Trial and Error by Yago Novo – Installment 19
That round of golf never materialized. It was not that I was trying to avoid Joshua; it just happened that we had conflicting schedules almost all week long. But the day before I was set to take the depositions of Claudia and Officer Garcia, I met with Joshua again. It was a chance meeting, one that neither of us had planned. It was around 9:00 p.m., and I was having a drink at Tobacco Road when Joshua came in. He was alone and dressed very poorly for his standards; no jacket, a short-sleeved brown shirt with a goofy tie, a pair of khaki slacks with a visible hanger wrinkle above the knees, and sneakers. He looked somber. It had been a while since our first meeting at Tobbacco Road. Joshua approached me and, in a robotic voice, said, “Did you hear the news?”
“What news?” I asked him.
“They found the prosecutor this evening in his office, single shot through the heart with a .44. He was dead when they found him, blood all around him. He was still holding the gun in his left hand, silencer and all. They say he left a note, but it’s not being released. Two homicide detectives called me at home at around eight, I had just finished watching Jeopardy. I called you on your cell, but it was turned off; then I called you at home, and your wife told me you were preparing for tomorrow’s depos. That’s when I knew I would find you here.”
I was speechless. This was one outcome I had not anticipated. I looked at him, and I saw a single tear rolling down his left cheek, out of the outside corner of his eye. Before I could say anything he continued: “I thought I should let you know, just in case you didn’t find out until tomorrow.”
He then turned around and left.
The next day, I cancelled both depositions. As it would turn out, I would never take them. The case lingered on for another month, with three different prosecutors briefly taking over and then withdrawing from it after finding unspecified conflicts of interest. Eventually the case was assigned to the chief of an out-of-county prosecutor’s office. After less than two days with it, they filed a motion to dismiss it before Judge Tyson. We talked briefly before the hearing, mostly about how unnecessarily unfortunate things had turned. We also agreed on how to proceed with his motion. We decided it would be a closed session with only the parties to the case present plus a court reporter from his office upstate.
Judge Tyson had tried to recuse himself from the case, but we convinced him to stay on. The hearing took less than five minutes. Judge Tyson granted the State’s motion to dismiss, and I then requested that a judgment of acquittal be entered. Finding no opposition from the State, the judge complied. The State then requested that the file be permanently sealed, with access to it only by way of court order. I agreed. Joshua did not even say a word.
After the hearing I was approached by two F.B.I. agents, who wanted to talk to me about Detective Pescatore. I told them that I did not have any corroborated evidence about any wrongdoing by the detective, that all that I had to say was of record in the court file. This was true. His statement to me was off record and not admissible in any proceeding. They said that they would be in contact with me.
Joshua Newman was eventually disbarred, based on his conduct alone. I was called to testify at the Bar disciplinary hearing, and I submitted all the letters that I had in my file. I understand that he was also charged with other violations of the Code of Ethics. My testimony was irrelevant. They had already made up their minds even before the first question was asked.
A few months later, Judge Tyson was named to the Third District Court of Appeals, and last thing I heard, he was a front runner for the vacant position of State Attorney General. I am still practicing criminal defense in the tri-county area, but I am even more selective about which cases I take. I have learned a thing or two by trial and error; one of them is that, although the heat of Miami is very exciting, you must be careful about what you do in a Miami summer, because in this part of the world, summers can last a lifetime.
THE END
