Music Box Page #4

...to justify prosecuting

war criminals?

I think maybe you should get

another lawyer, Mrs. Talbot.

Maybe a real lawyer

to defend your father.

One who's not emotionally involved.

If you like, I'll accept

a postponement while you...

...get a replacement.

And by the way...

...they never pressed charges

because there was no case.

I was innocent.

But they could've pressed charges,

couldn't they, Jack?

They could've built a case

if they wanted to.

Just like you're doing

with my father.

I fail to see how you can equate

one with the other, Mrs. Talbot...

...but maybe you can in court.

Good evening.

I hope you enjoy your dinner.

Smile, Papa.

How can I smile? I'm scared.

I'm going to pee in my pants.

Papa, I want you to be

real friendly with Georgine.

Talk to her. Smile at her.

Mike Laszlo.

Six million lies!

We're behind you, Mike!

God be with you.

Mike is innocent.

Mike is innocent.

Any statement, Mrs. Talbot?

Hi. Hi. Annie.

Annie, can I sit up here

with you guys?

Karchy. Give Karchy a hug.

- I saw him this morning.

- Give him a hug.

- Okay. Okay.

- Go sit down.

- Why?

- Tomorrow, wear a suit. Go sit down.

- Can I...?

- Sit down.

Talk to Georgine.

A lot of people here, gypsy.

All rise.

Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye.

United States District Court...

...for the northern district

of Illinois is now in session.

The Honourable Erwin W. Silver,

judge, presiding.

God save the United States

and this honourable court.

Please be seated

and come to order.

Case number 89-CN-22-80:

The United States of America

v. Michael J. Laszlo.

I will tolerate no outbursts,

disturbances or interruptions.

You may make

your opening statements.

Thank you, Your Honour.

May it please the court.

- Mr. Burke.

- Counsel?

Mr. Burke.

The issue in this case is simple.

The evidence will show

that Michael J. Laszlo...

...lied on his application

for American citizenship...

...and was granted that citizenship

under false pretences.

His citizenship, consequently,

must be taken away.

He lied in order to hide the fact...

...that in the latter months of 1944

and the early months of 1945...

...he served as a member of an

SS-organized Hungarian death squad...

...known as Arrow Cross.

Also called the Special Section...

...a unit of the Hungarian gendarmes.

Mr. Laszlo committed crimes

so heinous that the mind boggles...

...trying to comprehend them.

We are not speaking here

of the banality of evil...

...of an anonymous bureaucrat

sitting in an office giving orders...

...or a gendarme executing orders.

We are speaking of a man...

...who committed these heinous crimes

with his own hands.

We are speaking of evil incarnate.

Thank you, Your Honour.

- Your Honour, if it please the court.

- Mrs. Talbot.

- Counsel.

- Mrs. Talbot.

Your Honour...

...the issue here is not

whether my father lied...

...on his application

for American citizenship.

That is a smoke screen.

Yes. My father did lie.

But he did so because he did not

want to be repatriated...

...by a Communist government

that either executed...

...or sent to work camps

all those who opposed it.

My father was a gendarme.

But he was not a member

of the Special Section.

My father worked as a clerk

in an office.

He requested that assignment

because he could not tolerate...

...the brutalities that he witnessed

his fellow gendarmes commit.

My father is simply an innocent man

who is unjustly accused.

He is a man who is

being punished by proxy...

...by a Communist government

for an action he committed...

...against representatives

of that government five years ago.

- Your Honour, with your permission.

- You may.

Would you please?

At an appearance here of the

Hungarian National Folk Dancers...

...a group belonging

to the Communist government...

...my father forced

the performance to halt.

The tour was cancelled,

my father was arrested.

Charges were later dismissed.

The Hungarian government

lodged an official protest...

...over the dismissal of those charges.

The State Department

rejected that protest.

His action was a demonstration

against the repressive policies...

...of the Communist government.

Policies which resulted...

...in the deaths of 15,000 people during

the Hungarian revolution of 1956.

My father is a good man.

He's the kind of man who is willing

to put himself at risk against injustice.

I know that, Your Honour.

And before this trial is over,

I will prove it to you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

You may call your first witness,

Mr. Burke.

I'm employed by the United States

Department of Justice...

...the Immigration and

Naturalization Service...

...at the Forensic Document Laboratory

in McLean, Virginia.

I'm a senior forensic

document examiner.

Now, what is the date

of the Arrow Cross...

...Special Section

identification card?

November 1, 1944.

Now, what is the date

of the immigration card...

...issued upon arrival

to the United States...

...the so-called green card?

February 12, 1952.

Mr. Nathanson...

...what is your conclusion

concerning the two documents?

My conclusion is that the

photographs are of the same man...

...and the signatures

are of the same man:

Michael J. Laszlo.

Did you conduct an examination

as to the authenticity...

...of the government exhibit one,

the Special Section ID card?

Objection, Your Honour.

Government exhibit one is not

a Special Section identification card.

Lt is a Photostat of a Special

Section identification card.

Sustained.

I conducted a full-phase examination

of the Photostat I was provided...

...to determine whether there'd been

alteration in any form.

What methods did you use?

I studied the document under

low-power stereoscopic microscope...

...to determine background tone.

Ln addition, I did a photo study

and handwriting analysis...

...using all scientifically

accepted methods.

And what is your conclusion,

Mr. Nathanson?

The exhibit is authentic

in my opinion.

Your witness.

Mr. Nathanson...

...when you say you did a photo study,

you mean you did a photo study...

- ...of a Photostat, isn't that correct?

- Yes.

Your Honour, may I approach

the witness?

Yes.

The fact that government exhibit

number one is a Photostat...

...and not the document itself,

did that hinder you in any way?

I felt I was not restricted

by the Photostat.

But would you have felt more

confident in your conclusions...

...if you were dealing with

the ID card itself?

I feel confident in my conclusions

without it.

Mr. Nathanson, when analyzing

a Photostat...

...to authenticate a document...

...is it possible to consider

the texture of the original document?

A Photostat examined

microscopically...

...would show any alteration

in the paper.

Can you authenticate the age

of the paper with a Photostat?

- Ilndirectly, yes.

- Indirectly?

- Yes.

- But the only way to authenticate it...

...directly is by having

the original document.

Yes.

So, Mr. Nathanson, your conclusions

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes