The relay system that SAC Bradley referred to was a method of transporting documents or evidence across multiple jurisdictions rapidly. Peter thought it resembled the old Pony Express, in that an officer would drive the item to the border of his jurisdiction and then hand it off to an officer from the next office, and so on to its destination.
Peter said, “That might be okay at the federal level, but just to make sure that we are walking the straight and narrow under New York law, I will apply for a search warrant for the documents, with a specific request that the judge allow us to fib to Sica, until the documents have been examined. It is unusual, but a little bit like a sneak-and peak-warrant that allows police to surreptitiously enter a place to just look around or install a room bug and then leave. This is especially important now that he has lawyered up.”
“Who’d he get?”
“Someone I have never heard of. Ruth Rosen. She told me his head wound has caused him amnesia and he has no recollection of the robbery.”
The derisive laughter that broke out suggested that the consensus was that he was faking it.
Peter interrupted, “I agree that it is bullshit, but what puzzled me was, WHY? Why wouldn’t he want to testify against the guy who tried to kill him? He doesn’t strike me as a guy who scares easily.”
No one had an answer to that, but everyone agreed that testing the documents after obtaining a search warrant was a good idea, with Peter and Henry coordinating their work. Once the reports came back from the lab in McLean, they would be able to pick and choose their time to arrest and indict Sica for possessing the forged documents, and hopefully Peter would be able to prevail upon the County Court judge to deny Sica bail in any amount.
“Let’s face it! No one is going to go to all the trouble to relocate from Europe, or wherever, after obtaining quality counterfeit papers, just to be able to set up some chicken-shit coke distribution operation, in upstate New York, that only pays the bills,” observed Abe Dorn.
“And the way he was treated at that get-together in Lake George made him look like a Mafia Don, not at all like how a mid-level drug distributor is treated by the people he deals with,” added Mike Connolly.
“Yeah. It’s more like he HAS to be here for some reason, and is trying to make the best of it,” agreed Guy Lorenz.
Jay Gainley joined in. “From what we hear, he wasn’t exactly roughing it while he was hanging with Wanda Huff. Her family is really rich, with all sorts of business holdings in the snack food, vending machine and entertainment fields throughout the Capital Region. Wanda is the sole heir and lives the high life, in more ways than one.”
The meeting wrapped up with a status update on the other “Sica” cases. Some of the forensic and trace evidence results on the body-in-the-wall case were expected shortly. It was hoped that more information on “Wally”, his manner of death and the time of death would facilitate that investigation.
As for the shoot up at the nightclub and the robbery of the wine store, ballistics reports had just been received, confirming that Sica’s gun had caused both fatalities at the store and was also the weapon discharged into the ceiling of the nightclub.
There still was no way of knowing who Sica had been arguing with at the club, or why. The surviving defendant in the wine store robbery case, John Doe was, through his attorney, demanding an expedited trial, waiving all pretrial hearings or motions. Peter knew that he would be buried in the preparation of that case for trial for the next several weeks. He had already begun his usual practice of daydreaming parts of the trial as if they were already memories, looking for weaknesses in his case or tactics to employ. The process was a bit like the visualization that Peter had read about being used by athletes, such as downhill skiers who would mentally picture the sights and “feel” of going down the course.
One such thought he had was to not call Sica to the stand. As a victim and eyewitness, Sica’s testimony would normally be a given. Peter, however, did not believe Sica’s claim of amnesia and did not dare rely on it in his planning. The problem was that either way, Peter had to tell Doe’s attorney about the ballistics reports that had Sica shooting both of the deceased persons.
Under the Supreme Court case of Brady versus Maryland, the prosecution was required to turn over to the defense all information that might be helpful to them. Worse than the ballistics report, Sica’s cowboy stunt of shooting the ceiling at the nightclub would also have to be revealed. In Peter’s daydream version of the cross-examination, the defendant’s attorney would have a field day painting Sica as the gun-happy menace who caused all of the mayhem. This could serve to distract the jury from Doe’s own actions.
In addition, it would serve to alert Sica to the fact that law enforcement had connected him to that event, which might cause him to flee. The alternative, not calling him as a witness, was not too appealing either. The failure to call him could be portrayed as an attempt to hide something from the jury. Besides, the defense could subpoena him on their own. Sica would have to be called and Peter would just have to make the best of it, especially if Sica started to magically remember this incident.
Peter, who normally would have driven himself to the task force meeting, silently wished one of the others would turn on the radio or at least change the subject for the trip home. While no one enjoyed talking shop more than Peter, he was feeling overwhelmed and afraid that he would wind up disappointing the others, who seemed to have far too much faith in him. Not only was he painfully ignorant of the world of organized crime, but the sheer volume of information on top of his regular workload demands was causing Peter concern about his limits.
Police and prosecutors’ offices experienced almost rhythmic surges and lulls in their work, similar to that of the restaurants that Peter worked in during his teenage summers in Lake George. Like the restaurants, law enforcement agencies were affected by the seasons and by weather. Crime, however, also seemed to reflect other, more subtle influences that were often unrecognizable. Peter was convinced that there truly was something to the notion of the full moon triggering types of lunacy, but some surges in the popularity of particular crimes were inexplicable. A county could go years without a murder, then suffer a batch of unrelated homicides that could not be blamed on copycats. Peter had always appreciated these ebbs and flows as the former gave a break he needed to recover, and the served to supply him with new challenges.
The present situation was somewhat different. Superimposed upon the normal tides of work was this steady, unrelenting drain on his time and focus caused by the “Sica cases” as he now thought of them. He was not too concerned about the answers that they did not yet have, but he was seriously bothered by the fact that he did not know the right questions.
Chapter 8
For the next two weeks, Peter plowed through police reports, lab reports, autopsy reports, FIU reports, crime scene photos, statements and other evidence of the wine store robbery. As he thought of the legal issues and arguments that might come up during the course of the trial, he labeled manila folders for each of the topics and filled them with sheets of notes and photocopies of the court decisions that discussed these topics. His office was coated with a layer of papers that resembled the first snow fall that stuck to the ground. As he continued to read, shuffle, sort and outline, Peter was again struck by how unlike movies or crime novels, this work truly was. As once explained to him by his trial mentor in the Albany DA’s Office, Chief Assistant DA Patrick O’Donnell, the objective of trial preparation is to boil all of the evidence down to its essence and to set up the presentation of it in story form, remembering that unlike the jury that you have not yet met, you have been immersed in the evidence for some time. They, on the other hand, will only get to see and hear it once. As Peter remembered, anytime he thought of Dan, he also preached that in every summation at the end of a trial, the prosecutor must find some excuse to slam something down onto the table to startle the jury. More out of respect than any belief in the magic of the loud sound, Pe
ter had always hit the table during his summations.
While many of his colleagues and counterparts felt that after a few trials, they had too much experience to need to write out any part of their opening and closing statements or sketch out notes of the questions to be asked of witnesses, Peter did not agree with what he thought was a bit of arrogance, or at least overconfidence. He did not write out his questions word-for-word, because that would restrict his ability to adjust the question based on what the witness had already said, but notes allowed him to form the overall shape of his questioning or closing argument and protected against forgetting something important in the rough and tumble of a criminal trial.
He was experimenting with a slightly different method for delivering his opening statement to the jury, stealing an idea from one of his favorite characters in history, Winston Churchill. When preparing a speech that he would deliver to the House of Commons, Churchill would compose his statements into blank verse, allowing for better emphasis in the delivery. He then had his secretaries type the lines in large print, on small, long sheets of paper, which then had holes punched in the upper corner. The sheets containing his speech were then connected with yarn tied through the holes, so that the sheets could be easily flipped over when read. Churchill had discovered that with his notes prepared in this manner, he could hold them down near his waist and read them using the bottom of his glasses, giving the illusion of looking at his audience the whole time and seeming to speak extemporaneously.
Peter, who now wore reading glasses, that he knew was the first of many concessions to age, had gotten the County’s print shop to slice several ring-bound steno pads lengthwise. He then printed the lines of his opening statement with a felt pen onto the pages of the pads. After the introductory comments to the jury, explaining that the opening statement was like a table of contents for the witness testimony to follow, Peter set the scene for the case to be presented:
Like so many summer days in this
Tourist town where so many of
Our children work and grow, it was
Muggy and threatened storms by
Day’s end.
Jennifer Smith, a respected and admired
Business woman opened the doors of her
Pride and joy. The wine store that she had
Built from nothing. She was assisted by
Sam Taylor, a local college student and
Athlete who took as much pride in this
Store as his boss. Soon after they opened, a
Stranger, wearing a suit with a vest
Entered their establishment and
Began to browse around in the
European wine section. The peaceful
Solitude was soon brutally
Interrupted by the unexpected sounds of
Men bursting into the store. The two
Demanded that a bag be filled with
Money and Jennifer, Sam and the
Customer were held at gunpoint, at the
Mercy of these unfamiliar and violent men.
As he practiced reading this passage aloud, he could hear that the blank verse worked as advertised. Without any effort, the first word of each line received a slight emphasis. By choosing what words he wanted to emphasize, he set the length of each line and what word started it.
The opening statement would continue, describing the robbery and its aftermath. The focus would then shift to explain to the jurors other parts of the trial process that would culminate in the case being given to them for their deliberation. He would make a point of asking them, if he said or did anything that offended them, to hold that against him personally and not begrudge the case itself. The statement would wind up asking them to do their duty and thanking them, in advance, for their concentration and effort.
The centerpiece of this trial would, of course, be the testimony of Jennifer Smith, who Peter had already learned was a solid, believable witness. Everything else would be introduced to support and corroborate her account of the robbery. The old custom was to put your most significant witnesses first and last on your witness list and he had decided to call her last, so the jury could work out for themselves how the other testimony supported hers.
Since John Doe had not been identified by name, the evidence would be presented to the jury to show that the person now known to them as John Doe was the same person who Jennifer handed the bag of money to. This would not be easy, as Doe had not been injured at the scene so he did not leave blood behind. He left a partial but identifiable fingerprint on the countertop, but the defense can easily dismiss that as having been left there at an earlier, unspecified time. There was no other trace evidence. There was no security tape recording at the store. This aspect of the case would have to be established by an in-court identification by Jennifer – which would make for a bit of courtroom dramatics, another aspect of a trial that was expected by juries.
There are few points in a criminal trial more devastating to a defendant and impressive to a jury than the moment when, after describing the terrible events that brought the witness into the courtroom, that same witness turns away from the jury, points to the defendant and pronounces her certainty that HE was the monster who had done all of those things. Although it usually happens that the defense attorney will attack the identification of his client as being untrustworthy, due to the brief period of time for her to observe him and the stressful circumstances of the encounter, her identification is supported by the fact of John Doe’s flight and high-speed chase down the Northway
As usual, Peter would call witnesses to testify as to the efforts made to locate blood samples, hairs, clothing fibers or other trace evidence so the jury would know why their craving for scientific testimony would not be quenched in this trial.
Ironically, the strongest supporting testimony that Doe was at the store could only come from Sica, assuming he would testify at all and was not actually suffering from amnesia. Presumably, Sica’s attorney would insist on full immunity for Sica regarding the deaths of the other robber and the store clerk. Peter had no problem with this in principle, but he continued to have some nagging doubts, due to the coincidence of this event being one of a series that directly involved this mysterious and puzzling individual. If nothing else, Sica, who was described by SIU personnel as driving his car around Albany County as if to avoid being followed, was in a wine store armed with a concealed weapon, and had just previously fired a round from the same weapon into the ceiling of a local nightclub.
At the conference in the judge’s chambers tomorrow, Peter was going to announce to the Court and the defendant’s attorney, the information that he had about Bruno Sica. More than just being the right thing to do, this disclosure of information that might affect Sica’s credibility as a witness, was mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Brady versus Maryland. The information did not have to support the defendant’s claim of innocence to be subject to Brady, it just had to be helpful, and it was not to be left to the prosecutor to make that call.
In the morning, at the pretrial conference held in Judge Ginola’s chambers, Doe’s attorney, Gary Knobb, expressed an understandable amount of frustration in describing his dealings with John Doe.
“Counselor, is your client still not cooperating?”
“Still only communicating in writing, in Italian. I can’t get him to budge on much of anything,” related Gary, shaking his head.
Peter said, “I will formally advise you of this on the record, but I want to let you both know of possible Brady material, although I am unsure whether it is helpful to the defense or anyone else. The one twist to the tale is that I am, however, going to request a court order prohibiting the public disclosure of this material for the time being due to ongoing investigation sensitivities.”
“Are you saying I can’t tell my client?”
“No I am not. I want your client to be subject to the order as well.”
Judge Ginola turned to Drake, “What is this Brady material you are ta
lking about?”
Peter took a deep breath, “We have reason to believe that the customer in the store who was shot by your client is not really named Bruno Sica. In addition to his driver’s license in the name Bruno Sica, he had other documents in another name. Documents that are believed to be counterfeit and have been sent to a forensic lab for analysis.”
“Who do you think he really is?” asked Judge Ginola.
“Not a clue, sir. We are still trying to puzzle that out,” answered Peter.
Knobb, who had been quiet up to then, asked “Why the gag order then?”
“We do not want him to know we are having his documents examined, which should be done within a couple of weeks, maybe sooner.”
Once this request had been agreed upon, the conversation turned to the trial itself.
“What about your guy? Can he walk yet?” asked Peter.
Gary responded “Not really, so we will have to be sure that a wheelchair can be maneuvered through the courtroom. We’ll have his interpreter sit on one side of him and I will be on the other.”
Wiseguys in the Woods Page 11