The Law of Second Chances

34

Soon after filing his notice of appearance, Benny’s lawyer, Sal Paglia, filed a motion to set bond. He knew he had no possibility of getting Benny out, but that wasn’t his goal. Sal knew how to manipulate the media and how to gather them together in a heartbeat to make a dramatic pronouncement about nothing. It was better advertising than money could buy.

So Sal called a press conference right after his motion was denied.

“This is a travesty of justice!” he told all the broadcast networks, plus CNN and a few others. “My client is being denied his constitutional right to bail.” Sal blustered on for about ten minutes, which he figured was the maximum attention span of any television reporter. Then he stopped. He had earned a significant spot on the evening news.

“Sal, my boy, you’ve still got it!” he proclaimed in his rented apartment that evening as he watched himself on TV. “Keep stoking that fire and you’re back in business.”

He filed another motion two weeks later, seeking more of the same free publicity. This time, however, he also had a legitimate purpose.

The courtroom was full of lawyers waiting to have their motions heard. Sal wasn’t shy. “Judge, I have here the affidavit of Dr. Donald Wong saying he has been retained on this case but that he will not be available until the last two weeks of October next year. I’ve discussed this with my client, and I’m waiving speedy trial and requesting that you set a date certain for this trial in the last two weeks of October of next year.”

It was an unusual request. Most defendants who were incarcerated wanted to get out as soon as possible. Sal was trying to keep his client in jail for almost a year before he even had a trial. It didn’t make sense. On the other hand, Sal had a legitimate problem with his expert. Judge Franklin Harrison was handling the motion calendar that day: he had heard of Dr. Donald Wong and knew him to be a famous pathologist who wrote books and testified all over the world. Harrison didn’t understand why Wong had been retained in this case, but that was the lawyer’s decision. The judge never suspected that Sal’s real motive was to milk the case for all it was worth before finally taking it to trial.

“What says the state?” the judge asked.

Ellen Curry was a rather new deputy district attorney who had been on the job only six months, working misdemeanors. She was handling the hearing for a big shot who couldn’t make it. She knew nothing about the case, having seen the file for the first time five minutes before walking into court. She did know, however, that if she agreed to this outlandish delay there would be hell to pay when she returned to the office. “Judge, this is a ridiculous request. Do the wheels of justice come to a halt because of the schedule of one man? There are other experts. Mr. Paglia can find somebody else who doesn’t sell his soul so often. The citizens of New York have a right to have this case heard within a reasonable time.”

Judge Harrison liked that about young lawyers-they spoke of justice and the rights of citizens and selling your soul. Nobody did that in a motion hearing. Those were words that were saved for juries, because only jurors would swallow that stuff. The other lawyers in the courtroom were probably gagging. They all knew from experience what the still- idealistic Curry had not yet figured out-paid experts all over the country were selling their souls every day. The judge didn’t need to be told that. Every once in a while, though, it was refreshing to hear.

Sal stood to counter the argument, but the judge stopped him.

“I’ve heard enough, Mr. Paglia. I agree with Ms. Curry. This court cannot revolve around the calendar of one man. I’ll give you six months to get another expert and be ready for trial. We’re going to put this case on the docket for June 14th of next year. Next case.”

On the courthouse steps, Sal ranted and raved for precisely ten minutes about the injustice done to his client that day. Actually, he had gotten just what he wanted-six months.

“When you want six months, you ask for a year,” Sal told the TV set as he watched his performance on the six o’clock news.

Benny was also watching that night from prison. This guy is some kind of nut, he thought. But he does have balls. Maybe that’s what you need in that business. Benny didn’t realize that his thoughts about Sal were pretty much in line with those of his father, Luis.