A PRELUDE TO JUDGE SUE

With Mrs. Misener out of the way, interest begins building. The moment the media has been waiting for for months has arrived. Today, Judge Susan Chrzanowski, the star witness in these proceedings, will have the most unpleasant task of testifying about her role in the long, tragic series of events, in front of a packed court, a jury, hordes of media—including still and TV cameras, the reporters who will be here throughout the trial and the columnists who will be here for this day only—and the family of the woman whose husband she had sex with a few hours before Leann was shot.

Will Susan get on before lunch or after? Will those with early deadlines run into trouble? How soon can the TV stations break into regular programming with shots of the "other woman" answering questions about her now–high-profile affair? First, though, there is other business to attend to. The star will have to wait, while the excitement builds.

Lindy Termarsch, Leann's oldest sister, is up next. Townsend questions her for ten minutes. She describes Leann—"incredibly wonderful, very giving, very loving"—and their plans for that last day of her life: "I was supposed to meet her that day; she had a couple of pounds she was trying to lose, so we were going to walk in the park, on the trails; she was going to go grocery shopping after shooting, then call me on my cell phone."

Had she been unhappy? "No, she was happy."

Did Fletcher change after law school? "Definitely. He was very arrogant."

And their marriage? "He wasn't home a lot. When he was home, he was upstairs a lot on the computer. It wasn't what she hoped it would be. She was lonely."

What about Leann's future plans? "She wanted me to get pregnant with her.

So our kids would be the same age."

Hannah? "Hannah was her life. She was her greatest accomplishment. She wanted a family like the family she had. A large family, with a mother and father who stayed together. A father who came home after work every day and had

dinner at home."

About her fear of guns: "Mick wanted to go to the police academy, but she was opposed to him becoming a cop because she was afraid he'd get shot."

Legghio's turn. "Leann hated guns?" "Yes."

"She was the kind of mom who'd go on a Million Moms March?" "Yes."

"Did you know that Leann had bought accessories for the gun for Mick for Christmas?"

"No."

Legghio then shows her pictures of Mick, Leann and Hannah in the kind of old-fashioned period photos that some studios specialize in. The entire family is dressed in costume. Leann is holding a gun. So is Hannah.

"Do you hope to adopt Hannah?" "Yes."

"If my client is convicted in this case, does it substantially increase your chances of adopting Hannah?"

"Yes."

Next comes Jennifer Hughes, Leann's best friend. She reiterates that the Fletchers had marriage troubles and that Mick seemed to change after law school. And she told of her last conversation with Leann, on Saturday, August 14.

"She was in a great mood. They were planning to go to the movies. My husband had to work at the last minute, so I wasn't going to go. She really wanted me to go, she wanted to come pick me up. But my sister was coming over and I had to wait for her. She said to call her on the cell phone when my sister came. But I ended up not calling because my sister came over too late, and I never talked to her again."

Townsend buttresses his arguments against suicide by having Hughes recount plans she and Leann had made—a trip they were to make to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio in September, flying to New York for a weekend in December for last-minute Christmas shopping, and beyond. "We were going to

open an animal shelter together. Animals were a big part of our lives and we wanted to open a shelter for stray animals."

It is 10 a.m. Cooper recesses the court. It is called back into session at 10:30.

Judge Susan Chrzanowski is announced.