JUDGEMENT DAY

Head Shot

We had, as I recall, about a 2 week notice for the actual Court House Hearing. We had gotten many notifications of continuances. Greenfield had told us to pay close attention to the transcript of the preliminary hearing because Philip Lauer would be using it in the trial. We got the transcript about 6 days from the hearing date, Dec.5, , my birthday. The year was 1995.


I didn't read it at first because I assume it was an actual account of the Preliminary Hearing. Scott had taken a copy to read on his commute to NYC. He called and was astounded by the inaccuracies, subtle but vital to telling the account of the events. Enough to create Reasonable Doubt. When I finally ready the transcript I was also astounded. It was not an account from the hearing I testified at. We  tried to contacted Greenfield at the number given and we had a busy signal for hours. We were beginning to think the whole thing was a ruse. When we finally got in touch with her and told her our concerns, she indifferently responded that there was nothing she could do about it and it was hard to prove. We did some research and know that wasn't true. We believe the Northampton County District Attorney, John Morganelli did not want to see this go to a court room. It was a Monday Morning and we got the call from Greenfield to come to the courthouse asap. She said Judge McFadden was pissed. We were wondering about what. We were told by , an attorney from Lamba Legal, not to piss off a Judge. But what do you do when a judge is Pissed off before the show begins. Before you even get to the court house the Judge is pissed? We arrived to lots of commotions. There was a body discovered in the Canal in Easton that morning. What was strange was that when Greenfield told me that, I got the impression that I should read between the lines of what she had just said. She had this strange stare. I have often gotten the impression that I am walking on thin ice by questioning the system and also I have made no excuses for questioning the Hyprocrisy of being called a "fag" by closet cases.  Also soon after that , as walking to the McFadden's Court Room she said to me  "you have a big mouth". Which was very out of context, but maybe not. Never had the chance to get her to elaborate. I have been very OUT Spoken about our situation and all the Criminal Activity that we believe we have been victims of. When we got into the courtroom, we were seated. Our neighbor was seated behind us. Maybe they thought he was going to psych us out or something. They had him dressed down in flannels like the Country Pappy. What was strange is that Greenfield had announced that the Judge that was still on the bench was Judge Baretta, a new judge. She said it in such a way that we got the impression that she was speaking in Code, very common in this region. Like we were supposed to know something about him.We got the feeling she was telling us he was Gay in a backdoor way. Why would we care? What Scott and I felt was strange is we seem to have caught Judge Barrette's eye. He was seriously checking us out for some reason. Then he left. We then got these glares from Judge McFadden when she was seated, which we believe were unwarranted. There was a conference in the back room with Greenfield and Lauer. When Greenfield returned she was gloating that "we didn't even discuss your case. We listened to Judge Mcfadden boast about her daughter having a role in the local production of the 'Nutcracker". We were astonished at the dismissive tone and the indifference. We had to decide before Jury selection whether sitting on a witness stand with a pissed off judge, with a defense attorney creating discrepancies from a transcript that we believe was fictional , with a prosecuting attorney who really doesn't give a shit about our situation. We truly believe that this was all staged for effect. We believe we were railroad into dropping the charges with the assistance of the Northampton District Attorneys Office.. What was interesting is that Lauer had this very weird look on his face and kept looking at us. He looked very uncomfortable. He knew we knew and actually looked spooked and knew we were on to him. What was disturbing was the lecture McFadden gave from the bench. We believe we were being chastised for even thinking that a sense Fairness was in the stars. We believe that she was telling us that we as Out Gay Men held some responsibility for our victimization and should have some expectation of being harassed. We Faxed the Courthouse asking for a copy of the transcript of what was actually said and we never got a response. We got home. Were so depressed. We actually thought that we were going to have a turning point in this bazaar 12 years experience. The following day, Lenny was back to his performance.  

Happy Birthday?




Any comments or suggestions?




Hi Becky!