{"id":3750,"date":"2005-04-11T18:46:42","date_gmt":"2005-04-11T22:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/04\/11\/special-delivery-your-honor\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:57:48","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:57:48","slug":"special-delivery-your-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/04\/11\/special-delivery-your-honor\/","title":{"rendered":"special delivery, your honor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a name='a3651'><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n<P>&nbsp;<\/P><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">spring in the square&#8211;<BR>a child&#8217;s orange tricycle<BR>scattering pigeons<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT size=\"2\"><BR><FONT face=\"Arial\"><\/FONT><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">gaining an hour . . .<BR>I water the marigolds<BR>one more time<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">crossing the bridge&#x2013; <BR>the shadow of a gull <BR>I never see<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT size=\"2\"><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/www.worldhaiku.net\/poetry\/eng\/us\/b.george.htm\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#ff0000\" size=\"2\"><STRONG>Barry George<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"1\">&#8220;<\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/tinywords.com\/haiku\/2002\/03\/20\/\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"1\">spring in the square<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"1\">&#8221; &#8211; <EM>tiny words<\/EM> (March 20, 2002) <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"1\">&#8220;<\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.theheronsnest.com\/haiku\/0301M2001\/thn_issue.h4.html \"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"1\">gaining an hour<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"1\">&#8221;&nbsp; &#8211; <EM>The Heron&#8217;s Nest<\/EM> (June 2001) <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"1\">&#8220;<\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.theheronsnest.com\/haiku\/0409d2324\/thn_issue.h4.html#POEM01\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"1\">crossing the bridge<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"1\">&#8221; &#8211; <EM>The Heron&#8217;s Nest<\/EM> (Sept. 2002)<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT size=\"1\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT size=\"1\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT size=\"1\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<P dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT><\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<P dir=\"ltr\" style=\"MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT><\/P><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT><FONT><FONT><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><EM>by <\/EM><\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/stories\/storyReader$3281\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"2\"><STRONG><EM>dagosan<\/EM><\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\"><EM>:&nbsp;<\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT><FONT><EM>&nbsp;<\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/LI><\/UL><\/DIV><br \/>\n<P dir=\"ltr\"><\/P><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT><\/DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\">special delivery&nbsp;&#8212;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\">mail&nbsp;carrier switches<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\">to her short pants<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\">&nbsp;<\/DIV><\/FONT><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT size=\"1\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<EM>[April 11, 2005]<\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"1\"><SPAN><EM><\/EM><\/SPAN><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><SPAN><STRONG><EM><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">potluck<\/FONT><\/EM><\/STRONG><\/SPAN><\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/yyS.gif\" alt=\"yyS\" \/>&nbsp; Schenectady&#8217;s <A href=\"www.schenectadyny.info\/cgi-bin\/ Blah\/Blah.pl?b=cc,v=display,m=1093686829,s=all\">Romolo Versaci<\/A>, famous for his <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/03\/15#a3457\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"2\">&#8220;so-called lawyer&#8221; defamation<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">,&nbsp; <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">suit, was quoted offering a classic criminal defense lawyer&#8217;s line, over the weekend.<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">This time, however, Versaci was playing the role of&nbsp; &#8220;a&nbsp;friend,&#8221; rather than the lawyer <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">of Schenectady city councilman Peter Della Ratta.&nbsp; The 32-year-old legislator is <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">accused of beating a 21-year-old man, Matthew Maioriello, last week &#8212; breaking his <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">nose, chipping a tooth and injuring his eyesocket &#8212; when he found&nbsp;Matthew in the <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">apartment of his [Della Ratta&#8217;s] former girlfriend.&nbsp;&nbsp; Peter owned the building in which the <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">apartment is located.&nbsp;&nbsp;He had fired Matthew from a construction job&nbsp;and evicted him <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">from the same building recently, after Matthew&#8217;s mother complained to housing officials <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">that Della Ratta&nbsp;was violating city codes by renting&nbsp;out an attic space to Matthew.&nbsp; <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">[<\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.dailygazette.com\"><EM><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"2\">Schenectady Gazette<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">, <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.schenectadyny.info\/cgi-bin\/Blah\/Blah.pl?b=cc,m=1112950924,s=all\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">Della Ratta probed in beating<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">&nbsp;(scroll to<SPAN>&nbsp;Reply 15<\/SPAN>), April 9, 2005]&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">Here&#8217;s Romolo&#8217;s chivalrous and feisty defense of his friend Peter:<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><SPAN><EM><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">&#8220;No jury would convict him of a crime if he were ever prosecuted.&nbsp; <\/FONT><\/EM><\/SPAN><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><SPAN><\/SPAN><EM><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><FONT size=\"2\"><SPAN>He was <\/SPAN><SPAN>merely defending a lady&#8217;s honor.&#8221;<\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/EM><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><SPAN><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">The lady in question has not yet been quoted publically, but I shall keep you <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><SPAN><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">posted.<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">&nbsp;By the way, criminal law experts:&nbsp; Is it a little fishy that the D.A. himself <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">made the call on charging Della Ratta (they&#8217;re both Democrats), and he <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">decided that the injury suffered by Maioriello was not serious enough to <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">be second-degree assault (a felony), so Peter is charged with misdemeanor, <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">third-degree assault?&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/LI><\/UL><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/quarternotegray.gif\" alt=\"quarter note gray\" \/>&nbsp; Two lines from &#8220;<\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.vex.net\/~paulmac\/carpenter\/lyrics\/man_smart_woman_smarter.html\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">Man Smart, Woman Smarter<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">,&#8221; the classic song by Norman&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">Span (a\/k\/a King Radio) [recorded by Harry Belafonte (1956) , Robert Palmer <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">(1976), Rosanne Cash (1979), and C.J. Chenier (1995)], sum up this Baby <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">Boomer&#8217;s feelings on a lovely spring day &#8212; and they even&nbsp;look like a haiku.&nbsp; The <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">scene: an old man finds a little boy in tears on a park bench:<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" style=\"MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">&#8220;I can&#8217;t do <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" style=\"MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">what the big boys do&#8221; &#8212;<BR>Old man sat down, he cried too<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; spring in the square&#8211;a child&#8217;s orange tricyclescattering pigeons &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; gaining an hour . . .I water the marigoldsone more time &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; crossing the bridge&#x2013; the shadow of a gull I never see &nbsp; &nbsp; Barry George &#8220;spring in the square&#8221; &#8211; tiny words (March 20, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-Yu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13269,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750\/revisions\/13269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}