Defending Jacob

As local newspapers start to run headlines about the case, Jonathan advises the family not to show emotion. The presiding judge, Judge Rivera, is good for the Barber family as she tends to favor the defendant. Logiudice’s opening statement focuses disproportionately on Andy, noting that Jacob came from a home where “criminal law is the family business” (117). Nonetheless, Rivera denies the $500,000 cash bail, setting a lower number. The family returns home with Jacob to find graffiti on their house: “MURDERER WE HATE YOU” (120). Jacob tells Andy that he isn’t bothered or hurt, and Andy regrets urging his son to be strong and stoic.

The family preps for Jacob’s trial. Laurie seems shocked, and Andy states that “in the end she paid an awful price” (124), although he delays explaining what that price was. Jonathan assures Jacob that their case is not hopeless; the evidence is all circumstantial. Laurie, however, brings up the family’s genetic tendency toward violence, the so-called murder gene. Andy reveals his father’s past to both Jacob and Jonathan. Jacob is upset, asking, “‘What if I have this thing inside me and I can’t help it?’” (133). Andy tells him that at the very most, he inherited potential.