Fairstein, Linda - Final Jeopardy (26 page)
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“I’m going to object-‘ ”Just a minute, Miss Cooper. You’ve had your chance.
Sit down. I’ll hear counsel out on this, he’s entitled to his position.“
“Objection. Judge Hadleigh, Mr. Cerone has no felony convictions but he certainly has a criminal history…”
“Miss Cooper, that’s all before me, as you know, in the pre-sentence report. Let’s keep some order here, please.
There’s no jury to perform for I know the record, too.“
“So on my client’s behalf, Judge, I’d ask for the minimum in this case two to six years.”
The Honorable Horace Hadleigh we all called him Horrid, on the prosecution side, which was either the result of or the causal factor in why, for the more than thirty-eight years he had been on the bench, he generally handed members of the defense bar exactly what they wanted was about to deliver his view of the Cerone case.
He hadn’t bothered to write out any comments about the case in advance that would have taken both time and intelligence, two factors of which he was in limited supply. So he began by rambling on a bit about the trial and the pathetic young woman who had testified in his courtroom.
By the end of five minutes it was clear that he had bought the defense position lock, stock, and barrel.
“And quite frankly, I don’t see what the People gain by describing this rape as brutal and violent.”
There was no point in my sitting down at the table. If I could manage to get a word in edgewise, this was going to be lively.
“Your Honor, the Penal Law of this state defines rape as a ”violent felony.“ Of course this situation was violent it was a forced physical assault by a man who overpowered an unwilling participant.”
“Miss Cooper, don’t stand here and lecture me on the Penal Law. There are rapes and there are rapes. He didn’t chop her up in little pieces, did he? He didn’t cause any other injuries, did he?”
That’s a separate crime, as you know.
Rape occurs without any external physical injury in the overwhelming percentage of cases. She didn’t have to sustain any injury. She was raped and an ally sodomized that’s trauma enough.“
“You’re losing your sense of discretion, young lady, as well as your temper. You can’t differentiate between one case and another, and that’s fatal for a prosecutor.” on I took a deep breath and modulated my tone.
“I’m sorry, Your Honor, but I must disagree with you. I see three, four as hundred rape cases a year supervise several hundred ,er others that’s more than any other prosecutor in the he country, Judge Hadleigh. I am very well aware of the factual distinctions, the nuances, the differences in kinds ier of threats all of the minuscule features that make each of these cases so distinct to each victim woman, man, or child despite the fact that several Penal Law definitions cover the entire spectrum. I think I know, as well as anyone in the world, how to differentiate among every single one of the cases that cross my desk.”
“Well, then, you’ll have to agree, Miss Cooper, that this girl is so retarded that she really can’t understand what happened to her, isn’t that so? It’s not like if it happened to you or to my daughter? You’d know what it was all about now, wouldn’t you? She can’t absorb what happened to her, she can’t even explain it to us.”
I was thunderstruck. This was a triple-header: Cerone’s attack was forcible but not violent; other people had abused this victim in her past, so she was fair game for Ernesto Cerone this time; and because she was handicapped the very reason she had been preyed upon, in all likelihood it didn’t matter as much as it would to a fully abled woman.
“Judge Hadleigh,” I began, unable to let his comments stand unaddressed on the record.
“Most respectfully, sir, you complete fucking moron, ”I must take exception to the views you have expressed here today. I think it’s fair to say that not since the case opinions generated by the medieval English courts have I heard observations like these about rape victims.“
“What did you say?”
“The three statements you made about this trial, Judge, they really reflect antiquated attitudes.”
“Did you say something to me about the Dark Ages, Miss Cooper? Are you making fun of me, young lady?”
“Not at all, sir. But surely you remember the legislative history of these statutes when the laws changed, just two decades ago?” Give him a hand; he hasn’t cracked a law book since he was in knee-pants.
”Miss Cooper. I’m going to do you a favor. I’m going to put off this sentence today and let you walk out of my courtroom without holding you in contempt. I’m going to let you reflect upon this for a bit and come back next week with an apology for me and a more reasonable view of the facts of this case.“ Ernesto Cerone was grinning as if he had just been paid a million dollars to do a commercial for Fixodent. He wasn’t going to get out of jail free, but every time I opened my mouth, his sentence time came down a notch.
“Thank you for that opportunity, Judge, but I am ready to go ahead with Mr. Cerone’s sentence today.” I’d like nothing better than to see this whole thing written up in Ellen Goldman’s article and expose this ignorant throwback for what he is.
“You’re flirting with contempt, miss.”
What the hell, Judge, I’m giving up flirting with men.
And I do so love flirting.
My adversary played right into the judge’s hand.
“I’d like the matter adjourned for a week, too.”
“Thank you. At defendant’s request, this case will be put over until next Wednesday, 2 P.M.” for sentence. I expect you to come back a bit more courteously, Miss Cooper.
I don’t want to have to report this as a complaint to the Disciplinary Committee. Has that ever happened to you before?“
“No, sir.” But I would wear it as a badge of honor if you did it with this record you’ve just made today.
Hadleigh strode off the bench and back to his robing room as I gathered my papers and stepped out of the well to join up with Ellen Goldman.
“I can’t believe I heard the things the judge said, but I did.”
“Can you just imagine, if those are the views of an educated jurist, what victims encounter all over this country from people who are uninformed about issues like this?
It’s unthinkable. Hadleigh’s the exception around here, I should add most of our judges in New York are terrific on these cases. He just reminds me that there are still a lot more Neanderthals around than I like to admit to myself.“
“Do you mind if I trail you back to your office and talk a bit more today?”
“Look, Ellen, I’d like to do it, but I’m really pinched for time. Can we push it back a few days?”
“Yeah. I’ve got a good start from the two hours you gave me yesterday, as well as my research. I’ll call you tomorrow. If you see me around, it’s just for background and interviewing other people about you.”
“Thanks, Ellen.” Yeah, great. Poke around let me know if you find out anything I should have known weeks ago. We shook hands on the corner of Center Street and I went back into the building to see what awaited me in the office.
Sarah Brenner was standing at my desk, using the phone. I closed the door and sat until she finished her conversation.
“How did Cerone go?” she asked.
“What did Horrid hit him with?”
“Not as much as he wanted to hit me with, I’ll tell you that. Adjourned for a week. Anything come in while I was over there?”
“That was Bruno. He just called from the airport, with Antonio Partigas.” Detective Bruno and his partner had come in from Miami on the first flight. They had gone on a rendition, to bring Partigas back to New York to stand trial here for a series of rapes he had committed before fleeing to Florida two months ago.
“Class act, Partigas, all the way. You know why Bruno called? Just to tell us that while Antonio was sitting on the plane, cuffed and seated between two of New York’s Finest and under arrest for six counts of Rape in the First Degree, he exposed himself to the stewardess. Fly the friendly skies. I tell you, it’s never dull here.”
“Sarah, be honest with me. How do I look? I mean, I feel like I’m losing it do I look as crazed as I feel?”
“You look fine. Fishing for compliments today, are we?”
“Listen, Jed and I broke up last night you need to know why, although I’d like you to keep it between us for a while.
I’m really running on empty, though, and I’m afraid you’re the one who’ll get stuck with all the overload.“
“Keep it coming, Alex. Whatever I do here is easier than being home with a six-month-old kid. We’ll manage. The only other call while you were with Hadleigh was from a uniformed cop in the two-six. He wanted to know if it was sex abuse for a man to fond lethe breasts of an eleven-year-old girl, even if she really didn’t have developed breasts yet. Can you believe it? Rocket scientist.
And if she’s a forty-year-old woman who just happens to be flat-chested, I guess we should give him a pass, too.“
“Let me fill you in on what happened last night. I’d rather have you hear it all from me.”
Battaglia called in from Washington just after one, as I was eating a salad ordered in from Broadway’s Best at my desk.
“Guess you can’t even stay out of trouble for twenty-four hours, so I can make an appearance in Washington, hmm?”
“Paul, I don’t know where to begin on this, I feel like such a fool.”
“Forget it, Alex, this one’s easy.” Great, the Battaglia I adore, understanding my dilemma.
“I’m behind you one hundred percent. Don’t worry about his complaint.”
Whoops. It was suddenly obvious that we were talking about two different things.
“Hadleigh? How did you hear about that already? I haven’t been back from the courtroom for an hour yet.”
“He got right off the bench and called Pat McKinney to complain about you. Relax. I still owe him a few jabs for dismissing the indictment in that Asian Gang Unit case last winter. He tried to grandstand on that and it nearly cost us half the forfeiture money we collected to re-present it to the Grand Jury.”
“Well, I’m glad that’s the way you feel, Paul, but that’s not the reason I sent up the alert. I didn’t even tell this to Rose, but Chapman and I are pretty sure this guy I’ve been dating - Jed Segal well, that he was cheating on me, with Isabella Lascar. Chapman’s even put him on the suspect list.”
Silence. Deafening silence.
“How many people know about this?”
Have the Chief of Detectives give me a call Rose can patch him through to me. And you better do exactly what I pay you to do nothing else. I suppose I have to worry about having you guarded again.“
“Oh no, that’s ridiculous.” I had Jed claiming he was desperate to see me, Richard Burrell showing up unexpectedly in my office, Johnny Garelli due in town any minute now, and I’m arming myself with a bottle opener to answer the door for Mike and Mercer.
“No, I’ll be okay.”
Jed had telephoned three times, but Laura had gotten my signal and took no details from him, only the record of the call.
It was going to be more difficult than usual to focus during the meeting, as thirty of the Trial Division administrators sat around a long conference table, arguing over whether too many buy-and-bust cases were being indicted instead of given misdemeanor pleas, or too few defendants were being recommended for alternative sentencing plans.
I scripted imaginary conversations with Jed in my head what I really wanted to hear him say to me, and what I planned to say in response. By the time the meeting ended, none of the major issues we had come together to discuss had been resolved, and the next session was planned for two weeks thereafter.
It was four-fifteen when I returned to my desk with my third diet Coke of the afternoon, hoping the caffeine would kick in and keep me alert.
“Call Chapman at the squad. You just missed him.”
“Thanks, Laura.” I speed-dialed the number.
“Segal’s a no-show. Thought you’d like to know that. Jerk got himself a lawyer who isn’t bringing him in today.”
Shit. Why would he do that unless he had something to hide?
“Let me guess. Jimmy LaRossa? Marty London?
Jus tin Feldman? He’d only go for one of the top dogs.
Which one?“ My luck I’m the one who introduced him to the best lawyers in New York. Now he’ll try to use one of them to thwart us.
“Nah. Some guy I never heard of name’s Bergin, from Washington.”
“Of course. Anderson Warmack’s lawyer. Great troubleshooter if you’ve got a federal securities case. I doubt he could even find the jury box in state court.”
And he refuses to let Jed submit to a blood test for DNA. Says we don’t have probable cause.”
“He’s been calling here all day, asking me to see him.
I hung up on him once. Laura’s not putting him through anymore.“
“It’s more complicated than that for someone in his position, Mike. You know that.”