The courthouse smelled of floor polish, damp wool, and coffee that had been sitting too long on a warmer. Marcus arrived before eight with Sarah beside him and a folder tucked beneath his arm. He had chosen a charcoal suit Eleanor bought him for a church anniversary, and the cuffs were slightly frayed where he had rubbed them during the years since her death. Across the entrance, reporters called his name, but he kept walking until he reached the security checkpoint.
The courtroom was smaller than the photographs in the newspapers made it appear. Behind the counsel tables, members of the public filled two rows, while a television journalist occupied a seat near the back with a notebook balanced on her knee. Derek was already present, dressed in an expensive navy suit beneath a medical brace, speaking in low tones to Vincent Morrison. When his eyes met Marcus's, he gave a brief smile that disappeared as soon as he noticed a reporter watching.
Judge Elena Martinez entered and reminded everyone that the proceeding was about specific criminal charges, not a referendum on neighborhood development. She warned counsel against appeals designed solely to inflame the jury. Marcus liked the warning until he realized how easily a person could tell an inflammatory story without ever using an obviously inflammatory word. Years of being treated as an obstacle had taught him how much could hide inside a polite sentence.
Hayes opened for the prosecution. He walked slowly before the jury and described an elderly restaurant owner with a documented history of boxing, military training, and unusual physical skill. He said those facts would help jurors understand the force Marcus was capable of using. He showed a photograph of Tank in an emergency department and another of Leon with a bandage over his nose, then argued that the defendant had chosen to resolve a property disagreement with violence.
"The defendant was not a helpless victim," Hayes told them. "He had choices. The prosecution will ask you to examine the choices he made."
Sarah's opening was shorter. She did not describe Marcus as harmless, because the jury could see that he was strong enough to protect himself. Instead she described a man who had refused repeated threats, asked his assailants to leave, and warned them not to touch him. She promised jurors the full recording of the encounter, including the moments left out of the clip that had traveled through the media.
"You don't decide a fight by watching only the moment somebody falls," she said. "You decide what happened by seeing why the danger began and when it ended."