After prosecution gave their closing statement, the Judge turned to the defendants. “May the defendant please give their closing statement.”

“Matt,” Foggy whispered. Matthew got up and walked towards the jury. Playing up his disability by moving the stick back and forth, Matt stopped in front of the jury aisle. There was a choir of 12 heartbeats, 5 of them were leaning towards Matt’s favour, a woman in the corner of aisle two found him attracted to him, the other 5 were bored or their opinions weren’t swayed by either side and two of them had their heartbeats flaring up in anger. Two of them despised Grote. That posed a problem, a big one.

He was about to start but then he smelt it. Elektra. The perfume she used to always wear in college, the perfume that drove him insane. He could still taste her lips, smell her body, remember the feel of her skin on his hands and like a reopened wound, feel the heartbreak he felt when her father died, when she left Columbia, left…

“Mr. Murdock,” the Judge said, snapping him out of his heartbreak.

Matt cleared his throat. “Sorry, your honour.”

Matt looked up and faced the jury. “One of the first questions they ask you in law school is ‘what is the law’?” Matt said. “One way or another somebody is going to say the law is justice and your lecturer will ask ‘what is justice’? Elliot Grote is not a good man and I’m sure prosecution has made that very clear but that brings me back to the question what is justice?”

Matt paused. “It wasn’t just, what Mr. Grote may have done before. I don’t need to lay it bare, we all know Mr. Grote was never the pinnacle of moral righteousness. Mr. Grote did things that weren’t just, that weren’t right but ladies and gentleman of the jury we aren’t here to judge him on what he did before but what he did now.”

He listened to their heartbeats stir. One of the two with a grudge against Grotto was stirring, the other was firm in his beliefs. “Prosecution may have mentioned the various crimes committed by my client but I bet they neglected to mention that Mr. Grote loved his brother, coming from a background of abuse Mr. Grote did everything he could to protect his brother. What his brother became, Mr. Grote had no control over but that doesn’t change the fact that he loved his younger brother and wouldn’t bring himself to murder him in cold blood.”

11 heartbeats in agreement, only one was off beat. “Which brings me back to justice. I may not know what Mr. Grote allegedly did but knowing him, I know he would not murder his brother. You as a jury must administer justice not for his past misdeeds but what he did now and based on his personality and relationship with the victim I know that he would not plan or even think to do something like this. I can’t assure you whether or not Mr. Grote will face punishment for the injustices he committed outside this courtroom but the justice we should consider is the justice to be dished out now and his past misdeeds should not cloud the justice we dish out now. Thank you for your time.”

11 in agreement, one in doubt.

Matt walked back to his booth. The judge tapped his gavel.

“With that, the trial is over,” the Judge said. “The result will be deliberated by the jury, Prosecution, Defendants, if you may excuse yourself.”

Matt and Foggy left the courtroom, the lead prosecutor did so with a smug look on his face.

“That was an excellent closing statement,” Foggy said, patting Matt on the back. Matt listened in on the jury deliberation. The judge was explaining intention in criminal law.

“I really hope the bastard says not guilty,” Grotto said. “For both your sakes.”

“Prosecution makes a good point,” said juror number 1. “He could’ve just done it himself…”

“You’re in no position…”

“I doubt anyone would willingly inject sleeping medicine,” said juror number 10. “I mean if he had a choice wouldn’t he have wiped his fingerprints off…”

“Yeah, I know,” Grotto snapped interrupting Matt. “Just… one of the jurors was looking at me funny.”

“You don’t know these criminals,” said juror number 12. “They’d do anything…”

“If we can prove a bias, we still have a right of appeal,” Foggy said. “It isn’t the end of the world.”

“Am I detecting contempt towards the defendant, Mr. Garcia?” asked the Judge.

Mr. Garcia’s heartbeat tightened. He was nervous.

“Yeah,” Grotto said, sighing. “I know but…”

“No,” Mr. Garcia said. “It’s just…”

Foggy bit his nails. Grotto rubbed his hair, pacing around the room.

“Are we unanimous in our decision?” the Judge asked. “Based on the facts of the case, is the defendant guilty?”

There was a sea of hushed whispers. “He could have just made himself sleep…”

“But he would have wiped his fingerprints off…”

“Yeah, prosecution doesn’t make sense…”

“Criminals also don’t make…”

Silence.

“May prosecution and defence please return,” the bailiff said.

Foggy’s and Grotto’s heartbeats spiked. Foggy and Grotto cast a nervous glance to Matt who gave them both a firm nod before they entered the courtroom.

Their footsteps felt like lead as they entered. Seconds felt like hours as Matt and Foggy made their way to their seats and Grotto stood in front of the judge, his heartbeat going off like a machine gun.

“Based on findings made by counsel of the defendant,” the Judge said. “And submissions made by both Mr. Nelson and Mr. Murdock, this courtroom finds the defendant Mr. Elliot Grote not guilty.”

Grotto’s eyes widened. Matt could almost hear Foggy’s grin. The Prosecutor’s heart and body trembled in fear but Matt didn’t have time to focus on that as Foggy shook his shoulder. They stared at each other with the biggest smiles on their faces.

The first ever trial of Nelson and Murdock and they had won.