain gorilla with arms long enough to reach around Jen, a hockey jersey for Danny, and long-stemmed red roses for Mom. He stroked Mom’s short hair – “I didn’t know you’d cut it,” he murmured – and Mom wore her scarf again for the next few days. Because of her wrist, she wasn’t back at work.
    â€œI’ll take two weeks off,” Dad had said, riffling his hands through Danny’s hair, “so the family can all be together again. I promise you a Christmas you’ll never forget.” They’d see the latest Christmas movies, drive through Candy Cane Lane, and go to the mall so Danny and Jen could sit on Santa’s knee and ask for all the toys they wanted. They’d drink mugs of steaming hot chocolate piled with clouds of whipped cream. Dad promised tobogganing, skating, and building snowmen in the park, but when the time came he didn’t explain why he thought it was too cold for Jen and Mom, but not too cold for Danny and him. Of course, Mom wouldn’t be getting her cast off for another couple of weeks, so she couldn’t come anyway. In the end it was mostly just Dad and Danny. That was the year Dad started teaching him how to play hockey, and it was great.
    But best of all was the Christmas present he found in a cardboard box under the tree on Christmas morning – a border collie puppy, glossy black and shiny white and wildly playful. He couldn’t keep his hands off the dog and let Jen rip open the presents containing the dog’s bed, plastic dishes, a leather collar and retractable leash, mouse-shaped squeak toys, a rawhide bone, puppy treats, and an orange Frisbee.
    Split logs burned in the corner fireplace, and the aroma of roasting turkey was thick enough to taste. Danny chatted endlessly about what to name the dog. By the time Dad helped Mom lift the turkey out of the oven, Danny had decided on Buddy. Later, when Mom insisted, he pulled himself away from the puppy long enough to sit at the table. Danny and Jennifer bolted down their food while Buddy whined for attention from his cardboard box.
    It had been a perfect Christmas.
    The defense lawyer flipped through the psychiatrist’s report. “You’ve said the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior?”
    â€œThat’s true.”
    â€œBut people can change their behaviors, can’t they?”
    â€œWe’d better hope so, or we’ll all be in trouble.”
    â€œYes, no doubt. But, given that Mr. McMillan is not a psychopath, an alcoholic, or a drug abuser, doesn’t it stand to reason that he can change? That he is teachable?”
    â€œWell now, that’s not so clear. We do know that the anger management training and marriage counseling he took after the first conviction weren’t successful.”
    â€œDid you offer him any therapy?”
    â€œNo, that’s not my job. My job is to assess people, not to treat them.”
    â€œSo he hasn’t been offered therapy to control his emotions?”
    â€œNot to my knowledge.”
    â€œHe hasn’t been offered therapy to teach him to have compassion for his wife?”
    â€œThat’s correct.”
    â€œHe hasn’t been offered therapy to help him control his anger or change his pattern of behavior?”
    â€œWell, he’s already had one anger management course, and it failed to change anything. Sometimes offering offenders more courses just makes them better at taking courses.”
    â€œNow, would it be fair to say there are strong patterns of behavior and weak patterns of behavior?”
    â€œWell, yes, the more incidents there are, the more obvious the pattern is.”
    â€œSo, in this case, those would be the two convictions in 1992 and 1996?”
    â€œYes, certainly those,