Dave said, “We’ll bring him up the next morning for arraignment on the sealed indictment, and hope that you can keep him in.”
“Sounds like a plan. This should really confuse the hell out of the John Doe trial, though.”
“Yeah, but I hear that the store owner is a solid witness.”
“True. She’ll need to be.”
***
The knots of rolled newspaper beneath the kindling were just beginning to catch in the fireplace. Ever since they had first gotten together, Peter and Eileen had supplemented their heating system with wood, either in a stove or, as now, in a fireplace. Peter had always enjoyed the smell, sight and sound of a wood fire and splitting and moving the wood was pleasant, brainless exercise.
The fire was burning steadily when Eileen brought up their plans for the Holidays. A trip to Florida, which they had done several times before, was beginning to become a tradition. They agreed to leave by car somewhere around the second week of December, bound for his sister’s new home outside Orlando. His sister and her husband and son had recently moved there from Baltimore, where Peter’s brother-in-law had worked for a defense contractor. When offered a promotion at the Orlando plant, his wife had applied for and gotten a job at Disney, and off they went.
Driving straight through the night, Peter and the family would stay with his sister, Mary Ann and her family for ten days or so, spending a lot of time at Disney World. As his sister had not used up her guest passes, this part of their vacation was now more affordable and a wonderful treat that the kids were beginning to be old enough to enjoy. Peter had forgiven his sister any number of sins of her childhood as a result. He assured her that there were still plenty more to be worked off in the future.
The second leg of the trip would take them further south to Hutchinson Island, off the coast of Ft. Pierce, to a condo complex where Peter’s in-laws now lived. They would spend Christmas Eve through the morning of New Year’s Eve with Eileen’s parents and Peter would somehow summon up the courage to suffer through the tennis, swimming and 23 miles of uninterrupted beach. Eileen complimented Peter on how much of a brave soldier he was.
The return trip would begin with them returning to his sister’s for New Year’s Eve, and then driving the rest of the way home the next morning. While others thought them nuts to drive that distance nonstop each way, Peter looked forward to this part of the vacation most of all, as they amused themselves and one another for twenty-odd hours. He knew that he would really miss these trips when the kids grew up. He figured once they reached high school age, they would rebel against being cooped up in a car with parents for that long. But who knows, maybe they will learn to love the trip, too.
As they went over the preparation details of the trip, Peter realized that he was more than ready for a break. In order for to this trip to happen, he had had to budget his personal leave and vacation time throughout the year, so this was his only real time off. The way this year was winding up, he was sure that the trip would not come a moment too soon.
Chapter 9
Including the court stenographer with her midget typewriter, Peter counted 24 people in the room – all present and accounted for in the Grand Jury. As their proceedings were secret, there was no gallery for the public, and there was no judge. The prosecutor wore two hats: legal advisor and the presenter of the cases for consideration. The legal title was quasi-judicial officer. Peter, particularly due to his drug prosecutor years in Albany, had conducted more than a thousand Grand Jury presentations, and he had developed a special fondness for the institution. The business of justice could be handled a bit less formally and you got to know the jurors, and they each other. This had been especially true in Albany, where some Grand Juries were set up to meet daily for a month or so to handle particular matters, like complex investigations. These intense, daily Grand Juries were quite rare, as they were onerous for many potential jurors who had jobs and families and lives, although retirees seemed to like them.
***
One such daily Grand Jury was working in Albany County with Peter in October, 1987, when a massive ice storm hit the Northeast. During the subsequent days, the jurors filled one another in on their situations and the whole group enjoyed Peter’s daily updates on his own family’s plight, during the six days that he and his family were without power.
As he began proceedings the first morning after the ice storm hit, Peter raved about Eileen’s resourcefulness and attitude.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my wife got up a little earlier than normal, stoked up our woodstove that has a hot plate on top with a catalytic combustor underneath. By the time I got downstairs she had used the stove to cook up pancakes and sausage for the family and had retrieved a coffee pot from our camping gear, so we had fresh coffee.”
His report to the Grand Jury the next morning was slightly different:
“Ladies and gentlemen. You may recall how well my wife did yesterday. It would appear that the novelty has worn off. Instead of the pancakes and sausage, she handed me a frozen English muffin, that had been sawed in half, then stuck back together with peanut butter. In place of a kiss and best wishes for the day, I got the clenched- teeth admonition, “Get me power, damn you!’”
The outburst of laughter by the panel could be heard throughout the second floor of the courthouse.
When, at the end of the week, a note was handed to Peter which he read aloud, announcing that his family’s power had been restored, the entire Grand Jury stood and applauded.
***
The presentation of the matter entitled People versus Bruno Sica, aka Enzo Vinci, took about an hour and a half. The jurors were intrigued with the abbreviated story that they heard and were clearly looking forward to hearing the rest of the story at some point.
Peter walked down to the judge’s chambers with the freshly voted and signed indictment and a proposed arrest warrant for the judge’s signature. Once the warrant was signed, he handed it over to Mike and Guy, who had driven up from Albany for it. Even though no one knew who this guy really was, there was an air of excitement that they might now find out. Those two were going to meet Dave Grace, who would participate in the take down of Sica or whoever he was.
As Sica was still under surveillance, it was a simple matter to arrange to intercept him as he drove up to his apartment. Although some might have suggested that fifteen marked and unmarked police cars was overkill, the task force members were taking no chances with intercession by outside forces.
By the time that Peter arrived for work the next morning, Sica was already in the courthouse holding cell, with a platoon of large, grim-faced state troopers positioned around the cell. Peter had always admired the State Police’s ability to put on a “presence”. It was only due to the judge’s congenital tardiness, that Peter was able to finish his first mug of coffee before being called down to court for the arraignment.
“The first matter for the day is the arraignment in the case of People versus Bruno Sica aka Enzo Vinci. Are you Bruno Sica?” asked Judge Ginola.
“Si. Er, yes.”
Judge Ginola then turned to his attorney, “May I ask your name, counselor?”
“William Dier, attorney for Mr. Sica.”
Turning to Peter, the judge asked, “Do we have an interpreter for Mr. Sica, Mr. Drake?”
“Yes, your Honor. We have Professor Morelli, from State University of New York in Albany.”
After introductions were made and Sica and the professor had spoken briefly to insure that there was no problem of dialect, the professor positioned himself between Sica and his new attorney. The attorney was not known to the judge, but Peter knew him fairly well and had worked opposite him before. Bill Dier was a high-powered attorney from Albany, whose background included several years experience as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Peter knew him to be very good and trustworthy.
“Mr. Sica, the Grand Jury of Warren County has returned a two count indictment, accusing you of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrume
nt in the Second Degree. Mr. Dier, how does your client plead?”
“Not Guilty, judge.”
“ADA Drake. I would like to hear your position on bail for Mr. Sica.”
Peter picked up his memo pad on which he had written notes before he came into court.
“While it would normally be true that bail would be set in some modest amount on charges such as this, the situation before this court is significantly different from the normal. So unusual, in fact, that I am requesting that this defendant be remanded without bail set in any amount.”
Peter, who had expected to get some sort of response, kept on talking to see how far he could get without interruption.
“Unlike the Federal court system, in New York the only consideration is insuring that the defendant will appear in court when required. The Criminal Procedure Law lists criteria that this Court may consider in making a bail determination including criminal record, employment, ties to the community, and his character and reputation. These criteria presuppose, however, that we know who we are dealing with.
Peter kept going.
“Your Honor, we have reason to believe that this man’s name is not Bruno Sica or Enzo Vinci. According to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, this man, with a British passport in the name of Bruno Sica, entered the U.S. in January of 1984, having obtained a six month visitor’s visa. He has remained in this country throughout the period 1984 to present, without an application for either an extension or for permanent resident status.”
“I would point out that the port of entry was Caracas, Venezuela. The claimed nation of residence was the United Kingdom and his date of birth was reported to be 2-12-41. At the time that he was admitted to Albany Med some two months ago, having received gunshot wounds in the wine store robbery with which your Honor is familiar, this defendant had on his person a driver’s license in the name of Bruno Sica, with a date of birth of 2-12-42. He also had two documents in another name, Enzo Vinci. One document was a U.S. Immigration Lawful Permanent Resident Card. This card was falsely and illegally manufactured. Despite the name that appears on it, the photo is of this defendant. The name is different, as I said, and the registration number on the card was fraudulent as INS has never issued that particular number. The date of entry is shown as 11-19-77, even though this defendant entered in January, 1984.”
“In short, your Honor, subject to a physical examination, the only correct entry on this card is his gender.”
Judge Ginola finally broke his silence. “From where I am sitting, it does appear that his gender is correctly reported. Proceed, Mr. Drake.
“The second document in the name of Enzo Vinci, was a Social Security card bearing a number that had been issued to one Bertha Freedman, who was born in the Soviet Union in 1948.”
“This defendant was driving a new car when he was picked up yesterday, which was purchased by a loan that is being paid, even though this defendant has no known source of income and no job. He had $1000 in his wallet and is presently wearing a custom-made suit. To summarize, your Honor, we do not know who the defendant is and we know nothing about his past. He appears to have money but we don’t know from whence it comes. In other words, we don’t know anything about this gentleman, including the possibility that he has a criminal history. It is, therefore, impossible to calculate an amount of money sufficient to insure his presence in court.”
“Thank you, Mr. Drake. Mr. Dier, do you wish to be heard or would you like to reserve your client’s right to make application at a later time.”
“I reserve Mr. Sica’s rights for now, thank you. I can assure you, however, that my client isn’t as bad as Mr. Drake made him sound.”
“The defendant is remanded without bail, subject to further application by the defense.”
As Peter turned to walk away from the bench, he looked over to see Dave Grace, Mike Connolly, Guy Lorenz and Tanner Saint, all grinning like he had just won the World Series. Peter was fairly pleased with his argument, and was sure he had been correct to avoid mentioning anything about Sica’s possible organized crime ties, as nothing undermines a good argument faster than asserting something you cannot prove. That is a mistake you do not want to make with an attorney like Bill Dier at the other table.
Outside the courtroom, Bill Dier walked over to Peter and shook his hand, and the two exchanged pleasantries, as the others came out of the courtroom and Peter introduced them to Dier. After they parted company, Peter and the investigators went back to Peter’s office.
“So how did Sica get this hotshot attorney into his case?” asked Tanner Saint.
“Personally, I think the bigger question I have is why,” replied Peter.
Mike smiled at them, “Because we are onto something and someone with juice is getting worried.”
Peter then sighed and scratched his head, “I do wish that that ‘someone’ would have the decency to tell us what that ‘something’ might be.”
The trial of the remaining wine store robber was scheduled to begin the following Monday. There was no lack of interest in these proceedings for many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that the mute defendant was still unidentified.
Peter was just becoming fully focused on the task at hand, when, during a recess in the trial, he took a phone call from Inv. Dorn, that provided the one thing Peter did not need – another twist to the tale of Mr. Sica. At last week’s arraignment, the local newspaper obtained the booking photo of Bruno Sica, which they published along with their article on the arraignment. Later that morning, Abe fielded a call from a man who claimed that he had had an argument with the guy in the photo. That argument resulted in the guy shooting a gun off in a night club. The caller, Steven Jamison, agreed to be interviewed by Abe, but could not do so immediately as he was on his way to a business meeting in Maryland. Jamison and Abe agreed on a date and time after Jamison’s return.
“So did he give you any idea of why the argument?” Peter’s frustration was clear in his voice.
“Yeah. Get this! It turns out that Jamison is the storefront owner that we have been looking for in ‘Wally’s’ case and Sica was trying to talk Jamison into stopping the renovations at the storefront and instead, selling the storefront lease to him.”
“Jesus. I didn’t see that one coming.”
Peter could almost hear Abe nodding his head in agreement. “Me, either. All I can come up with is that Sica, or whoever he is, has some connection to ‘Wally’. Damned if I know what.”
“Well, much as I would love to ponder this until my little pea brain explodes, I’ve got a trial to run. So please try to hold off on telling me any more until this is over, okay?”
“Sure, Peter. Good luck!”
Fortunately, a couple of hours of jury selection drove all thoughts of Sica and “Wally” out of Peter’s head. Although less intense than the actual taking of testimony, this portion of the jury trial process required multiple levels of focus, as the voir dire of a jury was supposed to allow the parties to select or exclude jurors in order to collect 12 jurors and a couple of alternate jurors who, in theory, would be impartial or even favorable to their position. As a practical matter, the questions posed by the attorneys were also a vehicle to introduce aspects of the upcoming testimony and to indoctrinate the prospective jurors on concepts. In a drug conspiracy case, for instance, the prosecutor might ask the jurors if they are aware of NASCAR racers and their pit crews, describe the roles of the members of the crew, and then end with a rhetorical question on whether any of them would disagree that all members of the crew have a role and responsibility in the driver’s performance. The analogy is to impress upon the jury that all conspirators are liable for the crimes committed by the group.
In this case, Peter was asking the potential jurors if they had any philosophical objection to holding a robber responsible for the death of a non-participant, even where the evidence shows that death was the result of the actions of another non-participant. He then asked one the prospective
jurors if they knew what an avalanche was and how it might be caused. As much as anything, Peter wanted the jurors to be aware of this unusual feature of the case early on, so that they would have time to get used to the notion. Juries, Peter had learned, have an innate dislike for surprises. Like so many of God’s creatures, they startled easily.
When Peter was making these analogies, he sometimes stole a glance to the frail figure sitting in the second row, next to the center aisle. The elderly woman, whose name Peter had never learned, was a court watcher. In Albany, Peter had known and become acquainted with several of the court watchers. Typically, they were retired persons, on fixed and limited incomes, who had discovered that the proceedings in county courts were free and endlessly varying entertainment. Some of the watchers became so devoted that they would turn up at the entrance to the courthouse, even when the weather had closed the building down for the day.
The Warren County court watcher, who Peter had privately dubbed Madame Defarge, of Tale of Two Cities fame, attended many of the Special Term calendars, which gave her the upcoming schedule of events. She was nearly always at the pretrial hearings and was present at all of the trials. If only she would take up knitting in the courtroom, the image from the Dickens’ novel would be complete. In any event, she had developed a better understanding of jury trials than most attorneys or judges, so her facial expressions were excellent indicators of the effectiveness of an analogy, metaphor or other explanation that Peter might be trying.
Wiseguys in the Woods Page 13