Chapter 1: The Verdict
"Ellie Ruck,” Judge Schaefer said, “you have been tried by a jury of your peers and found guilty on the charge of treason. Please rise for sentencing."
Ellie was quickly on her feet, awkwardly catching her balance using the edge of the table to steady herself, standing straight but weak-kneed in her heels. Her heart was pounding. There was a sheen of sweat on her forehead and her emerald eyes were wide and beseeching under dark lashes toward the black-robed judge who held her life in his hands.
She nervously smoothed her long beige coat and black skirt the lawyer had gotten from her apartment and brought to her in jail. Better than wearing the orange jumpsuit they issued her in the county jail here in Beaumont, Texas. At least her own clothes made her feel like a real human being.
Oh God no, this can’t be happening, she thought miserably. All I did was hand out leaflets! They made a mistake!
Her court-appointed lawyer, Alice Goodman, rose more slowly, buttoned her black jacket and stood next to her. Alice, in her fifties with her dark brown hair pulled back in a bun, was not tall, although she was several inches taller than short, petite Ellie. She had been through this kind of thing before with clients who really had no hope other than for her to get their sentence eased, their suffering lessened and shortened. But for Ellie Ruck, long agony and death were going to be inevitable.
Her client, like most others in her position Alice had defended, was still in denial. She didn’t see any point in telling her how suddenly things were going to change. Alice glanced at her, saw those eyes full of fear that still held onto some shred of hope.
Look at her! Alice thought. Beautiful young girl, wavy copper-colored hair to her waist, startling green eyes, the spray of freckles you can just see across her turned-up nose and dammit, that perfect, porcelain skin of hers. She has no idea that in minutes she’ll have no more rights than a pig in a slaughterhouse.
"Miss Ruck," the judge said.
Oh God, no, please don’t let him say it, please, no! Ellie thought, panicking.
"According to the laws of the United States of America, you are hereby condemned to death. For the crime of treason, the law requires that the manner of your death shall be public crucifixion."
Oh no, no, please not that, not the cross!
It was what everyone expected except Ellie, who had hung onto a tiny shred of hope for some miracle, that the judge would set aside her conviction. The courtroom remained silent, no one surprised other than her.
For Ellie it was a bombshell. A visible shudder shook her and her eyes went wide with shock. Her lips moved, trying to form words she couldn’t find the voice to say. Her knuckles were white where she gripped the table’s edge.
Pronouncing the sentence was a formality; there was only one penalty for treason, and it was the cross. Everyone knew that.
The basic procedures for carrying out her execution were rigidly fixed. The cross was always made of timber, and the condemned was always affixed to it by nails driven through wrists and feet. Nudity was optional in theory, but the rule in practice. While some form of covering might be permitted by the court, it was either dispensed with entirely by the executioner or invariably slipped off.
Some other procedures had wide latitude and there were options to vary the punishment and its severity. Those things were subject to negotiation.
The judge continued, “The goals of crucifixion are punishment, humiliation, public example for all to see, and finally, death. We crucify the condemned in public places where their example will be seen by the most people. We humiliate them by displaying them either nude or nearly nude and totally helpless. A few hours on the cross will break the strongest person and leave them screaming for mercy.
“It is the slowest, most painful form of execution ever devised. We maximize its effectiveness through modern technology, extending the suffering far beyond what the ancients were able to achieve.
“And you, Miss Ruck, have been justly condemned to suffer this punishment.”
Having delivered that preamble, the judge went on to the details of Ellie’s sentence.
"Specifically,” the judge pushed his glasses up, looked down at the sentence document and continued, “I condemn you to the following preliminary sentence, subject to negotiation:
“At ten a.m. on Friday, June twelfth of this year, I order that you be taken to a public whipping post, there to be stripped to the panties or briefs provided by the prison, shackled by the wrists and whipped. I hereby sentence you to receive fifty lashes using a standard single-tailed leather whip. These lashes may be delivered upon any portion of your body not covered by your panties without exception.”
There was some murmuring from the gallery at this. The word “naked” was mentioned repeatedly. The judge eyed them over his glasses and the room went quiet.
“Following this, I order that you, if you are still physically able, shall carry your crosspiece to a place of execution in a popular and highly visible area of a public park as shall be designated by the court in consultation with the Beaumont City Parks Department. As you walk from the whipping post to the aforesaid place of execution, you may continue to wear your panties and shall be allowed a strip of cloth as a breast binding sufficient to cover your nipples.”
Again, there were some murmurs of disapproval from the gallery. Some people obviously thought the traitor’s clothing should be dispensed with entirely before her whipping.
The judge banged his gavel and snapped, “Order!” The courtroom went quiet. He pushed his glasses up on his nose again, found his place and resumed reading.
“Immediately before being crucified, you shall be publicly stripped of any remaining clothing, jewelry and footwear. That is, you shall be completely naked and on public view.
“For the sake of propriety the court will permit, but not require, the executioner to provide you with a minimal covering for your genitals of the type specified in Section 6.2.2.2 of the 2018 revision of the manual of Generally Accepted Crucifixion Practices, or GACP as it is commonly known, titled Partial Nudity, Permissible Clothing, Condemned Females. This states that the only permissible clothing for a crucified woman shall be a minimal white G-string covering the width of the labia majora only, from the top of the cleft in front to the midpoint between the vagina and anus. This section also states that no covering will be permitted for the breasts under any circumstances.
“At the discretion of the executioner this garment may be dispensed with altogether or at any time should he judge that it impedes your punishment in any way or obstruct the public’s view of it. Once removed, it may not be restored.”
There was some grumbling from the gallery, but no one believed Ellie would really be allowed to wear anything on the cross. Even those who did wear some type of covering initially always lost it when the executioner required access to their genitals to inflict some type of agonizing sexual torture.
“As to the type of cross to be used, the court orders that your cross shall be a standard “T” cross, conforming to Section 3.1 of the GACP, comprising a fixed round upright post, set in place prior to your crucifixion, and a separate crosspiece, carried by you to the place of execution, to be joined to the post at the time you are crucified.
“Your living body shall be securely affixed to the cross by your wrists and feet only, using four standard iron crucifixion nails of a size appropriate to the size and weight of your body. The executioner shall ensure you are conscious and aware during the entire time these are being driven through your wrists and feet.
“A standard Class 1 sedile shall be provided according to Section 4.3.1 of the GACP. There shall be no additional means of support available for your body beyond the four nails and sedile.
“During your execution, you shall be subject without restriction to any and all ancillary punishments which may be inflicted by the executioner or your current custodian at their discretion, but in no case should these cause your sentence to be shortened.
“You shall be prohibited any other means of terminating life. Reasonable effort shall be made to ensure you are alive, conscious and aware until the end of your sentence. At that point these efforts shall cease, and you shall be allowed to die without further intervention to either maintain or terminate life.
“Finally, you shall be considered dead when so declared by a physician. Once you have been declared dead, your body shall remain displayed on the cross for twelve hours, after which time it shall be cremated, and your ashes flushed into the city sewage system without ceremony, monument or memorial of any kind.”
The judge finished reading off Ellie’s sentence and looked up. “Questions?” He asked, looking at the prosecution and defense counselors, both of whom shook their heads.
“Good!” He said, “This concludes the preliminary sentence. We will now take a fifteen-minute recess and commence negotiations."
Ellie sat down, heart pounding after hearing what she had been told she would hear. She couldn’t make herself believe it before, it sounded so impossible. And now it was… real.
The courtroom got noisy with conversation and people coming and going. Her lawyer, Alice, put a hand on her knee.
"Doing ok, hun?" Alice asked, peering at her solicitously through the granny glasses she preferred for court. She thought they made her look wise, learned in front of a jury.
Ellie shrugged, fear overwhelming her, a tear rolling down her cheek.
I’m going to die, she thought. They’re going to kill me!
"Ok - well we knew this is where it was going, so now we'll see if we can soften it a little, ok?"
Ellie nodded.
"The judge gave us a little to work with. The prosecution’s never gonna go for execution six weeks from now. They’ll want it a lot sooner than that. And they'll want you to be naked.”
“Naked! All I have left is… is a tiny G-string! They can’t take even that away! What about the laws they have about that?”
“Indecency laws? Those don’t apply to this category of capital punishment for several reasons, but we don’t have time to worry about that. As it stands right now, they will strip you naked before they nail you to the cross.
“But he said… he said I get to wear a G-string, at least!”
“Yeah, he did,” Alice shrugged. “He said they have to allow you to wear that tiny white G-string they give you, and that’s a joke. You might as well be naked! Standard-issue thin nylon, flimsy, practically transparent. White, to best show your camel toe. It’s a token concession to some people’s sense of modesty. It’s really up to the executioner, and ninety-nine percent of the time he doesn’t even bother with it. It ‘impedes or obscures the public’s view’ so he dispenses with it.
“What… how can they do that to me?” Ellie sobbed helplessly. “W-When they crucified Jesus, he had a loincloth! All the pictures from back then show that!”
Alice laughed, “There aren’t any pictures from back then, and he probably was naked, too. When the Romans crucified somebody, that’s the way they did it. They didn’t make exceptions.”
Ellie stared at her, confused.
“Well, I'll see if we can get the sedile removed or maybe a GD clause if we give a little on those points."
"GD?"
"Guaranteed death. I'm hoping we can do gunshot GD after seventy-two hours. Maybe even forty-eight. It partly depends on what you're willing to concede. So! Let's talk about a few things. I assume you're willing to do it naked if it will reduce your cross time?"
Guaranteed Death is a good thing? Crucifixion is so bad that dying sooner is better?
"Uh, I guess..." Ellie shrugged, dazed and bewildered.
"Yeah - you really should. That one is a slam dunk. It matters to them – the prosecution will want you naked, not even a G-string, so they can show how serious they are on crime. A naked girl – a pretty one like you, anyway – writhing sensuously on a cross for days in the summer sun is a sight that sticks in the memory of voters. They’re gonna like the guy who gave them that. And, you know, you're really not going to care about nudity when you've been hanging on the cross for six hours, last thing on your mind by then."
Ellie didn't ask how she could know that.
"Ok - now, timing. I know you probably want a little time, but how soon would you be willing to go ahead and do this?"
Ellie put her face in her hands. Alice patted her back softly and sighed impatiently.
"I know this is hard, hun," she said, "But we only have fifteen minutes to prepare for the negotiation, so we really need to stay on track. Timing is probably the biggest thing they're going to be after. I mean, if you agreed to give up on the G-string and let them crucify you completely naked, and you were willing to be executed as soon as tomorrow, just between those two, we could probably get you a really decent GD clause."
"Isn’t there any hope? I-I don’t want to die! Can't we appeal?" Ellie was wiping her eyes, and her voice came through a stuffy nose.
"Well, we can, it's just not very likely to do anything for you. But we can talk about it afterward."
"But if we agree to let them execute me tomorrow, there won't be any time to appeal, right?"
"True... It's just - I mean, you did it, right? You were there handing out the leaflets. They have four witnesses who saw you doing it. You even admitted it to the police who arrested you while you were shouting and cursing them.”
“If you’d been quiet and gotten a lawyer,” Alice said, “and it’d been me, I’d have advised you not to say a damn thing. But you shot off your mouth, and your mouth got you here, sentenced to be crucified. Open and shut case, I can't see an appeal doing much for you."
Now I believe in resurrection..
