Joseph Teller - Overkill

And for a while, it had been. Jeremy had met Miranda and the girls right where’d they’d arranged. They’d gone on the Ferris wheel, played games, eaten popcorn and cotton candy. And for a little while the events of the summer had receded and Jeremy had even dared to believe that they might have been nothing but a long bad dream.

Until Victor had appeared.

They’d talked about fighting, Jeremy recalled, about having it out right there. Jeremy had surprised himself by saying he was willing. It had been Victor who’d said no. He’d said Jeremy was lucky that Teresa and Miranda and the little girls were there, that he didn’t want to embarrass him in front of all of them.

JAYWALKER: What happened next?

JEREMY: He sucker punched me.

JAYWALKER: What’s a sucker punch?

JEREMY: It’s when somebody catches you off guard.

JAYWALKER: And does what?

JEREMY: Hits you out of nowhere.

JAYWALKER: Where did Victor hit you?

JEREMY: Alongside my right eye [indicating].

JAYWALKER: What did he hit you with?

JEREMY: His fist.

JAYWALKER: What happened?

JEREMY: He caught me good. I went down to my knees. I think I stayed down a couple of seconds.

JAYWALKER: What happened next?

JEREMY: I got up and ran after him.

He’d chased Victor and Teresa up Third Avenue. Miranda had sent the girls home and followed Jeremy. At 113th Street, Jeremy had finally caught up with Victor.

JAYWALKER: Were you that fast, or was Victor that slow?

JEREMY: He didn’t run that fast. It seemed like he wanted me to catch up to him.

JAYWALKER: What happened when you did?

JEREMY: He turned and said, “You want some more of that?” And we started fighting, right there.

JAYWALKER: What kind of fight was it?

JEREMY: It was a regular fistfight.

JAYWALKER: Do you remember what you were wearing?

JEREMY: Jeans, a shirt. Sneakers. It was hot.

JAYWALKER: You heard one of the witnesses from last week testify that you were wearing two or three pairs of socks. Was that true?

JEREMY: No. I hardly ever wear socks in the summer. If I’m going to wear them, I’m going to wear one pair.

JAYWALKER: Do you recall if you were wearing socks that day?

JEREMY: I honestly don’t.

JAYWALKER: Did you have a gun in your waistband?

JEREMY: No.

JAYWALKER: In your socks?

JEREMY: No.

JAYWALKER: In an ankle holster?

JEREMY: No.

JAYWALKER: Anywhere?

JEREMY: No, absolutely not.

He had Jeremy describe the fight, how they’d traded punches until Victor had called a time-out to rest and take off his sweatshirt. Jeremy demonstrated pulling something over his own head. He remembered that underneath, Victor still had a long T-shirt on.

JAYWALKER: What did you do while Victor was pulling his sweatshirt up over his head to take it off?

JEREMY: I waited for him.

JAYWALKER: And what did you do after that?

JEREMY: We started fighting again.

Jeremy described how he’d hit Victor a couple of times, hard enough to hurt his own fist. He thought his punches had landed in the area of Victor’s eyes and mouth. Jeremy himself had been hit on his lip and nose.

JAYWALKER: Who won the fight, Jeremy, if you can tell us?

JEREMY: I did.

JAYWALKER: What makes you say that?

JEREMY: He was more bruised up than I was.

JAYWALKER: How did the fight end?

JEREMY: He put his hands up, like this.

And Jeremy raised both his hands to shoulder height, palms facing forward, fingers slightly spread. Victor had surrendered.

Jeremy had just stood there at that point, bent over slightly with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He’d noticed blood, his own blood, dripping to the pavement from his mouth or nose, or both.

JAYWALKER: What happened next?

JEREMY: I heard a scream.

JAYWALKER: What did you do?

JEREMY: I looked up, and I saw Victor pulling out a gun.

JAYWALKER: Where was he pulling it from?

JEREMY: From his-from right here.

He pointed to his midsection, just above his waistband and slightly off to one side.

JAYWALKER: What did you do?

JEREMY: For a second, nothing. Then I charged him.

Jaywalker asked how far apart the two of them had been when Jeremy had first seen the gun. Jeremy pointed to the portion of the jury box closest to him, a distance of maybe eight or ten feet.

JAYWALKER: What happened?

JEREMY: I got to him before he could fire it, and we started wrestling over it. I was trying to stop him from pointing it at me. And he was trying to bring it up high, toward my body.

He stood up and demonstrated by clasping both hands against his chest.

JAYWALKER: Then what happened?

JEREMY: The gun went off, real loud. And I thought he shot me.

JAYWALKER: Why did you think that?

JEREMY: The bang was so loud, and as soon as it happened I felt a burning sensation right here, in my stomach [pointing].

JAYWALKER: What happened next?

JEREMY: I thought I was falling down, but it was him, Victor, who was leaning to one side like.

JAYWALKER: And as he was doing that, what, if anything, did you do?

JEREMY: I grabbed the gun away from him, got my finger on the trigger, and I fired.

JAYWALKER: How many shots did you fire?

JEREMY: I don’t know. I just kept pulling the trigger and hearing bangs.

JAYWALKER: Who was firing the gun?

JEREMY: I was. Me.

JAYWALKER: Did any of the bullets you fired hit Victor?

JEREMY: Yes.

JAYWALKER: How do you know?

JEREMY: Because he’s dead.

Jaywalker let the last answer echo in the courtroom for just a second or two. So far, Jeremy had done as well as Jaywalker could have hoped for. But so far had been the easy part. Now came the hard part.

JAYWALKER: Jeremy, you’ve sat in this courtroom for a week now. And you’ve heard people take the same witness stand as you, and say that at some point after the first shot or shots, Victor ran quite a distance and fell. And that you ran after him and shot him one last time. Did you hear them say that?

JEREMY: I heard them say that.

JAYWALKER: Is that what happened?

JEREMY: I don’t know. I can only tell you what I remember, and I don’t remember anything like that. To me, it all happened fast, and it all happened at once. The first shot goes off. I think I’m shot. Victor leans away. I grab the gun, point it at him and start firing. So maybe those other people are right. But honestly, I don’t remember it happening that way. I just remember shooting at him until he was on the ground and not moving anymore.

JAYWALKER: And then?

JEREMY: And then I must have stopped. And I looked and saw this gun in my hand. And I remember feeling like I was in a dream. And Miranda and me, we began walking away.

JAYWALKER: Did you walk, or did you run?

JEREMY: I tried to run, but I couldn’t.

JAYWALKER: Why not?

JEREMY: I don’t know. It felt like my legs wouldn’t work right.

They’d walked uptown, Jeremy still holding the gun in his hand. At some point Miranda had told him to put it away. He’d tried to put it in his waistband, but it was too heavy and started slipping down his jeans. So he’d thrown it into the sewer. Then they’d kept walking to Jeremy’s building.

JAYWALKER: Did you stay at home that night?

JEREMY: No.

JAYWALKER: Where did you stay?

JEREMY: Up in the Bronx.

JAYWALKER: And did you continue to stay in the Bronx?

JEREMY: No. I just stayed there that one night.

JAYWALKER: Where did you go from there?

JEREMY: To Puerto Rico.

JAYWALKER: Why did you go to Puerto Rico?

JEREMY: I was scared they were going to kill me.

JAYWALKER: Who?