A Naked Singularity: A Novel (25 page)

THE DEFENDANT
: They did violated my rights. They. . .

THE COURT
: Talk to your attorney.

(The defendant conferred with his attorney)

DEFENSE COUNSEL
: He understands.

THE COURT
: Do you understand, Mr. Hurd, that you give up that right?

THE DEFENDANT
: Yes.

THE COURT
: Fine. When you plead guilty, you also waive your right to a trial by jury. At a jury trial you would be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The People would have the burden of proving your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and they would have to do so to the unanimous satisfaction of twelve jurors. At trial you would have a Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against you. That means your attorney would be able to cross-examine the witnesses the People present in an effort to prove your guilt. Do you understand?

THE DEFENDANT
: Yes.

THE COURT
: Were a trial to be conducted in this case, you would also have the right to call witnesses on your behalf as well as to testify on your own behalf. Do you understand that you have that right and do you understand that you give up that right by pleading guilty?

THE DEFENDANT
: Yes.

THE COURT
: Do you further understand that at a trial you would also have the opposite right, meaning that if you did not wish to testify, you could not be compelled to testify. You have a Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Do you understand that by virtue of this plea you now renounce that right?

THE DEFENDANT
: How to pronounce it?

THE COURT
: Renounce! Do you understand that you give up that right and no longer have it?

THE DEFENDANT
: Yes.

THE COURT
: Now are you currently under the influence of any medications, drugs or alcohol?

THE DEFENDANT
: No thank you.

THE COURT
: And are you entering this plea of your own free will? In other words, is somebody coercing you into pleading guilty or are you pleading guilty because that is what you want to do?

THE DEFENDANT
: No, it’s my will. My will is free. That is to say, I free will it.

THE COURT
: Are you pleading guilty in this case because in fact you did commit the crime of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree?

THE DEFENDANT
: No.

THE COURT
: Counsel I’m not taking this plea.

(The defendant conferred with his attorney)

THE DEFENDANT
: Yes, fine. Yes.

THE COURT
: Are you sure? You don’t seem sure.

THE DEFENDANT
: Yes.

THE COURT
: Well what happened?

THE DEFENDANT
: I sold drugs just like they said.

THE COURT
: How? What happened?

(The defendant conferred with his attorney)

THE DEFENDANT
: The guy came up to me. I didn’t never say nothing to him but he said he wanted to cop and did I know where he could cop. And he said he wanted one so I took him to the guy in the store who I know sells because I bought from him many times previous. And that was it.

THE COURT
: And did this person indeed buy drugs?

THE DEFENDANT
: Yeah, he bought one for five dollars. But I never touched the drugs or took the money from the guy or anything so I still say I’m innocent.

THE COURT
: Well you did this for remuneration isn’t that correct?

THE DEFENDANT
: I did it for the guy because he asked me. I don’t even know what nation he was from.

THE COURT
: Did you receive money for your role in the transaction you just described?

THE DEFENDANT
: Ain’t nobody rolled the guy! That crackhead got his drugs.

THE COURT
: No, after the crackhead, um, the undercover officer, purchased the drugs did you receive any money for your efforts?

THE DEFENDANT
: One dollar! Now answer to me this. How could I be guilty of a drug sale if
A
they wasn’t my drugs to begin with and
number two
I only got one dollar!

THE COURT
: Who gave you the dollar?

THE DEFENDANT
: The dude who sells drugs! He gives me a dollar for every customer I bring him. He gave me the dollar after the covered officer bought the stuff and just before we was both arrested. I also want to put on the record, is this on the record your honors?

THE COURT
: Yes. Everything is being taken down by the court reporter.

THE DEFENDANT
: Then I want to stipulate that the person who gave me the dollar, my co-defendant, is in here and he has made it be known to me, through the proper channels and whatnot, that he wants his dollar back because I bought him a cop as a customer. And I also want it stipulated that the street interpretation of that is that he will cause physical pain unto me if he gets the opportunity.

THE COURT
: Okay, well that’s totally incorrect usage of the word stipulate but your point is well taken and you can request protective custody through your attorney if you wish later. In the meantime, we’ll continue with the allocution. The conduct you’ve described does constitute a drug sale under New York law so there’s no legal impediment to the plea. Now you’ve been promised that on the day of sentencing you will be sentenced to an indeterminate prison term of three years to six years. Has any other promise been made to you to get you to plead guilty that we are not aware of?

THE DEFENDANT
: Yes.

THE COURT
: Yes? What other promise has been made to you?

THE DEFENDANT
: No. No other promise but your honors why can’t I get a drug program?

THE COURT
: The reason you can’t get a drug program is that you’re a predicate felon.

THE DEFENDANT
: I’m not! What does that mean?

THE COURT
: It means that you have been convicted of a prior felony within the past ten years.

THE DEFENDANT
: It’s been eleven years!

THE COURT
: Any time you’ve spent in jail the past eleven years doesn’t count towards the ten.

THE DEFENDANT
: Oh yeah, right. He did say that.

THE COURT
: As a predicate you are subject to a mandatory state prison sentence in this case.

THE DEFENDANT
: But what about the D-Trap my attorney said I could get.

THE COURT
: You’re referring to the DA’s office’s DTAP program. Counsel were any attempts made to get a DTAP disposition?

DEFENSE COUNSEL
: Yes. He was evaluated and rejected.

THE COURT
: There you have it Mr. Hurd. You were considered for DTAP, which would have allowed you to enter an inpatient drug treatment program and if you had successfully graduated from the program, your case would have been dismissed in the interests of justice, but you were rejected.

THE DEFENDANT
: But why was I rejected?

THE COURT
: People what was the reason for the rejection?

MR. ZORN
: No community ties Your Honor.

THE DEFENDANT
: But I am tied up to the community your honors. They called my mother and she told them I was tied.

THE COURT
: Apparently they weren’t satisfied Mr. Hurd and unfortunately for you it is solely within their discretion whether or not to admit you into the program. That said, do you still wish to plead guilty?

THE DEFENDANT
: I am pleading guilty your honors but I’m doing it because I think it would be a waste of money to have a trial over five dollars worth of crack. What I really need is a drug program because I want to turn my life around and the only reason I was doing what I was doing on the street was to support my habit. The habit has to be fed your honors as you know and I believe in working for my money. I could be out there robbing people but I’m not and I’ve always worked even though I am disabled. And not always at this your honors, I used to be a mail carrier back in the day but then I started using drugs and that was all I wanted to do. So I’m taking this plea to save the city of New York and the taxpayers money because I can’t believe that the DA, who I can see is a very tall man, would take to trial a case involving five dollars worth of crack, especially knowing how much a trial of that nature would cost. But I still think that I should get a chance to do a drug program because I’ve never been given that chance in any of my cases and the money that will be spent keeping me in jail could be spent addressing my real problem which is that I like, no need, to smoke crack every day and every chance I get, and if I have to point people to somebody who’s selling the stuff so I can get one dollar and eventually save up enough to buy a vial then smoke it immediately and start saving up for my next one then I’ll gladly do that, and I’ll do it even though I know it could land me in jail for years because the only thing that matters at that moment is getting my next vial and I am not a Homo-sapiens-sexual your honors but if I need money to buy crack I will suck . . . .

THE COURT
: That’s quite enough Mr. Hurd. I am not without sympathy for you and your plight, and believe it or not I agree with a lot of what you’ve said here. In fact I recently wrote an article for the New York Law Journal in which I addressed many of the same issues you’ve raised. One of the things I argue in this article, which will be on the front page of Thursday’s issue by the way, is that the Rockefeller drug laws, which in the early 70’s drastically increased the penalties for the conduct you engaged in, have flooded our prisons to the extent that there are eight times as many people incarcerated today than there were in 1970. Moreover, I argue that these laws, and the war on drugs in general, have eviscerated our inner cities which, because of congestion, poverty, and other factors, are ideally suited for the sort of low-level drug-dealing targeted. Consequently, by focusing on these cities this war has had a disproportionate impact on the indigent and the African-American community of which you are a member. I also argue that the overwhelming majority of people incarcerated from these poor neighborhoods are either addicts looking to support their habit or young minorities who are especially susceptible to the perceived attractions of the low-level drug trade and that those who truly profit from the sale of drugs exploit these individuals for their personal gain and yet are rarely held accountable. So yes I do personally feel that the money spent to incarcerate individuals such as yourself for several years would be better spent on treatment for individuals who are addicted to drugs. That said I am not empowered, in this case and under these circumstances, to make a unilateral decision to sentence you to mandatory drug treatment in lieu of a state prison sentence. As I’ve explained to you that decision rests solely with the District Attorney and they have not seen fit to consent to such a sentence. Consequently, your choice is between pleading guilty and receiving a sentence of three to six or proceeding to trial with all that entails. Knowing that, do you still wish to plead guilty?

THE DEFENDANT
: Yes, but I still say that Mr. Zorro should have given me a drug program your honors.

THE COURT
: First of all, Mr. Zorn is the assistant who is standing up on all the cases in this courtroom today. He is not the assistant assigned to your case and likely had nothing to do with the decision to reject you for DTAP. Second, I think we’ve more than adequately explained the reasons why that’s not going to happen and there’s no need to get started along those lines again. The plea is satisfactory to the court. Is it satisfactory to the People?

MR. ZORN
: Yes.

THE COURT
: Enter the plea.

THE CLERK
: Mr. Hurd, in the presence of your attorney do you now withdraw your previously entered plea of not guilty and enter a plea of guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree in satisfaction of the indictment. Is that your plea? (The defendant conferred with his attorney)

THE DEFENDANT
: Yes.

THE COURT
: Four weeks for sentencing. How’s the 23rd ?

THE DEFENDANT
: That’s fine your honors.

THE COURT
: I was actually speaking to your attorney Mr. Hurd. Any date is presumptively good for you. The 23rd counsel?

DEFENSE COUNSEL
: That’s fine.

THE COURT
: Defendant is remanded. The 23rd for sentencing.

THE CLERK
: That being the final case of the morning session, Part 46 is adjourned until 2:15.