Number 6

New York has some of the best dining in the country, and Staten Island is home to some of the best Italian cuisine. Jack Sitler traveled often for business but was finally going to be in town long enough to take his wife to Brioso Ristorante and he made reservations for a Wednesday night. He’d be leaving the following morning for another week’s long overseas trip.

They arrived early to ensure there would be no unexpected problems with seating. It was a white tablecloth affair set within a beautiful, rustic setting. A gigantic bar within the seating area was stocked with pretty much everything imaginable. They started with drinks. He ordered Negroni, and she, Aperitivo. She wanted to prepare her digestive system for the delicious meal she would take no more than a bite of.

Ella Nowosc Sitler was an English lady who was born into money. She met her husband of 23 years at her father’s estate in Liverpool. He was a junior business executive, just getting started with a company her father owned in New York. They fell in love and a marriage was on the horizon.

She always ordered when they dined out and knowing she would only eat a bite or two, she ordered only dishes she knew he’d enjoy. That evening, it was a Brioso version of Calamari e Gamberi. She would lovingly enjoy watching her husband Jack devour both plates. Jack was a big man who always had a big appetite.

Ella knew he was leaving the following morning for Australia and spent most of the night lying on her side watching him sleep. She loved him with all her heart and, as always, would miss him terribly. The alarm clock went off at 6AM. A slight breeze coming through the floor to ceiling window in their bedroom made the thin white sheers do an intoxicatingly rhythmic dance in response.

Police noted a steady flow of blood was still dripping from the blood-soaked bedsheets onto the floor. There was a knife in the victim’s chest that someone had hammered deep into his heart. The hammer lies on the bed next to the body. Ella was nowhere to be found. The authorities promptly issued a warrant for her arrest. Police arrested Ella two days later at JFK International airport as she boarded flight BA0182 on British Airways. She had a one-way ticket to Heathrow. She offered no resistance, as police officers led her away.

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With the voir dire process complete, the judge called for the 12 jurors to sit in the jury box. The District Attorney charged Ella Nowosc Sitler with murder in the first degree of her husband, Jack Sitler.

The prosecution put forth a text book case which on the surface seemed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ella Sitler killed her husband, Jack. They offered undisputed evidence that Ella administered an incapacitating cocktail of drugs that rendered her husband temporarily paralyzed. She then used a 16 oz ball-peen hammer to drive a 10-inch butcher knife through his heart.

The defense offered no disputing facts. On the surface, there simply were none. While Ella never confessed to killing her husband, she did, in fact, do so. She sat quietly throughout the entire trial, staring straight ahead as the prosecution painted a picture of her as a cold-blooded monster who deserved more punishment than the state could legally administer. The defenses’ goal was to keep Ella out of the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center.

It was like a kick in the gut to everyone who had followed the case to bear witness to what came next. The words were haunting.

The jury could not come to unanimous consent, creating a condition for the judge to declare a mistrial. He also issued an order to release the defendant, pending a decision to retry the case. What the hell happened in that jury room?

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The news was devastating. 

“This just in. In a developing story, police found the body of Jack Sitler, the renowned hedge fund manager. Someone murdered him in his home. Police are seeking information on the whereabouts of his wife, Ella Sitler. If you have any information, they ask that you contact the 121st precinct immediately at 718-697-8700 - John Ducaucus, ABC7, reporting.”

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People around the island knew the Sitler’s well. Calls began coming in immediately after the ABC7 news report. An anonymous caller who said they were familiar with the family informed police that Ella would likely flee to her father’s estate in Great Britain. He had the means to arrange a quick escape to a non-extradition country.

It was a three-step plan that needed to be implemented ASAP. First, tip the police off to Ella’s whereabouts. Second, get on the jury. Third, make sure Ella got acquitted. With step one complete, a call to the NY State Court System to volunteer for jury duty was the next step. That alone would not guarantee a seat at the table, but following it up by calling in a few favors would. The third and final step was to sow doubt about Ella’s guilt.

With a seat on the jury confirmed, they gathered in the jury room for a get-to-know-each-other meeting. They talked about their feelings about the case and about how they would handle voting. They talked about electing the presiding juror and what qualities that person should have. Juror 6 spoke up and made a pitch for the leadership role. She listed her qualifications and dedication to the jury process. She was polite, articulate, and showed in-depth knowledge of how the processes worked. Her knowledge impressed everyone, and they promptly took a vote, elevating her to the position of the presiding juror.

With that step out of the way, she began laying out her vision of how things would progress. She laid out her view of how they would discuss evidence and the law. She told them they’d weigh the judges’ instructions that defined each charge. They discussed how they would evaluate each charge separately and how they lined up with the evidence. And finally, they looked at voting: how they would conduct it, and what steps they would take in the event they could not reach a verdict.

With everything in place and the trial date pending, everyone was confident things would go smoothly. The case seemed like it was a slam dunk for the prosecution. Most agreed, based on unofficial reports, it would be a quick trial with a quick conviction and they would all go back to their lives satisfied they had proudly and courageously fulfilled their civic duty.

Though they all were cordial, that was expected and no one wanted to come across as a problem juror, but to a couple of them, something about juror 6 was off. She knew too much about the process and the details. It was as if she had filled the role before, that maybe she was a little too eager. A couple of them braced for trouble ahead.

That trouble appeared as soon as the trial was over and the judge dismissed the jury to deliberate. They needed unanimous consent. The first vote failed, as expected. Some had doubts. The second vote was closer. Despite that, some still had doubts. On the third vote, the lone holdout was juror 6, as with the fourth, fifth, and sixth votes. Juror 6 suggested there was some missing evidence, but refused to divulge what that evidence could be. Frustration among the jurors was on full display. 

They went back and combed through all the evidence and challenged juror 6 to justify her position. Her answers were nonsensical, and some believed she was trying to rig the verdict. After two more rounds of voting yielded the same outcome, they were done, and informed the judge that, through best efforts, they could not reach unanimous consent. As a surprise to everyone present, the judge reluctantly declared a mistrial and released Ella, pending a decision on whether to retry the case. He strongly suggested she not leave the country.

Ella arrived at London Heathrow the following day on British Airways flight BA0112. She then climbed into an awaiting limousine, which took her to the safety of her father’s Brandt Nowosc Estate in Southampton. From there, if need be, he could whisk her away to international waters, slowing any attempts by the United States to extradite. But Ella knew the US would make no such attempt. Her case simply did not rise to a level of international significance. But that didn’t mean she was in the clear.

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It was their favorite getaway, the Escarpment Suite at the Spicers Sangoma Retreat in Sydney. They went there when absolute discretion was key, where privacy was of the utmost concern. The hidden setting, endless indulgences, creative cuisine gave way to their lust for the very best life offered. He knew he was in over his head, but he craved her more than the air he breathed. She had issued the ultimatum, and on that night, she demanded his answer. Would he leave his wife for her? His answer set in motion a series of events that would ultimately lead to his demise.

The doorbell chimed at 6 PM. Ella opened it without asking who was there. She knew who it would be. A bellhop handed her a sealed envelope, bowed slightly and then left. The card inside contained a type-written note confirming that her suspicions were right. He had been at their retreat in Sydney, the retreat he chose specifically to propose to her some 23 years earlier. They reserved the same suite annually to celebrate their anniversary. He had been there recently with another woman, a woman that would later ensure she walked away from a murder trial scot-free.

Ella left her father’s estate and checked into their favorite retreat in Sydney. She knew that someone had been following her since she fled the US. It was 9:00 PM when the doorbell rang. Ella answered it, fully expecting to see who stood there. 

“Come in,” she said calmly, as she turned and slowly walked towards a large sofa. “I’ve been expecting you,” she said.

Ella did not know juror 6 personally, but that she was standing in her doorway confirmed her suspicion. Ella knew that someone had been sleeping with her husband and at that moment she was certain it was juror 6. That she walked away scot-free from a crime she had made peace with being convicted for, told her that someone on the jury had a hand in it. And now she knew who that was.

Ella, though born into wealth and refinement, was not naïve. Nor was she above getting dirty when necessary. Juror 6, of all people, should have known that. Ella figured Jack had promised her wealth beyond her imagination. His inexplicable recent financial moves showed he had already taken steps towards fulfilling that promise.

“Please, sit down,” Ella said calmly as she gestured towards the opposite end of the sofa. “I’m sure you have a name other than juror 6. May I know what that is, please?” Ella asked.

“My name is Heather, Heather Magrowsky,” juror 6 replied.

“Thank you Heather! So I imagine you were the holdout on the jury, and you’re here now to force me to complete a transaction between you and my husband? Is that about it?”

Heather looked surprised. Not because Ella had figured out her game, but because she seemed so comfortable addressing it. Heather began running flashbacks of the events of the last few months through her mind. What she landed on was the realization that she was on the wrong side of a true life plot twist. She had placed herself in a room, trapped with a brutal, cold-blooded murderer. Ella Sitler may have seemed harmless, but Heather knew the truth and she suddenly realized how dangerous a game it was she was playing. As she mentally looked for an exit, she realized Ella sat between her and that exit.

Ella looked at Heather curiously as she tilted her head slightly to the side. Her face suddenly turned to stone. Heather was the only one who knew the motive for Jack’s murder. Should there be a retrial, the prosecution certainly wouldn’t fail to give the jury that information again. Heather would no doubt get herself on the jury again, and she would have no incentive to let Ella escape. The look on her face told Ella she had just figured that out. Suddenly, the affair, the attempted money grab, meant nothing. The one person who could provide what was lacking in the first trial, the motive, had just walked right into a den of evil and had unwittingly sealed her fate. The next morning…

“This just in. In a developing story, police have found the body of Heather Magrowsky, juror 6, in the infamous Sitler murder case a few weeks ago in New York. It seems the same murderer may have struck here. The cause of death appeared to be from a butcher's knife hammered into the victim’s heart. Australian Federal Police are seeking information on the whereabouts of Ella Sitler. The assumption is that she has fled the country - Devon Chauncey, 9News Sydney, reporting.”

K.R. Eaton - Number 6

Short Stories by K.R Eaton