Good morning!  How was everyone’s week?  I am hanging out with some friends this weekend so I am very excited for that!  Keep an eye on my Instagram for photos!

We continue with the case for Mr. Neasvelle.  I hope everything goes in his favor.  Enjoy the Adventure!

A Journal of My Thoughts

December 16, 20–

I am so furious!  I have found out that Mr. Able pulled the fire alarm in the courthouse!  I knew that he did. I called it yesterday when he was acting all strange outside the courthouse.  Honestly, I hope this means that either the case gets thrown out or we get an advantage in the case.

I don’t know what Able was thinking.  I know he’s a petty individual but I never thought he would ever stoop that low to win a case.

Then again, I’ve never actually tried a case against him.

I just…I just can’t believe someone would be that determined to try to win a case.  I would be ashamed of myself if I ever stooped that low to win a case. Like…the audacity.  Either Able is hiding something or he doesn’t have a solid case against Mr. Neasvelle. I haven’t figured out which it is.

James was so upset when I arrived at the office today.  I could tell just by looking at him that he didn’t sleep well the night before.  He had large bags under his eyes and his eyes were red from exhaustion. James told me that he was worried that the case was over.  He was afraid that the judge wouldn’t see our case and wouldn’t see our side of the case.

And that’s when it happened.  The phone on James’ desk started to ring.  We both stared at it, not sure if we should answer or not.  Then James’ arm reached out and picked up the phone off the cradle.  He answered the phone in the most monotone voice he could’ve answered in.

Immediately his eyes widened.  He grabbed a pad of paper and started scribbling something that I couldn’t read.  Not that his handwriting is messy, but have you ever tried reading something upside down?  It’s quite difficult. Anyway, he was scribbling something as fast as he could, all while nodding and agreeing with whoever was on the phone.

He said goodbye and slammed the phone back down on the receiver.  He got a very goofy smile on his face and started to tell me what happened.

The judge was so upset about what Able did that he wanted to throw out all of the evidence that Able wanted to present.  I don’t know if that’s even legal! The judge wanted the throw the entire case out and prove that Mr. Neasvelle is innocent.  That would be amazing! That would be the best thing in the world for Mr. Neavelle. If he didn’t have to spend any time in jail that would be a win.

I couldn’t believe it.  Was that even possible? Could a judge do that?  The judge wanted to talk to us and Able to see how we wanted to proceed.  I was surprised that the judge wanted to talk to all of us together, but that was a decision for him, not me.

James and I raced over to the courthouse to meet with the judge and Able.  We hurried through the lobby to the small judges quarters to hear yelling. It was hard to make out what was being said, but all I knew two people were unhappy.  James suggested that it was probably Able and the judge arguing about the judge’s decision, but we couldn’t be for sure.

James cautiously knocked on the door and the room with quiet.  The door opened and the judge brought us into the room. Able was sitting in one of the chairs with a very angry scowl on his face.  I could immediately tell that he was angry that he was caught, but there was nothing I could do about it.

The judge sat down and told us what he wanted to do.  He said he looked at the evidence and knew that Mr. Neasvelle wasn’t guilty.  Able went to object but the judge immediately silenced him. The judge told us that he was very ashamed of Able and how he had gone about trying to win the case.  He shamed Able, telling Able that the trick that was pulled was low and uncalled for in a courthouse. Able’s face turned red, obviously not used to being humiliated in front of other people.

The judge told us that he was going to give a verdict that Mr. Neasvelle was innocent and that the police had the wrong man.  He told us that the evidence was quite clear and he wasn’t going to change the decision. He turned to Able and told him that if he ever, EVER, saw Mrs. Neasvelle suing Mr. Neasvelle on his docket that he would immediately throw out the case.  I could not have been happier with the decision. James and I stood up and shook the judges hand before watching Able race out the door.

James and I agreed to wait until tomorrow to tell Mr. Neasvelle about the judge’s decision.  We wanted to make his day and maybe give him an extra little surprise. We discussed a small surprise for Mr. Neasvelle and went our separate ways for the night.

When I got home I told Rose about what happened.  We were both so excited that we decided to open a new bottle of wine.  It’s something we don’t do that often, but it was a good celebration. But now, I have to try to sleep before telling Mr. Neasvelle the good news.  G’Night.

Good morning!  I am so glad that today is Friday!  I have so many things planned for the next few days and I am very very excited.   Anybody else have exciting plans for the weekend and next week?

We continue on with our court case.  I hope that everything goes well for Mr. Neasvelle and I hope they can win the court case.  But, you will have to continue the Adventure to see what happens.  Enjoy!

A Journal of My Thoughts

December 15, 20—

Today was the big day.  I wasn’t able to sleep super well but I felt well rested.  I walked into the kitchen wearing my best suit and Rose smiled at me.  She told me that no matter what the outcome was going to be, she was proud of me.  That made me smile. Even though I know she will always support me, this just made me hold my head a little higher.

I filled my thermos with coffee and kissed Rose before walking out the door to my car.  James was going to collect everything from the office before heading to the courthouse so I made my way to meet him.  It would look unprofessional if we didn’t show up at the same time. I sent James a quick text to make sure he was on the way and he quickly replied with a simple yes.

The drive was uneventful so I won’t bore you with that.

We arrived at the same time and somehow parked next to each other.  I promise we didn’t plan that. It just happened. Either way, we walked up the steps to the courthouse to see Mr. Neasvelle standing in the lobby.  He was wearing a suit that was a smidge too big for him, but it didn’t look terrible. We walked up to him and shook his hand. He told us he was nervous and you could tell.  His hands were very sweaty.

I told Mr. Neasvelle that we had to give the judge the small amount of evidence we had and he told us he would meet us in the courtroom.  James told me he was so nervous but he had a feeling everything would go well. I laughed. I was feeling the same way though. I didn’t know that was a thing but here we are.

We walked into the judges chambers and saw the prosecuting attorney.  It was someone we had battled against before and we didn’t do well. His name was Mr. Able.  I was always kind of perplexed by his name. Was that actually his name? Or did he legally change his name?  He always said he was able to win his cases, so maybe he changed his name to reflect that. Who knows, but what I do know is that he is a very successful prosecuting attorney.

I saw Mr. Able and shook his hand.  He was always a very stone faced man, but he was at least polite.  To an extent. He would shake our hands and ask how we were doing, but then he would slaughter us in court.  But not today! I was determined that today would be the day we beat him.

Both parties presented their evidence to the judge and agreed on everything.  I could tell Mr. Able was a little shocked by how much we actually brought in.  Mostly witness statements but still, it was a bit of evidence.

I could tell that the evidence that he brought was much more physical.  Like, he had a flash drive, most likely with security camera footage on it, and some fingerprints supposedly that matched Mr. Neasvelle.  But what surprised me was that he brought the envelope of money that my client had given his client. It was still in an envelope with a small drawing on the front.  It said Child Support across the front and underneath there was a small stick figure family. There was a taller person and 3 shorter people, presumably Mr. Neasvelle and his three kids.  It made my heart skip a beat, it was cute. And very thoughtful.

The judge dismissed us and we found Mr. Neasvelle standing outside of the courtroom door.  He seemed even more nervous than before and it looked like he had been pacing quite a bit.  We tried to help calm him down and tell him that everything would be okay.

That was…until the fire alarm went off.

That’s right.  They had to evacuate the entire courthouse because the fire alarm went off.  All I could think of was that someone was trying to get out of their case today and would face federal charges for setting off the fire alarm in a courthouse.  But when we stepped outside there were actual flames coming out from the roof. Everyone was a little shocked and couldn’t believe this was happening.

I remember seeing Mr. Able standing off to the far side.  He seemed anxious, something I had never seen from him before.  I couldn’t tell if he was nervous about the courthouse burning down or if he was nervous that the case would be pushed to a different courtroom.  Or, maybe he had faked some of the evidence to make it look like Mr. Neasvelle was guilty.

It just seemed like very strange behavior from him.  But pretty soon the fire department shows up and starts to put out the flame.  The judges come walking around to tell everyone they will be receiving papers on when and where their cases will be handled.  The attorneys were told to stick around to collect their evidence but everyone else was dismissed.

James told me he would get the stuff and I took Mr. Neasvelle back to his apartment.  He told me he was more worried now that the case was being pushed off for a short while.  I told him everything would be fine and nothing would change in the case. We still were going to win no matter what.

I’m not sure if he fully believe me or not, but he told me he was very thankful for everything that we have done.  And I’m going to leave it there the night. I’m not sure when the case will resume, but hopefully it’s soon. G’night.

Good morning!  It’s finally Friday!  I cannot wait to finish work today so I can have the weekend off!  Just think of all the writing I can get done!

We are picking up where we left of in the case.  What do you guys think will happen to Mr. Neavelle?  I honestly hope he goes free, that just seems like the right thing.  Especially with that new evidence that was found from a couple witnesses.  If you want to see what happens, you will have to continue reading this Adventure.  Enjoy!

A Journal of My Thoughts

December 14, 20—

Last night was a rough night of sleep.  I kept tossing and turning, thinking about all of the information for our case.  I think I woke up more exhausted than when I went to sleep.  

Also, I drank three cups of coffee before I left for work which is something I never do.

When I arrived at work, James was already there.  I didn’t even get a chance to ask him how long he was there because when I walked into his office I knew.  He was sound asleep in his chair, his head resting on the desk in front of him. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how he was able to sleep with his music pounding.  I was able to turn down the music without waking James up and left him where he was. Thankfully, our meeting wasn’t until 11 am.

I walked into my office and started prepping for our meeting with Mr. Neasvelle.  We had all the new information for the case and the first day of trial is tomorrow.  Let me be the first to say that I am really not looking forward to the trial. It is going to be a lot  harder than we are hoping for.

I sat in my office for a while preparing stuff when James walked in.  He asked how long I had been working for and I told him not long. He apologized to me for staying overnight, but he was just so worked up in the case trying to find a way to win.  I feel bad for him. He’s been spending so much extra time on this case. He hasn’t been spending as much time off as he normally would.

He sat down in front of me and we went over the notes that we had accumulated for Mr. Neavelle’s case.  We were hoping that we could get him out on the idea that there were no fingerprints and the fact that he couldn’t get to the store in less than 30 minutes.  Both of those facts along with a witness telling me that he saw Mr. Neavelle in his apartment at 2 am helped to solidify that Mr. Neavelle was innocent.

We worked in our separate offices for a while when it finally became time for our meeting with Mr. Neavelle.  We set up the small conference room on our floor to make sure that we were prepared. My phone rang from our secretary Alicia calling to tell us Mr. Neavelle was here for his meeting.  I told her to bring him back and James and I waited.

Let me say that I was absolutely shocked to see Mr. Neavelle.

He looked like he had been through 10 wars.  His eyes were sunk in and dark from many sleepless nights.  His clothes were clean but they were tattered from overwearing them.  There were a couple holes in his jeans and a large rip in the side of his shirt.  I haven’t seen a client in this bad of condition for a while but it made me feel even worse for him.  It made me kind of want to ask if he had clothes that were appropriate for court, but I held my tongue.

He looked exhausted and stressed beyond all belief.  I have seen James endure a lot of stress with this case but I never expected to see double the stress on Mr. Neasvelle’s face.  I asked him if he would like a cup of water or a cup of coffee and I saw tears forming in his eyes. He told me he hadn’t had coffee since he divorced his wife and he didn’t buy it because it was too expensive.  He used his coffee money to pay for his child support. I immediately made him a cup of coffee and handed it to him.

We sat down at the table and discussed what was going to happen in court tomorrow.  He told us he was borrowing a suit from his father to make sure he looked presentable.  That made me feel a little bit better. I told him what evidence we had gotten from his neighbors and how it didn’t match up with the time frame of the break in.  He nodded, taking in all of the information that we were putting in front of him. James kept asking him if this was all making sense and he would say yes.

After everything was presented we gave Mr. Neavelle a game plan of how everything would happen.  We told him that we would do everything we could to get him off the hook, especially since the evidence was clear that he was an innocent man.

I will never forget what Mr. Neavelle told us.  He told us that the whole time this has been happening, he hasn’t felt any hope.  He felt like he had lost the moment he was unfairly arrested. But now that he saw all of the evidence in front of him, he finally saw a glimmer of hope.  He finally saw the chance to continue to be a free man and not have to spend the rest of his life in jail for something he didn’t do. He told us he had been preparing to spend the rest of his life behind bars.  Mr. Neavelle thanked us for our time and stood up. He had to get back to work but he was looking forward to what was going to happen in the coming days.

James and I walked him to the front door and shook his hand.  We both wished him well before heading back to our offices and continuing to work.  James told me before we left for the day that he actually slipped Mr. Neavelle a $20 bill when they shook hands, more of a ‘this is to help you’ hand shake.  That made me smile.

And now we are at the end of the day.  I need to get a good night’s rest for the case tomorrow.  James and I are meeting at the office early to make sure we have everything.  I know we can win this case. I know Mr. Neavelle will be a free man. I just know it.  Either way, that is up to the judge to finally decide. G’night.

Good morning!  Is everyone ready for the weekend?  I am excited for the weekend because I have some exciting plans!  But I can’t tell you about them just yet, just keep an eye on my Instagram.

We are starting a new series!  I just started this one recently and I am excited to share this with you.  This one is a little bit different from what I normally write, but it has been fun to try something different.  So I hope you enjoy this Adventure!

A Journal of My Thoughts

December 10, 20–

Today was a very long day.  I was woken up at 2 am by the sound of my work phone ringing.  It was blaring in my ear and I quickly grabbed it off the table so my wife didn’t wake up.  I walked as quickly and quietly out of the room before answering.

It was my partner telling me there was a case that he wasn’t too sure about.  It seemed rather odd and he definitely wanted a second opinion on it. I remember asking him if it could wait until morning and he told me no.  I had to go down to the office right away to see what was going on.

I sighed and asked him why he was still at the office at 2 am.  I could hear him let out an exasperated breath and say that he didn’t realize it was 2 am.  He apologized and said that it could wait until morning if I didn’t want to come, but he was going to stay.  I shook my head, knowing that he couldn’t hear me, and told him that I would be down as soon as I could. As long as he didn’t mind that I came to the office in sweatpants and a tee shirt.

We hung up the phone and I tried to sneak into my bedroom as quietly as possible.  It didn’t work. Rose asked me what was going on and I told her. I didn’t like keeping secrets from my wife, especially ones about work.  She was almost like a third partner at the firm. I told her that James needed help at the office and I was going to help him. She agreed before rolling over and going back to sleep.

I got dressed and grabbed a couple of items for work in case I didn’t end up coming home before going back to work.  I kissed Rose goodbye before walking out the door and unlocking the car. I placed my clothes and briefcase in the passenger seat before moving over to the driver’s side and sliding in.  And with a turn of the key in the ignition, I was on my way to the law firm.

James had been working hard on this case for a while and I could understand why he was having some difficulty trying to find a way for our client to win.  It seemed obvious that we were defending the guilty party, but we had to find some way to say different. Our client has said from the beginning that he didn’t do it, but the evidence kept stacking up against him.  Unfortunately James was stuck with the case and the trial was happening in a matter of days. I wanted to do everything that I could to help him out.

I saw the lights still on in the third story office of our law firm.  Poor James was there through all hours of the night by himself. He had done it on more than one occasion but he always said that he was married to his work.  I pulled into my assigned parking space and quickly got out of my car to head inside.  

When I stepped out of the elevator onto the third floor I could hear very loud music blaring from James’ office.  It wasn’t my forte of music, but it was what James liked to listen to to decompress. I turned the corner into his office to see his head banging on the table.  I knocked on the doorframe and he looked up. There was a giant red mark on his forehead from hitting his head on the table so many times. James smiled a goofy smile before saying hi and turning down his pounding music.

I sat down in one of his client chairs and asked him what the problem was.  He showed me the file that was almost 3 inches thick from paperwork regarding the case.  He told me he was ruined. According to a new piece of evidence that was just brought up from the prosecuting attorney, there was absolutely no way that James was going to win the case.  The evidence showed that his client had attended therapy for his anger and didn’t get the signature saying that he passed. James looked like he was about ready to cry knowing that this was going to be one of the few cases that he didn’t win.  But this just put a nail in the coffin.

We worked through the night to see if there was anything that was missed.  Every time that one of us found something, the other would find something to contradict it.  We worked until the sun came up and ordered some UberEats breakfast before we started our actual work day.  I wasn’t sure what he was going to, but I was going to help him as much as I could.

The rest of the day went on like any other day.  I don’t remember what else happened except for the fact that I was exhausted.  We both left the office right on time because we were so tired. I think I had 5 cups of coffee in total for the day.  But when I left I went directly home to see Rose. The rest of the night was uneventful. But now I’m going to bed. G’night.