Barrio Barrister (F-12)

For Barrio Barrister (F-1) click here. For BB (F-11) click here.

Miguel appeared before the California Supreme Court with long hair and beard — and a marijuana burn hole in his coat jacket.

EXT. DRONE’S VIEW, COLLEGE BLVD. MIGUEL’S — PRESENT — MORNING

At first we see a bird’s eye view of a bicyclist pedaling along College Blvd. past Miguel’s home. A green Civic enters camera view, behind the bicyclist.

INT. INTERIOR OF MASON’S GREEN CIVIC — PRESENT — DAY

We watch through Mason’s windshield as he drives along College Blvd. adjacent to Miguel’s home, following the bicyclist. As he rounds a corner onto Mar Vista we realize the bicyclist is Miguel himself who has a gate opener.

EXT. MIGUEL’S DRIVEWAY — PRESENT — DAY

Miguel walks bike up driveway, signals Mason to park.

ELDER MIGUEL

Good timing. Be in in a minute.

INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S HOME OFFICE — PRESENT — DAY

Mason has brought in a bag with a six pack of Tecate, limes, two ham sandwiches and two plastic containers of yogurt, plastic spoons. As he is removing items from bag, Elder Miguel enters, taking off his riding helmet.

MASON

Getting to Pitchess soon?

ELDER MIGUEL

Hey, took me more than two years, with nothing but rejections and denials. But finally I got a break.

INT. MALDEF OFFICE — DAY

Miguel is on the phone.

MIGUEL

Now, tell me, Mrs. Echeveria, what is your husband charged with? Uh huh. I see. And where is he now?

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM — DAY

Mrs. Echeveria is on the phone. Behind her a man lies in a hospital bed his head wrapped in bandages, one eye swollen shut and the other discolored. Fresh stitches are by his mouth and an arm is in a sling. INTERCUT.

MRS. ECHEVERIA

LA County General, trauma center. They beat him to a pulp. Please, Mr. Garcia, please help. Can you?

MIGUEL

Well, you know Mrs. Echeveria, I think maybe we can once we know more. May I come to visit and may we take some photographs?

INT. APARTMENT — EARLY MORNING

Police arrive, card game players run off while two men who were fighting each other begin to fight the officers. Officers call for back up.

ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)

Cesar Echeveria had been in an overnight card game in Pico Rivera that ended in a fight. Sheriff deputies were summoned, met resistance and called for backup.

INT. SHERIFF’S RADIO CAR INTERIOR — SAME MORNING

A cop listens to the call for back up. Immediately starts his car and peels out to respond.

ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)(CONT’D)

Every on duty deputy in the district responded.

EXT. ANOTHER PATROL CAR — DAY

Car parked at fast food restaurant pulls out quickly.

ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)(CONT’D)

One officer is so eager he wraps his squad car around a lamp post.

EXT. ANOTHER PATROL CAR — SAME MORNING

A patrol car squeals rubber as it whips a U-turn and smashes into a lamp post.

INT. COURTROOM — DAY

We see the name plate for JUDGE ALFONSO HERMO, 40’s. CAM pulls back to reveal Miguel speaking to the judge. MR. RICARDO, the DA, late 30’s, Puerto Rican descent, is at a table in the background.

ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)

As I had done in so many cases, I made a motion for discovery of the files on the officers involved.

MIGUEL

Mr. Echeveria is charged with four felony counts of assault on an officer. None of the officers show any signs of being hurt, while my client spent a week in the hospital and is still far from being fully recovered. This alone should make the officer’s credibility suspect and should allow my motion for discovery of past instances of excessive use of force by this officer to go forward.

JUDGE HERMO

Thank you, Counsel. First, I rule on the evidence presented by Mr. Ricardo that he has, in fact, presented sufficient evidence to warrant a trial of Mr. Echeveria to go forward. Now on the matter of finding any past complaints of excessive force by Officer Garland, I rule that discovery is valid and applicable in this circumstance.

MIGUEL

But, your honor…(looks up). What?!

JUDGE HERMO

Petition for discovery granted.

Miguel looks on with a mixture of joy and disbelief.

INT. MIGUEL’S HOME LAW OFFICE — PRESENT — DAY

Miguel speaking with Mason in his study.

ELDER MIGUEL

I had left MALDEF for a new job with the Center for Law and Justice-at three times the pay. They let me take the Echeveria case with me. But just when you think your luck has changed, what happens?

Miguel with a new position and salary at Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice.

MASON

What?

ELDER MIGUEL

Well, we got the contact information of four witnesses who had filed complaints against this Officer Garland alright. But two of them we could never find, and the other two couldn’t remember what their specific complaints had been. Another seeming dead end. But…then I found something.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. MIGUEL’S HOME, LIVING ROOM — LATE NIGHT

Miguel is pouring over law books. Suddenly he finds something that pleases him. He quickly makes notes.

INT. SUPERIOR COURT IN NORWALK — DAY

CU: Nameplate reads: Honorable Judge Gordon Ringer CAM pulls back revealing courtroom. JUDGE RINGER, 50’s, presides.

JUDGE RINGER

And…as counsel has pointed out, the law clearly states that if witnesses cannot be found or their memories are vague, the original statements may be introduced in court. So, Mr. Ricardo, why have you not produced them?

MR. RICARDO

The People are completely willing to comply, your honor, but the sheriff’s department simply refused to give us the requested files.

JUDGE RINGER

It was your job to get those, Mr. Ricardo. Since you failed to do so I am asking Mr. Garcia to be so kind as to draw up a subpoena duces tecum in accordance with sections 1985 through 1985.4 and serve the sheriff’s office himself.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. SUPERIOR COURT IN NORWALK — DAY

Judge Ringer is reviewing a petition.

JUDGE RINGER

Will counsels approach the bench?

Miguel and Mr. Ricardo come up to the judge, apprehensively.

JUDGE RINGER

I have received a petition from the parties representing Sheriff Pitchess, requesting that I quash the subpoena.

Miguel is crushed. Mr. Ricardo brightens.

JUDGE RINGER

However, I find no compelling reasons in their petition for doing so. The move to quash is denied.

Miguel brightens. Mr. Ricardo looks disappointed.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. SUPERIOR COURT IN NORWALK — DAY

As Mr. Ricardo and Miguel are approaching the bench once again we hear Elder Miguel’s V.O..

ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)

Every time I had appealed to the Apellate Court to rule on the judges’ denials of my petitions for discovery, my appeals had been denied. But when Sheriff Pitchess’ people appealed, they got their appeal accepted right off the bat.

JUDGE RINGER

It appears that Sheriff Pitchess’ representatives have had their appeal accepted by the Apellate Court. We will continue this after we have their decision.

Miguel looks extremely discouraged.

ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)

(sighs)

Once again, it was not the ruling I had been hoping for…

INT. COURT OF APPEALS — DAY

There are three judges in robes. Miguel and Mr. Ricardo are at their respective tables.

(Subtitle): Court of Appeals

APPEALS COURT JUDGE #1

We are unanimously agreed on the right to bring discovered statements to court when the witnesses are missing or their recollections are hazy. However, we rule the sheriff’s department is only compelled to provide those complaints that it deems to be valid… which, in this case, means none of them need to be provided…

Miguel snaps a pencil in anger.

INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S HOME OFFICE — DAY

ELDER MIGUEL

I’m not sure when I felt so down. My wife had divorced me, I saw my son only on weekends, and every time I had won a victory — it felt like something new happened to make it all fall apart again. But the truth was…everything had actually fallen into place beautifully to give me what I had wanted all along. I appealed to the California Supreme Court.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT — DAY

Seven judges are presiding. Miguel and Mr. Ricardo are at their respective tables. CAM begins on CU of marijuana hole burned in Miguel’s coat and pulls back to reveal courtroom. During scene we notice little Michael with his grandmother Chayo in the gallery.

ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)

It was just two years after being admitted to the California Bar. Mr. Ricardo had ten Amicus Curiae, or “Friends of the Court” briefs from such illustrious groups as The International Association of Chiefs of Police, the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, and from several counties. I had three briefs from college professors. I took a couple of tokes to calm myself before the proceedings.

Miguel is addressing the court. He is aware of the grandeur of the surroundings. He has long hair, and beard.

MIGUEL

(eyes shut, he stands swaying for a moment)

Your honors, it is a well known fact that police and sheriff officers maintain a code of silence when any of their members, no matter how guilty they are, are accused of any crime. Therefore it is inherently unreliable to rely upon their own department to determine the validity of any complaints against their own.

(steps forward into room)

When the McCone Commission looked into the reasons for the 1965 Watts Riots they were attributed largely to the distrust of law enforcement by minority communities. According to the McCone Commission only 5% of the complaints against law enforcement by the community were sustained by those same departments. These complaints usually never see the light of day — never get the scrutiny that a court would give them — unless they had been allowed to be discovered and presented at a trial where those same officers were suspected of malfeasance. We ask that the allegations that discovery has found against these officers be adjudicated in a court of law rather than judged by the police themselves who are, after all, the ones being accused of the crime.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. SUPREME COURT — DAY

Gavel comes down.

EXT. OUTSIDE OF SUPREME COURT — DAY

Miguel exits the building.

MIGUEL (V.O.)

That day, May 23rd, 1974, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously in our favor, seven to none. This has become known as the Pitchess Motion. It is one of the most commonly used motions by civil rights lawyers in California today. It came two years and three months from when I was admitted to the Bar.

Sheriff Peter Pitchess

His name is well known as a party in a famous California legal case entitled Pitchess v. Superior Court,[8] which entitles a defendant to obtain records of public complaints, using what is now known as a Pitchess motion, about the use of excessive force by police officers. Pitchess’ office had claimed that such records were proprietary, and had refused to provide them following a subpoena duces tecum. His petition was ultimately denied by the California Supreme Court in a 7–0 decision.[4]. (Wikipedia)

EXT. COURTHOUSE — SAME DAY

Miguel is coming down courthouse steps and does a dance of joy. A NEWS REPORTER waits for him.

NEWS REPORTER

Congratulations, Mr. Garcia. Quite a victory. Care to make a comment?

MIGUEL

(Observing note taking)

Well, for starters, the opinion of the Court of Appeals that law enforcement has the right to determine which statements by witnesses against them see the light of day will not stand — and many accusations against cops that might never have come out, may finally come out now or sometime in the future. More importantly, discovery of police files is now established, soon to be published, law.

NEWS REPORTER

Do you feel Sheriff Pitchess will accept this decision?

MIGUEL

He has no choice. I have been working a long time to get a precedent for civil rights lawyers to be able to use discovery in these kinds of cases. This has now, finally, become the law of the land.

Miguel dances in a circle.

INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S HOME OFFICE — PRESENT — DAY

Miguel sits motionless with his thoughts. Mason quietly observes him, wondering where his mind is. Miguel looks up.

ELDER MIGUEL

That was a giant leap for justice, accountability of law enforcers and the implementation of checks and balances as the forefathers originally envisioned it. It should have happened decades earlier. If our system valued justice instead of greed, it would have been.

For Barrio Barrister (F-13) Click here.