Chapter 18 - The Verdict
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The jury deliberated for less than two hours.
When the courtroom doors re-opened, the foreman stood up to read the verdicts.
In the matter of Austin David Wellman:
Count 1: Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon—GUILTY.
Count 2: Attempted Pre-meditated Murder—GUILTY.
Count 3: Grand Healthcare Fraud—GUILTY.
Count 4: Identity Theft—GUILTY.
In the matter of Amanda Wellman:
Count 1: Conspiracy to Commit Healthcare Fraud—GUILTY.
Count 2: Accomplice to Aggravated Assault—GUILTY.
Count 3: Obstruction of Justice—GUILTY.
Two weeks later, the judge handed down the final sentences.
Austin Wellman was sentenced to twenty-eight years in state prison without the possibility of parole for fifteen years.
Amanda Wellman was sentenced to eighteen years in state prison.
As the guards led them away in chains, Amanda looked back at me one last time. Tears streamed down her wrinkled face, but I saw no remorse in her eyes—only the bitter realization that her empire of lies had completely burned to the ground.
I walked out of the courthouse into the bright San Diego sunshine.
For the first time in thirty-one years, I felt like I could finally breathe.
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I took a job as the Chief Forensic Auditor for the state healthcare oversight department, dedicated to protecting vulnerable patients from predators like my family.
I rebuilt my life, brick by brick, proving to myself that I was far stronger than the metal bar that had tried to break me.
