Chapter 11 - KATHERINE’S CRIMINAL CASE
Katherine went to trial over Clara’s shove.
The prosecution kept it narrow.
No corporate fraud.
No Hawthorn.
No acquisition.
A five-year-old was seated.
An adult became angry over spilled water.
The adult intentionally pushed her.
The child fell and suffered a minor wrist sprain and facial bruising.
Security video showed it clearly.
Katherine’s defense argued she intended to move Clara away from the wet table, not cause a fall.
Her lawyer emphasized:
No head injury.
No fracture.
No repeated blows.
Correct.
The law did not need exaggeration.
I testified.
Katherine’s lawyer asked:
“You fired your sister minutes afterward.”
“Yes.”
“You were furious.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted revenge.”
“I wanted her away from both my child and a company she had mismanaged.”
“Those are two different things.”
“Yes.”
“You hated her.”
“At that moment, yes.”
That answer made Katherine look at me.
Not because it hurt.
Because I had said something our family rarely did.
No performance.
No polite lie.
The video did most of the work.
Katherine stood.
Shoved.
Clara fell.
Then Katherine said:
“You filthy parasite—you’re dirtying my chair.”
The jury convicted her of misdemeanor child battery.
They acquitted a higher child-endangerment count requiring a degree of risk the prosecution had not established.
Accurate.
At sentencing, Katherine said:
“I lost my temper.”
The judge answered:
“You lost your temper at a five-year-old because she spilled water.”
Katherine looked down.
She received probation, community service, mandatory intervention counseling, and a protective no-contact order barring unsupervised contact with Clara.
No prison.
No theatrical punishment.
A real consequence.
Outside court, reporters asked whether I thought she deserved jail.
“No.”
That surprised them.
I continued:
May you like
“I think she deserved the sentence the evidence supported.”
Accuracy rarely makes good television.
