Chapter 293: Emma Was the Murderer—What Does That Have to Do with Esther?
As the court stenographer finished reviewing his notes, the judge entered. Everyone rose in acknowledgment, and Judge Jackson gestured for them to be seated.
The trial officially began.
The bald prosecutor, representing the People, began listing Esther's charges: multiple counts of felony murder, attempted murder with dangerous explosives, and extortion!
The evidence was overwhelming.
"Your Honor, my client neither admits nor denies these charges because she knows nothing about them,"
Harrison Powell, the East Coast's top criminal defense attorney, addressed the judge, then turned to the jury.
"The person who truly committed these crimes is named Emma. She is Esther's alter personality, and Esther is also her victim!"
"Here we go,"
Randy remarked. "She even picked a new name. How professional."
"Then by all means, let's meet this Emma!"
the bald prosecutor said.
"I can't produce her,"
Harrison Powell shook his head. "This alter personality, Emma, only emerges to control Esther's body and protect her during times of extreme crisis."
"Your Honor, the prosecution requests to question the defendant,"
the bald prosecutor said. "Should we call her Esther, or Emma?"
"Permission granted!"
Judge Jackson nodded in agreement.
With Harrison Powell's nod of approval, Esther cautiously approached the witness stand, placing her hand on the Bible and swearing that everything she said would be the truth.
"Esther, how much do you know about this Emma?"
The bald prosecutor stepped away from the prosecution table, glanced at Chuck and the others in the gallery, then approached the witness stand to question the timid-looking Esther.
"I don't know,"
Esther shook her head, her eyes vacant.
"Then do you know why you're sitting here?"
the bald prosecutor pressed. "You don't even know that?"
"I've heard some things,"
Esther shook her head, "but I don't understand."
"What don't you understand?"
the bald prosecutor stared into her eyes.
Esther looked at him with a blank expression.
"Objection!"
Harrison Powell immediately stood. "Your Honor, Esther is just a nine-year-old girl. She has no knowledge of what happened and doesn't understand what those horrific events represent."
"Objection!"
the bald prosecutor countered immediately. "Your Honor, members of the jury, don't forget the medical report.
Although she appears to be nine years old, she is actually 33 years old. We cannot treat her according to child standards."
"Objection!"
Harrison Powell fired back. "Your Honor, members of the jury, my client suffers from a documented medical condition. Although her physical age is 33, her mental age is indeed nine.
As the saying goes, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck!
Esther looks nine and thinks like a nine-year-old, so we should treat her as a nine-year-old and afford her the protections she deserves."
"Objection!"
the bald prosecutor retorted. "Your Honor, members of the jury, if we follow the defense's logic, everything falls apart.
There's a saying that every woman is a girl at heart.
And that's not limited to women anymore.
Does that mean anyone can claim a psychological age to demand treatment as a child?"
"Order!"
Judge Jackson frowned. "The prosecution may continue questioning. The defendant must answer truthfully."
"Thank you, Your Honor,"
the bald prosecutor said, glancing at Harrison Powell, who'd returned to his seat, before continuing to question Esther on the stand.
"Do you know who you are and where you're from? You don't know that either, do you?"
"I know that,"
Esther nodded. "My name is Esther, I'm from Russia, and I'm an orphan. I was able to come here because of the kind people of America."
Hearing this, everyone in the courtroom immediately smiled.
Although the United States constantly criticizes nationalist education in other countries, labeling it as dangerous indoctrination, in reality, the United States has the most comprehensive and pervasive patriotic education system.
From childhood, education involves reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and swearing oaths to uphold American values.
So most people feel a surge of national pride when they hear a foreign orphan say such things.
"Do you remember where you lived before you came to America?"
the bald prosecutor asked.
"I lived in an orphanage in Russia,"
Esther replied.
"You're mistaken!"
the bald prosecutor stated. "We investigated your records in Russia. You didn't live in an orphanage—you were confined to a psychiatric facility."
"What's a psychiatric facility?"
Esther asked, confused. "Isn't that the same as an orphanage?"
"Your Honor, my client's mental age is only nine years old. She doesn't understand the difference between an orphanage and a psychiatric facility,"
Harrison Powell stood and interjected. "So you can't accuse my client of dishonesty based on that!"
"Prosecutor, please choose your words carefully!"
Judge Jackson cautioned.
"Yes, Your Honor,"
the bald prosecutor nodded, took a few steps, then suddenly turned back and asked gently, "Esther, you really like scarves and wristbands, don't you?"
"Yes,"
Esther couldn't help but touch her neck.
"Why is that?"
the bald prosecutor asked.
Esther lowered her head and remained silent.
"You don't want to talk about it, do you?"
the bald prosecutor said. "I'll explain it for you—the scarves and wristbands cover the scars on your neck and wrists, correct?"
"Yes."
Esther's body trembled.
The bald prosecutor, seeing this up close, felt a flash of frustration. This Esther was an accomplished actress.
He already knew this line of questioning would likely be ineffective, but he had to try anyway.
"Since you're aware of the scars on your neck and wrists, aren't you curious about where these scars came from?"
"I'm scared."
The fear in Esther's eyes was so convincing, so childlike, that it instantly resonated with many observers.
"Objection!"
Harrison Powell immediately stood. "It's unrealistic to expect Esther, who has the mental age of only nine, to be completely aware of what's happening to her body.
But a child this young will always choose to escape from terrible things—it's a survival instinct we humans developed through evolution.
So I ask the prosecution to stop cruelly tormenting a little girl who is desperately trying to escape her fears.
These questions are completely pointless, except to torture my client who suffers from mental illness, doesn't know she has an alter personality, and only believes she's still a nine-year-old girl."
"Objection!"
the bald prosecutor countered. "The defense has been trying to distinguish Esther from the so-called alter personality, Emma, but won't allow us to ask key questions.
If we don't even know if this so-called alter personality actually exists, how can we know if this is just a dangerous criminal trying to exploit our compassion for children to cover up heinous crimes?"
"Objection overruled. The prosecution may continue."
Judge Jackson considered for a moment and made his ruling.
"Thank you, Your Honor."
The bald prosecutor thanked him, then glanced smugly at Harrison Powell before requesting the photographic evidence. With permission, he showed the photos to Esther. "Esther, do you recognize the people in these photos?"
"Yes."
Esther nodded. "That's my kind father, mother, and brother who brought me from Russia."
"Tell us about how they brought you here,"
the bald prosecutor said softly.
"Okay."
Esther glanced at him and began describing her daily life with her first adoptive family in America from a child's perspective.
"It sounds very warm and happy, doesn't it?"
the bald prosecutor asked, looking at her.
"My parents and brother were very good to me. I was very happy!"
Esther nodded.
"Aren't you wondering why they're not with you now?"
the bald prosecutor asked.
"I don't know."
Esther's eyes darkened. "But at the orphanage, I heard that some adopted children were sent back if they didn't behave well..."
"But you weren't sent back for misbehaving, were you?"
The bald prosecutor locked eyes with her. "You really don't remember what happened?"
"What happened?"
Esther's eyes filled with confusion, worry, and expectation.
"The kind family that took you in from Russia was burned alive in their home."
The bald prosecutor enunciated each word clearly. "And you weren't home when the fire happened. Don't you remember anything?"
"Dad! Mom! Brother!"
Esther cried out in terror.
"Now do you remember what happened?"
The bald prosecutor produced a crime scene photo taken by police, pointing to Esther visible in the background of the raging flames. "Isn't that you?"
"I... I don't know."
Esther began crying. "I only remember being taken away and sent to another orphanage."
"So you have no recollection of being at the scene?"
the bald prosecutor asked.
"No."
Esther shook her head, tears streaming.
"Have you ever had similar experiences?"
the bald prosecutor pressed. "Like suddenly losing periods of memory, as if you had memory gaps?"
"I don't know,"
Esther cried, her eyes confused.
"Why don't you know?"
the bald prosecutor demanded. "Think carefully—it's like this: one moment you were doing something, and the next moment when you regain awareness, you're doing something completely different, with no clear connection between the two.
Like this:
One moment you were living happily with your first adoptive family, but the next moment, you're no longer in their home—instead, you've been taken to a new orphanage by strangers.
That's called a memory gap.
Don't you remember having similar memory gaps before?"
A flash of wariness crossed Esther's tearful eyes as she looked up at her lawyer.
"Objection!"
Harrison Powell stood to object. "Your Honor, members of the jury, my client suffers from a serious physical condition.
Her past experiences have also caused severe mental illness, resulting in significant confusion in her memories of time and past events. This is not surprising.
It's a consequence of trying to avoid those traumatic experiences.
That's why, although she is 33 years old, she remains nine years old in both appearance and mentality.
This is a little girl's instinctive survival mechanism."
"I'm not saying it's impossible,"
the bald prosecutor clarified. "I was simply asking if she remembers these fragmented memories. Obviously, she does, doesn't she?"
"Objection overruled. Please answer the prosecution's questions,"
Judge Jackson ruled.
"Yes,"
Esther nodded. "There was one recently too."
"What was the memory before the gap, and what was after?"
the bald prosecutor asked.
"One moment I was talking to my father, and the next I was locked up here,"
Esther said, looking puzzled and frightened.
"And what about your fragmented memories from Russia?"
the bald prosecutor asked.
Esther simply shook her head. "It's been too long, I can't remember."
"Alright, then let me refresh your memory."
The bald prosecutor again requested photographic evidence, and after Harrison Powell's objections were overruled, he showed the photos to Esther. "Do you recognize what's in these photos?"
These photos showed Esther restrained in a Russian psychiatric facility, violently resisting.
There were also photos of her first adoptive family burned to death, chess grandmaster Patrick Cross poisoned, and the villa destroyed by explosives.
"Objection!"
Harrison Powell stubbornly objected. "This is too cruel for a little girl, and I don't understand what the prosecution is trying to accomplish!
He himself said that my client was institutionalized in a psychiatric facility while in Russia.
These photos confirm the existence of the alter personality, Emma.
This alone demonstrates that my client has a serious mental illness.
She needs treatment and hospitalization, not to be unjustly imprisoned for actions she didn't intend or control."
"Russia isn't America!"
The bald prosecutor glanced at Chuck in the gallery, and based on the talking points he'd discussed with Chuck, delivered a statement he still couldn't tell was Chuck's honest belief or sarcasm.
"We free Americans are often labeled as mentally ill there.
Our pursuit of freedom is seen as a disorder by them. Does that mean we free Americans are mentally ill?"
"Objection! That's sophistry!"
Harrison Powell objected. "We're discussing a professionally and objectively diagnosed mental illness, not an ideological conflict. It's completely different!"
"I'm simply providing context,"
the bald prosecutor explained. "And I don't think this context is inappropriate, because Esther herself said she was grateful to the kind Americans who brought her to this great country.
She experienced true happiness with her first adoptive family.
So Esther yearned for our American way of life.
During the Cold War era, it's not surprising that she was treated as mentally ill and institutionalized.
As for the photos confirming the existence of the alter personality, Emma?
Any normal American, if they were sent to Russia and had their freedom restricted, or even imprisoned, would likely resist violently.
This doesn't prove there's actually a so-called alter personality named Emma.
Unless the defense attorney can produce this so-called Emma to testify,
faced with such heinous crimes, we can only conclude she deliberately fabricated a split personality to evade legal accountability.
As the defense attorney said, it was her instinctive choice, wasn't it?"
(End of Chapter)
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