The investigations in police misconduct cases were the exception, where the subject matter strained the usual bonds of affection between prosecutors and grand jurors. Managing the relationship in the police investigations was a high-wire act, the balancing of probative information with inherent sympathy. In a racial violence matter, like the cross burnings, there was so much more room to maneuver, even flail about, and still secure the indictment.
Mercer’s role at the grand jury was managing the parade of witnesses coming and going. He wasn’t allowed in the grand jury room while it was in session except when he testified as a witness. But that didn’t matter to him. All he wanted was for the grand jurors to charge the Klan grand dragon and prevent the racist from killing someone in the next round of violence.
. . .
“Madam Court Reporter, let’s see if we can corral everyone into the room and start the day,” Rush announced, sounding like a morning show host. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s about that time.”
MR. RUSH: Let’s go on the record. Good morning. For the record, I’m Adrien Rush. I’m a federal prosecutor with the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice in Washington, DC. I know that’s a mouthful.
COURT REPORTER: Should we note a quorum?
MR. RUSH: Yes, please do. A quorum is present. I’m happy to be here again after an absence. We’re reconvening to present additional evidence in the cross burnings investigation. You may remember that several months ago you heard from Special Agent Lee Mercer. Agent Mercer testified about leads we were pursuing to identify the individuals responsible for burning large wooden crosses during the night last February. As you know, the locations of the cross burnings included Nettie Wynn’s home in Mooretown, the NAACP office, the Beth El temple, which is a Reform synagogue, and—
GRAND JUROR: Excuse me, Adrien. What’s Reform?
MR. RUSH: Reform is a term that describes the branch or denomination of Judaism. I believe that Agent Mercer testified last time we presented on this case that a synagogue is a Jewish house of worship, correct?
Several jurors nodded in agreement.
MR. RUSH: Now, I can’t testify because I’m your legal advisor. If I say anything that contradicts your memory, your version wins out, got it?
GRAND JURY FOREPERSON: Yes.
MR. RUSH: OK. We have a fact witness today. We’ve been serving subpoenas on your behalf and gathering documents. For example, we now have Mrs. Wynn’s medical treatment records from the hospital. Agent Mercer will keep custody of those.
GRAND JUROR: How’s Mrs. Wynn doing? Any better?
MR. RUSH: Better, but not out of danger. Again, don’t take that as evidence. Agent Mercer can address that question when he comes back before you. The witness here today is James Batiste of the Lynwood Police Department. He’ll testify about an arrest he made and what very significant information came out of that arrest. As usual, please allow the witness to testify first with questions at the end. Let’s go off the record for a minute.
Rush got out of his chair and left the room to get the witness in the waiting room. Once back inside, the witness, wearing a dark-brown double-breasted suit, a tan shirt, and a shiny tie, stood by the witness box.
MR. RUSH: OK. Let’s go back on the record. Mr. Batiste, please sit there. Madam Court Reporter, could you swear in the witness, please?
COURT REPORTER: Raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
DET. BATISTE: Sure, I do.
MR. RUSH: Officer, state your full name and spell your last name.
DET. BATISTE: James Batiste, last name is spelled B-A-T-I-S-T-E.
MR. RUSH: How are you employed?
DET. BATISTE: Lynwood Police Department.
MR. RUSH: In what capacity are you employed?
DET. BATISTE: I’m a detective grade two.
MR. RUSH: What does grade two mean?
DET. BATISTE: It means I was promoted to detective just last year.
MR. RUSH: How long have you been with the Lynwood Police Department?
DET. BATISTE: Seven years.
MR. RUSH: What did you do before joining the police department?
DET. BATISTE: Student. I went to community college and studied criminal justice.
MR. RUSH: Do you have a family?
DET. BATISTE: I got a wife and a daughter.
MR. RUSH: OK. You said that you’re a detective, correct?
DET. BATISTE: Yes.
MR. RUSH: What’s your current assignment?
DET. BATISTE: I’m in the narcotics unit.
MR. RUSH: What is it called?
DET. BATISTE: Just the narcotics unit.
MR. RUSH: How long have you been there?
DET. BATISTE: A year, but I hope to get to RAID soon. That’s the gang-busting unit.
MR. RUSH: How many arrests have you made?
DET. BATISTE: Don’t know. I usually end up undercover, so I go in and out of investigations. Because of that, I don’t do arrests. I know the unit makes a lot, but I don’t have a number.
MR. RUSH: Detective, were you recently in the area known as Mooretown?
DET. BATISTE: Yes, several times.
MR. RUSH: Tell the grand jurors about that.
DET. BATISTE: It was before my shift started, and I was driving through the area. It was September 7.
MR. RUSH: Do you know Mooretown?
DET. BATISTE: I grew up in Mooretown. My parents still live in the area. Myself, I live a half-hour away.
MR. RUSH: Was your vehicle a marked unit?
DET. BATISTE: Nope.
MR. RUSH: Could someone tell it’s a law enforcement vehicle?
DET. BATISTE: No, but it got a noisemaker hidden in the grill. It’s an unmarked car, not undercover.
MR. RUSH: Were you in uniform while driving through Mooretown that day?
DET. BATISTE: No. Civilian.
MR. RUSH: Tell the grand jurors what happened while you drove through Mooretown.
DET. BATISTE: I was driving on Tenth Street when another vehicle, I believe a white older model Taurus, passed me on the right side. The vehicle was speeding. I took it as an immediate danger to the other drivers on the road.
MR. RUSH: Now, let me interrupt you. You’re not a traffic cop, correct?
DET. BATISTE: I’m a detective. I done said that already.
MR. RUSH: Why pursue the driver? Why not just call it in?
The detective glared at Rush and shifted in his seat.
DET. BATISTE: I was right there. I could do something to save a life.
MR. RUSH: Tell the grand jurors what happened next.
DET. BATISTE: I put the blue light up top, but the driver continued driving recklessly and ignored the lights.
MR. RUSH: Did you call the dispatcher?
DET. BATISTE: No, I was positioned to stop him, so that’s what I did.
MR. RUSH: OK. Tell the jurors what happened next.
DET. BATISTE: The driver ignored me and continued to weave in and out of traffic, endangering other drivers and pedestrians. I pulled up beside the vehicle, and that’s when he threatened me.
MR. RUSH: How did the driver threaten you?
DET. BATISTE: He raised his right hand in the shape of a gun and pointed it directly at me.
The witness extended his index finger straight out, curled his other fingers, and pointed his thumb straight up. One juror put her hand over her mouth.
MR. RUSH: So, you took his gesture as a threat?
DET. BATISTE: One thousand percent.
MR. RUSH: Is that a yes?
DET. BATISTE: That’s right.
MR. RUSH: Then what happened?
DET. BATISTE: Once he escalated the situation with the threat, I boxed him in with the vehicle.
The detective showed the relative positions of the two cars with his hands.
MR. RUSH: Go on.
DET. BATISTE: When I got out, I drew my weapon and appro
ached. I saw the subject reach for something in the car. I yelled at him to show his hands. He didn’t comply, so I secured the vehicle.
MR. RUSH: Did you identify yourself as a police officer?
DET. BATISTE: As soon as I exited my vehicle, I yelled, “Police, police,” many times.
MR. RUSH: Then what?
DET. BATISTE: I removed the driver from his vehicle and detained him. And I made a search of the vehicle for weapons.
MR. RUSH: Did you find any?
DET. BATISTE: No. I’m not sure if impound found any guns in the trunk.
MR. RUSH: Did you find anything else?
DET. BATISTE: Yes, I found a box on the back seat.
MR. RUSH: What was in the box?
DET. BATISTE: Clothes.
MR. RUSH: Detective, describe the items in more detail. What color? How many items?
DET. BATISTE: The box had a pointy white hood, a long white robe with stripes on the sleeves—and some sort of red cross-like symbol on it.
MR. RUSH: Did you know what the insignia meant?
DET. BATISTE: No, but I knew what was going on with the whole outfit.
MR. RUSH: What?
DET. BATISTE: It was a Klan outfit. KKK.
MR. RUSH: So the vehicle you stopped had a box, and the box contained a conical hat and a white robe, both of which are items associated with the Klan, correct?
DET. BATISTE: That’s right.
GRAND JUROR: What’s a conical hat?
MR. RUSH: Detective, can you answer that?
DET. BATISTE: I don’t get what you’re asking.
MR. RUSH: Let me put it this way—the hat you saw, did it have a pointy tip? Like an upside-down ice-cream cone?
DET. BATISTE: That’s exactly what it looked like.
MR. RUSH: Maybe this is a good time for a break. We’ll come back to hear more testimony from Detective Batiste. We’ll also have the Klan outfit to show you and pass around.
. . .
Rush spied Mercer stepping off the elevator, cafeteria pretzel and coffee in hand.
“On break,” Rush reported.
“Where’s the detective?”
“No idea,” Rush answered. “What do you think of him?”
“He’s a local. What else you want to know?”
“He’s too cocky,” Rush said.
“What I want to know is whether he’s got the goods,” said Mercer. “Are the jurors asking questions?”
“Not yet,” Rush said. “We’re still going. Confession’s coming up next.”
“Adrien, don’t sweat the style points. We got what we need to make the case.”
16
THE GRAND JURY &
THE DETECTIVE II
The grand jurors had their routines, their particular ways of passing time during breaks. Some grand jurors smoked or made progress on dog-eared romance novels, while others simply milled about the coffee machine waiting for the next brew of amped-up water to drip into availability.
A grand juror approached Rush, who was waiting to reconvene. Simonson was part of a group of jurors who sat in the secret room’s heartland, said little, and voted to charge every time.
“Mr. Attorney General, I got a question.”
“You just gave me a mighty big promotion—thanks for that,” Rush said, “but you can call me Adrien. What can I do for you, Mr. Simonson?”
“Call me Tom,” Simonson said with a wink. “Does it make a difference the cop is a Negro?”
“I’m not sure I’m following you,” Rush answered, on high alert given the grand juror’s word choice. “The detective’s African American, but his testimony is about a traffic stop.”
“I’m just saying the detective, he’s a minority—”
Rush started to sweat. “Maybe we should get back.”
“But the guy’s got the Klan robes with him and all.”
Rush paused.
“The detective’s a victim too,” the grand juror said. “Just think about it.”
Rush exhaled. “I’ll do that.”
. . .
The itinerant grand jurors wandered back to the room and dispersed into the tiers, reclaiming the same spots they’d left a few minutes before. It was the same with every grand jury in the country—newly sworn jurors tried out various seating arrangements until by silent consensus they stopped moving around. From then on, they stuck with the same seats for every session, like swallows returning to their nests.
“Madam Court Reporter, let’s go back on the record.”
Rush looked at the witness box, but it was empty.
“Yikes, I lost the witness, didn’t I?”
Rush left to get the detective. Once everyone was again in place, the witness examination resumed.
MR. RUSH: Madam Court Reporter, please indicate that we still have a quorum.
COURT REPORTER: Yes, sir.
MR. RUSH: Detective, you’re aware you’re still under oath to tell the truth, correct?
DET. BATISTE: I understand that.
MR. RUSH: After you discovered the Klan robe and hood in the driver’s car, what’d you do?
DET. BATISTE: I brought it all to my vehicle. I asked the defendant—I mean the driver—whether the car was his. I also asked about the box. He claimed at first that he knew the box was there, but he didn’t know what was in it.
MR. RUSH: He admitted the box was his, but he didn’t know what was inside?
DET. BATISTE: Something like that. People in trouble say the craziest sh—I mean things.
MR. RUSH: Go on.
DET. BATISTE: I asked him why he threatened me.
MR. RUSH: Again, Detective, what did he do to you?
DET. BATISTE: He threatened to kill me.
MR. RUSH: So you stopped the car?
DET. BATISTE: Yeah, I stopped him.
MR. RUSH: And did you place the driver under arrest?
DET. BATISTE: I arrested him and had the vehicle impounded.
MR. RUSH: Who transported him to the police station?
DET. BATISTE: I planned to get a marked unit to do transport, but no one was available. So I took him in.
MR. RUSH: What happened next?
DET. BATISTE: After we got to the station, I put the subject in a room. After some lying, the subject told me the truth—that he and others burned the crosses in town.
MR. RUSH: Let’s back up a second. What’s the driver’s name?
DET. BATISTE: Frank Daniels.
MR. RUSH: Please describe him.
DET. BATISTE: White male, late forties. I think [looking at paperwork] the DOB is 11-3-45.
MR. RUSH: Did you book Daniels when you arrived?
DET. BATISTE: I put him in an interview room.
MR. RUSH: Did you give Daniels his Miranda warnings?
DET. BATISTE: I provided him the chance to not say anything.
MR. RUSH: But did you read him his Miranda warnings after taking him into custody?
DET. BATISTE: I already said yes, I warned him.
MR. RUSH: What did he say?
DET. BATISTE: That he was some big shot in the Klan, and he had led the burning of them crosses around Lynwood.
MR. RUSH: Let’s rewind a second—did he tell you that he was the grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan?
DET. BATISTE: Yeah, that’s right, he said he was the grand dragon, the head of it.
MR. RUSH: And he admitted to burning the crosses?
DET. BATISTE: He was proud he done it.
MR. RUSH: What did he say exactly?
DET. BATISTE: He said he wasn’t going to talk to no nig—cop, but I needed to know he was damn proud of his race. He smiled at one point and asked whether I knew about the crosses being lit up.
MR. RUSH: He asked you?
DET. BATISTE: He asked me whether I knew about the crosses. I said, “What about it?”
MR. RUSH: Go on.
DET. BATISTE: He asked if I knew who done it. I told him that I knew it was a bunch of inbred cowards. That got him all a
gitated. He said it was the Klan that did it—and it was just starting.
MR. RUSH: Did Daniels say anything else?
DET. BATISTE: He just said he was proud the Klan had done it. Said it several times.
MR. RUSH: Did he say who else was involved?
DET. BATISTE: No. No names.
MR. RUSH: How long did your interview last?
DET. BATISTE: Thirty minutes, maybe longer.
MR. RUSH: Did he sign any written statement?
DET. BATISTE: He wouldn’t sign a thing. He got more belligerent as time went on. He was very clear that he didn’t talk to blacks, but then he kept on talking.
MR. RUSH: How did the interview end?
DET. BATISTE: He said he was finished with me and stopped throwing up his race garbage.
MR. RUSH: Did you process him?
DET. BATISTE: I had a uniform take him on to booking.
MR. RUSH: Did you see him again after the interview ended?
DET. BATISTE: Nope, that’s it.
MR. RUSH: OK, thank you, Detective. I have nothing further at this time, but the jurors might. Do any members of the grand jury have questions for the detective?
One grand juror, #17, an assistant manager at a local Winn-Dixie grocery store, raised her hand.
MR. RUSH: Yes, Madam Grand Juror.
GRAND JUROR#17: Detective, what was the man charged with?
DET. BATISTE: Well, he was charged with—
MR. RUSH: Let me interrupt for a moment. It doesn’t really matter what he was charged with in the state court case, does it? This is a federal investigation that’s independent of what happens in state court.
GRAND JUROR#17: I do believe it’s worth knowing because—well, just because I would be interested to know.
MR. RUSH: Detective, what, if anything, was Daniels charged with in the state court case?
DET. BATISTE: Speeding, reckless endangerment. All misdemeanors.
MR. RUSH: Now, Daniels hasn’t been charged with any crimes relating to the cross burnings, correct?
DET. BATISTE: Not as far as I know.
MR. RUSH: Now, please remember that pending charges in another case do not have any relevance to this investigation. Does everyone understand that?
No Truth Left to Tell Page 10