PASCARELLA: Yes.
JAYWALKER: That he attended Friday religious services?
PASCARELLA: Yes.
JAYWALKER: Tell me, Lieutenant. You ascribed Mr. Barnetts refraining from conducting his drug business in open view to his being wary. Did it ever occur to you that it could be more simply and accurately attributed to the fact that he wasnt conducting any drug business at all?
PASCARELLA: Im convinced he was dealing.
JAYWALKER: Thats nice, Im sure, but its not what I asked you. My question was, did it ever-even once-occur to you that maybe Mr. Barnett wasnt dealing? That the reason you werent seeing anything was because there was nothing to see?
PASCARELLA: No.
JAYWALKER: How about Mr. Barnetts simple lifestyle? You say that was an elaborate cover. Did it ever occur to you that it wasnt a cover at all? That in fact it was nothing more than the manifestation of a very simple life lived on a very modest income?
PASCARELLA: No.
JAYWALKER: Whats a CI, Lieutenant?
PASCARELLA: A confidential informer.
JAYWALKER: Did you ever attempt to enlist the services of a CI in this case? You know, have an informer approach Mr. Barnett and either try to buy drugs from him or try to introduce an undercover officer to him for the purpose of buying drugs?
PASCARELLA: With a CI? No.
JAYWALKER: Yet isnt that how its usually done?
PASCARELLA: Sometimes. I dont know about usually.
JAYWALKER: [Holding up a sheet of paper] How about, let me see, how about in 97.3 percent of all direct sale cases made in New York County over the past forty-eight months?
PASCARELLA: If you say so.
JAYWALKER: I just did. What Im asking is, do you agree with what I just said, or do you disagree? [Waves sheet of paper]
PASCARELLA: I agree, I guess.
JAYWALKER: But thats not how it was done in this particular case.
PASCARELLA: No.
JAYWALKER: This was one of thoselets see, 2.7 percent of cases where you decided to skip the use of a confidential informer altogether. Right?
PASCARELLA: I guess so.
JAYWALKER: And why was that?
PASCARELLA: Because the subject was too hinky, too careful. I was afraid that if we used a CI, it might scare him off.
JAYWALKER: I see. And yet this is the same subject who the anonymous caller told you he could tell was dealing heroin, the same subject who could be found right out in the open on the front stoop of what turned out to be his own apartment building, sitting there with two girls who turned out to be his own daughters. Is that-
The rest of the little speech was drowned out by Miki Shaughnesseys objection and Judge Levines sustaining it. But that was okay. By that time Jaywalker had spent twenty minutes with Dino Pascarella, flirting with fire without getting burned too badly. Not that hed ever quite demonstrated that anything the witness had said was untrue. But if Jaywalker was lucky, maybe hed piqued the interest of someone in the jury box. Someone who was open to the possibility that a cop-even a cop with the word Lieutenant plunked in front of his name-was capable of stretching things to the breaking point and beyond.
As soon as Pascarella left the courtroom, Judge Levine declared a recess and excused the jury for lunch. Including opening statements, theyd been working for close to two hours already. But before the judge could leave the bench, Miki Shaughnessey was on her feet asking for an opportunity to examine the statistic sheet.
The what?
The piece of paper Mr. Jaywalker read from, said Shaughnessey. You know, when he recited the statistics about the use of confidential informants. I think I have a right to see it, and even have a copy of it.
Mr. Jaywalker? said the judge, looking his way.
Without objection he handed Shaughnessey the sheet hed held aloft and then waved in the witnesss direction moments earlier. She took it from him and stared at it, turning it over several times before looking up and complaining that there must be some mistake, that what shed been given was nothing but a blank piece of paper.
Why am I not surprised? sighed Judge Levine. As the trial progresses, Miss Shaughnessey, I think youll find yourself getting used to Mr. Jaywalker and his, shall we say, unorthodox way of doing things.
Shaughnesseys reaction was to shoot Jaywalker a dirty look before turning and storming out of the courtroom.
That afternoon, after finally calming down, she accused him of taking advantage of her. But as he pointed out, that had hardly been the case. If anyone had been taken advantage of, it had been the witness. And with respect to him, all Jaywalker had done was to trick him into admitting the truth, that the vast majority of direct sale cases did in fact depend upon the use of an informer for an initial introduction. The phantom-statistic tactic had been no different, say, from encouraging a witness to believe you had a video recording of his actions, so that hed be less tempted to lie about them. Clever? Sure. Devious? A bit. But unethical or improper? Hardly. Like any other witness, Lieutenant Pascarella had been called to the stand with the expectation that he would tell the truth. Jaywalker had simply made sure he did so.
Still, even allowing for the points hed scored on cross-examination, Jaywalker would have been lying if he told himself that Pascarella hadnt hurt the defense. In not objecting to the testimony about the anonymous call, hed allowed the jury to hear that at least one person besides the police had reason to conclude that Alonzo Barnett was selling heroin. And Jaywalkers decision to call his client as a witness had opened the door for Shaughnessey to remind the jury of the details of Barnetts criminal record, including his multiple past convictions for the exact same crime on which he was now standing trial.
The fact that precious few jurors tend to be heroin dealers themselves means that the drug sale defendant starts with one strike against him before he even comes up to bat. Throw in an anonymous observation that hes been dealing, and you may as well call that strike two. Add the fact that hes been caught doing the same thing over and over again for just about his entire adult life and, well, you get the picture. So what if Dino Pascarella hadnt been the best witness of all time? How good did he really have to be? Especially with the undercover agent coming up next, with all of his extensive skills and experience.
8
The People call Trevor St. James, Miki Shaughnessey announced when the trial reconvened that afternoon.
All eyes turned as a court officer led a large black man into the courtroom through a side door. He was wearing a dark suit over a brown turtleneck sweater, and-best of all-he sported a pair of mirrored sunglasses.
Somewhere, no doubt, theres a courtroom lit brightly enough, whether by Mother Nature or General Electric, that eye protection is advisable. Most likely that courtroom is in Southern California, Florida or someplace even closer to the Equator. As for the fifteenth floor of 10 °Centre Street, anyone wearing sunglasses there is either legally blind or hiding behind them.
Keep them on, Jaywalker telepathically begged the witness. Hed actually heard lawyers object that they couldnt see a witnesss eyes through a pair of dark lenses and succeeded in getting a judge to order them removed. It was something he himself would never do, especially with mirrored sunglasses. Never mind that they added a little something to the undercover mystique that enveloped the witness as he made his way to the stand. Sooner or later the jurors would get over that and begin to think of the shades as a prop, and the wearer as having something to hide besides his eyes.
And then, as though on cue, as soon as Trevor St. James had finished swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, he removed the sunglasses, folded them and slipped them into the outer pocket of his suit jacket as he took his seat. So before hed even begun his testimony, the guy had treated the jurors to a glimpse of his street image and then unmasked himself as one of them. Nice touch, thought Jaywalker, wondering if St. James had scripted it, or Shaughnessey.
SHAUGHNESSEY: By whom are you employed, Mr. St. James?
It would be the only time in the entire trial that she addressed or referred to him as Mr.
ST. JAMES: Im employed by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is a division of the United States Department of Justice.
SHAUGHNESSEY: In what capacity?
ST. JAMES: As a drug enforcement agent.
SHAUGHNESSEY: How long have you been so employed?
ST. JAMES: Nine and a half years.
SHAUGHNESSEY: And as a DEA agent, is part of your work performed in an undercover capacity?
ST. JAMES: Yes. Its actually a fairly large part of my work.
Shaughnessey had the witness describe what undercover work entailed. His explanation couldnt have been news to anyone in the courtroom by this time, seeing as both lawyers had discussed the subject at some length during jury selection, and Shaughnessey had gone into it again in her opening statement. Still, it made for pretty good listening. Jaywalker had discovered long ago that jurors tend to be fascinated by everything about the world of bad guys. And here they were, about to be treated to an inside tour of that world from a bad guy who was really one of the good guys. What could possibly be better for the prosecution-and worse for the defense?
SHAUGHNESSEY: Did there come a time in September of 1984 that you were asked to participate in a narcotics investigation in Harlem?
ST. JAMES: Yes, there did.
SHAUGHNESSEY: Can you tell us how that came about?
ST. JAMES: Yes. I was assigned to the Philadelphia office at the time. But Id grown up in Harlem and was familiar with the area. So somebody must have decided that I was well suited to impersonate an out-of-town dealer looking to buy large quantities of heroin to resell out of state.
SHAUGHNESSEY: And what did you do upon your arrival?
ST. JAMES: I met with the team leader, Lieutenant Pascarella, and the various members of the backup team. I learned that an individual initially known only as John Doe Gramps had been positively identified as Alonzo Barnett, and that he was the subject of intensive ongoing surveillance. I was told-