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Craig Azeria

Cedar City Municipal Building, Cedar City, Utah

"Thanks for coming, Craig." Detective Holcombe reached up to shake my paw. Hanging around with Toby, Jack, and Michelle, I was used to being one of the shorter members of the group. I tried not to smile too much.

"Thanks, Detective. It's good to see you again."

"Likewise. And you, too, Toby." The Raccoon reached over and took my boyfriend's paw next. Toby nodded quietly. Detective Holcombe guided us to the seats at his desk and closed the door of his office.

"Before we get too far into the details of the case, there is an issue I need to talk to you about," he began, sitting at his desk.

"Does this have to do with the fact that Toby and I are lovers?" I interrupted, reaching to take Toby's paw in mine.

Holcolmbe stopped, taking our measure. "Will you sign to that? It would be great to put this lead to bed now, if you'll excuse the expression. Then I don't have to include it in the trial discovery."

I pulled a pen from my pocket and waved it at the Raccoon. Toby nodded. "Yeah. My step-mom asked us about it. I wasn't expecting to be outed this way, but yeah. We had sex at the hotel in Grand Junction. As consenting adults."

"Well, I can't say I approve of your choice on a personal level, but professionally, you're making my whole situation a heck of a lot easier, so thank you." We both took the papers the detective handed us, scanned, and signed them. Holcolmbe watched, signed the witness line, stamped them, and filed them in one of the manilla folders in front of him.

"Well, that makes this meeting a lot easier. We can just get into what's going to happen this afternoon," he continued. "We are proceeding with the trial, but it isn't going to happen while you're in town for the holiday break. So I got the judge's permission to hold a deposition. It's going to take all afternoon, and might extend into tomorrow."

"No problem. We planned on it taking longer, so we have a room at the Stratford, just around the corner," Toby explained.

"If it goes until tomorrow, bring me your invoice and I'll get you reimbursed for that," Holcolmbe offered.

"Thanks."

"Anyway, Craig, it's going to be pretty intense, but also very boring. They'll ask you some questions. There will be a lot of conversation, and you're expected to just sit there. Then they'll ask you a bunch more questions. Our prosecuter will do some, and so will the defense lawyer. Everything will be recorded, so make sure you speak clearly and into the array of microphones."

"Sounds pretty awful," I said.

"It can be. The defense seems mostly interested in a light sentence. With their own people testifying against them, your testimony is not so critical, so they aren't going to try to trip you up. But they still won't be easy questions. Will you be ok?"

I squeezed Toby's paw. "As long as Toby's there with me, I can face anything."

"Well, he can be in the room," Holcolmbe explained. "But you'll be up on the stand. He can't come with you to the front, since he's immaterial to the case. Though if it goes long, they might ask you some questions tomorrow morning just to establish that fact."

"No problem," Toby nodded.

Detective Holcolmbe handed me a sheet of paper. "Alright. Take a look at this. It's the kind of questions you can expect to be asked. It'll start at 1:10 in the small courtroom on floor 3." He picked up a map of the courtrooms, which Toby took, as I was already scanning the questions. "Try to be there by One. There's a cafeteria in the building, but you have quite a bit of time, yet, so you can go to a restaurant if you want. Just don't be late getting back."

Toby looked at me. "To be on the safe side, we'll probably stay in the building," he said. "Don't know who else wants to take advantage of Craig's presence."

I nodded.

"Any questions, boys?"

"I can't think of any right now," I said.

"Alright. You have my cell phone if you think of something before the deposition begins," Holcolmbe said. "I can't come in until it's my turn, so I won't be able to help you once it starts. So unless I hear from you between now and then, 'Good luck!'" Standing, he shook our paws again, and then let us out of his office.

Lunch was unremarkable, the usual cafeteria faire. We talked about some of the questions on the list, but didn't really study them because it was just a sample, not the actual questions they might ask. After some time relaxing and playing an online game using our phones, Toby's watch chirped an alarm and we headed up to the third floor. At 1:15, we were ushered into the room and everyone sat down. There was a clerk who took my ID and asked for confirmation of the data on it. Then we sat and waited. At about 1:45, a rather serious looking bison in a suit came in and sat on the judge's bench up front. Nobody stood, and there was no magistrate calling out anything. He looked around at us, and nodded.

"Please begin the recording. I'm not the trial judge," he explained, looking a little bored, as though he'd made the same speech many times before. "I am here to moderate this deposition, while Judge Krystle is on holiday. As I understand it, we are doing this today because a Mr. Azeria--"

I cringed at the mispronunciation, but said nothing --

"-- Is also on holiday, and therefore able to return from Nebraska for this hearing." He looked around the room and spotted me. "Ah, and you would be he, yes?"

"Yes, sir, your honor, I'm Craig Azeria" I nodded, making sure I pronounced my name extra clearly, but doing my best not to be condescending.

"Just 'Sir' will do fine, thank you. Now, Mister Azeria, this is not so unusual, but it's not very common, either." His pronunciation improved, but it was still wrong. I decided to take what I could get. "However, you should not be thinking you are something special. We want this to be an efficient trial, not something to inflate your ego." As his gaze and questions moved on to the lawyers, I sat back, feeling about two feet tall. Toby squeezed my paw. Then the bison's attention was back to me. "Mister Azeria, please come forward and take the stand."

There were no rails or little doors like I see on TV, so I just walked up and found my way to the stand at the judge's left, and sat down in a spotlight. A camera and a bundle of five or six microphones were pointing at me. The tech didn't look so new. From my vantage, I could see there was an operator in a sound booth watching me. The bison recalled my attention. "Mister Azeria, this is not the trial itself, so you can relax. We will not be swearing you in or any such silliness that you might see on TV. However, you still must answer as honestly as you can, without obfuscation. When we're finished, you will be asked to sign a perjury statement. If it's determined that your testimony was untrue, it won't matter that you're in Nebraska, because perjury in a court is a federal felony. You'll be brougth back for a trial under the Fifth District and imprisoned. Do you understand?"

He spoke softly, but there was no room for nonsense in his voice or his expression. I gulped softly. "Ye- yes, sir. I won't lie."

"Good." He turned his shaggy head to the lawyers at the tables in front of me. "We'll begin with the prosecution, since Mister Azeria is your witness."

A mountain lion stood and walked up to me. She smiled, and I could hear it in her smooth, musical voice. "Good afternoon, Craig. I'm sorry we haven't been introduced, yet. I'm Claire Hux. I'm the county ADA." She offered me a paw and shook mine firmly. I was surprised that it made me feel more comfortable.

"Phillip tells me that this is your first time in a courtroom?"

I tipped my head. "Phillip?"

"Excuse me. Detective Holcolmbe."

"Oh, yes. He's right. I've never even been to traffic court."

"Are you nervous?"

"A little."

"Alright. Don't worry, though. Depositions may be a lot more dull than being an actual trial witness, but it's also much more relaxed. Take your time answering. Remember, the most important thing is that your answers are as accurate, and honest, as possible, whether you're answering me, or Mister Geai over there." She gestured at the defense lawyer, a black and blue Jay, who saluted me with his pen.

"I have your statements from the police," Miss Hux continued. "Now for the sake of this testimony, I will have to ask you to repeat it, so that the recording is in your own voice. Let's begin chronologically, from the time you arrived in town. It was late in the afternoon, and you were dropped off by your friend. Then what happened?"

The afternoon wore on and between Ms. Hux and Mr. Geai, esquires, and the occasional question from the Bison (who never did state his name), we reviewed the day chronologically, reverse-chronologically, person-by-person, and by order of importance. Eventually, Mr. Geai was back in front of me. "Craig, I would like to back up a bit to what happened that caused you to need to need a ride back from Nebraska. Specifically, how did word get back to Cedar City that you had come out to your friends in Kearney. Craig? Mister Azeria?"

I didn't hear his question because I was staring at the door in the back of the room. It had opened, and let in two people I very much did not expect to see. My father guided my mother to a bench in the back row of the small room and then sat next to her. They were both looking very prim.

The Jay looked at Ms. Hux, who had also looked over her shoulder. She looked back at Mr. Geai and nodded. He then looked at the bison. "George, I think we should take a recess."

The bison looked at a small clock that only he and I could see, as it was tucked against the lip of his stand. "Actually, I think we will recess for the evening. Do either of you object?" Both lawyers shook their heads. "Then we will continue tomorrow morning at nine-twelve in this room. Please stop recording, now." The guy in the booth waved to indicate that he had done so, and the bison stood and left the room while the lawyers gathered their papers, marking where they were. Toby stood, but waited where he had been sitting until I stepped out of the stand. Before I could get to him, both lawyers shook my paw. "You're doing good, son," said the Jay, quietly. I think tomorrow should be pretty quick."

Ms. Hux took her turn, next. "Craig, will you be OK? I saw the look you gave them; based on your testimony, I assume they're your parents."

I gestured to Toby, who came over and put his paw in mine. "Yeah. I'll be ok." She smiled at us, then she and Mr. Geai left the room, leaving us alone with my parents.