making it look as if he wanted somewhere else.
“Your Honor, we believe that many of the people who are most prejudiced against my client are actually those who the prosecution seems to think are biased in his favor.”
“Does that mean you agree to Ms Jensen’s suggestions?”
“Well we’d prefer San Joaquin or Solano. Maybe Contra Costa.”
“What about Alameda?” asked the judge. Sarah Jensen looked as if she was about to say something, when Alex spoke up quickly.
“Side bar Your Honor?”
The judge agreed. Alex and Sarah approached the bench.
“Your Honor,” Alex said putting on his most embarrassed tone of voice. “Alameda county is twenty percent Asian. It’s a well-known fact that a lot of Asians are prejudiced against Blacks and this would deny my client a fair trial.”
“Oh do me a favor!” said Sarah. “There may be some limited residual prejudice against working class blacks. But Claymore is hardly working class. Besides, Mr. Sedaka can use the voir dire to weed out any biased jurors.”
The judge turned back to Alex.
“That makes sense doesn’t it?”
Alex fought hard to maintain a neutral face and shrugged his shoulders.
“That depends on how reasonable the judge is when it comes to accepting challenges for cause.”
“Well I have to assume that a brother judge will be reasonable,” said the judge. “And if you think he abused his discretion you can always appeal.”
Alex used the full range of his acting skills to look like a man who was trapped.
“There’s also the problem of transportation. My office is in San Francisco and that means I’ll have to cross the Bay Bridge during commuter times.”
“Yet you were ready for San Joaquin or Contra Costa,” said the judge, sarcastically.
“Those were second choices,” said Alex feebly. “I still think Sacramento or Santa Clara jury would be more likely to approach this case with open minds.”
“Well you can file an exception for the record. In the meantime it’s decided. The trial will be transferred to Alameda County.”
As they returned to their places, Alex continued his struggle to suppress a smile that was just itching to appear on his face.
Friday, 26 June 2009 – 12:05
“So what’s this weakness you’ve found in their case?” asked Claymore.
They were in a meeting room at the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility, where Elias Claymore was being held. Alex was taking the lead this time, while Andi sat in almost total silence. And he sounded quite enthusiastic.
“She changed her story… about the attacker’s age.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well initially she told the police that her attacker was in his twenties. They had a photo line-up – they even had a suspect tucked in there with the pictures – but she didn’t chose him.”
“I don’t understand. When they said she picked me from a photograph, I thought that meant she picked me from a book of mug shots.”
“No they don’t do that anymore. They discovered a long time ago that after looking at hundreds of pictures, the witness’s vision becomes so blurred, they can’t tell a stranger from their own mother. It actually led to erroneous arrests in the past and also let guilty people slip through the net. They sometimes use an artist’s impression or E-fit picture when they’re planning on asking the public to help find an unknown suspect.
“But in this case they used mug-shots as a cheap alternative to a line-up if they already had a suspect. It’s called a “photo-lineup.” Instead of hauling in a suspect and risking a civil rights suit, they use photographs of suspects mixed in with pictures of law-abiding citizens matching the description. In fact they can even use out of date pictures. As long as the picture of the suspect is up-to-date and as long as the faces in all the pictures matched the description of the suspect given by the witness, then the identification is valid.”
“But can they do that without my
“Your Honor, we believe that many of the people who are most prejudiced against my client are actually those who the prosecution seems to think are biased in his favor.”
“Does that mean you agree to Ms Jensen’s suggestions?”
“Well we’d prefer San Joaquin or Solano. Maybe Contra Costa.”
“What about Alameda?” asked the judge. Sarah Jensen looked as if she was about to say something, when Alex spoke up quickly.
“Side bar Your Honor?”
The judge agreed. Alex and Sarah approached the bench.
“Your Honor,” Alex said putting on his most embarrassed tone of voice. “Alameda county is twenty percent Asian. It’s a well-known fact that a lot of Asians are prejudiced against Blacks and this would deny my client a fair trial.”
“Oh do me a favor!” said Sarah. “There may be some limited residual prejudice against working class blacks. But Claymore is hardly working class. Besides, Mr. Sedaka can use the voir dire to weed out any biased jurors.”
The judge turned back to Alex.
“That makes sense doesn’t it?”
Alex fought hard to maintain a neutral face and shrugged his shoulders.
“That depends on how reasonable the judge is when it comes to accepting challenges for cause.”
“Well I have to assume that a brother judge will be reasonable,” said the judge. “And if you think he abused his discretion you can always appeal.”
Alex used the full range of his acting skills to look like a man who was trapped.
“There’s also the problem of transportation. My office is in San Francisco and that means I’ll have to cross the Bay Bridge during commuter times.”
“Yet you were ready for San Joaquin or Contra Costa,” said the judge, sarcastically.
“Those were second choices,” said Alex feebly. “I still think Sacramento or Santa Clara jury would be more likely to approach this case with open minds.”
“Well you can file an exception for the record. In the meantime it’s decided. The trial will be transferred to Alameda County.”
As they returned to their places, Alex continued his struggle to suppress a smile that was just itching to appear on his face.
Friday, 26 June 2009 – 12:05
“So what’s this weakness you’ve found in their case?” asked Claymore.
They were in a meeting room at the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility, where Elias Claymore was being held. Alex was taking the lead this time, while Andi sat in almost total silence. And he sounded quite enthusiastic.
“She changed her story… about the attacker’s age.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well initially she told the police that her attacker was in his twenties. They had a photo line-up – they even had a suspect tucked in there with the pictures – but she didn’t chose him.”
“I don’t understand. When they said she picked me from a photograph, I thought that meant she picked me from a book of mug shots.”
“No they don’t do that anymore. They discovered a long time ago that after looking at hundreds of pictures, the witness’s vision becomes so blurred, they can’t tell a stranger from their own mother. It actually led to erroneous arrests in the past and also let guilty people slip through the net. They sometimes use an artist’s impression or E-fit picture when they’re planning on asking the public to help find an unknown suspect.
“But in this case they used mug-shots as a cheap alternative to a line-up if they already had a suspect. It’s called a “photo-lineup.” Instead of hauling in a suspect and risking a civil rights suit, they use photographs of suspects mixed in with pictures of law-abiding citizens matching the description. In fact they can even use out of date pictures. As long as the picture of the suspect is up-to-date and as long as the faces in all the pictures matched the description of the suspect given by the witness, then the identification is valid.”
“But can they do that without my
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