“Right.”
“You also said that Murphy and two other officers were outside the gate when you shot Jones. Was Murph wearing his body cam?”
“I think so.”
“Was it turned on?”
“I presume it was. You’ll need to talk to him.”
“We will. Who were the other two officers?”
“Rick Siragusa came in as backup and cut off Jones at the corner of Fillmore and Geary.”
“I know him.” Rick “Goose” Siragusa was a tough guy from the Excelsior. Not the brightest guy, but a solid cop.
“Charlie Connor drove over and cut off Jones in front of the post office.”
“I don’t know him.”
“He was in the class before me at the Academy. Good cop. Nice guy.”
“Were Siragusa and Connor wearing their body cams?’
“I presume. You can find them at Northern Station.”
“We will.”
“So you’re my lawyer?”
“Yeah.” I studied his face, which had aged ten years in the past twelve hours. “You want me to be your lawyer, right?”
“Right.”
“Then I’m your lawyer. I need to get back to the office. I’m going to request copies of the police reports, videos, and other evidence. They’re obligated to provide anything that might exonerate you. We’ll track down your partner and the other officers at the scene. Pete is looking for witnesses. It would make our self-defense argument stronger if somebody can confirm that Jones had a gun. It would be even better if we can see it in a video.”
“He had a gun, Mike. You’ll be able to see it in the video from my body cam.”
“Good.” I wasn’t so sure. “Did you know Jones?”
“No.”
“Did Murph?”
“Not as far as I know.”
“Did you know that they found a dozen AK-47s in the trunk of his car?”
His eyes opened wide. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Jones wasn’t a good guy.”
“No kidding. Does it change anything?”
“Probably not.”
Not the answer that he wanted. “How do you think the arraignment will play out?”
“It won’t take long. I’ll have your dad bring a suit and tie for you. When the judge asks for your plea, you stand up and say, ‘Not guilty’ in a respectful tone.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
✽✽✽
I punched in Pete’s number on my iPhone. He answered immediately. “Where are you, Mick?”
“Heading to Luca’s office. Got anything we can use?”
“Working on it.”
“I need you to find Kevin Murphy, Rick Siragusa, and Charlie Connor.”
“I’ll track them down.”
“I’ll meet you in the Fillmore.”
“Not a good night to come down here. There’s going to be a march from City Hall to the Fillmore. They’re going to have a memorial service for Jones in front of the post office. They’re expecting thousands of people. The mayor is begging everybody to stay home. The chief is calling in every available cop to help with crowd control.”
Or riot control.
His tone turned serious. “You remember when I told you that this could get ugly?”
“Yeah.”
“It just did.”
16
“THEY’RE MARCHING DOWN GEARY”
Assistant Chief Giovanni Bacigalupi III’s expression was grim as he stared at the flat-screen TV in the conference room of his older brother’s law firm. His raspy voice filled with a mixture of anger and frustration. “They’re marching down Geary.”
Luca was sitting next to him. “It’ll pass, Gio.”
“It’s going to get worse.”
It undoubtedly would.
A driving rain was beating against the windows. Gio’s face was frozen into a frown. Luca had done the unthinkable and removed his suit jacket. The volume on the TV was turned off, but the closed-captioning indicated that five thousand people were marching from City Hall to the Fillmore. Many of the candles held by the marchers had been extinguished by the rain. The demonstration had been mostly peaceful, but a bus was stopped on Fillmore, and a car was overturned in front of Northern Station. Police in riot gear were stationed along the route. The media frenzy was fully engaged.
“We’ll get through it, Gio,” I said.
“Easy for you to say.”
“We need to focus on what we can control.”
“The chief won’t let me come to work. He said that I have to take a leave until Johnny’s case is resolved.”
It was probably for the better. “I need you to focus on Johnny.”
“I need you to get him out of jail.”
“Working on it.”
“Work harder. I heard that you couldn’t get a judge to set bail.”
“We’ll try again at the arraignment.”
“What are the chances?”
Not great. “Hard to predict. If it’s first-degree murder, it’s going to be an uphill battle.”
“He’ll wear a monitoring device. We’ll agree that he’ll stay with Maria and me.”
“We’ll make that offer in the morning.”
His tone turned pointed. “We need the judge to agree.”
I leveled with him. “You know how things work, Gio. I can’t give you any guarantees.”
“We’re talking about my son, Mike.”
Luca put a hand on Gio’s shoulder. “Mike’s doing everything that he can, Gio. It’s been less than a day. Things take time.”
I appreciated the vote of confidence, albeit tepid.
Gio wouldn’t let it go. “My son is in jail.”
“We’ll fix it,” I said. “It would be helpful if you, Maria, and the boys are in court in the morning. It’s good to have a show of support.”
“We’ll be there. Anything else?”
“Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow morning is going to be stressful.”
✽✽✽
Luca stood in the doorway to my office down the hall from his. “Did Dennis get you set up on our computers?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you using your laptop?”
“It’s easier to access forms on my computer. I’m working on document requests. We need to get our hands on the police reports and body cam videos as soon as we can.”
“Sounds about right.” He pointed down the hall. “I have my best associate standing by to help you. Her name is Nadezhda Nikonova. She goes by Nady. UCLA undergrad and Boalt Law School. Top of her class at both. Smart as a whip. You’ll like working with her.”
Great. “Does she have any experience with criminal matters?”
“I’m afraid not, but you won’t have to explain anything to her more than once.”
“For the moment, please ask her to monitor the news, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. I want to know if any video is posted on our case. That will make our lives more complicated.”
“Will do.”
“Did you reach Tom Bearrows?” He was a solid defense lawyer who used to be a cop. “I want to engage him as co-counsel and get him up to speed.”
“He’s out of town. He’ll be back next week.”
I can make do until then. “Anything else?”
“I’m getting a lot of inquiries from the press.”
I glanced at my iPhone. I had thirty-four voice messages, three dozen texts, and over a hundred e-mails. “Refer them to me.”
“What are you planning to tell them?”
“That Johnny is innocent. We have no further comment.”
“Should we hire a PR firm?”
“Not yet.” This isn’t like trying to win over public support for a real estate deal. “We need to make sure that all media contacts are coordinated through one person: me.”
“Understood. Anything else that I can do for you?”
“Would you mind making some coffee?”
“Sure.”
I wondered if he knew how to turn on the coffee pot. I glanced at my laptop, where I was streaming the live feed from Channel 4. “There is going to be a press briefing at nine o’clock tonight. We should see what they have to say.”
“I’ll put it up on the big screen in the conference room.”
17
“THERE WERE INCONSISTENCIES”
Pete’s name appeared on my iPhone. I pressed the green button and heard shouting in the background. My brother’s tone was gruff. “You still at Luca’s office?”
“Yeah. Where are you?”
“Geary and Fillmore.”
I was streaming CNN on my laptop. “I’m watching on TV. Looks like a lot of people.”
“The crowd goes all the way to Japantown. It’s been pretty orderly, but they flipped over a couple of cars and broke some windows.”
“Not so good.”
“Reverend Tucker is coming over with Jones’s mother. This could get nasty.”
“Stay safe, Pete.”
“My self-preservation instincts are still pretty good. I’ll call you later.”
✽✽✽
“Any idea what they’re going to say?” Luca asked.
“We’ll see.”
He was holding a can of Coke Classic. I was nursing a cup of Peet’s coffee. Luca’s associate, Nady, had joined us. She was a confident woman in her early thirties with intense eyes, chiseled features, and a “don’t-mess-with-me” demeanor. She reminded me of Rosie.
The conference room was quiet. We were watching the feed on Channel 4. The obligatory split screen showed the anchor on one side and an aerial view of the crowd in the Fillmore on the other. The crawl noted that a press conference would begin momentarily.
The anchor invoked a melodramatic tone. “We are going to cut away from the march to carry a live press conference at police headquarters, where Rita Roberts is standing by. Rita?”
They switched over to the reporter who had covered major stories in the Bay Area for three decades. She adjusted her earpiece. “Dan? Dan? Is that you? Hello?”
They toggled between the anchor and the reporter several times before Rita finally figured out that she was, in fact, on live TV. The consummate pro pretended that nothing was amiss and started talking. “We’re live at SFPD headquarters where a briefing is about to start concerning the death of a young man named Juwon Jones, who was tragically shot and killed by a police officer identified as Giovanni Bacigalupi the Fourth, the son of Assistant Chief Giovanni Bacigalupi the Third.”
Luca squeezed the empty can. “Is this really necessary?”
Let it go, Luca.
Roosevelt led the mayor, the chief, and the D.A. to a podium in front of a navy background bearing the SFPD logo. Their expressions were equally grim as they tried to show solidarity while jockeying for position. As Roosevelt approached the lectern, the mayor cut him off and pulled the microphone toward himself.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Inspector Johnson will speak in a moment. A peaceful march is taking place in the Fillmore. I want to thank our citizens for remaining calm and invoking their rights of free expression and assembly in a respectful and orderly manner, thereby ensuring that neither the public nor any of our officers is injured.”
It was a nice sentiment that might have been more convincing if the other side of the split screen hadn’t been showing people hurtling bottles in the Fillmore. The mayor moved back, and Roosevelt stepped to the microphone.
“Inspector Roosevelt Johnson. SFPD. J-O-H-N-S-O-N. I am heading the investigation.” He put on his reading glasses and read from a script. “At approximately 1:08 this morning, Officer Giovanni Bacigalupi the Fourth and Sergeant Kevin Murphy were driving east on Geary Boulevard when they made visual contact with a Honda Civic with a broken tail light. Officer Bacigalupi and Sergeant Murphy pursued the vehicle and instructed the driver to pull over. The driver pulled off Geary Boulevard at Steiner and proceeded onto the narrower portion of upper Geary for two blocks. He parked in the Safeway lot at Webster. Officer Bacigalupi and Sergeant Murphy approached the vehicle. Officer Bacigalupi acted as the contact officer. He engaged the driver, later identified as Juwon Jones, eighteen. Officer Bacigalupi requested Mr. Jones’s driver’s license, evidence of registration, and insurance card. Mr. Jones said that the vehicle belonged to his mother, Vanessa Jones, with whom he lived.
“Pursuant to standard procedure, Officer Bacigalupi returned to his squad car and ran the license and registration through his dashboard computer. He confirmed that the vehicle did, in fact, belong to Mr. Jones’s mother. He also determined that Mr. Jones had an outstanding warrant for a probation violation. Officer Bacigalupi went back to Mr. Jones’s car and requested that Mr. Jones step out of the vehicle to allow Officer Bacigalupi and Sergeant Murphy to search it, which was within their rights because of the outstanding warrant. As Mr. Jones was getting out of the car, he banged the door into Officer Bacigalupi, knocking him down. Mr. Jones fled across the nearby plaza, and proceeded north on Fillmore. Officer Bacigalupi pursued him on foot, followed by Sergeant Murphy. Officer Bacigalupi and Sergeant Murphy radioed for backup, which arrived shortly thereafter. Mr. Jones was cut off at the corner of Fillmore and Geary by a squad car driven by Officer Richard Siragusa. Mr. Jones turned left onto Geary and proceeded westbound for a half-block, where he was intercepted by a police vehicle driven by Officer Charles Connor.”
I exchanged a glance with Luca. Nothing we didn’t already know.
Roosevelt continued reading. “When Mr. Jones saw Officer Connor’s police unit, he climbed over the gate into the enclosed parking lot next to the post office at 1849 Geary. Mr. Jones hid behind a postal van. Officer Bacigalupi also climbed over the gate and cornered Mr. Jones behind the van. Officer Bacigalupi ordered Mr. Jones to put his hands up, and Mr. Jones complied.”
So far, everything matched up with Johnny’s version of the story.
“Officer Bacigalupi ordered Mr. Jones to lie down with arms and legs spread. Officer Bacigalupi informed Mr. Jones that if he did not comply, Officer Bacigalupi would shoot him. Officer Bacigalupi repeated the order three times. Before Mr. Jones had a chance to comply with the third order, Officer Bacigalupi shot him four times in the chest with his service weapon. Mr. Jones was pronounced dead at the scene. Nobody else was injured.”
Roosevelt looked up for an instant, then he returned to the script. “We have taken statements from Officer Bacigalupi, Sergeant Murphy, Officer Siragusa, and Officer Connor. We have listened to audio recordings from police radio. We have reviewed video and audio from Officer Bacigalupi’s body cam and from the body cams of other officers at the scene. We have looked at security videos from businesses in the area. We discovered inconsistencies in Officer Bacigalupi’s account. After consultation with the district attorney and our chief, we determined that there was probable cause to conclude that Officer Bacigalupi committed a crime. Accordingly, we placed Officer Bacigalupi under arrest on a murder charge. He is being held at County Jail #4 at the Hall of Justice. His arraignment has been scheduled before Judge Martellus Ramsey at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.” He looked up. “That’s all for now. I have time for a few questions.”
“Did Officer Bacigalupi admit that he shot Mr. Jones?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have video of the shooting?”
“We have several videos from the scene. We will make a determination at a later time as to whether we will make any of them available.”
“Was Mr. Jones armed?”
“No comment.”
“We’ve been told that Officer Bacigalupi acted in self-defense.”
“No comment.”
“You mentioned that there were some inconsistencies in Officer Bacigalupi’s story. Can you be more specific?”
“I can’t go into details, but I will tell you that Officer Bacigalupi told us that he had not reviewed the video from his body cam before he gave his statement. We reviewed the logs and determ
ined that Officer Bacigalupi did, in fact, look at the footage before he spoke to us, which violated department policy.”
I looked at Luca. “He told me that he didn’t look at the video.”
“He told me the same thing.”
“He lied to us.”
“Maybe it was a misunderstanding. Or maybe he panicked.”
“Maybe.” I wonder if Johnny lied about anything else.
Roosevelt was still taking questions.
“Who is representing Officer Bacigalupi?”
“Michael Daley, who is the head of the Felony Division of the Public Defender’s Office.”
“Why is a public defender representing a defendant whose family can afford a private attorney?”
“You’ll have to ask Mr. Daley.”
✽✽✽
My iPhone vibrated within seconds of the end of the press conference. Rosie’s name appeared on the display.
“Did you see Roosevelt’s presser?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“He didn’t mention the gun that they found under Jones’s body. Why not?”
“It would help our argument that Johnny acted in self-defense.”
“You sure they found a gun under the body?”
“Yes.”
There was a pause. “You okay, Mike?”
“Fine.”
“‘Fine’ as in you’re okay, or ‘fine’ as in your life is a mess, but you’re dealing with it.”
“It’s a mess.”
“Thought so. Where are you now?”
“Luca’s office. I’m going to talk to Johnny.”
18
“IT WAS A MISTAKE”
Johnny owned up right away. “It was a mistake. I shouldn’t have looked at my body cam footage before I gave my statement.”
“Things happen,” I said.
“This shouldn’t have happened.”
No, it shouldn’t have.
At nine-forty-five on Wednesday night, we were sitting on opposite sides of a metal table in a consultation room on the seventh floor of the Hall. The blue eyes of the gifted athlete were glassy. It had been a humbling day.
Higher Law Boxset, Volume 3 Page 32
