The Three Sisters (33 page)

CHAPTER XV

But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith
the Lord.

–
Jeremiah
21
:
14

n Monday, November
5
,
1979
, sentence was passed on the three sisters for the crimes which they had been convicted of committing. During the preceding week, the sentencing of the three sisters had been the hottest topic of discussion in the nation, and with the help of daily reports of the newest rumors and leaks, the attention paid to other news events paled
in comparison.

The Justices agreed to allow the sentencing to be broadcast live by each of the major networks so the nation could see for itself exactly what the Supreme Court had decided. Seemingly in a replay of the previous Monday, the same group of reporters and Congressional observers gathered in the courtroom. They were joined by a new set of spectators, some of whom had stood in line since the previous Monday to witness the
historic event.

Coito, Theodora, and Regina were brought to the Supreme Court building under heavy security. The three were lead into the room about
9
:
45
A.M., and at
10
:
00
A.M. the Justices themselves entered the courtroom as two cameras clicked on allowing millions to join those already gathered before the nation’s highest court. The three were called to stand before the Justices. The charges against them were re-read for all to hear. Then the Chief Justice of the United States read the majority opinion of the Court which carefully detailed how they had weighed the crimes, behavior, thoughts, and deeds revealed in the life histories of
the criminals.

No one had expected the sentence meted out to the three sisters. True, rumors of the sentence that was passed had been leaked, but no one, not even the news media had taken these rumors seriously. Coito Gott, Theodora Suora, and Regina Grant had expected that they might be given stiff prison sentences to appease political elements in America, but when the Supreme Court announced their decision that Monday morning, even the newsmen in the room were shocked, and even more amazing,
were silent.

It was “the philosophy of the Court that the punishment should fit the psychology of the convicted defendants,” the majority opinion premised before millions of TV viewers. “Having rebelled against their religious backgrounds and turned to terrorism, threatening a peaceful society, they deserve a punishment consummate with their crimes. Furthermore, their punishment should act as a deterrent so others will not commit similar crimes in the future.” To underline the finality of their decision, the Justices went out of their way to remind all present that the Supreme Court was the highest court in the land and that there was no appeal possible either in domestic or in international courts. In a word, the three now serious sisters would have to accept the punishment the Justices decreed for them. There was nothing the three could do to overturn the decision.

With unimpeachable composure, as if their decision had been a foregone conclusion, the Chief Justice read the majority decision. Coito Gott, Theodora Suora, and Regina Grant were to be crucified until dead on the twenty-fifth day of December
1979
A.D. on the shores of the Potomac River across from the Jefferson Memorial for their treasonous and
unpatriotic actions.

The three silent sisters were speechless. They had awakened that morning expecting at worse twenty or so years in prison, of which they might actually serve five years with good behavior for Theodora and Regina and ten years without good behavior for Coito, but were now told they had but seven weeks, fifty days before their lives would end. They stood before the nation, stupefied, incredulous. The women who only three months before had shocked America with their confessions, their sins, and their impertinence when they had fame and fortune to spur them on, were now on
death row.

None of the three gave any sign of being among the quick until they were prodded to go back to their chairs and sit down. Only after they had been taken from the courtroom, brought back to their cells where they would remain for the next seven weeks, and allowed to gaze at the silent guards guarding and pious priests praying did they overcome the shock and allow the feelings which had been building up inside to erupt. Coito went mad and nearly destroyed their cell before the silent guards guarding were able to restrain her. It was two days before the doctors thought she could be trusted to roam freely in her
cell again.

Outside the military base, the rest of the nation set about analyzing the decision of the Court. Conservatives quickly defended the Court, one Senator stating to newsmen that, “The type of execution selected was chosen to demonstrate the government’s commitment to combating terrorism both at home and abroad. We must ensure that terrorism does not spread through America as it has spread through Europe and every other continent,” he warned in the newest version of the domino theory. “These three have mocked and betrayed our nation’s religion and government. The Supreme Court is right. Capital punishment is the only answer to their treason. If America is to remain free of political strife, drastic measures must be taken now so the rest of us can
live freely.”

Justifications for punishing the three sisters which only weeks before had barely gotten past the jingoist harangues of extreme right-wing conservatives or TV ministers were suddenly accepted by most Americans who stood right of center. Overnight, the United States had thrust the threat of terrorism to the top of its priority list of wrongs to right, as if
by fiat.

Though protest was raised against the Court’s decision by some liberals, the amount of protest which broke out was but a pittance compared to the riots which would have erupted in cities and on campuses ten years before. Students no longer had the support, the organization, or the initiative requisite for widespread protest. Token demonstrations occurred, but they received little attention and were to
no avail.

One problem was that the campuses themselves were divided. Many students were more conservative than their elders and were just as likely to approve of the sentence as to condemn it. In fact, a number of students, most often undergraduates, supported the sentence with a fervency which shocked some people, even marching against their fellow students of a more liberal inclination in support of the
Supreme Court.

The real battle of opinions took place in print as intellectuals and commentators spanning the spectrum of opinions tried to persuade the public of their views. For every liberal newspaper like
The New York Times
which was against the crucifixion, there was a conservative newspaper or magazine which came out for it. Amongst the public, debate was even more intense. In every bar, bed, business, and bureaucracy, the three sisters and their sentence were the main topics
of discussion.

Not surprisingly, opinion polls showed that the majority of Americans supported the Supreme Court’s decision. A conservative nation to begin with, the growing backlash against liberalism was confirmed by the public’s stance against the three. With public opinion supporting the Supreme Court, and with the prospect of the tide of opinion shifting directions in a matter of weeks nearly non-existent, there remained little chance that the three sisters could be saved from their
imminent demise.

Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, President Carter had vacillated on what to do with the three sisters, but once the public’s decision to back the Court was clear, the President took a stance in support of the decision, causing his position in the opinion polls to rise substantially for a change. Yet not all swam with the tide as Carter did. After sentencing the three, a small coterie of Congressmen immediately called for the impeachment of the Justices for overstepping their constitutional powers. The media gave these congressmen excessive coverage, and for a while it looked as if their movement was gaining momentum; however, the number of Congressmen who favored impeachment of the Justices at the height of the movement was estimated to be around fifty at most, hardly enough to make their goal a reality. But eventually, the representatives realized they lacked enough votes to stop the crucifixion, and the three sisters’ last source of hope failed them. Doubtless, no one really expected that there would ever be an impeachment of the entire Supreme Court, but it made
good copy.

Because of massive media coverage and American fascination with historical coincidences (as in the Kenned
y/
Lincoln assassination debate), some people began drawing analogies between the Justices’ problems and those of former President Nixon. Though the comparison seemed attractive at the time, it was never really fair to put the two cases on the same level. The Justices’ problems would last at most fifty days, which was an insufficient amount of time to build a working consensus among Congressional representatives. President Nixon’s problems had begun at the onset of his second four-year term and continued until the President resigned. Nixon’s case had gradually built up against him with the most important evidence coming during the House’s impeachment proceedings. But in this case, everything the Justices had done was already public knowledge and no conspiracy could be proven. Suffice it to say, the Justices were
not impeached.

One consequence of the Supreme Court’s decision was that the three would never receive the money they had worked so hard for, and risked so much for. After all, had it not been for the Confessions, the three would not have aroused so much enmity from the public, and probably would not have received the sentence they did. The first royalties on the Confessions were due to be paid on January
1
,
1980
, but by then the three would be dead. They would never be able to live the life of luxury and leisure which Victor had promised them, and which Coito felt they deserved.

This result particularly irked K. Since she had no will, the money due her would go to her closest relatives, her mom and dad. She would end up enriching the father who had cared so little for her, and whom she hadn’t seen since leaving home for the convent years before. To avoid this undesirable result, Coito immediately began working on
her will.

Though America’s opinion makers could not be ignored, most people paid little attention to the politicians, preferring to learn how the erstwhile nuns felt about their sentences. For the first time in her life, Coito lost her cockiness. She remembered her grandmother’s promise that if she didn’t change, she would die a violent death, and began to wonder whether fate wouldn’t prove her grandmother right. She was beaten, and only her pride kept her from showing it. She kept to herself at first, and when aroused, like a bear disturbed from its hibernation, she would attack mercilessly.

In the week that followed the sentencing, Coito was contemptuous of everything that had ever existed, but once the initial shock had settled in and she saw the futility of her anger, she became less antagonistic and even started joking about her fate to reporters and others who visited them on the air force base.

Even after Coito had regained her composure and began making calculated cynical statements to reporters again, the self-confident air of the Confessions never returned. Though she might tell a reporter she was hornier than ever because she would have to get in as much sex in the next month-and-a-half as she would have committed in a lifetime (though how she would do so she did not say), and that in her frantic state she could go through men like a kid goes through cookies, her promises lacked the tone of insolence which had made her famous as America’s most hated and impudent atheist only
months before.