A chess game of life and death
O
ur hearts are broken once again at the reminder of the senseless murder of young Germaine Rucker on August 10, 2003. He was a victim of the violence that continues to plague our city - and yet, upon closer examination this story, like so many others, has many more victims.
For six weeks, I sat in courtroom #914 of Boston’s Superior Court. Its marble floors are washed with the tears of pain or relief…
justice and injustice. There are sides here, walls visible and invisible. But no teams, no winners. A young life had been tragically lost. But I saw more than one life being lost - both families and their friends grieving, yet coping. The professionals - lawyers and law enforcement - were reviewing and reevaluating the questions and answers. Some performed in the stilted legal dance they’d rehearsed and perfected. To me, the novice, it was a chess game of life and death - or legal basketball with the Assistant District Attorney and prosecution making a full court press, holding onto the verbal ball for six days straight, asking the witnesses to give their resumes or to define words like DNA until the jurors’ clock ran out and the defense had only moments to make one final shot in the last hours.



