Today in courtrooms around the US, prosecutors will knowingly present false evidence, law enforcement officers will proffer false testimony to gain convictions, and informants will fabricate as directed to gain favor or even cash. It is the reality that most prefer to forget and participants deny. It is the US criminal justice system at work in federal and state courtrooms from Newark to Orlando to Palm Springs and everywhere in-between.
Some of us drew the law card in life. Many of you will never see the inside of a courtroom or feel the tension of a trial or the pressure of being the defendant, star and target at the same instant and victim of dark side justice.
As the Paul Bergrin trial resumes in Newark following opening statements, the government's case will unravel, piece by piece, bit by bit, one sentence at a time. Bergrin is the lone defendant that didn't take the deal in his case. His co-defendants in this racketeering and murder conspiracy case have each chosen to testify for the government to gain favor with federal prosecutors and therefore lighter prison sentences. The more convincing their testimony the better off each will be at sentencing. They are actors and actresses and the courtroom is the stage.
In Orlando the trial begins for at least one of the 12 so-called sex traffickers from Russia, the Ukraine, and Moldova. Roman Caraiman is absent from the scene, exiting the country before the indictment was handed-down and later emailing his appeal to the Orlando Sentinel. My own case was on my mind when I read his attempt to explain what really happened and how the business actually operated, but he was speaking to a deaf ear at the Sentinel. The only one that we can be sure is actually having a trial is Alexandr Postica. We must watch events unfold in the courtroom to see who decided to join the feds on the dark side and testify, if anyone at all.
Postica is young and brave, close to my son's age. He came to the US as an entrepreneur, as his 11 co-defendants did, and left behind family, culture, and poverty to seek a better life in the place often referred to as the land of the free. Instead he found chains and the dark side of a justice system derailed long ago. Many of the defendants are from Moldova, rich in culture, but one of the poorest economies of all the former Soviet states. In effect, these defendants jumped from a frying pan into a fire, each now blind to what the future holds in what is actually an MBI case, and we all know how I feel about the MBI.
In Palm Springs, California there is the trial of Ofer Moses Lupovitz, an odd case to say the least. Lupovitz has already spent time in club fed over the case, but is now on trial with the State of California for the same business. Even more weird, there seems to be a news blackout on the trial. The case was in the news until September 28th as state witnesses testified in trial and then as quickly as they began, the news reports ceased. Really weird for such a significant and involved case.
As I reflect on my own experience with dark side justice, my heart goes out to each and every defendant that has opted to stand trial and fight for their lives. What ever happens may each be able to move-on in life when it's over; something that I have been unable to do as the anger permeates my life and leaves me in a constant state of purgatory, unable and unwilling to go forward, seeking justice and vengeance in a dark system that few understand unless they live it. May it never happen to you.
My arrest was on November 20, 2011. My trial was over and I was acquitted by the jury on both counts on January 17, 2003. Do I sound angry? Read through this blog and decide for yourself. What do I want or expect? An apology for the malice, the lies, the mistreatment, the injustice, and perhaps an admission of guilt from my perps. I am still seeking the elusive lady justice.
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