"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury…friends…I come before you today with a heavy heart. Heavy because I am a firm believer in our justice system. Despite its failures in the past to protect people of color, I still believed that it was the black man's best hope for this country to live up to that last line in the Pledge of Allegiance, 'and justice for all.'"
Louis sighed. "But years ago, justice was manipulated, and in a rush to judgment, four young black men were convicted of a crime they did not commit. That system-represented by two assistant district attorneys for Kings County, as well as police officers and detectives of the New York Police Department-conspired, yes, conspired to steal, as surely as someone putting a gun to their heads and pulling the trigger, the flowers of these young men's youth."
Suddenly, the big man whirled and pointed a finger at Karp. "Oh, I'm sure the defendants in this case will point out that these were not totally 'innocent' young men. And yes, they were teenagers who did stupid teenage things, like fighting with people on the boardwalk at Coney Island. Pranks for the most part, until one elderly man decided to fight back and threatened to harm one of my clients, Mr. Jayshon Sykes-who, afraid, lashed out. Unfortunately, Jayshon was a strong young man and the elderly man was frail and should not have been so belligerent. It was a tragic accident, something Jayshon has regretted every moment since, and you did not hear him or his companions complain about doing their time in prison for that infraction. And I don't need to remind you about what hideous dens of depravity our prisons have become."
Louis walked over to his table and took a sip of water before turning back to the jury. "I ask each of you, could you cast that first stone? Are you without sin? These boys, now men, committed a sin, surely. But a much greater sin was about to be committed. Because early that next morning, long after these boys had finally gone home to bed…a sin so monstrous that it grieves my heart to even think of it…was committed when a lovely young woman was brutally raped and nearly killed by a vile and despicable man named Enrique Villalobos. You will hear, my friends, from Mr. Villalobos, who, with nothing to gain for himself by this confession, will tell you that he and he alone committed this horrible sin."
Karp listened to Louis drone on about the horrors of prison and the abused, poor, neglected backgrounds of his clients until he felt somewhat nauseous. As expected, Louis launched into a long diatribe about how his clients were "beaten down by The Man" and confessed out of fear and exhaustion. "And being told that they could fry for this one, go to the electric chair…suffer a million, a billion, volts of painful electricity boiling their organs in their own blood and their brains into mush." It was the plaintiffs' turn, as well as some of the audience, to turn green.
After an hour-long, meandering opening, Louis wrapped it up by pleading with the jury "to find for my clients…to the tune of $250 million dollars…yes, a lot of money but what price tag would you put on freedom? What price would you attach for being scooped off the street like so much dog feces as a teenager and then spending the best years of your life rotting away in a prison cell? What price would that be worth? You need to send a statement, a strong statement, to the government that this sort of injustice will no longer be tolerated. Thank you for listening."
With that Hugh Louis sank into his chair like an electric toy running out of juice. Sykes reached over and patted him on the shoulder, and, loud enough for the jury and audience to hear, said, "Thanks, Hugh, thank you for telling the truth."
"Mr. Karp," Judge Klinger said. "Are you ready to proceed?"
Karp glanced up from his notes and nodded. He rose from his seat, wincing a little as he placed weight on his bum knee. He walked calmly to the podium, where he put his notes, and then looked at the audience.
"An interesting opening statement by Mr. Louis," he said. "In fact, if I didn't know anything about this case and was listening, I might be inclined to believe him."
At their seats, the plaintiffs nodded and smiled. "That's right," Sykes said. "The truth shall set you free."
"Except," Karp said, "it was a pack of lies and utter nonsense."
Louis erupted from his seat, spilling the cup of water he'd just poured. "Objection, your honor! Argumentative and…um…unprofessional."
Klinger was glaring. "Mr. Karp, you've been at this a long time, and you know as well as I do that was inappropriate."
"Since when is the truth inappropriate, your honor," Karp replied.
Klinger's face colored angrily. "You've been warned, counselor."
Karp looked back down at his notes as Klinger instructed the jurors to "ignore that last statement by the defendants' attorney." He smiled back at the jury-secretly pleased that he'd planted the seed. Now it was time to move on.
Calmly and matter-of-factly, he ran through the events of the night before Tyler was attacked. The assaults on Coney Island. The attack that nearly killed the elderly Korean man "by Jayshon Sykes, who had a piece of steel rebar in his hand and cracked an elderly man's skull like it was an egg. And before you hear Mr. Louis tell you again about this fight that ended badly, the ninety-three-year-old victim was five foot four and weighed 120 pounds, Jayshon Sykes was six foot three and close to two hundred. I don't think he was afraid."
Louis jumped to his feet. "I object, your honor, this is not a criminal trial with my clients facing charges. They have been exonerated. This is a civil trial to determine whether the conduct of the agents of the City of New York, that is, the police, rose to the level of malfeasance that would entitle my clients to remuneration."
Karp paused and waited for Klinger to sustain Louis's objection. When she did, he continued. "Well, Mr. Louis is correct-this, unfortunately, is not a criminal trial. But I will demonstrate to you, the jury, that the convictions of these men were valid and therefore, the assistant district attorneys and the police officers who worked on this case did their jobs correctly, ethically, and well. That other jury wasn't mistaken-they knew that there was a missing defendant whose semen had been found on the clothing of Ms. Tyler-but they also knew the truth. Those four men"-he pointed at the plaintiffs' table-"raped and nearly murdered Liz Tyler in a way so heinous, so depraved, that it defies any hint of human compassion."
Karp walked out from behind the podium with his hands in his pockets as he strolled over by the jury. "But I will do more than prove the first jury was right. I will show you how ludicrous the plaintiffs' case is. Heck, they haven't even thought through how the cops could have conspired to frame the plaintiffs when they, the cops, didn't even know if Liz Tyler, who was in a coma, would wake up. And if she did wake up, would say, 'Hey, you got the wrong guys.' So are the cops going to frame people knowing the victim might very well come out of her coma and expose them as frame artists? Further, I will demonstrate to you-through videotapes and witnesses-that these four…what did Mr. Louis say, 'innocent young men'…didn't behave like browbeaten, frightened teenagers. Far from it, they actually bragged in front of numerous witnesses about what they did."
Karp turned around, meaning to gather his thoughts, but caught Liz Tyler looking at him. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but she had a slight smile on her face. He smiled back.
"If this was just about money, and there was any chance that they'd been wronged by the system, I'd say give it to them," Karp said. "But there are a few problems with that. First, they weren't wronged. Second, it goes much deeper. If you let them get away with this, it could destabilize the entire justice system that Mr. Louis professes to champion. Never again will a jury believe a police officer when he takes the stand. Nor will a jury accept as trustworthy a confession offered into evidence. All the good detective work will just be thrown out the window.