The Wrong Criminal

Brandy Coleman was on death row. In two weeks, he was going to be executed. It would be done as humanly as possible, how most people are executed nowadays. By lethal injection. Though it may seem terrible, it is quite humane if you compare it to other ways that people have been killed in the past. 

Take Rome for example. People were crucified. Nailed to a wooden cross with literal nails pounded into their hands and feet. Some were forced to carry that cross for long distances before they were crucified. It was a terrible and long death that no one should ever have to endure. 

Now take the Middle Ages. In general, many countries in Europe in the Middle Ages would have executions which were usually public and violent deaths for small crimes such as stealing expensive sheep to huge crimes like murder. They were gruesome, inhumane deaths that were terrible to endure. 

In an interesting way we should be glad that most deaths on death row nowadays are by a simple injection that could just as well be your yearly flu shot. 

Anyway, back to the fellow Brandy Coleman. He was on death row because he had tried to kidnap the president and shot the president twice. 

Brandy had been extremely close to the president. He used to be a high-ranking military official and adviser to the president. Brandy knew everything that went on in the military and their efforts, and everything that went on in the president’s household. He had all the inside knowledge that he needed to pull off his daring plan. 

The plan was to kidnap the president with a plan that Brandy thought would be foolproof. Then he could procure a lot of money and information out of him until he got everything he could have ever dreamed of. 

Brandy’s plan was to lure the president away from everyone for a little while; and then be driven somewhere remote where no one could find them. But it did not work.  

Brandy talked the president into going for a nice little walk with him alone in a quiet neighborhood to talk business. It seemed like there was not anyone with them or following them, but Brandy was wrong.  

Brandy did not know that the president had someone watching him 24/7, and neither did the president himself. Two secret guards were keeping a close eye on them. When Brandy went into a dark alley and him and the president disappeared, the guards assumed the worst. 

They pulled out their guns and stayed quiet, listening for a door to slam, indicating the president had been kidnaped; or possibly a gun shot.  

Meanwhile, Brandy thought he heard someone and knew he had to protect the president at all costs. He pulled out his gun hoping to scare whoever was there, and most definitely did.  

The guards creeped forward and saw Brandy holding a gun. They sprang into action. 

The guards started blindly shooting. They got Brandy in the leg, and the president had also been shot but twice; once in the arm and once in the leg. Both men passed out almost immediately from blood loss. 

The guards realized that the danger had passed and went to check out the area with the flashlights on their phones. They found Brandy unconscious because of a leg wound and found out seconds later that they had shot the president twice and that he was unconscious too.  

They called 911 right away and told them that a man had shot the president twice and that they shot the man shortly after in self-defense. The ambulance hurried. If they saved the president from dying, they would be famous. 

The ambulance made it just in time and rushed the president and Brandy off to the hospital. Before Brandy got in, the guards put handcuffs on him so everyone could get the idea that Brandy was at fault, not them. 

The president did not remember who had shot him and what had happened. It had all happened so fast, and he was in a lot of pain. All he remembered was that Brandy had walked into a dark alleyway with him, and then he got shot and the next thing he knew he was in a hospital bed. 

The press went bonkers. A man had tried to kidnap the president even when there were guards watching his every move? Then in panic he shot the president? Even when he knew he would most definitely get shot in return? 

The biggest question was how did he get away with it until the president was almost killed? No one knows. Only the closest people to the case will ever know. At least they thought. 

Minnie Wright was an elderly woman that was an amazing lawyer. She specialized in proving people already convicted that they were innocent; especially people on death row. Whenever someone on death row gets the joyful news that Minnie Wright was working on their case, they start dreaming of living a full life. 

Minnie wanted to start working on Brandy’s case right away. It was only a short two weeks until he was going to be executed. 

The first thing she did was look closely at the evidence and the crime scene. Minnie knew that seven bullets had been fired. Three from Brandy’s gun, two of which had gone into the president's body; and one that had been fired in the direction of the guards but had missed hitting one of them. The other four had fired at Brandy from the guards two guns, and one of them had hit him but the other ones had missed.  

The crime scene had four bullets on the ground because of the shots that missed hitting anyone. Minnie inspected the bullets and realized they were the same. The thing was, Minnie also knew that the guards’ bullets were different than Brandy’s; they were a little larger. The guards had a different gun than Brandy, and both guns could only shoot one type of bullet. That did not make sense. One of the bullets had to be Brandy’s, but how? 

Minnie then went to the hospital and asked to see the bullets that had been removed from Brandy and the president. All the bullets were the same! The ones at the scene of the crime and the ones that had hit Brandy and the president. All the shots had been fired from the guard’s guns, not Brandy’s! 

Did Brandy even try to kidnap the president? Did he ever actually shoot from his gun? Were the police just assuming the worst and punishing him for it? What was going on here? 

Minnie called the police and told them to arrest the two guards. They were brothers, Nickie and Troy Celler. The police entered their house (they shared a house) and put handcuffs on the men. Then the brothers were taken to the interrogation room to be interrogated. 

Minnie told the brothers what she had figured out, and they were terrible actors. The brothers eventually confessed that Brandy had not shot anything and that his gun had ended up being empty the whole time. They admitted that they were terrified of being shot and ended up shooting in his direction. In their fear they shot Brandy once and the president twice.  

Brandy had done nothing wrong. The police assumed he was going to kidnap the president because an old van had been parked in that dark alleyway and was unlocked; and because Brandy had been holding a gun. The story seemed too good to be true, plus they did not want to accuse their own kin of doing such a terrible thing. 

Brandy had been carrying that gun around everywhere he went ever since his father had been shot and killed a year ago. He never had it loaded because he knew he could never shoot anyone. Brandy just carried it in hopes of scaring anyone who might be thinking of shooting him. 

Brandy was wrongly accused. A few days later he went to court and was freed of all charges. The brothers Nickie and Troy were sent to jail for many years. Minnie was congratulated once again for doing an amazing job in saving another person’s life. 

Minnie isn’t really anything special though. She pays attention and never gives up. Unfortunately, there are many people who have been wrongly accused and have been sent to jail for many years or have even been executed for something they never did. 

Luckily, there are many people in this world like Minnie who never give up.