MUGGING – Part 2
In the following
week or two, I had to return to the hospitals for follow-up visits.. In the end, my eyesight seemed no worse that
it had been before the attack. I had to
pay about $600 for various medical bills, while Medicare (one advantage of
being old – I am 78 years old) paid about $9,000 to the Emergency Rooms for me.
I tried not to
let the mugging destroy what was left of my life. I had already booked a trip to Taiwan for
December 2016, went there, and saw one of my former students from mainland
China who is now studying international law in Taiwan. She showed me around the northern part of the
island and made the visit worthwhile for me.
While the
Detective Michael Martin, originally suspected that the license plate jotted down
by spectators to the mugging, would merely reveal a stolen vehicle – such was
not the case. Through the license plate
number, he learned that the girl friend of the mugger was in the get-away car,
along with a male who had driven the culprit to safety. They gave him up. He was a 20-year-old Kasadine G. Smith. A court date was set for him in January 2017;
I arrived before 8am, though the court room did not open till 8:30. I had already been in contact with Natalie
Nguyen, who works with crime victims as part of the District Attorney’s
office. She arrived, and soon there was
the regular bussle as the court began to move toward opening. I had been told that a plea-deal had been
agreed upon between the prosecution and defense, so it would be all over this
day. After the buzz and discussions,
Natalie informed me that the defense attorney had requested a delay, so nothing
would happen this day, and Mr. Smith would not even appear. I left the court room disappointed because it
was not over yet.
I had noticed air
fares to Asia continued to decline. I
decided to go – booking a return flight from Chicago to Vietnam for $590 with
insurance. This would not happen until 3
April through 19 April. I informed
Natalie, because if there were a trial, I would be needed to testify. I wanted her to know I would not be available
during those dates. Smith’s next court
appearance was set for March. For that,
my appearance was not required. Another
plea-deal. I did not attend, but nothing
was accomplished, for another delay was requested. In early April, a friend drove me from my
apartment to the train station, where I took a bus for nearly 3 hours to
Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, then a few hours of checking luggage, going through
security, and then the 14-hour flight to Seoul, South Korea, then more security
and board another plane for a 6-hour flight to Vietnam. About 2 hours to get my visa stamped and go
through customs, and finally a taxi to the hotel. But the trip was worth it – beautiful Halong
Bay with its “thousand islands,” Hanoi, and finally Saigon. There was no English-language news on the TV
in the hotel, so I had no idea what was happening, except for the many soccer
games on TV, games from the English Premier League, the Bundis Liga, the
Spanish League, even VN teams. Away from
the news for 2 weeks, on the return flight to Seoul, I wondered if war had
broken out with North Korea. Happily,
not.
I arrived back in
Milwaukee the night of 19 April, and listened to voice mail on my phone. There were 2 messages from the Asst. DA now
handling the Smith case. She had phoned
me while I was in VN to tell me a deal had been made about the Smith case. The next day I called the number she had left
on my phone, and urged her to call me. I
called her again the following day, and left a message to call me. Then I called Natalie, the representative of
victims, who urged me not to call again.
There would be a court date on 11 May to finalize everything. I was not required to attend, as it was not a
trial but for the judge to accept or reject the plea-deal. What I had understood on the voice mail from
the Asst. DA was that Smith would do not time, but be on probation for several
years. The more I pondered this, the
more I wanted to attend the court proceeding and make a statement.
On Thursday 11
May 2017, I woke at 6 am (as I night owl, I usually go to bed at 2am), went
through the court house security before 8, and was one of the first into the
court when the chamber opened at 8:30.
Natalie came early, and I was embarrassed when I did not recognize her, but my eyesight is poor. She introduced me to the Assistant DA who was
now handling the case. I was happy to
finally meet her and discuss the case.
She explained to me what she would be asking for, but it would be up to
the judge to accept or reject her recommendation. I wanted to know if Smith would have to do
any time, because as I had understood the voice mail, he would only be placed
on probation. No, she said. She was asking for 18 months in jail, which
translates into an 8-month sentence.
There would be 5-years’ probation, restitution of the nearly $600 which
I had had to pay in medical bills, and a “no contact” order (between Smith and
me). One of the reasons I was there to
make a statement was that I had assumed, wrongly, that he would be let out on
the street without doing any time.
Nevertheless, I still wanted to make a statement.
All the other
cases were heard first. Those
defendants, singly would enter the courtroom, cuffed, and in jail
uniforms. In each case, the defendant
had agreed to a plea deal, pleading guilty.
The judge addressed the defendant – did he understand that this would
mean his loss of the right to vote and other rights of citizens. In each case, the defendant acknowleged he
understood what the judge was detailing.
The defense attorney sometimes added an explanation, but the plea deals
had already been agreed to so the sentencing was almost perfunctory, and the
cases were quickly closed. Finally, the
case of K. G. Smith was called. He did
not enter from the area of the incarcerated defendants. Indeed, I was surprised when I realized he
was seated a few rows behind Natalie and me in the courtroom. I am unsure I would have recognized him, had
he not been called. His skin seemed
darker, and he looked stockier than I recalled.
The ADA spoke
first, recounting the events of the case.
I learned several new facts about the case in her presentation: in the
struggle between K. Smith and myself, his cell phone had been broken. I laughed to myself – for it had been broken
when he him me in the face with it! She
assured the judge that K G Smith had not previous record, and as he was only
20-years old, he also had not previous juvenile records, either. His girl friend, who had been in the get-away
car, was expecting his child in 4 months.
And on the day of the mugging, before he sought money from he, he had
lost his job.
Next, I was
called to present my statement. First, I
wanted to thank many involved in the case, such as Detective Michael Martin who
apprehended the assailant, and a Marquette U. police officer who raced to the
scene, causing Smith to cease his attempt to get into my pockets and jump into
the car, to thank the others who also came to the scene. I had no idea of their names, not could I
identify them, between my poor eyesight, and my bleeding eyebrow and eye lid
and face when they arrived. And it was
the by-standers who spotted and jotted down the license plate of the get-away
car. Many people rushed to halt a
crime. And it was through the license
plate that Det. Martin was able to trace the mugger.
When the
detective first questioned Smith, he alleged that the cause of the altercation
was that I had used a racial slur. That
was not true. I brought with me a
portion of the Congressional Record, 27 February 2017 – the remarks of
Congressman Cedric Richmond, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and
the remarks were for Black History Month 2017.
Richmond spoke of civil rights in his home town, New Orleans, which is
my home town, too. He spoke about the
very first sit-in in New Orleans in 1960 and the 7 who participated. He mentioned their names – and mine was one
of those names. Cong. Richmond said that
the 7 were freedom fighters, and much rests upon their shoulders. My shoulders too. Of course, before we sat-in, we were tained –
in the summer of 1960. One of our
teachers, trainers, was Martin Luther King, Jr., who at that time was, off the
record, supporting the Democrats and John Kennedy in that year’s presidential
election. On another day, we had another
teacher, Jackie Robinson, the first Black to play in major league baseball,
what was then the Brooklyn Dodgers. Most
are unaware that Robinson had been involved in civil rights, even when in the
army, in the South during WWII. Because
he refused to abide by local laws on a bus, he was nearly court-martialed. In the summer of 1960 he was teaching us how
to partake in civil rights. He was also
supporting the Republicans and Richard Nixon for President in the
election. Training was not that
unusual. Even Rosa Parks had been
trained before she refused to relinquish her seat on a bus in Montgomery,
causing the major boycott of the 1950s.
As a result of
the sit-in mentioned by Cong. Richmond, I became a convicted felon in 1960 when
I was 21-years old. There had been 7 of
us in that sit-in, 5 Blacks and 2 whites.
When we went to court and sat together beside our Black attorneys, the
judge threatened us with contempt of court for messing up, integrating his
court. After a number of years, out
cases reached the US Supreme Court and out convitions were reversed. On October 22, 2016, I did not use a racial
slur.
The Emergency
Rooms cost me about $600, but the cost to Medicade was $9,000. Will there be any money left in Medicare when
you (pointing to the Asst. DA) retire?
Or when the defendant retires?
Crime is costly.
Finally, I have
lived for several years in China, in German, and in Scotland. I was never physically attacked by natives of
those countries.
A society that
does not punish crime, encourages crime.
Snith’s sister
then was called to the stand by the defence.
She stressed how he helped her with her children, and was a good brother
who had never before done anything like this.
The defense attorney then asked for slight modifications in the plea
deal – that Smith be allowed time to go to the hospital when his girl friend
had their baby.
Judge Pedro Colon
made a concluding statement. He
understood the young man had just lost his job, and had no previous record, but
he used violence against an elderly citizen.
Judge Colon also spoke of the high cost of crime, and though he was
willing to allow time to attend Smith’s girl friend when the baby came, still
he was imposing the sentence suggested by the ADA, which included time in jail
and then probation and restitution and a no-contact order. Case closed.
Smith now exited
from a different door, to go to the jail.
I was surprised when his defense attorney came to me and shook my hand.
I am glad I made
the statement, and so thankful to all who helped in this case. I am glad it is OVER. It has been a dark cloud over me for more
than 6 months. And after, I was
emotionally drained, reading and writing less.
Emotional pain. Hugh Murray
