Chapter 17 - The Trial of Bennett Street
Two months later, the trial of State of Ohio v. Deborah and Jessica Monroe began in Courtroom 4C.
The courtroom was packed with local reporters, former students, neighbors from Bennett Street, and church members who had once praised Deborah Monroe’s grace.
I sat on the witness stand in a sharp black suit, my hands resting calmly on the wooden rail.
My mother sat at the defense table in an orange inmate jumpsuit, her silver hair unstyled, her pearl earrings gone. Beside her sat Jessica, pale and trembling in matching prison attire.
The defense attorney stood up, trying one final, desperate strategy.
“Miss Monroe,” the defense attorney asked, stepping toward the stand. “Is it not true that you suffered from severe emotional instability as a child? Is it not true that your mother spent years trying to get you psychological help?”
I looked directly at the jury, then turned my eyes to my mother.
“My mother did not get me help,” I said, my voice ringing clearly across the silent courtroom. “My mother created a prison, labeled me unstable when I tried to escape it, and locked the door from the outside when she realized she could no longer control me.”
May you like
I pulled out my old leather boot—the left boot—and set it on the evidence table in front of the jury.
“I survived because I stopped believing her lies when I was fourteen,” I added softly. “And because I hid a ten-dollar phone under the sole of this boot.”
