Chapter 13 - THE CASE AGAINST VANESSA
The criminal case focused on recent conduct.
Unlawful confinement.
Assault-related conduct during the struggle.
Interference with Margaret’s phone access.
No charge for “six years of caregiving.”
No prosecution for being resentful.
Financial review remained separate.
The $29,000 in self-reimbursements became a civil and fiduciary dispute depending on account authority and consent.
Vanessa had been an authorized joint bill-pay user on one account.
That gave access.
Not unlimited permission.
Some transfers were reimbursable.
Others were not.
A settlement required Vanessa to repay $18,600.
Not $286,400.
Not every hour of care became free.
Not every claimed hour became debt.
The law could not price the whole relationship.
Vanessa’s criminal case did not become attempted murder.
Margaret was confined for just over a day.
She received food and water.
Those facts mattered in sentencing.
So did:
the locked gate,
the taken phone,
the physical struggle,
the concealment,
and Vanessa’s refusal to release her.
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Mitigation was not exoneration.
Proportionality required holding both.
