Courtroom drama not always what it seems

I like covering court events. I find it fascinating to pick up leads for stories and follow them through by going through the files at the courthouse and tracking down what usually ends up to be interesting stories. Some court cases hold a lot of emotions. In the past two weeks I covered two court events that involved murder cases. One was the Shawn Bacon case with which Christopher Willingham is charged. The second was Wednesday’s motions hearing for Garry William Johnson accused, along with his wife Janet Dych, in the double murder of their neighbors, Leeann Lytle and Melissa Collier. In the Willingham case, he is accused but he has not been found guilty. It will be up to a jury to decide that. However, Johnson pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two counts of facilitation to commit 1st degree murder and one count of aggravated arson. One of the women he admitted to having part in her murder was stabbed approximately 60 times. Yet, when he stood in the courtroom he looked like an average guy. Even in his mug shot he had a smiling face. As he left the courtroom I stood there with my camera to get his picture for the paper. He looked up and smiled at me. This man did not look the least bit threatening, yet he has admitted to being part of a horrible crime in which two young women were viciously murdered. The scariest part is that you never know what is going on inside someone’s mind. On the outside they can look perfectly normal, while on the inside they can have a mind of a killer. People expect a murderer to look mean. They expect them to look scary. At least I do. I don’t expect them to look like “the guy next door.” My hat goes off to the people in law enforcement who deal with criminals on a day to day basis. The lawyers, district attorneys, judges, police officers, sheriffs and other workers observe and hear about violent crimes that most of us would never want to know such details. They take it in and deal with it so you and I don’t have to. It’s a crazy world out there. Sometimes, life seems great and good things are everywhere. You see people working for causes and trying to find cures for diseases to make this world a better place. Then you hear about a senseless crime and it makes you ask yourself, “Why?” I don’t have the answer. I don’t know if anyone does. But maybe, just maybe, one day all the violence will disappear. Wouldn’t that be a great day.