Just The Facts

The woman I had thought was the DA was actually an ADA, Assistant District Attorney Meghan Bartles. She seemed young to be trying this case, but I’d reached an age where most people didn’t seem old enough to hold the jobs they held.

As promised in her opening remarks, she began laying out the facts. Fact one: the defendant, Peter Dieter, was over the legal limit when the accident occurred. “Whatever you think of the law, the fact remain, the legal limit is .08.”

‘They named him Peter Dieter,’ I thought. ‘No wonder the kid drinks.’

Like many people, I tended to ignore facts I didn’t like. Early on, I had known I had a problem with alcohol, but shrugged off that fact until I was in deep trouble.  I’d seen people do the same with diagnoses they didn’t like, bills they didn’t want to pay, and relationships that in fact were over.

Shrugging off the facts never turned out well.

Today I won’t shrug off the facts.

Jury Duty © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Jury Duty is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/