Raúl Esparza: ADA Rafael Barba

American Tragedy

ADA Rafael Barba

Dr. Melinda Warner: [during Mehcad Carter's autopsy] Kids can survive incredible trauma, but when they crump, they crump quick.
Rafael Barba: Crump?
Amanda Rollins: All the vitals go south all at once.
Odafin Tutuola: So we're looking at a homicide?
Dr. Melinda Warner: If getting shot what killed him? Yeah.
Olivia Benson: Jolene said that she fired in self-defense.
Dr. Melinda Warner: I can't speak to that, but there was no fouling or stippling on his body. He wasn't that close to her.
Rafael Barba: Is it possible the stippling disappeared during surgery?
Dr. Melinda Warner: It can't. Stippling burns into skin.
Amanda Rollins: What about on the clothing?
Dr. Melinda Warner: You mean after EMS, the evidence mangling service cut his clothes off through the bullet hole? I will hunt them down and kill them.
Odafin Tutuola: Melinda.
Dr. Melinda Warner: Sorry.

Rafael Barba: [to the jury] Mehcad Carter was a 16-year-old honor student enjoying his summer. Singing in the church choir, watching cooking shows on tv, playing basketball with his friends. And then he forgot his MetroCard and was embarrassed to tell his parents. So he chose to walk home. That's what Mehcad was doing on the night he was killed. He was heading home to his parents, but he never made it. Because Jolene Castille didn't like the way he walked, she didn't like the way he dressed, she didn't like the way he looked. The defendant claims that Mehcad was stalking her, that he was going to rape her, but how can we believe her when she has lied about every other detail on this case? About his having a gun, about what he said to her. She even claimed that Mehcad lunged at her, but you heard the M.E. testify that Mehcad had to have been at least five feet away from her when she murdered him. In a system where it is all of our rights to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, Jolene presumed Mehcad guilty And became his judge, his jury, and his executioner. She got to go home to her brownstone that night. Mehcad will never go home again.

Rafael Barba: [to Jolene] On the night you saw Mehcad Carter, did you see a field hand, a jungle animal or just a boy trying to make his way home?
Ben Cohen: Objection.
Jolene Castille: No, I want to answer that. I saw a hooded man following me. I told him to back off, and he came through my gate.
Rafael Barba: So if it had been a white man who was walking behind you, would you have told him to get back? Would you have pulled your gun?
Ben Cohen: Objection.
Jolene Castille: If it was a white boy, I wouldn't have been afraid.
Rafael Barba: So, let's be clear. Mehcad Carter didn't have to do anything. He didn't have to say anything. He just had to be a black boy standing on your sidewalk and that gave you the right to shoot him?
Jolene Castille: That's not what I said.
Rafael Barba: Isn't it? Nothing further.