Misdemeanor Trials (7 page)

 CHAPTER TEN

TOSCA

“Questo è luogo di lagrime! Badate!” (Beware this place of tears.)

---- Giacomo Puccini

“It's nice to see you again, Mr. Trader.  Have you given any further thought on what it is that brought you to me?” asked the Doctor.

“Not really,” said John.  “I think I need some insights.  I need to get my head straight.”

“Okay, that sounds fine.  As I recall when we left off last time you were referring to the magic of music.  Would you like to continue?”

“I never really knew or understood music when I grew up.  All I listened to was rock and whatever was playing on the dance floor,” responded John.  “But I did learn something about it.  I learned from a woman,” said John.  “It was years later and I was still in college.  The only music I knew was all volume and beat.  But then I met Jennifer.  She was tall and thin, and although she laughed easily, and would gracefully do the fast dance at the fraternity parties, she had a deeper and serious side to her.  We would have coffee and chat about the important things going on in the world, such as the greening of America, global warming, and food labeling.  In our arrogance we thought they were important issues.  She was very smart, and I appreciated making love to her, although it was much too seldom.  One day while having coffee, she asked me to go with her to the symphony in the city.  I asked her if that was where everyone wore tuxedos.  She laughed and said, 'No, that's where only the orchestra wears Tuxedo's and everyone else comes in jeans.' I had never been to a live symphony performance, but I have to admit I enjoyed it.  I think what I enjoyed most was going with her to the symphony.  Before we went to a performance she explained who the composers were, and who the artists were, what instrument was featured, and whose compositions would be presented.  She was interested in telling me, and that made her interesting to me.  We started to go regularly and I began to recognize the composers when we would sit and listen to music in her apartment.  Then she asked me to go to an Opera with her.  I asked her if opera was a musical, in a language I couldn't understand, where all the actors were fat.  I think she knew she had me somewhat hooked, because I had begun to share her interest in the symphony.  She just smiled in response.  The approach was different with the opera.  Like I said, she was a smart gal.  She would tell me the entire story of the opera before we went.  There were no mysteries, or revelations like in movies.  In some cases she would give me the script, and I would read it before the opera.  I began to love the opera, except for Wagner.  One time we went to The Ring, by Wagner, and it made me almost ill.  I told her I had to leave half way through.  On the other hand, I learned to love Puccini, Bellini, Verdi and Strauss.  I still put the CD's in my car player and turn the volume up to nine.  I began to understand why Mozart was played at the symphony over and over again.  When I worked on my car I would put on Beethoven, turn the volume way up, and entertain the neighborhood.  It is great music.  On Christmas we attended a sing along of Handel's Messiah.  She knew the words and about half way through I could see that she was crying.  Afterward I asked her why.  She said, 'The music is so beautiful, sometimes it affects me that way.' I didn't understand how music could affect someone at such an emotional level, except for Wagner.  Her persisting gift to me was Puccini and “a night in Tuscany,” and Mozart Piano concerto number twenty-one, and Beethoven's symphony number seven.  She introduced me to Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, and Luciano Pavarotti.  When I hear them, I think of her.”

The Doctor interjected, “What happened to her?”

“At the end of school she wanted to get married, but I had other plans, and we just kind of drifted apart,” said John.  John pondered a moment as he recalled Jennifer, and thought to himself that she was a better person than he was.  He also thought that if he were a woman, he would definitely stay away from people like him.  On the same note he thought he would have sex a lot more often than what Jennifer wanted.

“What do you feel when you tell me this story?” asked the Doctor.

“A little sad, I guess.  Maybe a sense I lost something valuable,” responded John.  “What do you think?” asked John.

“I think some women bring love to a man, some bring affection, some bring humor, and some bring civility to a man.  Jennifer brought you music.”  

John said, “I remember that I learned to love the music then, and I love it to this day.  I wonder if there was anything I gave her?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CLOSING

“The IQ and the life expectancy of the average American recently passed each other in opposite directions."

--George Carlin

John prepared for trials every day and every week.  Most cases were resolved when he traveled to the courthouse several times a week for the shakeout.

More often than not, when cases reached the point of trial,  defendants would plead guilty.  Sometimes the defendant would plead guilty as the jurors entered the courtroom before selection.  There was something impressive to criminal defendants when they were about to be forced to present a case to members of the community.  Possibly they were embarrassed or shamed to avoid the jury learning they were a reprobate.  The only trial he had so far settled right after the victim in an indecent exposure case testified.  He knew he would not soon forget Vanessa and how Casey crumbled in face of the innocence of a young girl.  Finally, though, he was able to do a complete misdemeanor trial.  It was a particularly uncomfortable case when a mother attacked and hit her own daughter in a school conference room.  The mother was charged with battery of her daughter.  The eleven year old child testified truthfully at trial.  John was stressed as he began his final closing argument.  He began, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury.” He couldn't believe he was saying these words.  He believed that his first closing argument of his first completed trial would be original in his content and remarks.  But there was really no other way to start.  “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury.” That's who they were.  They had to be greeted.  It was really the only thing to say.  It felt surprisingly natural to John.

He continued, “This is the prosecutio
n
s opportunity to show you how the evidence has proved the defendant is guilty as charged.  First I will review the law.  The judge in her instructions at the close of all arguments will tell you what the law actually is, but before she does that, I will explain what the law requires that I prove.  Then I will review the credible facts of this case and then point out evidence which shows that all of the elements of the charge have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. 

“The charge in this case is battery, a violation of Section 242 of the Penal Code.  A battery as defined in the Penal Code is any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another.  We need to take a close look at each of the words of this section.”

Three years ago John thought a battery was something you used in a flashlight or was necessary to start a car.  Law school had changed the way he looked at words.  Words were no longer simple and straightforward, but now had special meanings which required complicated definitions.  Lawyers surrounded sentences and words, took them apart, analyzed them, and then gave them different meanings than we all thought they meant, and probably meanings we never intended.  It was no surprise to John that there were no lawyers who were great poets.

He continued, “The word willful in this case means that the defendant moved in a way that was not a reflex, such as a spastic fit or as the result of being pushed into the victim involuntarily by another.  Willful here means that the defendant consciously moved her hand in such a way that contact with the victim occurred.  It is not required by the statute that the defendant intended to strike the victim.

“The words force and violence mean that the application of any force, including the slightest touching of the person, or even touching the clothes or things a person might have in his or her hand, is a violation if it is done in a rude and angry manner.

“The word unlawful in this case means there is no defense that society generally accepts.  Bumping and pushing in the subway could be a battery.  But when we walk onto the bus or while walking down the street, we expect it and consent to it by our presence.  Such consent renders a battery lawful.  Football games are filled with batteries, but the players have given their consent.  A kiss is a battery.  And if there is no consent to the kiss, it is a crime.

“Basically, a battery is an unwanted touching.

“Now that we know what a battery is let's look at the facts of this case.

“The facts of this case are straightforward.  On the morning of November 15
th
before school had started, the defendant, Carmella Sanchez entered the school yard of the Lincoln Junior High School, where the children mingled.  Carmilla Sanchez came to the school in order to bring to her daughter, Rosanne Delmas, some schoolbooks Rosanne had forgotten at home. 

“An argument began between Carmella and Rosanne in the schoolyard.  Rosanne is eleven years old.  The argument became loud and the principal, Wilford Header, approached them and asked them if they would come to the conference room in the hopes of mediating the dispute.  When he seated them in the room he left for a moment to call the school psychologist, Alva James.  When the school psychologist entered the conference room a few minutes later, she saw Carmella lean across the conference table, swing her arm back and slap Rosanne with such force that Rosanne was thrown off the chair and onto the floor.

“Rosanne got up crying.  She told them she wanted to go to the bathroom to get some tissues, and her mother told her that she couldn't and that she was to sit down.  The school psychologist intervened and persuaded the defendant, Carmella Sanchez, to allow Rosanne to leave for a few moments.  While Rosanne was gone, Ms.  James told the defendant that she was obligated under the Education Code to report what she had seen to the Child Protective Services.  The defendant appeared to calm down and suggested that Rosanne deserved to be hit, since she had not done her homework the night before and had forgotten her books that morning when she went to school.  Rosanne returned a few minutes later with her tissues in hand.  The argument continued.  The defendant berated Rosanne for going to the skating rink with her boyfriend after being grounded, of engaging in sex with him and using drugs.  Rosanne testified that to all of those accusations her only response was ‘No, I didn't.  No, I don't.’

At this point John stopped talking.  He walked from the front of the jury panel back to his table and pulled his chair out and brought it in front of the jury.  There was silence in the courtroom and the time seemed to stand still.  But he had thought it through and he didn't know how else he could get the chair in front of the jury and still keep on talking.  He sat down in the chair and looked at the jury.  He noticed that the silence had created a real tension and he could see the courtroom was waiting for his next words.

“The defendant got up from her chair in the conference room, walked around the table over to Rosanne.  As her mother approached, Rosanne put up her arms over her head like this, and Rosanne slid down in the chair.”

As he was speaking, John began to slide down in the chair and put his arms and hands over his face.  He slide out of the chair and was lying on his back on the courtroom carpet.

“Why did Rosanne slide down in her chair and put her arms up? Because she knew what was coming.  Rosanne then slid all the way to the floor and her mother walked over to her.”

John then got up and looked down at where he had been lying.

“Then the defendant, who weighs 160 pounds, stepped over the body of Rosanne, who weighs 90 pounds, straddled her and got down on her knees.”

John got on his knees over the spot where he had been lying.

“The defendant grabbed Rosanne's shoulders and shook her violently four or five times.  She then stood up, yelling at Rosanne.”

John stood up, fixed the lapels of his coat, and faced the jury.

“Then, ladies and gentlemen, she kicked Rosanne in the thigh...”

At that moment, John reared back his right foot and kicked the wood barrier between him and the jury.  The sound pierced the courtroom and visibly startled some of the members of the jury.

“...as hard as she could.  The school psychologist helped Rosanne off the floor, took her into the nurse's office and called the police.  Rosanne suffered a slight swelling to her face on the left side and the following day she had a black eye and a large bruise on her thigh.  Rosanne did not report to school again for ten days.

“That's it.  That is the case.  And were this to happen to adults, there would be no question that we would be appalled.  But this case is different, because Rosanne is the daughter of Carmella Sanchez.  The defense would have us believe that these events were merely the application of appropriate disciplinary measures.  But the hitting was a touching, it was not consented to, and it was the unlawful application of force and violence.  The defendant is guilty as charged, and I ask you to deliver a guilty verdict.”

The defense attorney delivered a pathetic closing, suggesting the attack was parental discipline.  John delivered a brief rebuttal, the judge read the legal instructions to the jury, and they were excused to the jury deliberation room through a door behind the judge’s elevated desk.  They were charged with the responsibility to come to a verdict.  John returned to his office.  His misdemeanor attorney friends told him a quick verdict was good, since it meant a guilty verdict.  Some told him a quick verdict was bad since it was a not-guilty verdict.  John felt apprehensive since he had no idea what to expect.

Two hours later he received a telephone call in his office.  The clerk told him that the jury had reached a verdict and would he please return to the courtroom.  John returned to the courtroom with butterflies in his stomach.  John stood behind the chair at the Prosecutor's table and watched the juror's come into the courtroom from behind the judge's elevated desk.  They filed into their chairs in the juror's box.  He looked at their faces but could not tell what the verdict might be. 

The judge looked at the jurors after they had settled in and said, “I understand you have reached a verdict.”

“Yes, we have,” responded the voice of the person who was obviously the jury foreman.

“Please hand your verdict to the bailiff,” said the Judge.  The bailiff walked toward the foreman and reached out for the brown manila envelope that contained the verdict.  He walked over to the judge and handed her the envelope.  The judge opened the envelope and carefully pulled out the verdict form.  She looked at it for a moment and then, in a seemingly detached manner, handed the paper to the court clerk.  John watched the face of the judge, but could not tell if the verdict would be guilty or not-guilty.  John felt a pain of anxiety as the clerk stood up, received the verdict form and took it, looked at it and then read out loud, “We the jury in the matter of the State versus Carmela Sanchez, case number 1589767, Count One, find the defendant guilty as charged.” John took a deep breath.  The judge released the jurors, and John spoke to them a few minutes after the trial.  Some said they reached a verdict very soon, were disgusted with the defendant's behavior, but waited in the jury room longer than they needed in order to show that they had in fact deliberated, and also wanted to finish the donuts that the bailiff had brought into the deliberation room.

When John returned to the office the news had already gotten back and he was offered congratulations from his fellow attorneys.  He stopped briefly by Tom's cubicle and Tom told him that he had done a nice job.  John told him about the surge of anxiety as the verdict form was taken from the jury, and then given to the judge and finally to the clerk.  Tom said, “It never goes away.  In fact, in your career you will go to the reading of the verdict in cases done by other Prosecutors, and you will feel the same anxiety, even though it is not your case.  It is the nature of the job.  It is winning or losing, and no one wants themselves, or their friends to lose.”