Read Online Entombed by Linda Fairstein - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Linda Fairstein
Tags: Fiction, General, LEGAL, Thrillers, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Legal Stories, Mystery Fiction, New York (N.Y.), Women lawyers, Public Prosecutors, Serial rape investigation, Cooper; Alexandra (Fictitious character), Upper East Side (New York; N.Y.), Poe; Edgar Allan - Homes and haunts
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a studio
apartment. Henry-Henry Tepper is his name. Henry was asleep in the bed,
right next to the door."
"What did the man do?"
"He made me stand
beside the bed, next to Henry," she said, now sitting on her hands and
looking up at me. "He put the knife next to my eye. Like this."
"For the record, Ms.
Goldswit is holding her finger against her left eye."
"Yeah, he was sticking
the knifepoint in my eyelid. He handed me something. I couldn't tell
what it was, 'cause my eyes were half closed. I looked down and it was
panty hose."
"What happened next?"
There weren't a lot of different ways to ask the questions that moved
the story along and elicited all the elements of the crime.
"'Wake him up,' he
said. I leaned over to touch Henry's arm and he woke up, sort of
groggy. The guy told him that if he moved a muscle, the knife was going
to go right into my eye." Darra leaned an elbow on the table and rested
her forehead in her hand.
"What did Henry-?"
"He didn't do
anything. He couldn't do anything. The guy made me tie his hands behind
his back. I tried to do it loose but it wouldn't have mattered. He
never took the knife away from my eye, so Henry never moved. Didn't say
a word."
She described how the
man made her undress and lie down next to Henry before he lowered his
pants and straddled her. There were never more than five seconds that
the blade of the knife was not next to her eyelid. When the attack was
completed, the rapist used more hosiery to tie Darra's hands and feet,
as well as tighten Henry's bonds. He ripped the telephone cord out of
the wall and walked out the door of the apartment.
It took more than ten
minutes before they could untie each other and pound on a neighbor's
door to ask her to call the police.
I needed to establish
that Darra had not recently had intercourse with Henry, to prove that
he was not the source of the seminal deposits recovered. Her testimony
ended with the hospital examination that yielded the sample for DNA
analysis, through which her assailant would ultimately be identified.
"Did you sustain any
injuries during the assault?"
"There were some
scrapes and superficial marks on my face and neck, where the knife was
poking me the whole time. Nothing that needed stitches or medical
treatment."
"The man who attacked
you, have you ever seen him again?"
"No, I have not."
"Thank you, Ms.
Goldswit. I have no further questions. If there are-"
I had tried to make
this clean and get out without irrelevant inquiries from jurors.
Two hands shot up to
make it clear I had not succeeded.
I walked down the
steps to juror number nine and he leaned over to ask me, "Where's
Henry? What happened to Henry?"
Henry Tepper was not
essential to my presentation, but since he had been an eyewitness to
the assault on Darra-and himself a victim-it was natural that jurors
would be curious about him. They didn't need to know that he had been
unable to handle the guilt of not being able to prevent his
fiancée from being raped- secondary victimization, as the
shrinks called it. They didn't need to know that he had broken their
engagement a month after the attack and moved back to Phoenix.
"When is the last time
you spoke with Mr. Tepper?"
"Last night. I called
him last night. I hadn't heard from him in a couple of years. He lives
in Arizona now."
The gentleman who
asked the question sat back, satisfied somehow to know that Henry was
out of town, and out of Darra's life.
Juror number eleven
was still waving frantically to me. I circled the front of the room to
take her question before putting it on the record. "Is it still rape,"
the elderly woman asked, "even if she didn't fight the man? I mean, he
didn't actually cut her with the knife, did he?"
It had been more than
twenty years since the last of the archaic legal requirements had been
stricken from the books. How is it that people still clung to these
medieval attitudes? Well into the 1980s the law in New York State had
demanded that sexual assault
apartment. Henry-Henry Tepper is his name. Henry was asleep in the bed,
right next to the door."
"What did the man do?"
"He made me stand
beside the bed, next to Henry," she said, now sitting on her hands and
looking up at me. "He put the knife next to my eye. Like this."
"For the record, Ms.
Goldswit is holding her finger against her left eye."
"Yeah, he was sticking
the knifepoint in my eyelid. He handed me something. I couldn't tell
what it was, 'cause my eyes were half closed. I looked down and it was
panty hose."
"What happened next?"
There weren't a lot of different ways to ask the questions that moved
the story along and elicited all the elements of the crime.
"'Wake him up,' he
said. I leaned over to touch Henry's arm and he woke up, sort of
groggy. The guy told him that if he moved a muscle, the knife was going
to go right into my eye." Darra leaned an elbow on the table and rested
her forehead in her hand.
"What did Henry-?"
"He didn't do
anything. He couldn't do anything. The guy made me tie his hands behind
his back. I tried to do it loose but it wouldn't have mattered. He
never took the knife away from my eye, so Henry never moved. Didn't say
a word."
She described how the
man made her undress and lie down next to Henry before he lowered his
pants and straddled her. There were never more than five seconds that
the blade of the knife was not next to her eyelid. When the attack was
completed, the rapist used more hosiery to tie Darra's hands and feet,
as well as tighten Henry's bonds. He ripped the telephone cord out of
the wall and walked out the door of the apartment.
It took more than ten
minutes before they could untie each other and pound on a neighbor's
door to ask her to call the police.
I needed to establish
that Darra had not recently had intercourse with Henry, to prove that
he was not the source of the seminal deposits recovered. Her testimony
ended with the hospital examination that yielded the sample for DNA
analysis, through which her assailant would ultimately be identified.
"Did you sustain any
injuries during the assault?"
"There were some
scrapes and superficial marks on my face and neck, where the knife was
poking me the whole time. Nothing that needed stitches or medical
treatment."
"The man who attacked
you, have you ever seen him again?"
"No, I have not."
"Thank you, Ms.
Goldswit. I have no further questions. If there are-"
I had tried to make
this clean and get out without irrelevant inquiries from jurors.
Two hands shot up to
make it clear I had not succeeded.
I walked down the
steps to juror number nine and he leaned over to ask me, "Where's
Henry? What happened to Henry?"
Henry Tepper was not
essential to my presentation, but since he had been an eyewitness to
the assault on Darra-and himself a victim-it was natural that jurors
would be curious about him. They didn't need to know that he had been
unable to handle the guilt of not being able to prevent his
fiancée from being raped- secondary victimization, as the
shrinks called it. They didn't need to know that he had broken their
engagement a month after the attack and moved back to Phoenix.
"When is the last time
you spoke with Mr. Tepper?"
"Last night. I called
him last night. I hadn't heard from him in a couple of years. He lives
in Arizona now."
The gentleman who
asked the question sat back, satisfied somehow to know that Henry was
out of town, and out of Darra's life.
Juror number eleven
was still waving frantically to me. I circled the front of the room to
take her question before putting it on the record. "Is it still rape,"
the elderly woman asked, "even if she didn't fight the man? I mean, he
didn't actually cut her with the knife, did he?"
It had been more than
twenty years since the last of the archaic legal requirements had been
stricken from the books. How is it that people still clung to these
medieval attitudes? Well into the 1980s the law in New York State had
demanded that sexual assault
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