Monday, March 14, 2016
Across town, Geoff Batchelor sat in his office at the Arapahoe County Office of the District Attorney. He had recently celebrated two years as the district attorney for the eighteenth Judicial District of Colorado, and sitting on his throne still felt as good as it had on the first day.
He was reading about the Open Hands shooting. After a morning of flipping through police reports, he wanted to read the raw stories told by the survivors.
His office faced downtown Denver to the north, the city’s skyline a view he used to clear his mind and keep perspective when the world started to weigh down on him. He kept an organized office: nothing on his desk but his computer, a notepad, and a picture of his two little girls, both smiling wide, toothless grins. They had his blue eyes and blond hair, but otherwise they were spitting images of their mother—which made him cringe, thinking about the future boys that would be knocking down their door to date them.
“This is sick,” Geoff said sharply. “We have to pursue the death penalty.”
Karen Edson, the chief prosecutor for the case, sat across his desk nodding in agreement. She had stiff golden hair and a stone-faced expression, makeup caked over in an attempt to hide the years of stress from the job. She wore dark red lipstick that matched her boxy suit jacket.
“This may be as easy as it gets, to get the jury to vote death,” she said.
“It’s never easy,” Geoff replied. “It only takes one juror to disagree. But the people want to see this guy dead, and it’s our job to make that happen. Jury selection will decide everything.”
Karen continued nodding. She and Geoff had a deep bond. After a couple years of working alongside her, she had become his most trusted confidante. He shared his fears, dreams, and personal matters with her. And although she kept to herself, she knew he was there for her as well. When Geoff secured the election and took control of the office, Karen was immediately promoted to his number two, where she kept him grounded and in check.
“Why not take the plea? Life in prison, some say, is even worse than lethal injection.”
“It’s the principle. Sure, he could rot in prison, but he killed thirteen people. I guarantee there are thirteen families that are tasting revenge for the first time in their lives. An eye for an eye.”
“You sure this isn’t about the governor race?” Karen asked with a smirk.
The seat for governor of Colorado was set to open up in 2018, and Geoff’s name had already been thrown into the mix by numerous local analysts. He was fed up with the Democrats running things and wanted to take the state back to its conservative roots.
“This isn’t about that.”
We’re going to be in the limelight. If we can get him executed, I’ll be a hero, and that would make for an easy campaign.
Geoff had absolutely had the governor race in mind, as soon as he heard about the shooting on Friday afternoon. Fighting for justice would be easy in such a case. He had worked on plenty of cases where the defendant had murdered just one person, and the jury never sympathized. A case this extreme would only make it easier to convince the jury that the death penalty was the only way to go.
“I’ll start prepping for a death penalty case and to counter an insanity plea,” Karen said as she stood and rapped her long fingers on Geoff’s desk before leaving his office. The district retained a death penalty specialist and they would need his services to prepare them for the trial.
Geoff returned his attention to his computer screen, shaking his head as he read the survivor accounts.