...And Never Let HerGo

“We have no intention of besmirching this girl’s background or reputation,” he said, “but we must talk about reality also. Anne Marie Fahey was not an eighteen-year-old high school kid. She was a thirty-year-old woman in 1996. She had been with Tom Capano off and on for two or three years, so she wasn’t a kid starting out with some older guy. She had lived in Spain. She had lived in Washington, D.C.—that cesspool—and she had been down there working. [She] came back here and was involved in politics. One grows up mighty quickly in politics even in a state as small as Delaware. Anne Marie Fahey knew what was happening.”
    Oteri listed the things Tom had bought or given her: the new windshield, the air conditioner, the $500 for her therapist, $30 by messenger when she was broke. “She was onto a good thing,” he said with a slight sneer in his voice. “And she used it, and more power to her.”
    It might have been a tactical error to denigrate Anne Marie, the victim. But who could read the impassive faces of the jurors?
    As for Gerry Capano’s testimony against his brother, Oteri dismissed Gerry as having a “brain like a fried egg. He has used drugs for years. He’s also a boozer. He’s a typical screwed-up rich kid who never had to earn anything in his life. You will hear that he’s a poster boy for the ‘me generation.’ ”
    The lawyer from Boston was fully aware that he didn’t have to prove anything; the burden of proof was on the prosecution. Oteri’s remarks touched upon nothing that was absolute and everything that vilified the victim and the state’s witnesses. He maintained that Tom Capano had done his best to help the investigation into Anne Marie’s disappearance. He had finally given up only because he was afraid.
    “Tom Capano tried to arrange to speak to Wilmington Police officers,” Oteri said, “but subsequently, his house was searched by the FBI, and he stopped that because he could no longer trust anyone. He tried to arrange a meeting with the government early on—on the condition that he would only talk about the night in question, not any other night, and Mr. Wharton refused it. He came back with an offer—another offer—saying they would speak about any aspect of his relationship with Anne Marie Fahey, but he would not talk about other people or other events. Again, it was refused.”
    Oteri told the jurors that Tom had been “terrified” by the “massive police presence” and felt no one would believe him. “Based on his prior experience as a lawyer and a political operative,” Oterisaid, Tom was “convinced he could not get a fair hearing from the feds. If he spoke to them, they would only twist his words and hang him up. You will hear that Tom Capano was a wealthy lawyer, had a big house, four beautiful daughters. You will hear he was a managing partner of a fancy law firm. He was socially active, belonged to prestigious clubs. All at once—if Tom Capano talks to people—this is all gone, because no one’s going to believe him, because the feds have picked him as a target of this investigation from the beginning.”
    Joe Oteri was an old hand at fighting “the feds” and he made the government sound evil and predatory. He stressed that even President Clinton and Governor Carper had inserted themselves into the search for Anne Marie, bringing federal investigators in as early as July 8. “He knew that the FBI and Mr. Connolly and the United States Attorney’s Office and all their massive resources would be directed toward this one case,” Oteri said. “There’s a massive use of power, there’s massive amounts of money and people and resources that can be brought to bear, and all the gloves come off and it’s bare-knuckle fighting.”
    It was true that the investigation had focused on Tom Capano early on. The last person to be seen with a murder victim is always the first suspect. But would mentioning Tom’s wealth, prestige, and his beautiful daughters endear him to this far from wealthy jury?
    “Tom Capano is a bright guy,” Oteri continued in his streets-of-Boston accent. “If Tom Capano is buying a coffin with this big cooler, would he go to a store a couple of miles from his house? Would he buy it with his credit card? Would he leave it with the bar code on it that puts it right to that store? That’s insanity. He wouldn’t do a thing like that. Wouldn’t he arrange to dump it someplace? He never goes out on boats. You will hear