For the thousands who watched the trial coverage, the worst moments of my life became a parlor game of speculation, a soap opera that people could tune in to and be scandalized and riveted by before going back to their normal lives. The country was in the deep end of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and I imagined they looked at my family and thought, We may be underwater on our mortgage but at least we’re not these people.

A parade of people Penny had deceived into thinking she was a dutiful mother who’d been deeply and despicably wronged by a negligent hospital and her evil family—the minor acquaintances, the rude aunties—reemerged for their moment in the spotlight. But there were also many people who testified bravely against her on Ava’s behalf, participating in the awful, gruesome trial to do the right thing. The court-appointed special advocate who’d worked on Ava’s previous case gave a thoughtful, convincing testimony about her experiences with Penny and Ava. Then there were the doctors from the SCAN team, nurses from Children’s, the therapist who’d evaluated her for the original case. With no video evidence of Penny’s misdeeds, the prosecution relied on the testimony of experts and on the massive, byzantine paper trail that detailed not only Ava’s strange medical history and Penny’s own, but other instances of fraud, including the fact—which my parents and I had only learned via the local paper’s investigative reporting—that Penny wasn’t actually qualified to work as a physician’s assistant. This detail paled in comparison to her other crimes but was nonetheless dizzying. The lie had roots that went back the better part of a decade, and I could recall dozens of conversations with Penny about how hard she was working to get her master’s. I’d been so proud of her for the achievement; I’d never questioned her. It was cold comfort to know that she’d been credible enough to convince actual medical professionals that she was qualified. One more piece of my sister turned to ash.

My testimony came late in the trial, weeks before the verdict. In addition to the doctor who’d been in the room with Penny when Ava coded and who had discovered a container of table salt in the bathroom off of her hospital room, and my mother, I was considered a star witness. People find sports celebrities credible, I was told, especially Olympians who’d stood on the medal stand, even if it wasn’t a gold around their neck. Patriotism becomes a factor, and with a jury made up of red-blooded, red state Idahoans, this was key.