60 Minutes (9 page)

Jani’rah’s love for children was also the reason she had Rosa’s little girl dropped off in front of the Department of Children and Families Facility Downtown. The little girl was shaken up by what she saw and Jani’rah already felt bad about that. Initially Jani’rah thought she would be able to use her as a pawn in her game with Samuel, but her heart wasn’t cold enough to do that. Children should never be victims in the games adults play and Jani’rah made sure that the little girl she snatched wasn’t a victim in her war with Samuel.

“I won’t let him take me down.” Jani’rah said to Hanz, who was also in disguise. His short dreads were dyed a grayish color and his eyebrows were also a faint gray shade. He wore a low cut beard that he was able to grow out while they were in hiding for months.

“Millions of dollars, hundreds of people on my team, and I can’t have one simple man touched?” Jani’rah questioned aloud.

“We will get him Madame J. Through the years I’ve watched how you operate. You’ve been in tight situations before and that’s expected in your type of business. The more money you inherit, the more problems you’ll have Madame.”

“Hmm, you’re right Hanz. Thank you for sticking it out with me.”

“Till the end Madame; but you speak as if everything is ending now. Don’t give up Jani’rah.”

The cool breeze danced around Jani’rah’s face as a butterfly flew around her. She loved her city; she was born and raised in Bridgeport. Her parents were also buried there. The decision she made hurt her feelings, but it was time to leave.

Jani’rah and Hanz sat in the park for another hour in complete silence. They rode away in an all-black Monte Carlo—Hanz’s recommendation to avoid being too flashy while they were in disguise.

Jani’rah’s phone buzzed, “Hello,” she answered, it was a blocked number but she knew it was Claudia.

“He’s gone!” Claudia squealed on the other end.

“Talk to you later Claud.” Jani’rah said ending the call, not wanting to say too much. Hanz looked over at Jani’rah who sat in the passenger seat instead of in the back; he smiled when he noticed her peaceful expression.

“We’re staying after all?” Hanz asked.

Jani’rah licked her lips and slowly nodded her head yes. As they turned on to Brooklawn, they noticed that police cruisers blocked off the street and it was flooded with additional unmarked police cars. A tear slid down Jani’rah’s cheek as she witnessed her little cousin, Claudia, in handcuffs and being escorted into the back of a police cruiser.

Hanz quickly turned off the block and sped in the opposite direction of the mayhem. The car was silent as he turned onto I-95 South. No words were said as the two rode towards the south.

New Environment, Same ol’ Problems

Hanz stretched his tired limbs and squinted his eyes against the sun’s rays. The three-day drive had his body tired and achy. He stretched his arms in the air and his bones popped.

“You’re getting old on me Hanz.” Jani’rah joked with her friend. She stepped out of the modest house that they spent the night at. It belonged to a single mother of three children. Jani’rah and Hanz were asleep in the car in a small ally the night before, the sound of someone digging in the nearby dumpster got both their attention. They noticed a small Hispanic woman and a child, no older than eight years old, ruffling through the garbage. The scene tugged at Jani’rah’s heart. She stepped out of the car and spoke in Spanish to the woman, offering her some money for a place to stay. Jani’rah and Hanz didn’t want to check into a hotel; her face was on every news channel and her name was all over the radio. She was wanted on several counts of murder, along with sex trafficking, soliciting sex, and tons of other crimes. Her charges just kept piling up as the days went by.

The Hispanic woman agreed to let Jani’rah and Hanz stay one night in her home after Jani’rah gave her $200. Once they were inside, Jani’rah and Hanz’s heart dropped. The youngest child was a baby; only eight months old and crawling around in a dirty diaper that looked to be at least a whole day old by the way it sagged from being saturated with piss and the remains of bowel movements. Jani’rah quickly sent the mother off to get ointment and new diapers because the baby had a diaper rash. The second child in the house was four years old and always smiling. He was skinny and sang songs of being hungry; the smile he kept on his little face and stories he told Jani’rah and Hanz made them fall in love with him. The oldest child was the eight year old that went out with their mother to dig in dumpsters looking for food, spare change, or anything useful they could use in the house. She was very protective of her mother and her little brothers; she also had bags under her eyes and the way she devoured the pizza they ordered, let Jani’rah and Hanz know that none of them had eaten a decent meal in quite a while.

Jani’rah and Hanz woke early the next morning to go to the bank and take money out for the family. Jani’rah couldn’t sleep all night as she thought about how they were living and how the kids slept on dirty blankets on the floor. She was anxious to pull all the money out of her account, which she had under Hanz’s name. Jani’rah had opened an account in New Mexico’s trust bank, in the event she would have to flee south. She also had accounts in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Haiti, and a few other countries and some under alias names so that they could not be traced. Being that Hanz was missing as far as the authorities were concerned, she was sure that there was an alert to watch out for him too. Both of them were wanted so she figured by the time they withdrew the money from the bank and gave it the family, they would have to immediately disappear and head to Mexico for good because someone would surely come looking for them.

Hanz pulled up to the bank and hopped out, eager to get the money and go. They made it back to the small house and Jani’rah couldn’t wait to give the woman the money. She handed her a backpack and told her to take care. The woman opened the book bag and almost fainted. Her eight-year-old daughter took a peek inside and her eyes instantly filled with tears. It was filled with $100 bills; $100,000 to be exact.

Hanz and Jani’rah washed up and said their good-byes, hitting the road headed further south. They got to the border of Texas before they realized a police car was following them.

“Hanz, don’t you stop!” Jani’rah said as the lights went off and a voice commanded them to stop and pull over. Hanz sped along, listening to Jani’rah. He was looking for a chance to break away from the police cruiser’s line of view. The slow moving cars ahead of him made it hard.

Pop
.

The back window broke into tiny pieces as the police shot it out. Hanz started to zig zag in and out of traffic, he was able to cut in front of a tiny Honda Civic; the driver laid on his horn like a man. Jani’rah watched as the Honda pulled over, making way for the police cruiser.

“Shit!” she cursed. Jani’rah opened the glove compartment; there was only one way to get the police off their tale. She pulled out Hanz’s shot gun and positioned herself out of the window then started blasting. The first bullet tore through the police cruiser’s tire, causing the car to swerve. The second shot went straight through the window shield, hitting the officer in his head. The third shot brought the cruiser up in flames, followed by an explosion. Jani’rah was midway back into the car before its tires exploded and Hanz lost control of. She flew out the window and hit the ground hard. Police were on each side of the street; they laid out tire spikes to bring an end to the car chase.

“Put your hands up NOW!” Several armed officers commanded Jani’rah as she lay in the dirt coughing from literally having the wind knocked out of her during her fall. Blood seeped out of her mouth, she moved her tongue around and confirmed that she had missing teeth. She laughed to herself as the thought of her being more concerned about missing teeth than being arrested consumed her mind.

“She’s a fucking psycho! Put this bitch in cuffs!” An angry officer shouted, clearly upset that she murdered two officers and had the audacity to laugh. They snatched Jani’rah up roughly, not caring that she was just in a bad accident.

“Take it easy porky,” Jani’rah said to one officer. She glanced around and saw people watching from inside their cars and some even stepped out to get a closer view of what was going on. The closer she got, she noticed a familiar face.

“We got you now Ms. Jean,” Ronnie said with a smirk.

“Your ass is grass now!” Jani’rah smirked. “You’re happy you’re no longer somebody’s bitch ass counsel I see. It took a good man to die for you to have some recognition.” Jani’rah sneered, discrediting and belittling Ronnie.

“You’re going to die in jail bitch, you’re lucky Connecticut no longer has the death penalty.”

Jani’rah ignored Ronnie and searched around, she saw Hanz also being escorted to a cruiser.” How stupid could you cops be, I took him as a fucking hostage and you arrest him too? What ever happened to protecting and serving?” The officers stared at each other confused then called for the two that had Hanz in their care. Jani’rah winked at Hanz. She knew it would be no good for the both of them to be locked up, she needed someone on the outside for her. Jani’rah didn’t plan on staying locked up forever.

*****

With eager determination, Ronnie had Jani’rah’s case re-opened after speaking to the Chief of Police, Internal Affairs and working alongside the FBI. With all of those agencies working together, they were able to bring up charges against Jani’rah and bring her back to trial. This time when they arrested her, they made sure that any bail would be denied and she would be held in maximum security.

Time’s Up

Jani’rah wasn’t allowed any visitors with the exception of her attorney, Shimerwiz, who had traveled to Texas as soon as she reached out to him. Ronnie didn’t leave Texas until he was assured that she would be transported back to Connecticut. He would later be disappointed because Texas wanted her and refused to extradite her; she had killed two of their police officers, and they weren’t letting her go anywhere. Ronnie was highly upset that Texas was holding Connecticut’s mass murderer, but once they informed him that she was sentenced to immediate execution due to her having too many connections, he tensed up at the news and he stayed in Texas a while longer in order to witness her execution. She was to die by legal injection and there was no way he was going to miss it.

When her attorney informed her that she was going to die, Jani’rah said nothing and stared at him blankly. No one knew what was going on in her mind because all the way up until the day she was to be executed, she stayed very quiet; never saying a word or showing any emotion.

1:00:00

Jani’rah, is there anything I can get for you?” One of the COs asked from the other side of the wall; speaking through a cut out in the door that was placed there only for communication and meals to pass through. They made sure Jani’rah had no outside contact, and they placed her in the hole on death row until she was to be put to death. She had gotten away too many times before when they made the mistake of giving her access to anyone outside prison walls and they were not going to make that mistake again.

Jani’rah didn’t respond to the guard, she sat Indian style facing the wall with her back towards the heavy cement door. The CO walked away leaving Jani’rah alone. No one knew that the CO was a relative to the family Jani’rah helped out in New Mexico. The family had eventually moved to Texas and they went wild when they saw Jani’rah’s face on the news and heard of her convictions. To the State of Texas, Jani’rah was a monster, but to them, she was an angel sent from Heaven to help them in their desperate time of need.

00:30:00

Jani’rah’s last meal sat before her as she stared past the plate of sirloin steak, a baked potato and steamed veggies. She was quiet when they asked her if she had any last meal requests, so they gave her the most commonly ordered meal. The smell of the food hit her nostrils, but she wasn’t interested in any of it.

00:15:00

Shimerwitz visited Jani’rah one last time and sadly informed her that the State had changed their mind about legal injection for her execution and she would be facing the electric chair instead. They wanted her dead and for her victim’s families to witness her die struggling. Once again, Jani’rah sat staring blankly at nothing. Shimerwitz said his goodbyes and informed her that he would not be staying to watch her execution; he couldn’t bear it. He did inform her, before he left, that Claudia was released; they didn’t have enough evidence against her to hold her for very long.

00:1:00

“As I walk through the shadow of death…” The priest gave his final words as Jani’rah sat strapped to the electric chair. There was a large crowd in attendance to watch her demise. Ronnie, along with some state senators, victim’s family members, and officers crowded around behind the glass partisan as the cursed the sight of her. When asked if she had any final remarks, Jani’rah didn’t say anything, she just stared at everyone in the crowd; almost making eye contact with each individual that held authority. A chill ran down everyone’s back as she eyed them. The priest finished up then looked around the room, he lowered his head not wanting to watch as the executioner pulled down the lever . A guard and two other men in suits gavethe executioner a head nod that it was time. Ronnie noticed Jani’rah wink as soon as the man who was supposed to end her life lifted his hand to pull the switch down.