mickey was surprisingly effective. when i was told i was to be the judge of this trial and then i was told mickey knox would be handling his own defence, i got a headache that lasted five days. but at first i breathed a sigh of relief. mickey showed up very prepared, and proved to be an excellent amateur lawyer.
would you care to cross examine the witness, mr. knox?
sustained. mr. knox, put the knife down.
mr. knox! the knife!
yes, unquestionably. after they did what they did in my court, and judge worth his robe will tell you the same thing. it couldn't help but affect my decision. that's why they have judges. we're supposed to be fair to a fault, but when it's showtime, we have to make a decision. that's why we don't just input all the facts into a computer for the appropriate punishment. i couldn't give them the death penalty. see, california hops back and forth on that issue. mickey and mallory went to court when it was out of favor, which is actually good because it leaves more room for imagination. anybody can give somebody the chair. when you have someone who deserves to die and you can't kill them, you have to be creative. and if the bastards had let it stand, it would of been the perfect sentence. it hit 'em right where they lived. far more punishing than the death sentence.
well, in a rogue's gallery of killers, mickey and mallory are very unique. i've seen a lot of killers in my day and they're a very cold lot. they have no more feelings about taking a person's life than squashing a tiny bug. it's all the same to them. well, mickey and mallory were that 'kill 'em to watch their expression change' attitude personified. except with each other. and, since they lived only for each other, i wanted to attack that, at its very root. so, in a nutshell, my sentence was double life for each without any possibility for parole. that would be fairly standard in their case. the twist i added was that the husband and wife would have no contact or correspondence with each other for the rest of their lives. and they would never receive any word or information about the other. so, basically once the cell door slams shut, mickey and mallory will completely disappear from each other's life. they'll never know when the other dies. but alas, the best laid plans of mice and men.