Chapter 22 - GREG’S APPEAL
One murder count was later reduced on appeal after the court found the jury instruction on one theory of intent had been too broad.
The appellate court did not erase the underlying conviction entirely.
It ordered resentencing under a narrower homicide classification while leaving the child-abuse and fraud convictions intact.
Public headlines screamed:
GREG MILLER MURDER VERDICT OVERTURNED.
That was incomplete.
Leo was twenty.
He read the actual decision.
“So he’s not innocent.”
“No,” Rebecca said.
“The court said the instruction was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“Why do headlines suck?”
Rebecca laughed.
“Different profession.”
On remand, prosecutors accepted a revised conviction consistent with the appellate ruling rather than retrying every witness years later.
Greg received a lower but still substantial sentence.
He remained incarcerated.
The correction mattered.
Justice did not become less legitimate when courts admitted procedural error.
Leo struggled anyway.
“It felt like Mom died again.”
His therapist helped separate legal labels from lived facts.
The evidence still established Greg’s role in creating the fire condition and concealing it.
The exact homicide classification changed.
That nuance hurt.
It was still truth.
Leo eventually said:
May you like
“I’d rather have a complicated true answer than an easy fake one.”
That sentence became his adulthood.
