Author's Note:

This is not an erotic tale, designed for a quick masturbation session. Rather, this is a unique glance into the trial of a father accused of molesting his young daughter, and the unusual (and entirely fictional) way that justice is finally served. I do NOT have any kind of legal background, and I would like to hear from any people who do, regarding how I portrayed the legal system and the members thereof. Keep in mind, while the legal system may seem familiar, it might also be from some unnamed English-speaking country where the laws are patterned after the laws of the west, but with some unique differences.

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Judge Harris blinked as the pounding on his door interrupted his morning coffee. Muttering to himself about the rudeness of some people, he pulled his robe tight and went to answer the door.

"Your Honor!" exclaimed the vaguely familiar woman. "I'm sorry to bother you, but the child has gone catatonic!"

The judge blearily rubbed his eyes and looked at her a moment. "What child? Who are you?"

The woman looked at him in confusion, and said, "I mean the child from last night, Judge Harris, the one who was molested by her adopted father! I'm Maggie Wilson, the child welfare officer."

Memories of the previous night's cases clicked into place, and the judge said, "Of course, I apologize, Ms. Wilson. I'm sorry, I'm not at my best before coffee. Would you mind coming inside and starting over while we both have a cup of coffee?" She nodded, and followed him inside, gratefully accepting the cup he thrust into her hands. "By the way, Ms. Wilson, the word is 'allegedly', as in the father 'allegedly' molested her. Even people suspected of that kind of heinous crime have the right to a fair trial, and are considered innocent until proven guilty."

She flushed at the kindly lecture, and said, "Of course, I'm sorry, Your Honor."

Taking a long sip of his own coffee, he smiled at her and said, "Now then, what's so important that you have to come pound my door down at..." he paused, glancing at the clock, "...7:30 in the morning? What did you say about the child?"

Much calmer, the woman said, "I apologize for the urgency, Your Honor, but the child is in a state of catatonia. The nurse who was examining her made some sort of remark about how her father would never touch her again, and the child began screaming, 'NO! DON'T HURT HIM! NO!NO!NO!' The nurse tried to restrain her, and the child went limp. She hasn't suffered any injury, but she hasn't moved since late last night!"

The judge absorbed the story, then quickly gulped the rest of his cooling coffee, and said, "Would you mind driving me to the hospital? I normally have a car meet me here at nine o'clock, but I think we'd better look into this quickly. I wish I'd been informed last night! I'll be right back."

As he got up from the table, Maggie said, "Of course, Judge Harris. I didn't find out about it until just a while ago, and I was told that your phone is off in the mornings, so I just came straight here." She sipped her coffee and waited as the judge went to dress, and stood up as he returned not five minutes later, ready to go.

As they headed to the car, he said, "I'm not sure if I like the idea of that nurse handling any more children that might have been molested. Whether something happened in her own past, or she's just a moral crusader, there's a chance she could project her feelings onto the child, or even lead them to say something that wasn't true."

Maggie nodded, and said, "I agree, Your Honor. I could tell last night there was a deep emotional attachment between the father and daughter, whether he molested her or not."

Soon arriving at the hospital, they hurried inside. A youngish man came to introduce himself, and said, "I'm Dr. Forrester, staff psychologist here at the hospital. I've worked with many children, abused or not, and I have an idea. Observing the brief video footage we have of the child, including the moment when she went catatonic, and after talking with Ms. Wilson here, I feel that the father would be the best chance we have to bring the little girl out of it. Of course, since he is currently under arrest, he would need to be brought here under your orders, Judge Harris."

The judge nodded slowly, and said, "I think you should come with us to the jail, Dr. Forrester. I'd like you to observe the father from the background, without telling him you're a psychologist. Do you mind?" As the doctor shook his head, the judge turned to Maggie, and said, "Ahh, Ms. Wilson, I appreciate the lift to the hospital. Would you care to accompany us to the jail? I'll call a car for the three of us."

She nodded, and said, "Your Honor, that child's welfare is the most important thing to me right now, especially after what happened. If you two don't mind riding in my old car, I'd rather drive you there myself right now, instead of waiting for a car to come for us."

Judge Harris looked at her and smiled. "Dr. Forrester, does that sound all right? Good, let's go, then. Thank you, Maggie."

Arriving at the prison, they went to Jim Stevenson's cell, where they found him staring morosely at the wall. "Mr. Stevenson, I'm Judge Harris, you may remember me from last night." Jim turned to stare sorrowfully at the group.

"Yeah, I remember you, and her too." he said sadly, glancing at Ms. Wilson. "What do you want now? You already took my little girl away from me."

The judge looked at Jim, and said, "Your little girl..." he looked at Maggie, who mouthed 'Angel' at him, "...Angel, went into a state of catatonia last night."

Jim looked at him in shock, and yelled, "NO! What did you people do to my baby?" as he grabbed the bars, a look of horrible fear filling his face, with tears running down his cheeks.

The judge glanced briefly at Dr. Forrester, who nodded quickly. "Mr. Stevenson, please control yourself. We came to see if you might be able to bring her out of it."

A look of hope flashed across Jim's face, and he said quietly, "Of course, Your Honor. What do I need to do?"

The judge smiled at him, and said, "Please wait a moment, we'll get an officer to accompany you to the hospital." The three left him in the cell and went to talk to the jail officials. "Dr. Forrester, what's your opinion of the man?" asked the judge.

"Your Honor, based on the brief time I observed him, I could tell that he deeply loves his daughter, and I feel that there may also be some guilt for what he allegedly did, maybe to the point of blaming himself for her current state," Forrester replied. The judge nodded, and made arrangements with the jail for an officer to escort Jim Stevenson to the hospital.

The three arrived back at the hospital, and the judge excused himself to phone his office. When he came back, he said, "I've cleared my docket for the day, any cases will be postponed, or handled by another judge. As you said earlier, Ms. Wilson, this child's welfare is the most important thing right now."

Maggie nodded, and they waited until they saw a police officer leading in a shuffling Jim, his hands and feet chained. They quickly took him to his daughter's room, and when he saw her laying so still and pale on the bed, he cried out and tried to reach out his hands to her, but was thwarted by the chains. "Officer, could you remove those, please?" asked the judge, and watched as the officer released the hand shackles.

Jim sat on the edge of the bed, and began stroking his daughter's long blonde hair away from her face. "Oh Angel, I'm so sorry," he moaned. "Daddy's here, please talk to me!" Everyone in the room waited tensely as he continued, gently rubbing her shoulders and talking softly to her, then Maggie let out a soft gasp as the child began to toss and stir fretfully.

"D-Daddy?" the child moaned, then she opened her eyes and saw her father leaning over her. "OHH DDAADDDDYY!!" she cried, and threw herself around his neck.

"Angel, baby, I'm here," he said, as he kissed her face over and over.

The little girl wailed, "A-A lady said I-I'd never S-SEE YOU A-AGAIN!!" Jim turned to face Maggie, his face haggard. Angel followed his look, and snuffled, "N-Not her, daddy, she was nice! I-It was the other one," as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"It was the nurse who was examining Angel," Maggie said softly. "She had no right to say that to your daughter, no matter what crime you allegedly committed!"

Angel looked down at her father's orange jumpsuit and the empty manacles chained to his waist, then around the room at the onlookers. "Why are they all here, daddy?" she fearfully asked, clenching tight around his neck. "Didn't they let you go?"

Jim hugged her, and then said softly, "No, Angel sweetie, I'm still in trouble, because I had sex with you."

Angel's face paled, and she cried, "No, you didn't!" Turning to face the others, she began sobbing uncontrollably. "H-HE D-DIDN'T!" the child screamed. "H-He n-never d-did a-any th-thing t-to me!" Jim began rocking her, until her screams died down to hiccups.

The judge turned and had a whispered conference with Maggie and Dr. Forrester, then looked back at Jim. "Mr. Stevenson, were you informed of your right to counsel last night?"

Jim looked bleakly at him, and said, "Yes, and they said I'd get a public defender. I don't know what good it will do, I had sex with my daughter. I never meant to hurt her!"

Judge Harris harrumphed, and said, "Mr. Stevenson, I'm going to ignore that remark, as your attorney is not here." Moving closer, the judge put his hand on Jim's shoulder, and said softly, "Son, I advise you to keep your tongue in your mouth until your attorney is present. You still have the right to a fair trial. Do you know your attorney's name?"

Jim shook his head, and said, "They told me last night, but I don't remember. The attorney was supposed to show up some time today."

Judge Harris looked at the police officer, and asked, "Can you call in to your station and find out who the attorney is? They need to be here right away. Also, Officer... Hernandez, I want you to disregard anything the defendant has said in this room, until his attorney arrives. Is that understood?"

Seeing hesitation in the officer's eyes, the judge continued. "The right to a fair trial is one of our basic rights, no matter what the defendant may have done, or said he has done. If he requested an attorney last night, then I would have no choice but to disregard anything he said in this room without an attorney present, or I'd possibly even have to declare a mistrial. Now do you understand?"

The officer nodded, and said, "I'm sorry, Your Honor, I didn't hear the defendant say ANYTHING while I was in the room." He smiled, and began calling the station to check on the attorney. Shortly, he turned back, and told the judge, "His attorney was supposed to be Robert Brill. We haven't been able to contact him yet."

The judge looked at him in disbelief. "BRILL? That hack? I've thrown him off several cases for being woefully unprepared, and there were a couple of times I would have sworn he was drunk during a trial! Mr. Stevenson, I'm going to call an attorney I know, she will give you the best representation that she can, and I should be able to convince her to work pro bono for your case."

Jim looked at him in tired relief, still rocking the sniffling Angel. "Thank you, Your Honor. Would people think it was favoritism, though, since you know her?"

The judge snorted a laugh in surprise. "Nonsense! I know most of the attorneys in this city, the good ones anyway, and people know that I have a reputation for always insisting on a fair trial. That's something you would NOT have received with Robert Brill representing you. The prosecution will present their case, Nancy will defend you, and I'll weigh the facts as they are presented to me." He turned away to use his cell phone, and after a bit he said, "She'll be here in a few minutes."

Soon, a smartly dressed young woman came into the room, her heels clacking. "Judge Harris, it's good to see you again," she said, shaking his hand. Turning towards Jim, she smiled, and said, "I'm Nancy West, and I presume you're Jim Stevenson." He nodded as he took her extended hand.

"Ahh, and this must be little Angel, right? The judge told me a little bit about you!" Angel shyly peered over Jim's shoulder and offered a shaky smile to Nancy. "Don't worry, sweetie," said Nancy. "I'm going to be your dad's lawyer, and I'll do my very best to make sure you and he stay a family, OK?"

Jim's eyes filled with tears, and he said huskily, "Thank you for doing this, I don't know how I can pay you, though. When my wife got sick, it ate up all of our savings, and even what life insurance she had. I've been barely able to support Angel and I with only one paycheck coming in."

Nancy smiled gently, and said, "It's all right, I take a pro bono case every now and then, if I think the defendants are good people. From what I can tell, you and your daughter love each other dearly."

Jim smiled thankfully at her, and then turned to the judge. "Your Honor, I guess since Angel's awake, I'll have to go back to jail soon."

Angel squeezed his neck tightly and cried, "NO! DON'T GO!"

The judge looked sadly at the inseparable duo, and said, "That would be best until the trial, although I can make provisions that you two can see each other every day, supervised, of course. Angel, dear, you'll need to go with Ms. Wilson, she'll place you with a foster family temporarily."

"NOOO!!" Everyone was startled by the sudden piercing outburst from the little girl, as she screamed, "NOT FOSTER CARE!!" Almost choking her father in her frantic attempts to cling to him, she sobbed, "D-Daddy! Y-You s-said we'd b-be t-together f-forever, and... and I w-wouldn't h-have to ever g-go to a f-foster home again!"

Trying to ease her grip so he could breathe, Jim wheezed, "Don't you people know? Her parents were killed in a drug deal when she was three, and after that she was bounced from one bad foster home to another. She was physically, emotionally and sexually abused, and when my wife and I adopted her at five, she barely weighed thirty pounds!"

Judge Harris looked in shock at Maggie, who said shakily, "I knew she'd been in foster care, but some of the records are sealed. I had no way of knowing about that kind of abuse! Your Honor, may I make a suggestion?"

The judge nodded, and Maggie continued, "There is nothing I care about more at the moment than the welfare of that child, and not just because it's my job. If it's all right with Angel and her father, I could take her home myself during the trial. That way, she wouldn't be forced back into the trauma of foster care, even though I'm sure we would have been able to find a decent family to take her."

The judge rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, and asked, "Mr. Stevenson... and Angel..." he gave the little girl a friendly smile, "does that sound OK to you?"

Jim began prying Angel's hands loose, and asked her softly, "Baby, it wouldn't be foster care, do you think you could live with Ms. Wilson for a little bit until everything is sorted out? I know you want to stay with me, but that can't happen right now. You said she was nice, didn't you?"

Angel slowly nodded, and scrubbed her tear-stained face with her bed sheet. Looking at the judge, she said, "Y-You told us that I could see him every day, right? Do you promise?"

The judge went over to her and solemnly placed his hand over his heart. "I promise, sweetheart. I'm a judge, and we aren't allowed to lie. This is Dr. Forrester, Maggie will bring you to him, and he'll ask you some questions about you, your life in the foster homes, and about your mommy and daddy, is that all right?"

Angel looked dubiously at her daddy, but he said, "Angel honey, I want you to be a good girl, and tell the truth, promise? Even if you think that if you say something it will get me in trouble, I don't want you to lie, OK?" He pulled her to him in a bear hug as she nodded, and then carefully untangled her hands from his neck, and lay her back on the bed. "I love you with all my heart, sweetie, and I'll see you soon!" Jim bent down and gave Angel a flurry of kisses all over her face, causing her to giggle wildly, then he stood up and shuffled towards the police officer, holding out his hands to be manacled.

End of Chapter 01