There was high-definition video from the hall’s security cameras.

Kyle Mercer was charged with aggravated assault and fetal homicide—a felony under both state and federal statutes.

That was when the psychological warfare began. The phone in my quarters didn’t stop ringing. Messages from aunts I hadn’t spoken to in years, cousins pleading for “mercy,” and a high-priced defense attorney—likely paid for by the very trust fund my father had left to me—requesting a “private settlement.”