Chapter 15 - JULIAN’S STATE PLEA
Julian pleaded guilty in the state assault case.
The ballroom video left little room.
He admitted:
He struck me in the abdomen.
I fell.
He kicked me.
He knew I was thirty-four weeks pregnant.
He acted out of anger.
He did not admit intending to cause premature delivery.
Prosecutors did not need to claim intent they could not prove.
His lawyer presented alcohol use.
Family pressure.
Emotional collapse.
None excuses.
All sentencing context.
I gave a victim statement.
“I will not tell the court Julian tried to kill our daughter.”
Julian looked up.
“There is no evidence he entered that ballroom intending to kill us.”
Then:
“He did something that remains serious without exaggeration. He punched and kicked a woman carrying his child because she refused to obey him.”
I paused.
“Evelyn was delivered early after the assault. Doctors treated placental injury and fetal distress. I cannot tell you what would have happened without the assault. I can tell you we should never have had to find out.”
Then the sentence that mattered most:
“Julian called our daughter ‘that thing’ before she had a chance to breathe air.”
He cried.
I did not stop.
“I hope someday he understands that fatherhood is not a bloodline claim. It is behavior.”
The judge imposed a substantial custodial sentence on the state charges, with later federal sentencing to be coordinated where legally appropriate.
No life sentence.
No theatrical maximum without basis.
Domestic-violence treatment.
No contact with me.
Child contact only through future family-court approval.
Restitution for certain medical and property costs.
May you like
The state case ended before the federal one.
Julian still faced Project Succession.
