Barrio Barrister (F-16)
For Barrio Barrister (F-1) click here. For BB (F-15) click here.
EXT. ESTABLISHING SHOT-LAW OFFICES OF MIGUEL F. GARCIA-BEVERLY BLVD — 1975 — DAY
ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)
A few weeks later I got a very disturbing call.
(Subtitle): Law Offices of Miguel F. Garcia
INT. MIGUELS’S BEVERLY BLVD. OFFICE — 1975 — DAY
Miguel is on the phone.
MIGUEL
Your files got destroyed?
INT. ANTONIO’S LAW OFFICE — 1975 — DAY
Antonio on phone. INTERCUT.
ANTONIO
No. The files. The police personnel files.
MIGUEL
Which ones?
ANTONIO
All of them.
MIGUEL
What do you mean? They couldn’t do all of them!
ANTONIO
Over five tons worth of complaints covering twenty-five years.
INT. SHERIFF’S OFFICE DOWNTOWN L.A. 1975 — NIGHT
Sheriffs officers are working late, shredding tons of files.
INT. ANTONIO’S LAW OFFICE — 1975 — DAY
Antonio on phone. INTERCUT.
ANTONIO
They had to pay people over time to shred for three days.
MIGUEL
That’s illegal. There’re laws against destroying government files.
ANTONIO
What can I tell you? Their own lawyers knew about it and did nothing. Only two of them, Attorneys Levy and Edelman, opposed it as illegal and immoral, and they resigned. When the people highest up in law enforcement are the ones committing the crime, who is going to charge them?… You still swearing off swearing?
EXT. ELDER MIGUEL’S HOME — OUTDOOR EATING AREA — DAY
Miguel and Mason have left the table and head down to remove the pool cover.
MASON
So how can you do a Pitchess Motion if there are no files in existence?
ELDER MIGUEL
Exactly. Let’s just say there was someone who didn’t get the memo. Or, maybe, someone somewhere in Los Angeles law enforcement actually believed in law and justice.
MASON
How’s that?
ELDER MIGUEL
The next day we got a package in the mail. It was most of the discovery information we had asked for. It proved to be a bonanza. Next was one of my least favorite things to do, selecting a jury.
INT. MIGUELS BEVERLY BLVD. OFFICE — DAY
Miguel and CHARLES NAVARETTE, 36, wears thick lenses, legally blind with cane, attorney, are discussing jury selections.
NAVARETTE
So in a city with the largest population of Mexicans in the world next to Mexico City you’re telling me we will end up with only one Mexican on the whole jury?
MIGUEL
We’re lucky to get him.
NAVARETTE
Who else do you like?
MIGUEL
The social worker.
Navarette nods agreement.
MIGUEL
What about the Rice woman?
NAVARETTE
You sure don’t want her.
MIGUEL
Why not?
NAVARETTE
She’s personal friends of Sheriff Pitchess, knows his sons and has been to his home for social occasions.
MIGUEL
She says she knows me although I don’t remember her.
NAVARETTE
She probably hates your guts.
MIGUEL
I don’t know. She looks intelligent and empathetic to me. Maybe we should take a chance with her.
NAVARETTE
What about the Edwards woman?
MIGUEL
Her son’s a sheriff’s deputy who was in Vietnam. She seems strict, but I think there is a fairness about her.
NAVARETTE
That gives us seven women and five men, six whites, five blacks and one Latino.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. MIGUEL’S BEVERLY BLVD OFFICE- LATER — DAY
Navarette and Vicente are seated, Miguel stands to one side, while Cesar paces with a pronounced limp about the room.
CESAR
You’re not listening. I’m telling you these gabachos lie about what they had for breakfast. They would fucking lie about anything.
MIGUEL
You’re not listening, Cesar. You need to be the good, respectful student who never uses bad language.
CESAR
You want me to pretend to respect fucking pigs? Those mother fuckers that get away with murder?
MIGUEL
I don’t want you spitting at anyone like you did in the ambulance.
CESAR
That was a lie. Besides, I was starting to really hurt by then.
MIGUEL
And the Latina sheriff in the jail ward?
CESAR
Shit, that Malinche deserved it.
MIGUEL
You are facing twenty years or more here, Cesar.
CESAR
I’m myself. I’m a free person, man.
MIGUEL
You need to control yourself when we are in court or you won’t be a free person.
CESAR
I am fucking controlled, man. After I graduate, with straight A’s, you know what?
MIGUEL
(sighs)
What, Cesar?
CESAR
(continues pacing)
I’m going back to school, get my law degree — and when you need a fuckin’ lawyer to save your ass I’m gonna put you through every goddam hoop ever invented, Garcia.
MIGUEL
You cooperate in court now, and if I ever need you, it’s a deal.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. ELDER MIGUEL’S HOUSE POOL AREA — PRESENT — DAY
Miguel and Mason are in the pool, wearing their underwear. Miguel floats on an inflatable.
MASON
So how can you do a Pitchess Motion if there are no files in existence?
ELDER MIGUEL
That’s the whole point. Destroy the complaints and abusive cops have nothing to worry about any more. You know who really gets hurt?
MASON
Who?
ELDER MIGUEL
Ironically, it’s the good cops who want to do a fair job who may get hurt the most. There are so many bad cops still today that the public doesn’t trust law enforcement, and that makes the job of a good cop ten times harder and a lot more dangerous. When files were discovered by defense attorneys, case after case were dismissed. At least 130 of them in the first year. Hundreds more were dropped to avoid the Pitchess Motion, meaning both criminals as well as abusive cops went unpunished.
MASON
What happened with the driver, Juan, uh,…
ELDER MIGUEL
Juan Pina? Kearney testified at the Prelim that Pina had come at him with a knife someone from the crowd had thrown him. But there were no fingerprints of his on the knife-impossible if Kearney’s version had been true.
MASON
Interesting.
MIGUEL
DA’s don’t want anything around that is going to show a star witness is a liar, so all charges against Juan were dismissed.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. COURTROOM — DAY
CU nameplate JUDGE HUEY P. SHEPARD. CAM ZOOMS OUT to reveal courtroom. Officer Herber is on the stand being questioned by D.A. STONE. JUDGE SHEPARD, 50’s, African American.
OFFICER HERBER
Eight years.
D.A. STONE
During that time have you ever been involved in any other shootings?
OFFICER HERBER
I’ve been called to the scenes of shootings.
D.A. STONE
But never fired your own revolver?
OFFICER HERBER
No.
D.A. STONE
What time did your shift begin?
OFFICER HERBER
11:00 PM, the same as the night before. It was the second time Officer Kearney accompanied me.
D.A. STONE
Officer Kearney was new?
OFFICER HERBER
This was the second time with me, and he had gone twice before with another officer in this area on this kind of patrol.
D.A. STONE
Could you describe the incident of October 5th?
OFFICER HERBER
It was five or ten minutes past midnight. Officer Kearney and I were in our radio car at the intersection of Atlantic and Whittier Blvd. I observed a lowered blue Chevrolet brake quickly and then execute an illegal U-turn. We followed the car and the driver’s eyes looked as if he had been drinking.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. COURTROOM — SAME DAY
Officer Herber is drawing on a whiteboard showing the position of Pina’s Chevrolet and the radio car.
OFFICER HERBER
As soon as I clamped the handcuffs on Mr. Aguilar’s left wrist, he resisted the arrest — pushing off the car and hitting me repeatedly. I found myself being pushed out towards traffic and felt someone tug me from behind. Suddenly I was being viciously attacked by Mr. Noriega with my own baton. I fell with a gash to my head. I tried to reach my weapon, but the crowd stood on my hands. I yelled for my partner to shoot, but he didn’t have a clear shot. Finally, I broke free, freed my weapon and fired at the suspect.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. COURTROOM — SAME DAY
Officer Herber is on the stand. Miguel cross-examines him.
MIGUEL
You testified earlier that you had been a soldier and received special training in defending yourself. How is your eyesight?
OFFICER HERBER
I don’t need glasses.
MIGUEL
You testified that you looked two car lengths ahead and saw Mr. Pina’s eyes in his review mirror — and determined he was drunk.
OFFICER HERBER
His eyes were red.
MIGUEL
Could that be pink eye or from studying late with no sleep?
D.A. STONE
Objection — calls for speculation.
MIGUEL
Withdrawn, your honor. Officer Herber, you testified that you had Mr. Aguilar up against a car, handcuffed on one hand, and that he hit you repeatedly. Could you demonstrate how he hit you when his back was to you?
OFFICER HERBER
Well, he tried to hit me. He kept trying to turn around and pushed me towards traffic.
MIGUEL
So he actually never hit you as you testified? And then you hit him in the kidneys with your club?
OFFICER HERBER
Yes.
MIGUEL
How hard did you hit him?
OFFICER HERBER
As hard as I could from the position I was in.
MIGUEL
So you hit him as hard as you could with the same “deadly weapon” Mr. Noriega is charged with using on you?
D.A. STONE
Objection, argumentative.
MIGUEL
Your honor, it goes to identifying that both weapons were the same.
JUDGE HUEY P. SHEPARD
Sustained. The jury will ignore the question.
MIGUEL
Where did the baton wind up?
OFFICER HERBER
It was found across the street, about 15 feet past the curb, where it landed after Mr. Noriega threw it at me.
MIGUEL
Threw it at you? Did you duck?
OFFICER HERBER
I don’t remember.
MIGUEL
When did he throw it at you?
OFFICER HERBER
Well, he was about to hit me…when I shot him…
MIGUEL
The question was when did he throw it.
D.A. STONE
Please give him time to answer.
OFFICER HERBER
It was after I shot him. He threw it at me after I shot him.
MIGUEL
Your honor, I ask that the witness demonstrate how Mr. Noriega held the club and their positions when Officer Herber shot him.
JUDGE HUEY P. SHEPARD
Granted.
OFFICER HERBER
Well, he raised up like this with the baton above his head. I had finally gotten loose from the crowd and came up to one knee. When he came at me I shot him.
MIGUEL
May the record reflect that Officer Herber is aiming slanting upwards and that he depicted the defendant as having the baton directly above his own head.
For Barrio Barrister (F-17) click here.
Recommended that you reread BB (F-1) first.
