A trip to Chelsea and the Testimony of Chris Burnett

By the second week of the trial, the jurors had started getting into a routine. We had all had some sleepless nights. The ice was broken now, and even though we could not discuss any aspect of the case with each other, we were starting to find out the things we had in common.

The jury was made up of a diverse group of people. A carpenter, a masseuse, a teacher, a vice principal, a chambermaid, a nutritionist, an unemployed accountant, a stay at home mom… people from different backgrounds who all lived in the same city, and who all had been put on the hook to bring closure to the case.

The second week start with the testimony of Chris Burnett. Chris lived in at 156 Chester Ave. #2 at the time of the murder, and he had been in the kitchen at the time of the killing. Chris was a middle aged black man who looked sick and tired. For much of his life, Chris had been on dialysis for his failing kidneys.

At one time Chris had worked construction, but his failing health and life choices had brought him to a point where he spent much of the 90s and 2000s selling drugs, going to jail and at times living in his car.

The story Chris told to the prosecution was that he had gone to dialysis on April 29, 2008 in the morning and come home and fallen asleep. He was awoken by loud noises and ran in to find the boys kicking down the door. His story matched up with Jeanine’s to an unsettling level of specificity. Despite this he claimed that he was not friends with Jeanine.

On cross examination, he told the same story. It was on re-cross however that the prosecution pointed out that despite his claim if not being close with Jeanine, it was Jeanine’s new address that appeared on his drivers license.

The testimony took up most of a day and a half. After Christ finished, we were scheduled to go on a view. The jury and all attorneys, as well as the judge, were herded onto a coach bus, and with a 5 vehicle police escort taken to 156 Chester Ave. #2. As we went down the highway, on and off ramps were closed. Every intersection was blocked off. Through neighborhoods people lined up along the road sides to stare.

The rules of a view are simple. The attorneys may “direct attention” to certain aspects of the alleged crime scene; BUT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES may they imply the significance of anything.

The apartment had changed a lot since the time of the killing. For days we had been looking at crime scene photos depicting a sad place, made only somewhat sadder by the presence of blood splatter and broken furniture. Now it was a happy place. The walls had been painted pink in many rooms, and their were paintings on all of the walls. In the living room, which had been a lightless den, a toddler played shyly as 20 invaders wandered around her home.

It was hard to fathom that a place that had seen so much anger and violence could be transformed. With a coat of paint, and a loving family 156 Chester Ave. #2 had become a new place.