Baby number one was conceived after a night of cheating on Steven after meeting a guy at a club she and Byron went to. Everybody was stunned and dismayed. She had to get him drunk in order to agree to let her go home with him, however.
“Whoa, what about protection?” the poor unsuspecting guy insisted, and at first Janelle was worried she wouldn't be able to manipulate him into sex. But then she claimed she had a full hysterectomy years ago.
“Are you clean?” he asked.
“As a whistle. Look at me. Do you really think a woman this size gets much action?”
Janelle moved in on him before he could say another word.
Most psychologists believe Janelle was determined to go with an ignorance-is-bliss attitude in that she would make what she wanted into as much of a “reality” as possible. She wanted her husband to accept her cheat child and raise it with her as if it was their own, and by God, that was exactly what she was going to make things out to be…one big happy little family.
So when her pregnancy was confirmed and she excitedly announced to her husband that she was pregnant, she acted all shocked when he didn't seem anything but delighted. “What's wrong? I only did what you told me to do and got someone else. It's done. We agreed to have a child together. Accept it. Live with it. It's too late to take back your word and change your mind.”
Yet Steven told many people, including his wife, that under no circumstances would he or could he accept the child or have any part of the rearing. That would be one hundred percent up to Janelle. It may live in his house, but he would be damned if he would support it in any way. If Janelle wanted to keep the kid, she absolutely must get a job.
“I know I need to get a job since we can't afford a child on one income,” Janelle said as if money were the real issue. In truth, Steven made more than Janelle believed he did and he liked it that way. If she knew what he really made, she’d want to shop it away.
Janelle acted all happy and as if everything was just peachy and she was in a “normal” relationship. She insisted Steven would have a change of heart once he saw the child, yet Janelle had a miscarriage nearly four months in and that was the end of “it,” as Steven referred to the baby while his family preferred the more offensive term of “bastard.” In fact, Janelle knew they would be less than kind to her during her pregnancy and that was why she refused to have anything to do with her in-laws.
“I know I'll only lose it on them,” she wrote in her journal, but that's exactly what she would eventually do anyway.
Before the miscarriage, she told people that Steven’s family was selfish and rude for not sending cards or baby gifts. But then neither did anyone on Janelle's side of the family who never thought she should have a kid no matter where it came from.
Janelle was depressed, frustrated, and angry after the miscarriage. A large loud Mexican family moved in next door that was on Section 8 and would push an already fragile Janelle over the edge, igniting her violent streak once again.
It was the usual gripes Janelle had with loud music, noisy kids, barking dogs, and a constant stream of vehicles coming and going. Plus, there was the trash that would ultimately end up in hers and Steven’s yard.
One day, a couple was walking their dog down the street and Steven had just pulled into their driveway after a long day of work when Janelle was out front confronting the neighbors about their racket.
The woman who lived there, Gloria Gonzalez, was seven months pregnant and getting frustrated with Janelle’s regular demands to turn the music down and quiet her children. It was the middle of the afternoon, for God's sake!
Someone reached into the car that was blasting its boom car stereo and turned it off as the woman walked toward her shouting angrily, fed up with Janelle's attitude and wondering if her race had anything to do with it.
While a few others in the neighborhood did agree that the family could sometimes get a little rowdy, it was just part of life in the city.
At least five witnesses would later tell police that they saw Janelle walking away from the woman after screaming at her, then she stopped as the woman approached her, still shouting back at her in frustration. Then they reported that Janelle's eyes dropped to the woman's bulging belly and her leg shot out, kicking the woman in the stomach.
Gloria Gonzalez would promptly deliver a stillborn baby, and it was back to jail for Janelle. Ah, but the courts had wised up and knew she was in the habit of skipping court, so she was held over for trial. She pled “not guilty” against the advice of her court-appointed attorney and ultimately took the stand, also against the advice of the attorney.
Confronted on cross-examination, Janelle adamantly denied aiming for the woman's stomach. “She lunged at me and I kicked out,” Janelle insisted. “It was that simple. I hate to say it but maybe one shouldn't threaten and charge someone when they’re pregnant.”
Moans and groans of protests erupted within the courtroom and the judge struck his gavel to silence everyone.
Upon cross-examination, she was asked, “You don't think Miss Gonzalez's race had anything to do with what you did?”
“No, I do not.”
“Do you think your actions might be the result of your own miscarriage a few months earlier despite the fact that the child was not in fact biologically your husband's?”
It took Janelle a few seconds to answer, mostly because she was shocked that the court was aware of her situation. How had they found out about something that was absolutely none of their business and that she hadn't disclosed to anyone involved? She was too naive to believe her husband might have mentioned it to anyone, so how? Just how?
“No, it does not. My actions are the result of defending myself against a woman who was out of control and about to attack me.”
“Witnesses say otherwise.”
“Well, witnesses say wrong. I was there. I know what happened.”
“And the witnesses weren't there and they don't know?”
“The witnesses are Gonzalez's friends. Of course they're going to defend her by giving statements that make me look guilty.”
“Your husband was there yet his statement matches the witnesses of Miss Gonzalez, including a couple of passers-by.”
“Yeah, and I'm sure my husband’s words have been twisted to the desires of the prosecutor and Miss Gonzalas.”
After being assured that they weren't, Janelle was asked if she had anything to say to the woman and she simply said, “I'm sorry that this happened but next time you might want to keep your anger in check and not go after someone if you're pregnant. Meanwhile, you have other children, all of which are being supported by the state for which my husband's hard-earned tax dollars go to pay. So a little more consideration on your part might be nice.”
This time the murmurs of disgust from the onlookers were louder.
Yet despite Janelle’s appalling testimony and witness testimony, Janelle's motivation simply could not be proven regardless of what was highly suspected. There was no way to literally prove that Janelle hadn't been defending herself or that she had been deliberately aiming for the woman's stomach. The case was therefore dropped for lack of sufficient evidence even though Janelle called it a “win” and insisted she “won” the case.
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