Chapter 12 - The Case Was Not Murder
People wanted to call Grant a murderer.
I didn’t.
Neither did the prosecutor.
Evidence matters.
Intent matters.
Grant did not install the heater hoping Ethan would be harmed.
He did not turn it on that night knowing carbon monoxide would kill him.
He did not want his son dead.
What prosecutors examined instead was criminal negligence and the conduct after Ethan’s death.
Ignoring a failed safety inspection.
Allowing prohibited equipment to operate.
False statements.
The attempted destruction of relevant physical evidence.
The exact charges took months to determine.
Nothing happened overnight.
There were hearings.
Expert reports.
Arguments over what Grant knew and when.
His attorneys challenged causation.
They argued he believed corrective work had been completed.
The prosecution pointed to written warnings and the lack of any reinspection.
The demolition filing became especially damaging because of its timing and narrow scope.
Eventually Grant accepted responsibility through a negotiated resolution rather than forcing every issue through trial.
I did not celebrate.
There was no version of the outcome that gave me what I wanted.
The only outcome I wanted was impossible.
Ethan running down the stairs.
Ethan refusing vegetables.
Ethan asking me to read the same book three times.
No sentence imposed on Grant could create that.
Justice, I learned, is sometimes merely the system refusing to let a person replace what happened with what they wish had happened.
May you like
That was enough for me.
It had to be.
