Last Dance, Last Chance

began to author a manuscript. Is that correct?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “What’s the title of that manuscript?”
    “I believe it’s M.D.: Mass Destruction. ”
    “From whose point of view is the book told?”
    “Mine.”
    “Who actually wrote all the words— all the words in the manuscript?”
    “My husband.”
     
    Judge Mix questioned Debbie directly about the time Ralph and Lauren were hospitalized to be tested for arsenic. Debbie said that their arsenic level was “slightly elevated,” but that they hadn’t needed to receive treatment.
    “All right. You made reference to the process of clearing out the toxicity in your system during one of the painful parts of your hospitalization…Would it surprise you if I told you that the hospital records…reflect the fact that there was a consideration that your son—Was it your son or daughter who had the highest level?”
    “My daughter.”
    “There was a possibility that your daughter might have to undergo the same process?”
    “I did not know,” Debbie said, her face worried.
    The judge asked Debbie if she knew the children were ordered to eat only hospital food, and were not allowed off their floor, or to be released to anyone but her brother.
    “I knew that, yes.”
     
    Denis Scinta called Anthony as a witness. And Joel Daniels leaped to his feet. “I will direct Dr. Pignataro not to take the stand, not to be sworn…The District Attorney intends to secure an indictment against Dr. Pignataro involving this case, and I will direct under no circumstances that he be sworn or answer any questions concerning the matter.”
    “Your honor,” Denis Scinta responded. “Your Honor, I might just ask of the Court—that I think I’ve heard it several times in this court proceeding—maybe more often than I wanted to hear it, but that the sword cuts both ways…The Court, when there was a discussion with Mr. Daniels, when he was directing the testimony of Mrs. Pignataro, you indicated that you would take into consideration her failure to answer any question posed to her at this hearing, and would weigh it as you saw fit?”
    “Right,” Judge Mix answered.
    Frank Sedita argued that Anthony’s refusal to even be sworn in seemed to be improper procedure. Under the Fifth Amendment, Anthony had the right to refuse to answer questions that might incriminate him, but that didn’t mean he could simply refuse to take the stand and be sworn.
    Joel Daniels would not even give his basis for argument. He said he simply refused to let Anthony be sworn in.
    “Why?” Judge Mix pressed. “Can you explain that to me, Mr. Daniels?”
    “’Cause I just believe under the posture of this case and what’s going on here and the District Attorney’s office wanting so much to question him and wanting so much to even put questions to him—”
    “I object to that!” Sedita said as tensions rose in the courtroom. “That’s not true. I object to that.”
    Judge Mix noted his objection and allowed Daniels to continue.
    “I would ask this Court to understand the situation we are in. We have been looking at an investigation for a long time. The District Attorney’s office—they’ve followed him, they’ve surveilled him, they’ve talked to I don’t know how many people in West Seneca. They have done anything they could to put this arsenic into his hands, and so far they can’t do it and I’m not going to assist them in all of their investigation. We don’t think they have a case…He’s in jail now because of what Judge Tills did.”
    Edward J. McGuinness, the attorney for the Erie County Department of Social Services, agreed with Scinta and Sedita that Anthony Pignataro should at least agree to take the stand. How was the judge going to make a decision if she didn’t hear what Pignataro had to say for himself? “I take the position he is in the default position.”
    Judge Mix attempted to placate the furious lawyers by saying she would take inference by Anthony’s refusal to testify or answer questions, but she wouldn’t force him to come up to the witness stand. She wanted to move the hearing along and to avoid “the charade of his nonresponse.”
    She refused to chastise Anthony or his attorneys.
    Her stance only served to frustrate the attorneys for Child Protective Services, for Debbie, and from the District Attorney’s office. Anthony Pignataro, through Joel Daniels, had just thumbed his nose at the judicial system, and the judge wanted no further