The statements that concluded the trial circled neatly around the same key lines of argument, though nuanced differently. After six days of discussion and an exhaustive examination of the dossier of evidence, the judges would be asked to give their answer to the primary question: do you have a personal conviction as to the guilt of the accused? The jury would address more specific questions connected to the means of Genet’s death and the likelihood of the accused premeditating and committing the act. Since by this stage the “Icelandic Question“ had emerged quite strongly in the defence, the procureur’s address argued that the deflection of blame onto a nineteen year-old girl and her absent step-brother was simply a trick on the part of the accused. Indeed, Knox’s claims were evidence of his jealous nature; perhaps his real motives, which might never be known, were simply this – he wanted Birna to himself and he sought to get at those people who cared for her on equal terms. Where was the evidence that showed anything distasteful or underhand about Michel Genet’s copyart, if indeed JosK was Genet? Was the court here to judge whether such art was pornographic? Or, was it rather here to determine the guilt of the accused, Blake Knox, the real deviant, with his obsession over Genet, Aronsdóttir and her relationships, both near and far?
In her plaidoirie, Advocat Poussier chose to ignore her client’s rather academic arguments presented in his statement and focus instead on what was known, and what was not known. Did Blake Knox write a crime story describing events that were yet to happen? No, he did not. He imagined events that transpired in a similar fashion, but he did not do so with the intention to carry out the events. The accused was naïve, and his foreignness had been exploited throughout the police investigation. Had he been informed of his rights during the garde à vue? Had he lived in the hamlet of Piégon long enough to draw more than a favourable impression from the villagers around him? Had he really been so obsessed with an artist he had just met, and a girl whom he was yet to be on intimate terms with at the time of the murder? Where was the explanation as to the various Icelanders that seemed to be part of the context of the crime? Even according to the police statements, there was a missing Icelandic painting, and a mysterious half-brother who may have been spotted in the village trespassing in a neighbour’s pool a month before the crime. A man fitting his description had also been seen in Genet’s studio apartment in Avignon and been seen by the accused in Vaison-la-Romaine in the week before the murder. The police had accused Knox because he was convenient, not because he was the right person. A shadow lingered over the events of the demise of the famous artist, and over the whole investigation and criminal trial itself.
The jury began their deliberations immediately afterwards but at 8:00 p.m., when no decision had yet been reached, the président called a halt to proceedings, which would begin again at 9.00 a.m. on Wednesday, 9 October.
Blake had one thought as he sat back in the BX – how could he produce the evidence that showed what he had seen with his own eyes? He felt sure it was otherwise his last night of freedom. Birna had not told the truth to the court about her half-brother Jonas, and it was this shadow the police should have been focusing on.
A dated polyphonic ringtone broke the silence in the car. Blake’s mother passed him her phone – it was Elizabeth, wishing him well, telling him that she would be back in court tomorrow to hear the findings; that she was hopeful for him, praying for him. The thought of Elizabeth appealing to God on his behalf only increased Blake’s anxiety tenfold.