Reasonable Doubt

An Essay on the Case of Convicted Murderer Todd Mullis

By: Brenda Irish Heintzelman

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

There’s no sweeter music to a proud farmer’s ears than to hear his firstborn say he wants to be a farmer when he’s older. Todd closes his eyes and wills the pain meds to kick in so he can try to get some sleep before the sun rises. As he winces in pain, he then smiles to himself so proud to know that his legacy will live on through his children and hopefully for many generations to come. Farming is not just a business, it’s a lifestyle. And not everybody is up to it – that’s for sure. But the farming gene runs deep in Todd’s family, and he’s thankful that all three of his children seem to be natural born lovers of the land. Damn, the searing pain in his back is keeping him awake tonight, along with the furnace kicking on every twenty minutes or so. The cold weather sure isn’t helping his back any. And winter has just begun. He takes a look at his bottle of pain pills that he keeps within arm’s reach and decides to pop one more so he can hopefully get some sleep and escape the pain in his back, even if for just a couple of hours at a time. As he drifts off to sleep, he thinks about Amy, his wife, the mother of his children, the woman he loves. And he wonders…