Chapter 11 - The Emergency Grand Jury and the Unsealed Indictment
On Friday morning, an emergency special grand jury of twenty-three Cook County citizens convened in the subterranean grand jury room of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
I sat at the prosecution table, presenting the evidence.
For four hours, the grand jury reviewed:
The 4K night-vision cloud recording of the brutal attack.
The forensic high-resolution medical photography of Ruth’s fractured ribs and pinned wrist.
The blood-stained aluminum baseball bat bearing Vanessa’s fingerprints and my mother’s DNA.
The wiretapped phone recordings between Vanessa, Councilman Mercer, and Sergeant Mullins.
The recorded audio of billionaire Julian Sterling attempting to bribe me in the parking garage.
At 2:00 PM, my mother, Ruth Ward, was brought into the grand jury room via secure wheelchair, her left arm in a pristine purple fiberglass cast, her hair neatly styled, supported by Dr. Maya Lin.
When the grand jury foreperson asked Ruth if she wished to make a statement, my mother looked up, her voice clear, brave, and ringing with absolute truth:
"My husband built that home with his own hands so our children would always have a roof over their heads. My son and his wife tried to take it with a baseball bat and lies. I do not seek revenge. I seek justice, so that no other elderly mother in this state ever has to weep in a dark police station bathroom while her attackers drink coffee."
When Ruth finished speaking, several grand jurors were visibly wiping tears from their eyes.
It took the grand jury exactly fourteen minutes of deliberation to return a unanimous True Bill of Indictment.
The unsealed 48-count felony indictment charged:
Vanessa Ward: Attempted First-Degree Capital Murder, Aggravated Battery of a Senior Citizen, Armed Extortion, and Subornation of Public Corruption.
Daniel Ward: Accessory to Attempted Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Battery, and Felony Elder Financial Exploitation.
Councilman Arthur Mercer: Racketeering (RICO), Bribery of a Public Official, Extortion, and Obstruction of Justice.
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Sergeant Thomas Mullins: Felony Official Misconduct, Evidence Tampering, and Accepting a Bribe.
Julian Sterling: Federal Wire Fraud, Attempted Bribery of a State Prosecutor, and Conspiracy to Commit Extortion.
