She's Into Malakas, Dino

So I got moved up to felonies, so no more butt grabbing. It's the real deal now, rape and sodomy and all that. It's less intensive in terms of volume, but much more so in terms of the seriousness of the cases and the level of scrutiny that you get from the bosses.

I decided that I would do a series of posts based on a particular felony, following it from beginning to end, to give my loyal readers (all 3 of them) a glimpse into what prosecution is like. I haven't really picked a particular case yet, but I think I will put the criterea out there. I figure it should be a case where the guy did something at least unusual, but not spectacularly unpleasant. It should also be something that looks like it will have a debateable issue of fact, as well as a disagreement about the law of some sort.

Plus it should be something that is going to go to trial, which will be the hardest thing of all to pick. You never know when the guy is going to plead.

I've got one that I think might go to trial. I can't tell you their names, but I will tell you that the Defendant is a 33 year old black male who is blind, and the girl is a 14 year old white hispanic. The defendant is Blind. They had 'Non-forcible' sex. It is called non-forcible because the girl is not old enough to leagally consent to the sex. This is commonly known as Statutory Rape. The girl got pregnant, but had an abortion before any authorities knew about it. Therefore, we could not preserve the 'products of conception'. the girl wasn't going to tell anybody, but she got an infection. So her mom found out.

Statutory rape means that while factually it is not rape, a Statute in the New York State Penal Law (specifically section 130.30, Rape in the Second degree, known around here as Rape 2,) makes it rape in the eyes of the law. The punishment varies based on the prior convictions of the defendant. In this case, the defendant is a predicate felony offender, so the max is 3 and a half to 7 years in jail. for non-violent offenses, New York has Indeterminite sentences, which means they can be a range like that.

The case is next on in court on September 10th for discovery and a motion to dismiss the Grand Jury Minutes, which is a motion that is made for every case. right now, I am waiting for the minutes to come back so that we can be sure they are acceptable to Judge Firetog.

Wow. Sorry I haven't put anything new up in so long. I guess It's harder than it looks to have something interesting to write about.

Anyway, I know that the article made me look like I was an overzealous prosecutor, but the thing I have learned is that the paper never gets it quite right. The jury did think that it was a ridiculous case, and I could tell by the way they refused to look at my face during the closing arguments. But the article didn't mention how one of the girls was tiny and prepubescent, while the other was much more developed. He chose to boost the larger, more developed one with the help of the little one. I didn't understand that. I spoke to the girls many times and I believed that the dude was a pervert. He shouldn't be a gym teacher.

Now, I would never prosecute somebody I didn't think did anything wrong. and I free many more people than any defense lawyer does, because a lot of innocent people get accused of a crime that they didn't do. The cops aren't in a position to decide if someone is innocent or not, so they usually have to make an arrest based on the accusation, unless they can show it is demonstrably false. they don't often have time to do that. But I have the chance and the responsibility to interview the witnesses more thouroughly. If I don't think the guy did anything, then I would not prosecute him for anything. Happens all the time. I make them go through the story a couple of times. It doesn't add up, I confront them with the discrepancies, they break down and cry. I let the guy go.

Usually, the cases that go to trial are the ones where the defendant did something, but it is going to be difficult to prove. If it was a shoo-in, then he would plead guilty. If we had no chance on the case, then we wouldn't put him on trial. When there is a factual issue to decide, then we let a jury decide it.

There is no question that the guy I prosecuted took a cheap feel on the vagina of a 6th grade girl. The New York City Board of Ed is going to try to fire him. He will not loose his license, though, and will soon be teaching somewhere else.

I lost. We put on quite a case, but I lost. I'll write out the details a little later, but for now, it's in the Daily News today. Here's the link:

See Me in the Paper Here.
I could use a tip on the tags I need to make this a live link, by the way.

Thanks.

Well, my witnesses are disappearing left and right. One has the Chicken Pox, or some kind of pox, another one refused to come in, a third one is missing, and my Detective is on vacation.

I'm supposed to be there to give my opening statement five minutes ago.

Ever heard of Spumoni? What a treat. It's kind of like Ice Cream, but not quite. Maybe a bit like sherbet or that other stuff.... Not frozen yougurt....shoot I can't remember the name.

Anyway, it is a frozen food. It tastes like Fruit Stripes Gum.

I went to a wake today (For the father of a colleague) in Gravesend, which is out on the way to Coney Island. I was in and out, and while I was leaving I realized that L and B Spumoni Gardens was nearby. I went there once after visiting a crime scene. The time I went there, This cop that I was with, It was his last day on the force after thirty two years and he had lived his entire life in Brooklyn. The crime scene was out in Sheepshead Bay, which is way the other end of Brooklyn from my office, (sort of near Gravesend, which is where I was today) and we had a long drive back. He was telling me stories about brooklyn and being a cop all through the craziness 70's, and the Son of Sam, and then the Crack Wars of the 80's. He was moving to the woods in Pennsylvania the next day. He was all packed up.

Anyway, while we were driving, we stopped at this place and got a Spumoni at LB Spumoni Gardens . From what I hear, everybody who grew up in Brooklyn, or at least in south brooklyn, they all know this place.

Today, I had a slice of great pizza and I bought a pint of spumoni to bring home. It is good.

This is a sigmoidoscope.

** LINK REMOVED DUE TO INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT ***

Very sorry. On closer examination, this link is OK, but the sites this link sends you to are not appropriate for this bolg.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Well, we sucsessfully picked a jury. 2 females, 4 males, plus 2 alternates, both men.
The defendant is a 35 year old man.
the victim is a 13 year old girl.

1 female is white, a cosmetician, about 30, no kids.
1 female is black, about 30, 2 boys 11 and 13.
1 man is asian, college student, no kids
one man is black, works with handicapped people, 2 kids
One man is white, a fireman.
One man is black hispanic, works at a hospital.

2 alternates are young white men, no kids, an actor and a designer or something.

The alternates are a problem, if we need them. Other than that, this jury, for this type of case is probably the best we could hope for.

Defense lawyer started talking about how much easier and better kids are in the suburbs, than here in the County of Kings. I'm looking at the jury thinking that there is no way that this crew is going to appreciate that kind of comparison with all the nice, well behaved white kids. We will do our opening statements on Monday. How exciting.

Ran three miles this morning. Hurt a bit, as I haven't run in about a week. I'm blaming the hiatus on my 'Invisible Eel' adventure of Monday morning, but I still could have run.

It's all muggy today, so I can't stop sweating. Which is bad, because I have to pick a jury in like half an hour.

Me: Are there any Questions?

Juror: Why are you so sweaty?

Me: Are there any questions about the case, I mean?

Juror 2: Um.... Why are you so sweaty?