The Sins of My Fathers 2

Chapter 2 Sistern was a no-nonsense judge and that was what the Attorney General wanted. He knew that Sistern was familiar with some of the defendants, and that was the risk the AG would be accepting. “Alright, now the jury has been sworn in and seated and the court reporter will be recording all proceedings. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a trial which is considered high profile--you can see the camera’s in the back of the room. You can see that there are reporters sitting to my right. I recognize that members of the defendant’s family are here and some of you are just interested citizens. I will require that there be absolute silence during the time this court is in session. This trial will take place with the parties up here, and not out there where you are. Now that means I don’t want to hear any outbursts of emotions of any kind, nor do I want to hear any disrespect to anyone in this court. …Madam Clerk, have all parties been sworn in for the Plaintiff to begin its testimony?” “They have your honor,” answered the Clerk. “Good. The Counsel for the Plaintiff may make its opening statement…Mr. Ardoin.” “Thank you; your honor…Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the Plaintiffs family here are citizens of the United States and residents of the State of Louisiana. As such, the Plaintiffs are entitled to all the rights and privileges afforded to any other citizen of the United States. Now we will prove to you that the defendants who are on trial here, have unduly benefited and otherwise enriched themselves by illegal and ill-gotten means, at the expense of my client’s ancestors. We will show you, over the course of expert and eye-witness testimony, that these defendants are moral criminals, and you should find them to be guilty as charged. Now, you may be saying to yourself that the defendants look like your next door neighbors…I can assure you that their counsel will try to convince you that they are just like you…hard working, church-going, law-abiding citizens, who are just trying to make a living. Indeed, some of these defendants have been elected to serve the fine citizens of this state in various capacities. However, through their cunning ways, and their devious and greedy deeds, (and that of their ancestors) they have violated the very laws which were set in place to protect the law abiding citizens of this country and this fine state. Why--you should ask--should they be allowed to benefit from, and even pass on to their descendants’, the profits they have acquired for many, many years. In fact, we will prove to you that not only did they engage in illegal business ventures, they were enriched by their ancestors, who passed their ill-gotten wealth to them. So the question you should ask yourself is; should anyone…anyone, be allowed to benefit from inherited wealth… no matter how it was acquired? We will prove to you, by the preponderance of the evidence, that the defendants were the beneficiaries of unlawful financial gain that their forefathers acquired by means of slave trade, prostitution, murder, extortion, trickery, confiscation, lying and cheating. And these defendants have profited-unduly-from it. They have enriched themselves in a citadel of a family business and have transformed their inherited wealth into businesses that many would call legitimate ones. For example …there has been land which was legally owned by ex-slaves--I mean acres and acres right here in the Lafayette Parish--which was acquired by land-grabbers, who stole it from hard working families and eventually turned it into one of this states finest golf courses. Yes, it’s true. This land was considered the bottom land, sold to Milo Patton and his family. Milo was forced to sell his 50 acres of land to the sons of the slave owners who set him free, for pennies of what it was worth. Is it fair when one side has an overwhelming advantage over the other? Would any of you consummate a deal if you were forced to sell your home and move on, and if you didn’t like the terms and refused to accept them, the state would give you 1/10 of what its worth? Would you deem that to be a fair deal? What if you said no? What if you refused? What if you refused and they took it from you and forced you to sign the deal? Then, they paid you the 1/10 of its value and turned it into a business that was worth 10,000 times more than they paid you for it? Oh no, ladies and gentlemen. I say no. We will prove to you, with the preponderance of the evidence, that these defendants sitting before you, are the benefactors of these immoral and Illegal deals and are today poised to pass on to their descendants, the enormous wealth they enjoy because of the misdeeds of their fore-fathers. Not only that, but we will prove to you… that they have turned that inherited wealth into other so called businesses which has made them multi-millionaires. The question is…do they have a right…should they be allowed to unduly benefit from…at the expense of the poor families who are descendants of people like Milo Patton’s family, or The Josh Simon family, who live from paycheck- to- paycheck, and enjoy no benefit from their forefathers investment in the land that these defendants have been so richly rewarded? That, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is the question. In your hearts, and after careful consideration of the facts we will present to you, we know you will agree with us, and say no. No to the unfairness! No to the illegality of transactions forced upon those poor innocent people of the past, and reward their descendants for what’s rightfully theirs. When you hear all the facts, I know you will do the right thing. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen for your attention.”