I was going to learn to surf, and touch-type, and how to change a flat tire.

I was going to try bangs, and dark eyeliner, wear scarlet lipstick and tartan capes.

I was going to fall in love again.

I was going to road-trip across the country, stay in cheap motels and collect postcards from every state.

I was going to see the world.

I was going to move into my own apartment and furnish it with cheap thrift-store finds, sip tea in the afternoon from mismatched vintage china, in a space that was all my own.

I was going to be alone in a strange city where nobody knew my name.

I was going to finish reading Great Expectations.

I was going to have another macaroni night with my dad in our kitchen back at home.

I was going to see a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a rowdy costumed crowd.

I was going to get two kittens and name them Eleanor and Marianne.

I was going to volunteer at the cancer hospice.

I was going to fight for something I believed in.

I was going to grow herbs in terra-cotta pots outside my kitchen window.

I was going to write something one day, that people would read. Maybe even love.

I was going to kiss a lot of boys.

I was going to stay up all night talking, and know that it was just the beginning.

I was going to get married, in a strapless white dress with my mother’s veil.

I was going to graduate high school in my cap and gown.

I was going to dance through a hundred more rock shows, drenched in sweat and songs.

I was going to spend a summer backpacking through Europe.

I was going to sing along to the radio every day.

I was going to get my boots fixed before fall.

I was going to buy that red belt I saw in the store.

I was going to watch all the shows I left on my DVR.

I was going to see it snow at Christmastime in New York.

I was going to get an A on my history midterm.

I was going to get a new car for graduation.

I was going to make him proud.

I was going to start all over again.

I was going to be brave, and good, and bold.

I was going to love him forever.

I was going to hold her hand till the very end.

NOW

I tell them no.

Eight years is too long. Even just one year more of this would destroy me, but more than that, I can’t plead guilty. I won’t sign the deal and say I killed her, when I’ve spent so long fighting to clear my name. I’ll take my chances on the judge instead, and all of Dekker’s failings.

I know I’d rather kill myself than go back to that prison again. I have to try for freedom, or nothing at all.

CLOSING ARGUMENTS

PROSECUTION:

“Elise Warren was the light of her parents’ life. A kind, fun-loving girl who loved to spend time with her friends, volunteer, join school clubs and activities. A straight-A student, she could have had any future that she chose. But Elise will never get to live those dreams, because her life was cut brutally short by a frenzied attack. On the afternoon of March twentieth, Elise was attacked in her bedroom as she prepared to go meet her friends. This wasn’t an accident, or a quick death, no; you’ve heard from expert forensic witnesses how Elise was stabbed thirteen times in the chest and stomach with a kitchen knife and then left to die in a pool of her own blood. She would have died gasping for air, feeling her own life and that bright future slip away as she slowly bled to death.

“Now, the defense has tried to pin the blame for this murder on anyone but the woman here on trial today. They’ve told you that this was a break-in gone wrong, that somebody scaled the back wall to the house in broad daylight and, when faced with Elise, instead of turning and running, or simply knocking her down, they instead picked up the knife and killed her. But a murder case isn’t about theories; it’s based on evidence. And the evidence in this case points to one woman, and one woman alone: the defendant, Anna Chevalier.

“Experts have testified that the deadly wounds inflicted on the victim were the result of a passionate frenzy, from somebody who likely knew the victim. The defendant’s fingerprints were found on the murder weapon. Her physical DNA and hairs were near the body. And as you’ve heard over the past weeks, the defendant had both motive for the killing and a pattern of violent behavior, which makes Elise Warren’s death seem like a tragic inevitability.

“You’ve heard how the victim was having a secret affair with Miss Chevalier’s boyfriend, and that the defendant was sent into a jealous rage when she discovered the truth, fighting with the victim and threatening to kill her. Now, threats are one thing, but we’ve found that the defendant has a long record of violent physical outbursts. Time and time again, she’s lashed out at the people around her, inflicting serious physical damage. What’s more, the defendant has no alibi for a portion of the afternoon of the murder, and even lied to police about her whereabouts that day. These lies undermine everything the defendant has said to you during this trial. How can we believe a single word she’s said? She denies knowing about the affair, when her friend has testified to overhearing the defendant fight with the victim about it. She denies coercing her boyfriend into giving her an alibi for the afternoon, and she has even tried to pin the blame on the victim for their partying and reckless behavior, when other friends have all testified that the victim was a model student and citizen before she became friends with Miss Chevalier.

“As we’ve seen, since the murder and throughout the trial, the defendant displays a troubling lack of responsibility. In the days after the murder, she was seen laughing and joking with her boyfriend, and in fact, just hours after discovering the body, Miss Chevalier seemed more concerned with buying a soda than the fact that her best friend was dead. These are the marks of a remorseless killer, who struck the victim in a premeditated attack fueled by sexual jealousy and rage. This is a woman who deserves to pay—for the life she’s taken, and the lies she’s told.

“A young woman is dead. Nothing can bring her back, but justice must be done. So, I ask you to deliver justice, to Elise Warren’s parents and friends, and to the memory of Elise herself. Find the defendant guilty, and award her the maximum sentence permitted for her crimes.”

DEFENSE:

“Justice. The prosecution likes to talk a lot about it, as if prosecuting an innocent teenage girl for a crime she didn’t commit could ever be justified. The fact is, Klaus Dekker has botched and mishandled this case from the very start. Responding to 911 calls from the scene of the crime, police found broken glass in the room, indicating a break-in. The victim’s friends testified that Elise had been harassed by two men in the days leading up to the murder—Niklas van Oaten, and the market trader known only as Juan, who had a record of theft and break-ins. Yet instead of pursuing these suspects, Dekker instead concocted an outlandish theory about the crime, deciding that the defendant—a young girl with no criminal record, with no real violence to her name—had somehow plotted to kill her best friend, a girl she counted closer than any sister.