Next day
Well, they managed to get through the cross-examination of Belajac, the tow-truck driver before breaking for lunch.
The attempt to discredit his testimony featured two main strategies: get him to contradict previous testimony before the grand jury (which occurred in January) and/or testimony given yesterday, and 2)make a big deal about lies to investigators and defense attorneys back in December. Belajac had lied because he didn't want to get involved and "feared for his life." I'm not sure any of the cross-examination had much effect, given that his credibility seems almost ENHANCED since he reluctantly came to testify after being subpeoned (sp?). He did seem to have trouble remembering details and changed some of the details from testimony given before the grand jury in January. The cross-examination by Thomassey didn't seem to get very far; he tried to assert that the tow truck was not in the video, but it turned out that reflections from the truck were clearly visible after close examination. Cross-ex by Ceraso was slow, and really very aimless, and he kept going over minute details over and over again. He ended with sweeping indicts of Belajc's testimony based on the minor inconsistencies and the fact that he had previously lied about seeing anything that night.
Krastek was relatively silent, but when he did object, is appeared necessary and almost all objections were sustained (usually it involved clarifying misrepresentations by Ceraso of Belajac's grand jury testimony). I can't really comment on whether, and on what grounds Krastek should have intervened more.
Belajac did appear to weaken yesterday's testimony by saying to Ceraso (Albert's attorney) that yes, he saw five cops, but doesn't recall exactly who was doing the fighting (this guy was very hard to understand at times, and the TV news reports didn't mention this; I"ll check tomorrow's PG). In other words, his witnessing of cops beating on Gammage still stands, but he's not sure if all five officers at the scene were involved in the beating.
I'll report more later if necessary, depending on what I read in the Post-Gazette.
Kelly
Part 2 by Pete Shell
After the first 2 days of the trial, I was starting to feel depressed, fearing that if the trial kept going the way it was going, there would definitely be no justice for Jonny Gammage. After last night's and today's court sessions, I'm starting to feel a little optimism. This, in spite of the prosecutor's at best lack-luster efforts to bring out the truth. The hero in today's trial was coroner Cyril Wecht, who held his ground under intense defense challenge. It was an emotional roller-coaster of a day, with tears, clapping, laughing, and a dramatic ending that I'll never forget because of the brave symbolism when Mr. Gammage instinctively, proudly and defiantly stood up in a fighting spirit.
I arrived at noon for the daily protest outside the court-house and there was a spirited picket of about 20 African-American and white folks demanding justice for Jonny. We had one sign that said, "Honk for Jonny" and lots of people in cars were making their sympathies known. It was there that I found out that Judge Cashman had earlier tried the absurd move of putting a gag order on Mrs. Gammage - even though she isn't a witness or a lawyer! After Mrs. Gammage's lawyer reminded the good Judge that you can't put a gag order on her, he so kindly rescinded it. Also, one of the police officers was complaining that Ray Seals was "looking at him in an intimidating way" so they had a private conference with him demanding that he stop doing it... only in Pennsylvania...
The afternoon session started with testimony from the Allegheny coroner at the time, Dr. Shakir (sp?) - he is a forensic pathologist who has worked for the coroner's office since 1988. He did the first autopsy on Jonny Gammage and detailed the over 20 injuries all over Jonny's body in detail (face, head, back, arms, knee and what looked like bite marks on his buttocks). Pictures of his badly beaten face were shown, bringing tears to many people's eyes. The prosecutor failed to ask about the 30 or so beatings to Jonny's groin and thighs even though this was testified to by officer Henderson in the coroner's inquest.
They also described the internal examination where several more bruises were found - on his sternum, neck and back, and hemorraging in his larnyx, back, neck and eyes. The pathologist testified that the hemorraging was caused by increased pressure to the neck and chest, and many of the other injuries are caused by a blunt instrument such as a baton or fist.
Combined with information from the police reports, both pathologists concluded with certainty that the only plausible cause of death could be the compression of the chest and back caused by the officers' feet and knees on his back and neck. When somebody is on their stomach and somebody else is pressing down on them from above, their rib cage can't expand, so their lungs can't fill with air and they suffocate.
They ruled out all other possible causes of death, such as prior diseases, heart problems, gases or drugs. He was a healthy 31 year old man. The suffocation also would account for kicking or struggling. The police claimed that he was fighting with them, but he was fighting for his life, for a breath of air.
The defense attornies tried to dispute Dr. Shakir's testimony but were unsuccessful. For example Thomassey tried to say that the police could have accidently killed him or that they thought he was fighting with them, but the pathologist made the point that "we as human beings have common sense - when you see somebody kick and gasp for air, you see that they need air." Ceraso got Dr. Shakir to admit that if he fell down, he could have suffered some of the same injuries, seeming to desperately try to place doubt that Jonny was actually beaten. He also got the Doctor to admit that, hypothetically, the hemorraging in the throat could be consistent with the tubes that the medics placed in Jonny's throat - but forgot to mention that Jonny was already dead by the time the medics started working on him.
Cyril Wecht was the star witness for me. Currently the Allegheny County Coroner, he was hired by the Gammage family to do a second autopsy on Jonny Gammage in Syracuse. He had the same basic conclusions that Dr. Shakir had - that with medical certainty the weight applied to Jonny Gammage as he lay prone on his stomach must have been the cause of his death. It is a natural reaction to kick and fight for air if you are being suffocated in this way.
The fireworks came when the cross-examination started.
Q: "If there were a fight, then you wouldn't be able to tell if the person was fighting or struggling air?"
A: "That depends - if three police were over him and bigger than him, then you would be able to."
Q: "Doesn't the judgement as to whether he was fighting or struggling for air depend on what's in the cops' mind?"
A: "I might have what I think is a very patriotic, noble idea in my mind to assassinate a leader but that doesn't make it right."
At this point we all erupted into noisy applause! The judge scolded us, saying "this is not a theatre or a stadium. If I hear one more outburst from the audience, I'll kick you all out of here!"
Since the prosecution wasn't going to do the job, Dr. Wecht did. He made the point that there's been literature out there that's been known for several years - that you're not supposed to force a suspect onto their stomach and apply pressure on their back. Once you cuff them you're supposed to turn them over. Also, when you have somebody of Jonny Gammage's size (he's smaller than all the cops) down on the ground, and he's not fleeing, he's not a threat and he has no weapon, no further force is necessary.
Attorney Thomassey claimed that the medics testified that they had "no reason to believe that Jonny was in distress". Dr. Wecht responded by pointing out that if you don't take the vital signs, then you don't know whether somebody is passed out, sleeping or dead.
Some more notable quotes by Cyril Wecht: "If there are 5 officers, and 1 man is not posing a threat, he hadn't committed a crime, then what was the problem, what was the urgency of subduing him in the way that they did?"
The defense attorney tried to get Dr. Wecht to admit that his client, Albert, didn't do a particular action which directly caused Jonny's death:
Q: "Michael Albert, stand up. Could you sat that there is any particular thing that he did by himself that caused Gammage's death?"
A: (paraphrased) "I would say that it was a significant contributing factor. The answer is yes but it's not the sole cause. It's not my job to cleave out exactly who did what - it's the job of the you attornies, judge and the jury. You can have several forces coming together that caused his death - it's the cumulative effort."
Despite intense haranguing, Dr. Wecht refused to give ground on this. Next the defense asked Dr. Wecht to assume that the first 7 minutes didn't happen and that all that was left was 3 minutes were Albert wasn't involved. Dr. Wecht: "If you take away the 7 minutes and leave the 3 minutes, you've just converted Marilyn Monroe to Philis Dillard."
The defense attorney kept hassling Wecht, until he demanded, "Tell me what my client did that night. Just tell me from A to Z what he did" to which Wecht replied, "It's not for me to tell you what he did. It's up to him to tell this jury what he was doing there and why he participated in this."
At which point several police and attorneys from the left side of the court-room stood up in protest, and it was in reaction that Mr. Gammage so proudly and defiantly stood up to them. The judge called for a conference, and when they came back he adjourned for the day, 45 minutes early. As of this evening, there are rumors that the defense will ask that a mis-trial be called - Cyril Wecht has let too much of the truth to come out. Despite the D.A.'s office failure to effectively prosecute the case, the jury has heard some of the truth. There is hope.
Reporting for WCCPJ, this is Pete Shell
Next day