Page 96 of Dissection of a Murder
You can imagine the narrative, can’t you?Look at what my slut of a wife did! Cheated on me with a nightclub doorman. A common criminal. Crazy psycho bitch.
You see, men bounce back from acts of infidelity. With enough power and charisma, I’ve even seen men laugh them off. “You are scandalous!” the lads say with a smirk, secretly envious they weren’t able to con an eighteen-year-old into allowing them to stick their dick into her for a few months before being unceremoniously found out (but ultimately forgiven) by their long-suffering wife. “I’ll never learn, will I?” They wink before doing it again months later.
Women are not afforded the same luxury if they commit a similar crime. A reality that’s vastly unfair, given the fact that most often, men cheat because they’re selfish and self-serving, and women also cheat because men are selfish and self-serving.
Women are treated more harshly. A life sentence with no chance of parole. You might as well pack up your life and move on.
If I could take it back, I would. But you changed me. Normally I’m good at saying no. At keeping control of the situation. But on that hot, sticky night, I found myself saying yes.
At the time it felt right, rebellious, sexy. For a few brief moments, we felt invincible.
Little did we know that by pressing the red circle and starting to record that video on your phone, you’d end up here, charged with murder.
And now, Leila Reynolds is responsible for keeping you out of jail.
Come to think of it, did you suggest the whole thing, or did I?
48
Leila
R v Jack Millman
Day 1
2:29 p.m.
“The Crown callsits next witness, Percy Wyndam,” Julian announces.
Everyone is feeling refreshed following lunch, and the jury watch a man in a sharp three-piece, pin-striped charcoal-gray suit walk up to the witness box. He’s young, around early thirties. His sandy-blond hair is neatly combed, with a quiff at the front. After taking the oath, he stands firm, eager to get started. It’s useful to study witnesses before you cross-examine them, so you can assess how well they’ll stand up to it. Some cave and some don’t.
“Can you please tell the court what your job is?” Julian asks.
“I’m a mobile phone forensic expert.”
“And what exactly does that entail?”
“I analyze and examine data on mobile phones,” he explains confidently. “Occasionally, this data can be analyzed and extracted even after it has been deleted.”
“And do you require the physical device of a particular individual in order to extract data from it?”
“Yes and no. Without the actual handset and SIM card, you’reunable to retrieve a full picture of the data held on it. By using something called cell site analysis, however, we’re still able to extract a significant amount of data in the absence of a handset.”
“If we could talk about the defendant’s mobile phone first, please. Could you tell us what you know about it?”
“I was informed it was not found at the scene, nor has it been retrieved. In these cases, we go back to the mobile phone provider, which in this case is O2. Mr. Millman was on a contract there, and we therefore have access to calls and text messages he made.”
“Do you have the content of those messages?”
“Without a handset, I’m afraid not. All we can access are the times and dates of messages and phone calls, and the numbers to whom they were sent. It wasn’t backed up to the cloud, so this is all we have to work with.”
“What were your findings?”
“One number remains prominent throughout, from Tuesday, February 6, 2024, until September 6, 2024. Mr. Millman texted this number 1,284 times in this period, and six times on the day of the murder.”
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you’ll see the phone log behind tab six of your bundle,” Julian directs.
Everyone flicks to tab six. They are engrossed in this now.
