Judge and The Note . . .Just In Time

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One of my favorite Alexandria jurists is retired General District Court Judge Daniel Fairfax O’Flaherty. 

Even though he’s been retired a long time, he presides regularly as a substitute. He’s a fixture and still has second-floor chambers in the Courthouse on King Street.  He’s a familiar face in surrounding jurisdictions.

            Virginia’s lawmakers will change the face of Alexandria’s court system in a few weeks.  The city will have at least three judicial appointments and possibly a fourth, brought about by retirements of one of its three circuit court jurists and the chief judge of the General District Court.       

There will be new judges in the Circuit Court, General District court and quite possibly in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

            As the General Assembly ponders the Alexandria courts, I’m recalling a January a few years ago when two Haitians from Harlem escaped jail and criminal records, because of an illegible note.

            In early December 1998, two young Haitians took a wrong turn off Interstate 95 and ended up in an Alexandria apartment complex in Alexandria.  They fell asleep in their car.  At about 3 o’clock in the morning, police were called to a suspicious vehicle with two men inside.  Residents of the complex were scared, figuring they were drug dealers, especially since their car had New York State license plates.

            City police arrived, questioned them at length and didn’t like the several different stories as to why they were in Alexandria.  One said they were “coming to Richmond,” the other said they were looking for Greensboro, N.C., and the other said they were going to New York.   

            The boys were arrested, charged with trespassing and lying to police. Bonds were set at $25,000 each.  For the next two weeks, they languished in the Alexandria Jail, hopeless to be released for Christmas with trials set for January.

            At the behest of veteran Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Kimble who felt sorry for them, I went to the jail and interviewed them on the chance they were bondable.  (Frankly, I figured it would be a nice Christmas fee for me.)  I discovered one of boys had $1,600 in his jail account.  The other was penniless.  Their families were unable to raise the $25,000 bond or the bondsman’s fee.  They only person who may help was their church pastor. 

             I called the Harlem pastor.  He said one of them worked in his church.  The other, the one with no money, was dating his daughter.  “Both are good young men.”  I explained they needed bail bonds and someone to sign for them and someone to send the money.  I was the bondsman.

            The pastor wired $2,500 bail money for one boy and $800 for the other. The boy with $1,600 sent a note to the property deputy giving his $1,600 to me.  He scribbled a note. By the afternoon, the money was transferred for his bond release. 

            I put the note in their file, drove them to the bus station back to Harlem.  I was hoping they would return in time for court.  They did appear for General District Court.  Judge O’Flaherty was presiding, listening to the case with eyes closed, his white hair gleaming, and bright bowtie showing under his robe.  He wasn’t asleep.  The prosecutor’s evidence was pretty good. Public Defender Kevin Gaynor was working hard.

            I listened. I was just happy they had appeared for court.  To pass the time, I looked in the file.  My ears perked when the prosecutor asked for 12 months in jail.  Suddenly, I realized in re-reading the file, that the note to the sheriff’s property deputy, the boys could barely speak English, let alone write.  I stood up and walked to the front, asked to speak with the public defender.  Judge O’Flaherty appeared a bit startled but agreed.  I showed Gaynor the hand-written note, explaining these Haitians didn’t understand English very well and probably didn’t know what the policeman was saying.   

            The prosecutor saw the near illegible note, and took it to Judge O’Flaherty and the cases were dismissed.  I’ve always appreciated Judge O’Flaherty.  He’s a wise man.

            I know the General Assembly will be wise in filling Alexandria’s judgeships. • Copyright © 2008