Chapter 23 - Verdict
The jury returned mixed verdicts.
Guilty:
Felony forgery/identity misuse.
The documents were clear.
Guilty:
Misdemeanor child endangerment for punitive exclusion and inappropriate sleeping arrangements.
Not guilty:
Attempted custodial interference.
The state had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that Jocelyn intended the degree or duration of custodial deprivation required by statute, especially because the planned placement was with loving grandparents, temporary documents existed, and no removal occurred.
I felt strange relief.
Not because she had done nothing.
Because law had stayed narrow.
At sentencing, prosecution requested incarceration.
Defense emphasized:
No prior record.
No serious physical injury.
Stable employment.
Acceptance during testimony.
Restitution minimal because financial loss small.
Main harm emotional.
Jocelyn spoke.
“I wanted Declan without the part of his life I could not control.”
My throat tightened.
Then:
“I told myself Emmett would be safe in Vermont.”
She looked at judge.
“He probably would have been physically safe.”
Then:
“But I made him unsafe in his own home to get him there.”
There.
“I took his room before he left.”
Then:
“I made him sleep outside because I thought attachment to home was a behavior problem.”
She cried.
“It wasn’t.”
Then:
“I used his father’s name because I knew his father would say no.”
No excuses.
Sentence:
Eight months incarceration, with four months suspended and eligibility for home confinement/work release depending local rules.
Two years probation.
No contact with Emmett unless initiated through therapist and approved by Declan/court.
No impersonation/access to Declan’s accounts.
Parenting/child-safety counseling despite no parental rights, aimed at rehabilitation.
Community service.
The judge explicitly said:
The sentence was not for wanting a marriage to end or believing grandparents could help.
It was for deception and endangering a child while trying to manufacture consent.
Jocelyn was taken into custody.
I did not feel victorious.
Emmett’s room remained empty that afternoon while he was at school.
I stood in doorway.
The curtains moved in air conditioning.
May you like
No one had won a bedroom.
We had simply stopped someone from taking it away.
