He reported his findings to the family. Then he went into the clerks office, filled out a Notice of Appearance and traded it for a copy of the complaint. Computers not yet having arrived in the courthouse, the complaint consisted of a preprinted form with the blanks filled in by someone using an ancient typewriter and a generous supply of carbon paper.
Criminal Court of the City of New York
Part A, County of The Bronx
STATE OF NEW YORK
ss.: FELONY COMPLAINT
COUNTY OF The Bronx
Joanne Kenarden, being duly sworn, deposes and says that on August 16, 1979, in the County of The Bronx, City and State of New York, the defendant(s) Darren Kingston committed the offense(s) of rape in the first degree and sodomy in the first degree under the following circumstances:
Deponent states that at the above time and place defendant forcibly at knifepoint committed an act of sexual intercourse upon her without her consent, and also forced her to commit an act of oral sodomy. Knife not recovered.
Sworn to before me
.
, 19.. Deponent
Judge
Jaywalker was reading it through for a second time when Inez Kingston walked up to him. The detective just took Darren across the hall, she said.
Jaywalker followed her out of the clerks office. She pointed to a door, one without a sign. Jaywalker knocked on it. When there was no answer, he pushed it open. After all, he reasoned, there was no sign saying not to. Inside were Detective Rendell, Darren Kingston and a third man, who looked up and said, Yes?
Im his lawyer, said Jaywalker. May I know whats going on?
Oh, sure. The third man was young, thin and, when he stood up, closer to Jaywalkers height than Rendells. His face was dominated by a black mustache. My name is Jacob Pope, he said. Im an assistant district attorney in the Mob.
The Mob? echoed Jaywalker. It struck him as a curious affiliation.
The Major Offense Bureau. I was just about to ask Mr. Kingston some questions regarding pedigree, for bail purposes. I didnt realize he had an attorney.
Jaywalker looked back and forth from Pope to Rendell. One of them was playing dirty herePope, if Rendell had told him about Jaywalker, Rendell if hed neglected to. A prosecutor was strictly forbidden from speaking with a defendant who had a lawyer unless the lawyer was present or gave his express permission. And pedigree was just a fancy way of describing a series of questions that began with name and address and ended with, Whered you hide the body?
Darren was seated, his wrists handcuffed in his lap. Jaywalker had forgotten how good-looking he was. Model good-looking, almost. Howre you doing, Darren? he asked him.
N-n-n-not so good.
The stutter. Jaywalker had forgotten that, too. Darren had a severe stutter that grew worse when he became nervous. Jaywalker turned to Pope. Can you give me a moment with my client? he asked. Then maybe well talk to you.
Sure, said Pope. Go right ahead. But neither he nor Rendell made any move to give them privacy.
Can we take the cuffs off? Jaywalker asked.
Pope nodded at the detective, who produced a key and removed the handcuffs. Darren rubbed each wrist in turn. Jaywalker waited until Pope and Rendell had walked to the far end of the room. Then he positioned himself between Darren and them, giving them his back. It wasnt much, but it was as good as it was going to get.
As quietly as he could, he asked Darren what was going on.
I dont know. They say I r-r-r-raped a bunch of women. I didnt do anything like that. I dont know anything about it.
Darren, theyve got five women who say youre the guy. Im here to help you, a hundred percent. I can help you if youre innocent. But understand thisI can also help you if youre guilty. There are hospitals, there are sexual offender programs. There were; it wasnt a complete lie. The only way I cant help you, Jaywalker went on, is if you dont tell me. So youve got to try to trust me. He wanted to add and start telling me the truth. But he didnt. Not yet, anyway.
Darrens eyes met Jaywalkers. I do trust you, Jay. His use of the name brought a smile to Jaywalkers face. A year ago, it had taken him a long time to get Darren to stop calling him Mr. Jaywalker. But Jaywalker had insisted. If he was going to address his clients by their first namesand he did, alwaysthen they were going to do the same with him. Not that Jay was really his first name. But when your parents hang Harrison Jason Walker on you, youre happy to settle for Jay. Or, as a few of his Hispanic clients pronounced it, Yay.
Good, said Jaywalker.
But you gotta trust me, too, Jay. I d-d-didnt do this.
Jaywalker nodded. He knew it was useless to push at this point. He decided to let Darren answer Popes questions in his presence. It was his hope to learn a few things, while giving up nothing in return. At the same time, he was looking for any edge he could get. He knew that Popes recommendation on bail would carry a lot of weight with the judge.
After learning that Darren was twenty-two, married, living with his wife, the father of one child and expecting another, Pope moved on to Darrens employment.
You work for the post office, right?
Right.
The night shift?
Right.
It was obvious that Pope, or perhaps Rendell, had done his homework.
Were you working the last two weeks of August, or was that your vacation time?
Jaywalker held up a hand. Im not sure thats pedigree, he said. He didnt want Pope fishing around and testing an alibi defense before Jaywalker had had a chance to explore it himself.
Okay, said Pope, realizing he wasnt going to get anything else. Is there any statement you want to make, Mr. Kingston?
Yes, there is. The voice was loud and clear. It was also Jaywalkers. He says hes innocent, and youve got the wrong guy.
Pope nodded dismissively. It was clear that he doubted the words as much as Jaywalker himself did.
Detective Rendell put the handcuffs back on Darren before he led him out of the room. Jaywalker followed them, reminding Darren to say nothing further. Then he walked over to the Kingstons and brought them up-to-date on what he knew, holding back nothing. He told them that one of the women was coming down to court, and that unless she said their son wasnt the right man, he would be charged with threatening her with a knife, raping her, and forcing her to take his penis in her mouth.
Inez Kingston didnt seem to react. It was as though she already understood and had accepted the gravity of the situation. Marlin said, Oh, God, and started to cry, then put his arms around his wife, right there in the corridor, with total strangers streaming by. They stood like that for several minutes, he crying quietly and she making no attempt to escape his embrace. Finally Marlin let go of his wife. He looked straight at Jaywalker, his eyes red but fixed.
Jay, thats my son, you see? You got to do what you can for him. He didnt rape anybody. I dont care what it costs, Ill get the money somehow. But you got to help him.
Ill help him, said Jaywalker.
They spent the next hour and a half in the courtroom, waiting for the arrival of Joanne Kenarden, the victim who was named in the complaint. Jaywalker passed the time watching the parade of arraignments, people whod been arrested the previous night. An assault, his own head bandaged. A gypsy cab stickup. Four for possession of heroin. A gun. A homicide, a man whod beaten his two-year-old stepson to death. Almost all were black or Hispanic. In almost every case the judge set high bail and the defendant was walked back into the pen area, out of sight. Family members, whod moved forward to the railing to hear better and perhaps be noticed, straggled out of the courtroom, sometimes sobbing, sometimes angry, always confused.
They spent the next hour and a half in the courtroom, waiting for the arrival of Joanne Kenarden, the victim who was named in the complaint. Jaywalker passed the time watching the parade of arraignments, people whod been arrested the previous night. An assault, his own head bandaged. A gypsy cab stickup. Four for possession of heroin. A gun. A homicide, a man whod beaten his two-year-old stepson to death. Almost all were black or Hispanic. In almost every case the judge set high bail and the defendant was walked back into the pen area, out of sight. Family members, whod moved forward to the railing to hear better and perhaps be noticed, straggled out of the courtroom, sometimes sobbing, sometimes angry, always confused.
It was a quarter past twelve when Joanne Kenarden showed up. She poked her thin face into the courtroom and looked around uncertainly. Something in Jaywalker told him it was her even before Detective Rendell spotted her, stood up and walked over to her. Jaywalker watched them as they spoke briefly at the door. Then Rendell found her a place to sit, had her sign some papers, motioned her to wait and left the room.
Jaywalker moved his own seat in order to get a better look at her. She was pretty, if a bit hard-looking. The thinness of her face and body made guessing her age difficult. Thirty, maybe. She was dressed in inexpensive clothes, jeans and a black top, but carefully. And she was white.
When Rendell came back into the courtroom, Jacob Pope was with him. While Pope took a seat up front, Rendell disappeared into the pen area. When he emerged several minutes later, he was leading Darren by the arm. Today that act itself would be called a suggestive identification procedure; back then, it was simply how things were done. In any event, as soon as she saw Darren, Joanne Kenarden stiffened visibly in her seat and nodded almost reflexively. To Jaywalkers eye, her response seemed involuntary and genuine. He wondered if Pope had caught it.
Docket number X974513, Darren Kingston, called the bridgeman, his title derived from his position between the judge and the rest of the courtroom. Charged with rape, on the complaint of Joanne Kenarden. Detective Rendell. Shielding rape victims identities didnt happen back then, either.
Jaywalker rose, made his way forward and took his place at the center of a long wooden table in front of the judges bench. To his left stood Darren, hands cuffed in front of him, a uniformed court officer immediately behind him. To Jaywalkers right stood Jacob Pope, Detective Rendell and Joanne Kenarden.
Miss Kenarden, said the bridgeman, do you swear to the truth and contents of your affidavit? In 1979, there was no such thing as a Ms. You were Miss, or you were Mrs.
I do.
Counselor, do you waive the reading of the rights and charges?
Yes, said Jaywalker, we do.
The judge, a fairly recent appointee named Howard Goldman, turned to Pope, waiting for his bail recommendation. Pope responded by describing the Kenarden rape and sodomy, emphasizing the knife. He pointed out that there were four additional rape victims, and added that it had taken the police several weeks to locate the defendant once hed been identified. The clear implication was that Darren would be likely to flee if released. Accordingly, Pope concluded, the People request that bail be set in the amount of fifty thousand dollars.
It was Jaywalkers turn. He pointed to Darrens family in the courtroom, described Darrens job and theirs, and mentioned the lack of any prior convictions. He stressed Darrens wife, their child and her pregnancy. He said that hed known the family for almost two years and felt privileged to have done so.
I consider these very serious charges, said Judge Goldman.
So do I, Jaywalker agreed. I also consider it very possible that this is the wrong man.
Goldman turned toward Joanne Kenarden. Young lady, he said, I want you to answer me truthfully. Is there any doubt in your mind, any doubt whatsoever, that this is the man who attacked you? Take a good look at him before you answer me.
Jaywalker took a step back so that she could get a better look at Darren. But even as he did so, he knew it was a futile gesture. They were enacting a charade, after all. Not twenty minutes earlier, having seen Darren led into the courtroom by Detective Rendell, shed put her signature on an affidavit, swearing that this was the man whod raped and orally sodomized her. What was she supposed to say now, that shed changed her mind?
No doubt whatsoever, she said.
Bail is fifty thousand dollars, said the judge.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jaywalker could see Darrens shoulders sag, notice him shake his head slowly from side to side. The case was adjourned one week, for a preliminary hearing. But Jaywalker knew there would be no hearing. Pope would present his case directly to a grand jury, who would listen to Joanne Kenarden, and perhaps the other victims as well, and vote an indictment. Jaywalker toyed briefly with the idea of having Darren testify at the grand jury, but quickly rejected it. All Darren could say was that he was innocent. Having him do so, and then exposing him to cross-examination at this early stage, would accomplish little and risk much.
Anything else? asked the judge.
No, said Jaywalker.
Next case.
Less than ten minutes after it had begun, the arraignment was over. Darren was led back into the pen from which hed come.
Outside on the sidewalk, Jaywalker explained the bail to Darrens parents. In order to get their son out of jail, they would either have to come up with fifty thousand dollars in cash or go to a bondsman, who would require maybe half that much, as well as the balance in propertybank-books, jewelry, deeds to buildings or similar collateral. Marlin Kingston shook his head in disbelief, or maybe despair. Jaywalker told him they had an option, to let a few days pass and then go over to the Supreme Court building on the Grand Concourse, where they could make an application to get the figure reduced.
He kissed Inez goodbye, something he didnt ordinarily do. Perhaps it was her own warmth, radiating outward, that compelled him to do so. When he went to shake Marlins hand, he felt something pressed against his palm.
Whats this? he asked.
A hundred dollars, said Marlin. For today.
No, said Jaywalker. You save it. Youre going to need every penny to try to get Darren out. But he realized he was only getting to know this little man, who could cry unashamedly one minute and fight like a warrior the next, when Marlin spoke again.
This is yours, Jay, he said. Darren is my son. Ill get him out somehow. Dont you worry.
Jaywalker pocketed the money. It was 1979, and he couldnt afford to sneeze at a hundred dollars. Not with a wife, a child of his own, a mortgage and a stack of bills. But he did worry. If a hundred dollars was nothing to sneeze at, what did that say about fifty thousand?
3
EIGHTY YEARS
On Friday, Jaywalker got another call from Inez Kingston. We bailed Darren out, she said, and I was wondering if you wanted to talk to him or anything.
Youre kidding! Jaywalker couldnt believe it.
Im not kidding. Marlin went out to Rikers Island last night to get him. They didnt get back till three this morning, and I didnt want to wake you. But hes here now, if you want to talk to him.