The Crossland ShootoutA Novel by JOHN MYERS
Epilogue
The End Of Hector Cruz, Bad Man, Maybe,
or, Keep Your Powder Dry, Just In Case
I never did get that bloodstain out of the hardwood floor in the second floor hallway. I finally put a braided rug over it.
And Hector Cruz, he didn't die, although he came very close.
That steel-jacketed .223 round that J.J. fired went through the back panel of his armored vest, entered the back of his right shoulder, punctured a lung and came out the front of his chest, going through the front of his vest and lodging in the hallway floor. It's still up there, under the rug with the bloodstain.
The two associates of Hector's that I shot were later released from the hospital and sent along to jail, as were four other associates of Hector's who were nailed by J.J.'s many shots.
I'm really glad none of them died, because at least we don't have that on our consciences, either me or J.J. or Suzy.
The deputy that Hector Cruz ambushed on the road into my house was wounded when they shot up his patrol car.
But they were smart enough not to finish him off, leaving him locked in the trunk of his car, where the major's men rescued him.
He also survived, after a long stay in the Pinehurst hospital.
Hector and his pals were smart enough to know they might get away with shooting a photojournalist, but if they killed a cop, they'd be hunted to the ends of the earth by every cop in creation.
Hector Cruz spent some three months in the Pinehurst hospital, then stood trial for five counts of murder, umpteen counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a law-enforcement officer and a whole bunch of other lesser charges, and was found guilty of every single charge.
Hector's drug business must pay pretty well, because he brought in a high-powered lawyer from Texas who strutted around the Morgan County courtroom in his high-heeled, pointy-toed cowboy boots and 10-gallon Stetson hat—he did take off his hat while court was in session—and tried to browbeat all us country hicks.
But I've covered a lot of trials in my 19 years in the news business, and also testified at a few and even been foreman of a jury, so that big shot from Texas couldn't browbeat me.
The lawyer or Hector or somebody must have put the fear of God into the other witnesses of the big Crossland shootout, because not a single Mexican would take the stand to testify against Hector.
But my testimony turned out to be enough, for the murder charges in the Crossland shootout and the other charges for the shootout at my home. The Texas lawyer tried to make a big deal out of the fact that I took part in the Crossland shootout as well as the shootout at my home, but I just calmly told it all just like it happened, warts and all, and stuck to my guns, so to speak.
And the Texas big shot didn't sway the Morgan County jurors, who found Hector Cruz guilty as charged of every single count.
But then the jury took pity on him and refused to vote the death penalty, so Hector Cruz went up to Central Prison in Raleigh to begin serving five life terms, plus several lesser jail terms for the various and sundry other lesser charges.
Do you suppose it was because he killed only Mexicans, and none of us white folks? I would never say such a thing, but one of the courthouse wags did. And I suspect he was probably right.
Unfortunately all Hector's jail terms are not to be served consecutively, but concurrently, as the judge took pity on him, too. If all the terms he got were put together consecutively, he'd be in jail for more than a thousand years. But since they're concurrent, he's really only serving just one life term.
Hector was also tried and convicted in federal court of possession of an illegal fully automatic weapon, his AK-47, but guess what the federal judge did with that sentence? Hector's high-powered Texas lawyer successfully argued for that to be served concurrently with his state sentence, so he got no extra time. As I heard a prosecutor say in court once, it was let's-make-a-deal day.
Under current parole guidelines in North Carolina, Hector Cruz will have to serve at least 20 years, but after that, he will be eligible for parole. Who knows what changes the state parole commission or the legislature could make in the next 20 years?
Why did the jury take pity on him? Why did the judge, too?
Why is the sky Carolina blue when everybody knows God is a State fan? I don't have a clue. Who understands a jury or a judge?
Maybe that big shot lawyer from Texas spread some money around. It wouldn't be the first time something like that occurred in our criminal justice system. (There's an oxymoron if I ever saw one.)
But the upshot of it all is that Hector Cruz could be released on parole at some time in the future. I sure hope the Lord comes to get me first, so I'll be long gone before they let him out of jail.
I've covered more than a few murder trials before, and a few of them have resulted in death penalties. But I never found myself rooting for the death penalty before. Well, only once before.
There was the guy who killed a young woman and her 11-year-old daughter in Pinehurst. He butchered them up inside so badly that his hands got so bloody that his ring slipped off and they found that piece of incriminating evidence inside the mother's liver. That time, I rooted for a death penalty verdict, too.
And the guy got it, but that was back in 1980 and he's still sitting up on death row waiting for the sentence to be carried out.
The last time I did a follow-up story on the Pinehurst butcher, his lawyers had run up legal bills of more than $200,000 in appeals, with their meters still running. And guess who pays that bill, as well as the bills for his upkeep in prison?
So maybe it wouldn't make any difference if Hector Cruz had gotten the death penalty. Even if he did, lawyers with their meters running at $200 an hour on taxpayers' money could keep him alive forever, just like they have done with the Pinehurst butcher.
I guess rooting for the death penalty sounds pretty bloody, particularly from somebody who teaches Sunday School and prays every morning and says he's a born-again Christian. But that's how I feel about Hector Cruz, and the Pinehurst butcher, too.
Neither one of those two should never, ever be allowed to see freedom again, to ever take the life of another victim again.
And as far as the death penalty goes, I've sort of got a personal stake in it now, because if Hector Cruz ever does get out, guess who he's going to hunt down, no matter where I go?
So if Hector Cruz ever does get out of jail, he won't have to hunt me down. I'll be right here, at home at Crossland, waiting.
I've heard the arguments about the death penalty, whether it's a deterrent for crime or not, and I just don't know about that for sure.
But I am sure if Hector Cruz got the death penalty and they carried it out, it would sure deter him from trying to kill me again.
There's just not much justice left in our criminal justice system, which seems to be majoring on the criminal side and their rights and minoring on the justice side, and the victims' rights.
But that's nothing new. Before I shut up, let this old Sunday School teacher quote you one more Bible verse to show you they had problems with the criminal justice system 2,740 years ago when the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 59:14, "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter."
I also believe Isaiah was writing that as a prophet, looking forward in time 2,740 years to see how our courts today work.
Or don't work, in the case of the butcher, or Hector Cruz.
And this new law they're dickering with over banning assault rifles. Would that have stopped Hector Cruz from getting that fully automatic AK-47? Hell fire, that gun was illegal to start with.
A little thing like a law won't stop Hector Cruz and his ilk.
And if assault rifles had been banned before J.J. bought his, I wouldn't be writing this. I'd be dead. Because this was a case of it taking an assault rifle to stop an assault rifle.
And I'm also glad J.J. didn't listen to me, but brought those steel-jacketed military rounds with him. That steel-jacketed round that J.J. fired with his .223 assault rifle sliced right through that armored vest Hector Cruz was wearing and saved my life.
So, don't tell anybody, but they can pass all the laws they want to, and I'm keeping my assault rifle. I may need it again.
Hector Cruz will probably be getting out of jail some day.
And I'll be armed and ready, if I'm still here to see that day.
THE END
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