INSPIRATION
The Goodwill Cap: A Story of Hope and Redemption
“Trastavien is slight and soft-spoken. Says ‘yes, sir’ a lot. You have to lean in a bit to hear him sometimes. He’d been sitting in jail since April, terrified, upset, and confused.”
My recent work of fiction was seeded years ago when I heard a This American Life story about “a court-appointed attorney and his paralegal successfully defending a client arrested because of DNA found in a cap he had purchased from Goodwill.”
Trastavien Hardy was fortunate to have a public defender assigned to him, who was initially unwilling to take on his case. However, the attorney was shocked by how the system worked — or rather, didn’t, which motivated him to work harder. The paralegal assigned to the case was also determined to file motions and find loopholes. In this particular instance, the phrase "you have the right to an attorney" had a positive meaning, as the defender earnestly defended his client.
It was a mesmerizing story, full of hope. At your leisure, check out my story’s inspiration:
One night a few years ago, a woman woke up to a flashlight shining in her face.….
The woman screamed and the burglars fled. They made off with two TVs, a computer, an iPhone. But they’d also left some evidence behind, a cigarette butt, a crowbar, and a hat, a black baseball cap. …
The police bagged the hat and they sent it to the crime lab for DNA testing. It turned out that some DNA in the hat matched a man named Trastavien Hardy. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he turned himself in.….
So the judge, he looked at this list he had of private attorneys in the area. It was alphabetical, and he just picked the next name. Jack Bailey, one of those accident and injury guys whose ads you see all over the place….
He finds out he’s been assigned Trastavien’s case in April 2015 when a fax comes in, a single-page court order.….
Trastavien said he wasn’t guilty. He said he didn’t know anything about the burglary. But Jack pointed to the warrant which said Trastavien’s DNA had been collected from a hat. Trastavien explained that he’d had lots of hats over the years. He’d collected hats. He’d lost hats. He’d traded hats. Even if his DNA was on a hat at the scene, it wasn’t proof he’d been there. Jack believed him. (Source)
Listen to the whole mesmerizing story or read the transcript of an epic journey through the American justice system that ends well:
© Scarlet Ibis James, 2023: All Rights Reserved.
