This is not April Fool’s Day. Harlem State Sen. David Paterson was my most vocal supporter amid the trial of the assault complaint of a white model, Marla Hanson, whose face was allegedly disfigured by my client, Steve Bowman. His supposed accomplice, allegedly, was Steve Roth, a white makeup artist and the son of a nationally famed makeup artist.
The NYPD refused to put the razor blade in the hands of the white assailant, Steve Roth. Instead, law enforcement agents exploited the stereotype of a Black man with a razor blade. Amid the trial, the U.S. Supreme Court would rule, in an analogous case, that this trial, in effect, was still rife with Sixth Amendment violation even though Roth had been tried separately.
In the meantime, New York wanted me to deny to my client the right to confront his accuser, as guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment. Instead, I should have honored the slave code and refrained from confronting this white model, as would mostly happen later in the Central Park jogger case. Most defense lawyers were afraid to question Patricia Meili. New York is Mississippi 1955 without Medgar Evers. I competently and zealously cross-examined Marla Hanson for four days. White racists went nuts. Mayor Edward Koch denounced me and called for the trial judge’s head. Assemblyman Dov Hikind demanded the Brooklyn Grievance Committee take disciplinary action against me despite the Sixth Amendment. Also, Curtis Sliwa and his minions surrounded my apartment building “hunting for bear.” A white female reporter asked, amid my cross-examination of Hanson, “Can anyone stop this black gorilla [King Kong] from cross-examining this white woman?” After the trial, Hanson would rush to the U.S. Senate to stop me. She argued that I had not only violated her civil rights but also that my cross-examination had caused her more pain and suffering than the assailant’s razor blade. I was now registered in the Congressional Record.
On Mother’s Day 1987, I was on the cover of the Washington Post Magazine under the title, “Mr. Civil Rights in the Courtroom.” The title would do the trick. This article would engender the same kind of publicity as a prior article on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. “Nicky” Barnes was called “Mr. Untouchable.”
President Jimmy Carter read the article and hit the ceiling. He vowed to put Barnes behind bars. I learned that the Washington Postarticle received the same negative reaction from members of the U.S. Senate. This suspicion was confirmed in December 1990 while I was on Capitol Hill.
According to the Daily Challenge (April 14, 1987), State Sen. Paterson reacted angrily to a United Press International story that quoted him as characterizing my tactics as, at times, “racist and sexist” but legal. This was his understanding of the U.S. Constitution. Mr. Paterson compared me to Perry Mason and said, “Now that a Black man does it better than anyone else, everybody is upset.” He added, “All of a sudden people are talking about taking away Maddox’s license. He has not done anything that would cause his license to be taken away.”
On July 11, 1984, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had already charged me with beating up two court officers who were administering a beating on my client, Willie Bosket. Self-defense was not an option. The no-sock law prohibits self-defense when the assailant is a peace officer.
The jury nullified the court’s illegal instructions and acquitted me of the criminal charges. In the 18th century, the U.S. Supreme Court had sanctioned jury nullification. The shoe would finally drop on May 21, 1990. I was permanently “suspended” from the practice of law.
Mr. Paterson is no dummy. He correctly described the motivation for the attacks on me as racial because “they don’t like Black people and they want us to lose.” Whites will allow Black activists to spew racial rhetoric to appease Blacks, but a cycle of failure must follow the rhetoric. I was defending Black people outside the lines.
This past Tuesday was the first anniversary of Mr. Paterson taking over the reins of New York. As a gubernatorial oathtaker, he swore to uphold the Constitution. I spent my career seeking to enforce the Constitution. Yet, there appears to be a disconnect between myself and Mr. Paterson, who, until January 2006, was my actual political representative in the New York Senate.
History has proven that a Black person will be punished for simply enforcing the Constitution. In “Howard Beach” and “Bensonhurst,” Blacks were entitled to enjoy the right to travel. Jonah Perry, Anthony Davis and Andre Nichols were entitled to fair trials. Sam Brown of the Black Liberation Army was entitled to medical treatment. The actual list is much longer. Yet, it would add up to my disbarment. “No Negro has any rights that whites are bound to respect.” This is still good law in 2009. Dred Scott was decided by the judicial branch of government and it is beyond the reach of President Barack Hussein Obama, who must enforce Supreme Court decisions.
Because the ratification of the 14th Amendment was flawed, Dred Scott is still the law of the land. See the ratification of the 14th Amendment in New Jersey and Ohio. Georgia honored its compelled ratification in the breach. Black representatives were chased from the Georgia Legislature.
Because the ratification of the 14th Amendment was flawed, it stands to reason that any Black person who seeks to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments is committing acts of insurrection. The exercise of civil rights by Blacks is akin to overthrowing the “original intent”of the U.S. Constitution.
This explains the assassinations of Harry and Harriette Moore, Rev. George Lee, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Jimmie L. Jackson and Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Obviously, our trek to the “Promised Land” amounts to a trespass. We are, in fact, constitutional squatters. Mr. Paterson is seeking to have his cake and eat it too. He is running with the hares and hunting with the hounds. In the end, he loses. As Dr. King said, “If a man does not stand for something, he will fall for anything.” Only white racists will punish Mr. Paterson for doing the right thing. Blacks will stand by their man.
Within the past year, Wilbert “Bill” Tatum used the editorial page of this newspaper to urge Mr. Paterson to use his executive powers to correct an injustice against me lasting nearly 19 years. His pen would surpass the passivity of any public official or civil rights leader in New York City.
Moreover, the New York Legislature actually honored Barry Slotnick for defending Bernard Goetz, who unjustifiably gunned down three youth on a subway train. No member of the New York Legislature questioned Slotnick’s obligation to enforce the Sixth Amendment.
On the other hand, white members of the New York Legislature filed a disciplinary complaint against me for representing my clients in accord with the Code of Professional Responsibility and the U.S. Constitution. Of course, the “founding fathers” never intended that I should practice law. Whites in New York respect their ancestors. I need your support and letters in filing a petition for writ of certiorari in Maddox v. Prudenti et al in the U.S. Supreme Court on the questions of two-tone justice in the United States and denial of free speech for Blacks. Also, the invocation of the no-citation rule is threatening the doctrine of stare decisis.
Send letters and support to Alton Maddox, 16 Court Street, Ste. 1901, Brooklyn, NY 11241. March 21:Some members of the UAM are sponsoring a fundraiser to support, in part, UAM at Rockwell Bar & Grill (bet. DeKalb and Fulton Street) in Brooklyn from 9 p.m. March 22: Bus trip to Spectrum Dance Center, Halsey Street and Central Avenue, Newark, N.J., for the 25th anniversary celebration of Afrikan Echoes. Bus leaves from Slave Theater in Brooklyn at 2:30 p.m. Since Dred Scott was decided on March 6, 1857, Maddox will discuss “Dred Scott in Perpetuity.” March 25:Dr.Patricia New- ton, a noted psychiatrist and behavioral scientist, will be the keynote speaker at UAM Weekly Forum at Elks Plaza, 1068 Harriet Tubman (Fulton Street) near Classon Avenue in Brooklyn at 7:30 p.m. She will discuss “Post Traumatic Slavery Disorder.” Take the “C” train to Franklin Avenue. Three blocks to Elks Plaza. Admission is free. April 25-26: UAM’s “Egypt on the Potomac” field trip to Washington, D.C., and Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, Md. July 5-August 1: Freedom Retreat for Boys and Girls for children ages 7-15 in the Catskill Mountains. Call UAM at (718) 834-9034 for further information. See: www.reinstatealtonmaddox.net for “Mayor Bloomberg and Inside Trading,” “Kelly’s Kin Rips off NYC,””UAM Activities,” “Central Park Six Deserves Compensation” and “Freedom Retreat Explores Underground Railroad.”