Keyshia and Clyde (27 page)

T. Bernard smiled and walked to the middle of the courtroom and said in a dramatic fashion, “The United States now calls Mrs. Catherine Barker to the stand.”

Clyde, Ceasar, and Martha suddenly sat up in their seats as they watched the bailiff escort the boys' mother from the witness chamber. Martha looked as if she were seeing a ghost.

Ceasar looked at Keyshia, speechless. All the jurors watched as Mrs. Barker took tentative, fragile steps toward the witness seat. Clyde looked back at Keyshia, who was in tears as she gave her man a nod. The bailiff asked her to lift her hand, and she struggled to raise it, and he aided her by lifting it up for her.

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help you God?” asked the bailiff.

Mrs. Barker nodded slowly and said almost in a whisper, “I do.”

Clyde could not hold back his tears. This was the first time in his entire adult life that he'd ever heard his mother's voice and it pierced his heart. He could hardly contain himself as he wiped away his tears. He had to fight to keep from running over to his delicate mother and giving her a hug.

The bailiff helped her to her seat and walked away. She looked around the courtroom and saw Clyde and smiled.

T. Bernard approached her and asked, “How are you today, Mrs. Barker?”

She gave him a tremulous smile and said, this time a little louder, “I'm okay.”

He smiled. “Good. Mrs. Barker, I'm going to be asking you a few questions, okay?” She nodded, and he continued, “Do you know why you are here today?”

“Yes,” said Mrs. Barker. “My sons are in some kind of trouble and I'm here to help them.”

T. Bernard smiled and nodded. “Do you know which of your sons are in trouble?”

She turned her head toward Clyde and said, “My youngest child, Clyde, right there, and my second son, Sonny.” T. Bernard thanked her as he looked at the jurors' bewildered eyes.

Suddenly, Mrs. Barker recognized a familiar face, and her lips instantly began to curl and her brows began to turn downward. T. Bernard decided to take advantage of the precious moment.

“Mrs. Barker, do you know a Ms. Martha Woods?” Martha was nervous and refused to raise her head.

Mrs. Barker's eyes were like a razor as she stared at her former best friend. “Yes, I know her.”

“When did you first meet Ms. Woods?”

“We were from the same projects, and we met when we was fourteen years old,” she said, never taking her eyes off Martha.

“Are you and Ms. Woods still best friends, Mrs. Barker?”

“No!” she said flatly.

T. Bernard looked at the jury and walked closer to where Martha sat to ensure everyone knew where she was when he asked his next question. He gestured to where she sat and asked, “May I ask you, Mrs. Barker, when was the last time you saw Ms. Woods?”

The entire courtroom became silent as all eyes watched her stare at Martha with disgust. “The last time I saw her was when she shot me in the face!”

The courtroom erupted as Martha cried hysterically, “She's crazy! She's crazy! She doesn't know what she's talking about! Her husband shot her, not me!”

Both Ceasar and Clyde could no longer contain themselves as they jumped up and cursed at Martha.

The judge banged his gavel and called the court to order and threatened, “Young man in the rear, if you don't remain silent and sit down, I will have you removed from my courtroom. And Ms. Hemmingway, that goes for your client, also, so I suggest you keep his mouth shut and tell him to stay in his seat!” The judge saved his last remark for Martha. “Ms. Woods, if I even hear so much as a peep from you again, I will have you locked up for contempt of court—so sit down and shut up!”

It took another five minutes for the courtroom to come back to order, and then T. Bernard resumed his line of questioning.

“Mrs. Barker, according to the police report dated February 3, 1983, your husband, Mr. Lamont Barker, was charged with attempted murder for shooting you. Are you saying this is incorrect?”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “My husband didn't shoot me, she did!”

“Can you tell us what happened that night to cause her to shoot you, Mrs. Barker?”

She nodded and spoke with anger as she recalled the fateful night that changed her family's lives.

“I had just come home from working overtime at my job at the telephone company.” She paused and stared at Martha before continuing. “Martha had just gotten out of prison for getting mixed up in a bank robbery or something with her boyfriend. Since she ain't had nowhere to go, I let her stay with me and my family for a while until she got a job and an apartment. Like I said, I came home from working overtime and walked to the kids' room to check on them. They were all asleep. Then I walked toward my bedroom and heard a moaning sound.” She paused and put her head down. T. Bernard asked her if she was okay, and she nodded.

“I walked slowly to the room and opened the door, and I saw Martha on top of my husband.” All the jurors tossed Martha an evil glare as she continued, “I cut on the light and she hopped off the bed and put on the housegown she had dropped on the floor. My husband didn't move, and that's when I realized he was passed out.” She turned to T. Bernard and confessed, “Back then my husband had a drinking problem and would pass out like that all the time. I turned toward Martha and told her to get her stuff and get out of my house. She was crying and saying she was sorry, but I wanted her out! The next thing I knew and last thing I remember was seeing her raise her arm with a black pistol in her hand and then everything went black.”

Martha saw every eye was on her and could no longer take the heat of the stares and stood up and said angrily, “I don't have to listen to this anymore. She's sick in the head, delusional!” She made her way toward the aisle, but the judge ordered his bailiff to stop her.

“Get your fucking hands off of me!” she cried.

Two more officers detained her by putting her in handcuffs, and they all surrounded her as they put her back into her seat.

“I have no more questions, Your Honor!” said T. Bernard as he nodded to Mrs. Barker.

“Any cross, Ms. Hemmingway?”

“No, Your Honor,” said Ms. Hemmingway.

Mrs. Barker walked slowly over to Clyde's table, and he jumped to his feet and gave the mother he never knew a hug and held on to her for dear life. Ceasar approached the front and joined brother and mother in a hug as they all cried together. A bailiff came out of the witness door and whispered in T. Bernard's ear and passed him a note. T. Bernard read it and said to the judge anxiously, “Your Honor, I would like to call Sonny Barker back to the stand!”

“I was going to call a recess. How long is this going to take?”

T. Bernard said, “Your Honor, I assure you it won't be long.”

The judge nodded and told his bailiff to fetch the witness.

When the three officers walked in with Sonny this time, they no longer had to manhandle him to his seat. Sonny's entire demeanor seemed to have changed. He no longer had a mean scowl on his face but instead wore a humble, happier look as he searched around and spotted Ceasar sitting in the front row with their mother. Tears came to Sonny's eyes when he saw his mother wave to him. He wiped his eyes and waved back.

T. Bernard walked directly to where Sonny sat and asked, “Are you ready, son?” Sonny looked at Martha, and his face turned sour. He turned back to T. Bernard and nodded.

Sonny went on to answer every question that he was asked, and when he got to the part about how he got into a life of crime, he explained, “I was about thirteen when I did my first major robbery. It was a numbers spot in my neighborhood.”

T. Bernard nodded. “You were very young. How did you pull it off?”

“I had somebody on the inside who worked there, and all I had to do was point a gun around and they put all the money in a bag.”

“Who was that inside person, Sonny?”

Sonny turned and looked directly at Martha and pointed. “It was her, Martha Woods. She worked there at the time.”

There were a few gasps.

“Where did you get the weapon to rob the place, Sonny?”

“Martha gave it to me.”

“Did she set you up with any more robberies after that?”

“Yes,” Sonny said casually.

“How many others?”

“I don't know. I lost count.”

“How did she get you these robberies?”

Sonny paused and then said, “She would scope the places out and find out where the weak points were and devise a plan with the best time and way I should do it.”

“Did you like doing these dangerous holdups?”

Sonny thought about the question. “At the beginning, I was scared to death and used to tell her I didn't want to do it anymore.”

“What did she do?” asked T. Bernard as he walked toward the jurors' railing.

“She would call me names.”

“What kind of names?”

“She would say I was soft, a sissy, and that I was a punk son of a bitch like my father. If that didn't work, she would cry and say that she didn't have any money to feed us and that me and my brothers would starve if I didn't do anything. I couldn't see my brothers starve, so I would give in.” T. Bernard watched as every juror gave Martha a malicious glare.

“Sonny, was Martha Woods in any way involved with the bank robbery that happened at the First Bank of Savings in Harlem?”

“Yes, she was the one who set everything up. She even made sure that my older brother, Ceasar, who worked at the bank, wouldn't be at work that day so he wouldn't recognize me.” T. Bernard looked at the jurors and was satisfied he'd done his job. He nodded to Sonny and said, “Thank you, Mr. Barker.”

The judge said, “Cross, Ms. Hemmingway?”

“Just one question, Your Honor,” she said as she walked to Sonny. “Mr. Barker, did your younger brother, Clyde, have anything to do with the robbery at the First Bank of Savings?”

“No, he didn't! We didn't even know he was going to be in the bank. That was the reason I didn't want my other brother, Ceasar, to be at work that day, so he wouldn't be in harm's way! If I knew Clyde was going to be there, I would have never done it.”

“Thank you, Mr. Barker. Good luck with your future.”

“Your Honor,” T. Bernard said, “the government rests!”

Ms. Hemmingway said, “Your Honor, the defense requests an immediate dismissal in response to the testimony of Sonny Barker.”

While Ms. Hemmingway knew that her motion would probably be denied, she wanted to reinforce in the jurors' minds that the defense had done some damage during cross-examination.

“Motion denied,” said the judge.

Ms. Hemmingway smiled and said, “Then the defense rests, Your Honor.”

Mrs. Barker stayed overnight with Keyshia, her grandson, and Ceasar, and for the first time in over twenty years, Ceasar felt as if he had a family. For any child, not having his mother in his life can cause irreparable emotional and psychological damage. Because he was never fully nurtured, he would always search for love, pleasure, and security. Many would always find their needs unfulfilled and would seek comfort and solace in codependency—through drugs, alcohol, sex, or crime. But none of these methods are enough to fill the void within. But the ones who get beaten enough, humiliated enough, and pained enough may come to believe that only they and God could ever make them whole, if they only searched within.

The next morning, they all arrived at court bright and early for the closing arguments and jury deliberation. By eight forty-five, the courtroom was packed, and Ceasar and his mother and his young nephew sat in the front row. Keyshia stayed in the back to ensure no conflict of interest would enter the equation and ruin things for Clyde. When Clyde was finally brought out, he smiled immediately when he saw his family gathered together directly behind him, including his mother and his son.

Finally, at nine-ten, the Honorable Theodore S. Denton exited his chambers and entered the courtroom.

“All rise for the Honorable Theodore S. Denton!” shouted the bailiff. All the spectators rose to their feet.

“Take your seat,” muttered the judge. He surveyed both defense and prosecutor tables and bellowed, “Bring the jurors out.” The bailiff retreated through the witness chambers and brought out the twelve jurors. In single file they walked to their assigned seats, with apparent readiness to get the trial over with and go about their lives. Once they were all seated, the judge cleared his throat and greeted them.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Today you will hear the closing arguments. The government will present the first closing argument and may reserve time for rebuttal. The defense will then present its closing argument, and after all rebuttals are rendered, you will be instructed to go to a room, where you will begin deliberation, weighing evidence and testimonies that you heard. Do you understand?” Each juror nodded.

“Mr. Williams,” yelled the judge, “is the government ready to proceed with its closing argument?”

T. Bernard snapped to his feet like a heavyweight boxer during rounds and said loudly and crisply, “Yes, Your Honor, the government is ready!”

“Proceed,” said the judge.

T. Bernard walked toward the jurors as if he were contemplating the precise words to say. He stopped directly in front of the jury's railing, wrapped his arm around his chest, and began rubbing his chin. It was so silent that you could hear a pin drop when he said softly, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have to admit to you today that this has been one of the most emotional and gut-wrenching trials that I have ever had to prosecute in my eight years working for the government. Like you, I'm touched and saddened when I hear about the tragic unfairness that is inflicted upon families, but I must tell you that the courtroom is not the place to right personal injustices. We truly have to look past the evil that men do, the evil that women do, in order to get through the reasons that we are all brought together here today, and that is to serve justice for a crime that had been committed by Clyde Barker. As much as we want this to be a perfect ending where the family is reunited and lives happily ever after from now on, we know that isn't reality. Reality is living on life's terms no matter what we have been through in our lives, and that's what makes us civilized and that's what keeps us safe—if not, there would be anarchy! If a person was beaten as a child, he or she doesn't have the right to beat others because he or she got beaten. If a person was hated as a child, that doesn't give him the right to hate the world. Clyde Barker is that child and didn't deserve the way life turned out for him, but that doesn't give him the right to commit an atrocious crime and blame it on his upbringing.”