all right we're back chapter six page 93 surely doomed he's just a little boy it was late and i had picked up the phone after hours because no one else was in the building it was becoming a bad habit the older woman on the other end of the line was pleading with me after offering a heartfelt description of her grandson who had just been jailed for murder he'd already been in jail for two nights and i can't get to him i'm in virginia and my health is not good please tell me to do something i hesitated before answering her only a handful of countries permitted the death penalty for children and the united states was one of them many of my alabama clients were on death row for crimes they were accused of committing when they were 16 or 17 year old children many states had changed their laws to make it easier to prosecute children as adults and my clients were getting younger and younger alabama had more juveniles sentenced to death per capita than any other state or any other country in the world i was determined to manage the growing demand for our services by taking on new cases only if the client was facing execution or formally condemned to death row i heard her murmuring on the other end and realized she was praying i waited until she was finished before saying ma'am i can't take the case but i will drive down to the jail and see your grandson tomorrow i'll see what i can do we likely won't be able to represent him but let me find out what's going on and perhaps we can help you find a lawyer who can assist you mr stevenson i'm so grateful i was tired and already feeling overwhelmed with the number of cases i had but i needed to go to a courthouse near the county where this boy was being held so it wouldn't be the big that big a deal to stop by and see the boy the next morning i drove for over an hour to the county when i got to the courthouse i checked the clerk's file on the case and read the boy's case file which mostly confirmed everything the grandmother had told me charlie was 14 years old he weighed less than a hundred pounds and was just five feet tall he didn't have any juvenile criminal history no prior arrest no misconduct in school no delinquencies or prior court appearances he was a good student who would earn several certificates for perfect attendance at a school his mother described him as a great kid who was well behaved but charlie had by his own account shot and killed a man named george george was charlie's mother's boyfriend she referred to the relationship as a mistake george would often come home drunk and begin by acting violently there are three occasions in the year and a half leading up to the night of the shooting when george beat charlie's mother so mercilessly that she required medical treatment she never left george or made him leave on the night of the shooting charlie and his mother were playing cards when george came home very drunk hey where are you he shouted when he came in the two adults had argued earlier in the evening because she had begged him not to go out fearing that he would come home drunk now she looked at him angrily when she saw him standing there reeking of alcohol he looked back at her with contempt and in a flash he punched her hard in the face she didn't expect him to hit her so quickly or violently he hadn't done it like that before she collapsed to the floor charlie was standing behind his mother and saw her head slam against her metal kitchen counter as she fell george saw charlie standing there and glared at him coldly before brushing past him toward the bedroom where charlie heard him fall noisily onto the bed charlie's mother was lying on the floor unconscious and bleeding badly he knelt by his mother's side trying feverishly to revive her he started crying futilely futilely asking his mother what to do he frantically searched for the cloth kitchen towel because he thought it would have stopped the bleeding he found it wrapped around the pot on the stove his mother had cooked black-eyed peas for dinner he loved black ice peas they'd eaten together before they started playing pinocchio his favorite card game charlie was quietly begging his mother to wake up when it appeared to him that she wasn't breathing he thought he should call an ambulance but the phone was in the bedroom with george george had never hit charlie but he terrified him just the same the house was quiet the only sound he heard was george breathing heavily in the other room soon he could hear him snoring his mother hadn't moved in nearly 15 minutes charlie thought his mother might be dying or was maybe even already dead he had to call an ambulance he stood up flooded with anxiety and cautiously made his way to the bedroom charlie saw george on the bed asleep and felt a surge of hatred for this man he had never liked him never understood why his mother had let him live with them george didn't like charlie either he was rarely friendly to the boy his mother had told charlie that george could be sweet but charlie never saw any of that charlie knew that george's first wife and child had been killed in a car accident and charlie's mom said that was why he drank so much in the 18 months that george lived with them it seemed to charlie that there had been nothing but violence loud arguments pushing and shoving threats and turmoil his mother had stopped smiling the way she used to she became nervous and jumpy and now he thought she's on the kitchen floor dead charlie walked to the dresser against the back wall of the bedroom to reach the phone when he reached the phone he wasn't sure why he didn't just pick up the receiver he couldn't never really explain why he opened the dresser drawer instead put his hand under the folded white t-shirts his mom had laundered and felt for the handgun he knew george kept hidden there he'd never fired a gun before but he knew he could do it charlie walked over to the bed his arms stretched out pointing the gun at george's head as charlie hovered over him the snoring stopped the room grew very very quiet and that's when charlie pulled the trigger the sound of the bullet firing was much louder than charlie had expected the gun jerked and pushed charlie a step back he almost lost his balance and fell he looked at george and squeezed his eyes closed it was horrible he could feel himself starting to tremble again and that's when he heard his mother moaning in the kitchen he couldn't believe she was alive he ran back to the phone and called 9-1-1 then sat next to her until the police arrived after learning of all this i felt that no court would not would not prosecute charlie as an adult according to the file and the notes from the initial court appearance the prosecutor did not dispute charlie and his mother's account it was only when i continued reading that i discovered that george was a local police officer george was a law enforcement officer who served with honor the prosecutor argued it is a great loss for the county and a tragedy that a good person could be so heartlessly killed by this young man the prosecutor insisted that charlie be tried as an adult and he announced that he intended to seek the maximum punishment permitted by the law the judge agreed charlie was immediately taken to the county jail for adults the small county jail was across the street from the courthouse i stepped outside and walked to the jail to see this young man the jailers clearly didn't receive a lot of out of town lawyers for legal visits the deputy on duty looked at me suspiciously before taking me inside where i waited in the small attorney meeting room from the time i finished reading the file i couldn't stop thinking about how tragic this case was and my somber thoughts weren't interrupted until a small child was pushed into the visiting room this boy seemed way too small way too thin and way too scared to be 14. i looked at the jailer who seemed to share my surprise at how small and terrified the child appeared i asked him to remove the handcuffs he removed charlie's handcuffs before leaving the room charlie sat down across from me at a table it had been three days since his arrest charlie my name is brian your grandmother called me and asked me if i would come and see you i'm a lawyer and i help people who get in trouble who are accused of crimes and i'd like to help you the boy wouldn't make eye contact with me he was tiny but he had big beautiful eyes he had a close haircut that made him look even younger than he was i thought i saw tattoos or symbols on his neck but when i looked more closely i realized that they were bruises charlie are you okay he was start staring intensely to my left looking at the wall as if he saw something there his distant look was so alarming that i actually turned to see if there was something of interest behind me but it was just a blank wall i sat and waited for a very long time in the hope that he would give me some kind of response but the room remained silent he stared at the wall and then looked down at his own wrist rubbing the spot where the metal had pinched him charlie i want to make sure you're doing okay so i just need you to answer a few questions for me okay i knew he could hear me whenever i spoke he would lift his head and return his gaze to the spot on the wall charlie if i were you i'd be pretty scared and really worried right now but i'd also want someone to help me and i'd like to help okay i waited for a response but none was forthcoming charlie can you speak are you okay he didn't say a word we don't have to talk about george we don't have to talk about what happened we can talk about whatever you want is there something you want to talk about i was waiting for longer and longer stretches after each question desperately hoping that he would say something but he didn't do you want to talk about your mom she's going to be fine i've checked and even though she can't visit you she's going to be fine she's worried about you i thought talking about his mother would spark something in charlie's eyes when it didn't i became even more concerned about the child i sat down beside him and spoke more softly charlie you got to talk to me i can't help you if you don't would you just say your name or say something please he continued to stare at the wall i sat in the chair next to him leaned close and said quietly charlie i'm really sorry if you're upset but please talk to me i can't help you if you don't talk to me he leaned back in a chair for the first time nearly placing his head on the wall behind us i pulled my chair closer to him and leaned back in mine we sat silently for a long time and then i started saying silly things because i didn't know what else to do well you won't tell me what you're thinking so i guess i'm going to just have to tell you what i'm thinking i bet you think you know what i'm thinking i said playfully but in fact you really couldn't possibly imagine you probably think i'm thinking about the law or the judge or the police or why this won't this young man speak with me what are one actually thinking about is food yes that's right charlie i continued teasingly i'm thinking about fried chicken and collard greens cooked with turkey meat and sweet potato biscuits you ever had a sweet potato biscuit still nothing i kept going i'm thinking about getting a new car because my car is so old i weighed it nothing charlie you're supposed to say how old is it brian and then i say my car is so old he never smiled or responded he just continued looking at the spot on the wall his face frozen and sadness after a while i tried again come on charlie what's going on you've got to talk to me son i started leaning on him somewhat playfully until he sat forward a bit and then i finally felt him lean back into me i took a chance and put his arm my arm around him and he immediately began to shake his trembling intensified before he finally leaned completely into me and started crying i put my head to his and said it's okay it's all right he was sobbing when he finally finally spoke it didn't take me long to realize that he wasn't talking about what had happened with george or with his mom but what had happened at that jail there were three men who hurt me on the first night they touched me and made me do things tears were streaming down his face his voice was high pitched and strange strained with anguish they came back the next night and hurt me a lot he said becoming more hysterical with each word then he looked in my face for the first time there were so many last night i don't know how many there were but they hurt me he was crying too hard to finish his sentence he gripped my jacket with a force i wouldn't have imagined if he was capable of exerting i held him and told him it as gently as i could it's going to be okay it's going to be okay i'd never held anyone who gripped me as tightly as that child or who cried as hard or as long it seemed like his tears would never end i promised him that i would try to get him out of there right away he begged me not to leave but i assured him that i would be back that day we never talked about the crime when i left the jail i was more angry than sad i kept asking myself who is responsible for this how could we ever allow this i went directly to the sheriff's office and explained to the sheriff what the child had told me the sheriff listened with a distracted look on his face but when i said i was going to see the judge he agreed to move the child into a protected area immediately when i told the judge and the prosecutor that the child had been sexually abused and raped they agreed to move him to a nearby juvenile facility within the next several hours i decided to take on the case we ultimately got charlie's case transferred to juvenile court where the shooting was agitated educated as a juvenile offense that meant charlie wouldn't be sent to an adult prison and he would likely be released before he turned 18. in just a few years i visited charlie regularly and in time he recovered he was a smart sensitive child who tormented by what he had done and what he'd been through as i walk i gave a church months later i spoke about charlie and the plight of incarcerated children afterwards an older married couple approached me and insisted that they had to help charlie i tried to dissuade these people kind of people from thinking they could do anything but i gave them my card and told them they could call me i didn't expect to hear from them but within days they called and they were persistent we eventually agreed that they would write a letter to charlie and send it to me to pass on to him when i received the letter weeks later i read it it was remarkable mr and mrs jenkins were a white couple in their mid 70s from a small community northeast of birmingham they were kind and generous people who were active in their local united methodist church they spoke softly and always seemed to be smiling but never appeared to be anything less than completely genuine and compassionate they dressed like farmers and owned 10 acres of land where they grew vegetables and lived simply their one and only grandchild whom they had helped raise had committed suicide when he was a teenager and they had never stopped grieving for him their grandson struggled with mental health problems during his short life but he was a smart kid and they had been putting money away to send him to college they explained in their letter that they wanted to use the money they saved for their grandson to help charlie eventually charlie and this couple began corresponding building up to the day when the jenixings met charlie at the juvenile detention center facility they later told me they that they loved him instantly charlie's grandmother had died a few months after she first called me and his mother was still struggling after the tragedy of the shooting and charlie's incarceration charlie had been apprehensive about meeting with the jenningsons because he thought they wouldn't like him but he told me after they left how comforting and caring they were the couple became his family at one point early on i tried to caution them against expecting too much from charlie after his release you know he's been through a lot i'm not sure he can just carry on as if nothing has ever happened i want you to understand he may not be able to do everything you'd like him to do they never accepted my warnings mrs jennings told me i know that some have been through more than others but if we don't expect more from each other hope better for one another and recover from the hurt we experience we are surely doomed the jenningsons helped charlie get his general equivalency degree in detention and insisted on financing his college education they were there along with his mother to take him home when he was released