Trial Court Series No. 11              Published on October 31, 2011

Wanting to make amends for serving in the Vietnam War, I wanted so badly as an attorney to one day help a Southeast Asian person charged with a crime.

I got my chance when I once represented a young man charged with the rape of a Cambodian woman in their apartment building. The jury found him Not Guilty, which I believed to be the correct verdict, but you would not have thought such an ending possible when the trial started.

You see, a good defense attorney will tell his client to “get to a jury” as soon as possible. In our case, it was at the “ringing of the bell,” that moment in full view of the 12 jurors and two alternates when a judge asks the defendant to rise and solemnly demands to know how he (or she) wishes to plead.

First and Only Time Most Defendants Speak

“Not guilty” are words that I advised the young man to say loud enough for the number 14 juror in the far corner of the courtroom to plainly hear. A defendant cannot whisper these words. It would seem as if he wasn’t sure of his innocence, and if that is the case, why should the fact-finder be any more certain upon hearing the person for the first, and in most criminal cases, the “last” time they hear his voice. (Unless you have an unusually gifted, articulate defendant, who has been thoroughly “prepped” to withstand the assault of even the most mediocre cross-examiner, you recommend to your client that there is little more to say after announcing a clear and concise “NOT GUILTY!”

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I advised most defendants to assert their right not to testify, thereby placing the full burden on the prosecutor to proof guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This was planned before the last juror took his seat. My client, who spoke no English, got to his feet as the judge addressed him. He remembered to turn slightly toward the jury box and look in the jury’s direction, also as planned.

Worst Performance Ever Before a Jury

What came out of his mouth was anything but reassuring of his innocence. He shouted at the top of his lungs, making an unintelligible sound that made me cringe and want to hide beneath the defense table and raise a white flag of surrender.

• He yelled “Not Guilty” in the Cambodian language! No one, I mean no one on the jury, or even in the courtroom, knew what that young man had just blurted out.

I forgot to instruct him through an interpreter to practice his English at this crucial time in the one and only trial of his life. Instead of projecting a confidence in his innocence, he sent a signal that was confusing at best, and at worst, made a bad impression that could turn someone presuming him innocent to wondering why he even asked for a trial following his now evident show of guilt.

– – Declaring One’s Innocence in a Foreign Tongue —

The trial, however, went well for the defense, and I was able to score points against the young woman who never told the assistant district attorney that she suffered from seizures.

It all came out under my cross-examination, making it seem that the prosecutor was trying to hide something. In addition, she had suffered a seizure outside her apartment building the day this incident occurred and woke up in her second-floor bedroom with my client breathing heavily while standing over her.

Witnesses Testified Defendant Came to Her Aid

We found witnesses who said he carried her from the pavement outside into the apartment complex and performed a needed humanitarian service for her.

Her story was drastically different She testified that he raped her. But there was no physical evidence, no corroborating witnesses, and she had to admit that she was unable to recall any details of an assault when I pressed her.  In other words, she told the jury she had been raped after finding herself in bed with a man, unable to remember how she got there, or how this man was able to breach her most private room.

What she ended up telling her husband shortly after finding the two together was anybody’s guess.

The husband never came to court.

The jury took notice.

I would like to say that my client and I became fast friends after the Not-Guilty verdict, but it just wouldn’t be true. However, I did become quite close with the interpreter, a short Vietnamese man who translated multiple Asian languages as well as dialects.

Feeling like Family with a new Kit Carson Scout

Shaking hands with him made me feel I had made a lifelong friend. He made me feel like we were family.

He also reminded me of a “Kit Carson” scout that worked with me, with our platoon, serving as translator and guide in the “bush.”

I never really had a chance to thank that scout for his help, and for his cheery attitude in the field, particularly in the mornings when he greeted me with a smile and the energy to make the best of each day.

I now believe that my translator friend became the scout I never was able to thank. I had tried to make amends many years ago, and it wasn’t until a moment in deep meditation that my “collective unconsciousness” arose and brought it to my attention, and finally help me to make amends.

I felt Healed. I felt Forgiven