Chapter 13 - Vanessa’s head injury
Vanessa’s lawyers understandably focused on my assault.
Video showed:
I reached Noah.
Lifted him.
Then marched toward Vanessa.
Slapped her.
She fell into rail.
Scalp laceration.
Staples.
That was not self-defense.
I accepted responsibility.
The prosecution offered:
Misdemeanor assault plea.
Twelve months probation.
Anger-management counseling.
Eighty hours community service.
No contact with Vanessa except through attorneys and court process.
No jail given:
No prior violent conviction.
Single strike.
No lasting injury.
Prompt medical care.
Guilty plea.
I accepted.
I did not tell Lily:
I hit Vanessa because I love you both.
Love was not a legal defense.
I said:
“I got angry and hit her after Noah was already safe. I should have stopped.”
Lily asked:
“Was she bad?”
“She did something terrible.”
“Then why bad to hit?”
May you like
“Because consequences are not mine to invent with my hands.”
It took me forty-one years to say that convincingly.
