The Onion Field

by Joseph Wambaugh

  “Objection,” said McCormack.

  “Sustained.”

  “Your Honor, if I may,” said Kanarek, “I’d like you to have his mental capacity examined.”

  “Sustained!” said the judge not waiting for the objection.

  “Well, may I …” said Kanarek.

  “Sustained! I have already made the ruling as to what you are going to be able to inquire into at this time.”

  “Your Honor, may I approach the bench?”

  “Not on the same subject. No.”

  “Your Honor, the witness’s competency is the issue.”

  “It is not the issue at this time.”

  “But it will be,” warned Kanarek.

  Judge Thomas Le Sage had known very little about the marathon case when he took the bench the first day. He knew that the case had already caused a Supreme Court reversal for Judge Brandler and another for Judge Alarcon. He knew that Judge Peracca’s heart had almost given out because of it. He knew that nobody wanted the case and that’s why he, the newly appointed junior judge on the Superior Court bench, was being given it. There was no publicity connected with the case now, only drudgery and frustration. Other judges joked about it.

  Judge Le Sage was very dignified, perhaps excessively so. His first day on the bench, ignorant of the months of exhausting motions, he said: “Well, gentlemen, are there any pretrial motions?”

  Irving Kanarek beamed. Charles Maple grinned. Phil Halpin groaned and snapped his pencil in two.

  Prosecutor Halpin had been frustrated by Charles Maple’s deliberate ways, by his completeness compulsion, and his willingness to often join Kanarek in futile motions, but he respected Maple’s ability as a trial lawyer and so had only felt mild anger with Powell’s defender. And strangely, after these many months he was even losing his sustaining rage at Kanarek. His spirit was becoming deadened.

  “Nobody cares about the case anymore,” Halpin complained to his superiors. “Each new judge we get is mildly amused at my frustration. There’s no concept of what’s gone before. No one cares now that a cop was killed so brutally. Pat McCormack’s talking about leaving to become a court commissioner. I’ll be left alone then. For the duration!”

  “Don’t let Kanarek bother you so much,” was the stock reply.

  “It’s not Kanarek, damnit. It’s the system that indulges him! Hundreds of these killers’ll win their freedom one day after all the witnesses and judges and prosecutors either die, or disappear, or give up!”

  “Listen, Phil, after it’s over …”

  “Sometimes I get a crazy feeling that it’ll never be over. There’s no finality in the law itself. This is a war of attrition in no man’s land, and the obstructionists are winning. Judge Peracca almost died. Do you know how many judges have sat on this case? How many people have been involved? How many years? Are we going to be able to drag these civilian witnesses back if and when we ever get to trial?”

  “Phil, you’re overwrought. You’ll …”

  “The American system of justice is the laughingstock of the English speaking world and totally incomprehensible to the rest of the world!”

  “Take a real break this weekend, Phil. Take the wife out to dinner. Go to a show.”

  Oh God, thought Halpin, realizing that they didn’t know about his divorce and how alone he was.

  The finish of Phil Halpin came as a result of several incidents. Before he was to break there were minor skirmishes.

  Once McCormack removed his thick glasses and invited Kanarek outside to fight. Kanarek merely backed up, blinked patiently, shook his head and set his heavy lips in disgust that McCormack could be so vulgar. His face said he would not be provoked. He would endure.

  There were lighter moments. Once one of those courtroom regulars, called “railbirds” by the lawyers, began passing notes to all counsel in the case with his recommendations as to how the case should be handled. He began to torment and follow Irving Kanarek. Kanarek tried to make a citizen’s arrest on the railbird for jaywalking in front of the courthouse but the police refused to accept the prisoner. The court ordered the man to stop hounding the lawyer.

  Phil Halpin began worrying about his emotional health when he couldn’t even join the others in laughing at the incident. “I’ve lived with him too long to laugh,” Halpin said.

  It became intolerable when Halpin discovered that McCormack was quitting the District Attorney’s Office. Now Halpin was truly all alone.

  Then on March 6, 1969, there was a routine squabble while a juror was being challenged for bias by the defense. The court had indulgently permitted each juror to be challenged for bias separately. This day there was only the one prospective juror in court. She was on the stand. Irving Kanarek suddenly looked toward Phil Halpin and said he objected to a certain remark.

  “I’m addressing my remarks to the court,” said the young prosecutor.

  “He was directing his face at Mr. Maple,” said Kanarek to the judge. “And he just said, ‘Fuck you.’ ”

  “I didn’t say any such thing!” Halpin sputtered, going white, leaping to his feet. “I did not say any such thing! I will not permit this man to say this about me!”

  Judge Le Sage, a God fearing man, looked shocked. The woman juror looked as though she might faint.

  Phil Halpin’s fists were clenched, his eyes were popping, and he was staring at Irving Kanarek, who only blinked and retreated a step and looked toward the judge with the same patient bulldog expression Halpin had seen and hated every day for a year and a half. Then Halpin leaped forward, grabbing Kanarek by the front of the shirt.

  “I will not permit this man to say this about me!” Halpin shrieked.

  “Just a minute!” yelled Jimmy, getting up.

  “Sit down!” the bailiff shouted, running forward.

  “Hey!” yelled Jimmy.

  “I didn’t say any such thing, and I never have said such a thing, and I won’t tolerate it!” shouted Halpin, shaking Kanarek, who would not resist.

  “He said it just before he grabbed me!” said Irving Kanarek.

  “He struck him!” screamed Jimmy Smith.

  “Just a moment,” pleaded Judge Le Sage.

  “The bailiff! The judge! Mr. Maple! Everyone in court witnessed it!” screamed Jimmy Smith.

  “I want this man instructed to keep quiet!” shouted Phil Halpin, releasing Kanarek.

  “All counsel sit down!” said the judge.

  “If you put your hands on me like that, we’re goin to war!” said Jimmy Smith.

  “Sit down!” said the judge.

  “I’m a man!” said Jimmy. “M-A-N!”

  “All counsel be seated!” said the judge.

  “That’s right!” said Jimmy Smith to Halpin who was watching Irving Kanarek stand calmly, hands outstretched toward the judge, in a gesture of supplication for wrongs done him.

  “Just a moment!” said the judge.

  “Your Honor …” said Kanarek.

  “Just a moment, Mr. Kanarek!” said the judge. “Be seated!”

  “Your Honor …” said Kanarek.

  “Just a moment! Be seated!”

  “We gotta do somethin about this, your Honor. Period! He struck him!” said the outraged Jimmy Smith.

  “Just a moment,” pleaded the judge.

  “What is this?” yelled Jimmy. “He actually attacked my counsel!”

  “Just a moment, Mr. Smith!”

  “I would like to be heard!” said Halpin.

  “Just a moment!” said the judge.

  “I can’t believe it!” yelled the incredulous Jimmy Smith.

  “The court is going to call a recess in this case at this time,” said the judge, “and counsel are instructed, and the parties are instructed, and the bailiff is instructed to advise the court of any …”

  “Your Honor …” said Kanarek.

  “Just a minute, Mr. Kanarek! You are to be seated and say nothing! Not to in any way communicate with one another in any way by words or b
y show of emotions!”

  “Your Honor …” said Kanarek.

  “Just a moment, Mr. Kanarek! You are instructed not to say anything!”

  “Yes, your Honor,” said Kanarek finally.

  “The court is calling a recess,” said the judge, “until counsel can reflect and recover their sense of poise.”

  When court proceedings resumed in fifteen minutes the judge said, “In connection with the last matter the court instructs all counsel involved not to address the court concerning this in any way while the court is making the following orders: Mr. Halpin and Mr. Kanarek are to file affidavits of the occurrence before Thursday at four o’clock. The court will consider whether one or both counsel are to be held in contempt. The bailiffs, sheriffs, clerk, and reporter are instructed not to discuss the matter.”

  “Your Honor,” said Kanarek, “if I may, I would ask that Mr. Halpin be arrested immediately for a misdemeanor committed in the presence of the court in violation of the penal code of the state of California. In the presence of peace officers he committed an assault.”

  Phil Halpin was defeated. He not only walked off the case, but he resigned from the District Attorney’s Office and vowed never to enter a courtroom again. It was little consolation that before his resignation was final, Irving Kanarek would be removed from the case.

  It was Jimmy Smith who eventually proved the undoing of Irving Kanarek. He filed a declaration that same month asking the court to curb his attorney’s examination of jurors on racial grounds:

  This defendant does not subscribe to or identify with any black militant organizations. Attorney Kanarek does not know anything whatsoever about defendant’s racial background as a member of the black race.

  Respectfully submitted,

  Another declaration that same month by Jimmy said:

  It is respectfully suggested that said attorney has lost all conception of the legal conduct and performance required of an attorney in a capital case, that is, if such knowledge ever existed for said attorney.

  Respectfully submitted,

  During a noon recess in March, six years after the murder of Ian Campbell, Prosecutor Joe Busch walked from the court with Kanarek and said to him, “Irving, you ought to analyze your approach through a psychiatrist. Your personality alienates people.”

  Irving Kanarek apparently ignored the advice, but later when the judge took the bench, Kanarek wanted it made part of the official record that the district attorney said he should see a psychiatrist.

  Toward the end of the month, Jimmy Smith was growing more hostile toward the lawyer and finally he assaulted him.

  Prosecutor Joe Busch said, “When Jimmy Smith threw his chair and shoved Kanarek away, it probably was the final straw which influenced the judge.” Judge Le Sage once again listened to a motion from Jimmy Smith to relieve his counsel. A Pasadena attorney named Charles Hollopeter was brought into the courtroom to talk to Jimmy Smith. Kanarek maintained that his client was distraught and could not make a clear choice to have him relieved.

  “There is no foundation for the court to proceed,” Kanarek argued vehemently.

  “You are again instructed to be seated, Mr. Kanarek, while the court inquires of Mr. Smith,” said the judge.

  “Well, your Honor, I most certainly do object under Cooper versus the Superior Court.…”

  The judge listened to the argument and said, “You are again instructed to be seated.”

  Then the attorney argued that the court’s apparent decision to remove him would violate his client’s rights.

  “Now if your Honor deems that I am being muzzled, and that I am being gagged by the sheriff, if your Honor shall deem that this record is to exist, that this record can reflect that I am being muzzled as if the bailiff here restrained me, and put me down, and strapped me to the chair, and put a gag on me, if your Honor deems that this record shall so reveal that, then, of course, I think your Honor gets the point of what I am driving at. May that be deemed, your Honor?”

  “The record will not show that at all, Mr. Kanarek!” said the judge, a bit shocked. “The court is at all times willing to hear you in full! And I again request you as a member of the bar to be seated while the court proceeds.”

  The attorney argued still further that the judge had no right to inquire of Jimmy Smith as to replacing his lawyer. Finally Kanarek said, “May it be deemed that I have been gagged and that your Honor has used the full force, that your Honor has used all of his power inherent, statutory, constitutional, explicit, in keeping me from using the English language, keeping me from speaking. May that be deemed, your Honor?”

  “The record will not so show, Mr. Kanarek!” said the judge. “The court is just making the request that you be seated and the court is advising you again that you will be extended the fullest opportunity to argue the matter.”

  “That isn’t the point, your Honor.”

  “And you are again kindly instructed to be seated.”

  “Well, your Honor, I don’t personally wish in the sense of the word to fly in the face of the court’s order, but I deem, based upon my study of the law, that your Honor is proceeding Illegally.… So all I am saying is, let it be deemed, so that the issue will be framed. The issue will then be framed for minds wiser than ours. That’s the theory of our appellate courts. They are supposed to rectify mistakes and tell us when we are wrong.… May that be deemed, your Honor?”

  “No! The court can’t make that order because that is not representative of all of the factual situation here, Mr. Kanarek.”

  “Your Honor certainly has the power to have the bailiff take me into custody. Your Honor has that power. I am not interested in flying in the face of the court’s order. I am not interested in antagonizing the court.”

  “Mr. Kanarek,” said the judge patiently, “the court is not in any way antagonized by your arguments here. You are again instructed to be seated while the court proceeds further with this hearing.”

  “Well, your Honor, may it be so deemed? Because if I keep on doing this, will there be some point when your Honor is going to have the bailiff take me into custody?”

  “You may be seated, Mr. Kanarek. The court does not intend to make that order. You are instructed to be seated.”

  “Well then, your Honor, may it be deemed as I have requested, your Honor? I don’t … I mean I wish to … I wish to obey all the court’s orders that are valid. But most respectfully, your Honor, it is my most respectful contention that it is not a legal order.”

  “Mr. Kanarek, again the court reminds you that you are on your feet and addressing the court contrary to the express order of the court!”

  “Well, your Honor, since your Honor is determined that your Honor will not arrest me, then I have no alternative, your Honor. I want the record to reflect, however, that it is my position, that I am deemed arrested, deemed that an Order to Show Cause In Re Contempt has been issued, deemed that the court has used all of its powers of gagging me and so forth, because the reason this is so vital, your Honor, is because what Mr. Smith says is potentially usable by the district attorney against him, plus the fact that he has the right that I have psychiatrists examine him.”

  “You have made the motion a number of times, have you not, Mr. Smith?” the judge finally said to the defendant.

  “Yes. I have made the motion to relieve Mr. Kanarek.”

  “And you still wish the court to grant you that relief?”

  “That is my wish, your Honor. Please.”

  “The people wish to speak on the motion?”

  “Your Honor, I object to that!” said Kanarek.

  Judge Le Sage finally said: “It has become evident that there is a growing lack of confidence and communication between the defendant Smith and his counsel. This lack of confidence has led to physical encounters between the defendant Smith and his counsel in the open courtroom.… The court is of the opinion, and finds, that the constitutional right …”

  “Your Honor!” said Kanarek.

/>   “Just a moment … to counsel will be denied to the defendant Smith if he is required further to be represented by Mr. Kanarek. Mr. Kanarek is hereby relieved.”

  The order was entered on April Fool’s Day, 1969. The next day the judge ordered the joint trial split in two.

  When Phil Halpin read of Judge Le Sage pleading with the attorney to sit and be silent, he reeled in his chair. The prosecutor was dizzy, hot, disoriented.

  Deemed to have sat down. Deemed to have been silenced. It suddenly struck the prosecutor. They had all gone over the brink into madness. The physical fact was meaningless, only the words mattered. A man need not sit if it was deemed that he sat. He need not speak if it was deemed that he spoke. Lawyers could stipulate to anything. They could deem that lie was truth, that fantasy was real. Who could refute it? Only the words mattered.

  He lay in his bed alone in the darkness one night and reviewed his dead dreams and the wreckage of his life much like a young man named Jimmy Smith had done exactly six years before when Jimmy was exactly his age.

  He was a failure in his personal life and his career. He wondered if his marriage had been sacrificed to the whorish vocation he had pursued so determinedly. He had worked fifteen hours a day, seven days a week, to get through law school. He was sick, racked with a flu virus and a relentless lung-tearing cough. He thought about getting blind drunk until he passed out, but was too weak to get up from the bed.

  I tried to tell them, Halpin thought feverishly. Every judge was the same. They just didn’t understand that no defendant is going to cooperate with his destroyers. You couldn’t make the defendants submit by giving them whatever they wanted. He couldn’t make the judges understand that. And they wouldn’t believe that the antics of the defense amounted to a clear cut attempt to stop the system itself. How many judges had told him, “I can handle it, Mr. Halpin”?

  He thought of the good offer he had had to go into private practice. He had passed it up for this case. He had been obsessed by this case. And it wasn’t just the murder. True, he had grown up in the same Glendale neighborhood as Karl Hettinger and knew many of the same people. True, he had two girls like Ian Campbell had. True, he hated what Kanarek and Maple were obviously trying to do to Hettinger. But in the end he was totally incapable of knowing who were the knaves and who were the fools. What he really hated and feared was what this case had done to his conception of his profession, and himself.