The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson Page #8

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Comin' for to carry me home

Swing low, sweet chariot

Comin' for to carry me home

If you get there before I do

Comin' for to carry me home

Tell all my friends I'll be there soon

Comin' for to carry me home

Swing low, sweet chariot

Comin' for to carry me home

Thank you all. Thank you so much.

Marsha thanks you all.

-[man 1] Yeah, Randy!

-[man 2] Thank you, Randy.

-[man 3] Bravo, Marsha!

-Bravo, Marsha!

Comin' for to carry me home

Swing low, sweet chariot

Comin' for to carry me home

[interviewer] How long

have you lived here?

I've been here since a week

before Gay Pride Day this year.

This is my little house.

When I got that telegram

that Marsha was dead...

part of me went with her

because one of our pacts was that we would

always cross River Jordan together.

And to me, this is the River Jordan.

The Hudson River.

And that's when I started reaching

for the bottle

more heavily than I was doing.

After Marsha's death...

[crowd cheering]

I came back to New York City.

We are your history!

She's not here, but she's here in spirit,

Marsha P. Johnson.

-She's always--

-[woman] Yeah. She'll always be with me.

Always.

She'll always be

in the front of this parade.

[crowd continues cheering]

Let's put Marsh there.

Can't forget Marsh.

[Henry over phone] Records, Ms. Henry.

Hi, good afternoon, Ms. Henry.

My name is Victoria.

I sent an inquiry

in reference to getting, um,

the medical examiner's records

from a case back in '92,

and I was just wondering

if you've received it.

Okay, Victoria, I'm getting ready

to send you a letter

to say that, as of now,

our office can't locate this case file.

-You can't locate the case file?

-That's right.

Any particular reason

that it's not locatable?

I don't know. It's not in archives

and it's not in the container.

That's kind of strange.

These things do happen

every now and again.

Did some other department check that out

or your department did?

It's my department only

that has custody of those case files.

And... [sighs]

And then in all your 1992 cases,

the only file that's missing is that one?

I wouldn't say that.

I've never said that,

and I will never say that.

-You searched personally?

-Yes. Correct.

And who can I speak to more or less

to get something really done on this case?

I don't know who to tell you.

[indistinct chatter]

We're here today

to support justice for Islan Nettles.

Today will be the start

to the trial at 9:30.

We're hoping that the outcome

of the trial, whenever trial ends,

is gonna be the maximum sentence

for James Dixon,

the person accused

of killing Islan Nettles.

That maximum sentence is 25 years,

and that's what we're asking the DA

to ask the judge for.

[reporter] You've been following

Marsha's case.

So what has, like, this case...

Has it helped to bring some light

to past cases of violence

against transgender people?

[Victoria] No. On the contrary.

Just as most cases that come up

against trans women,

they plead the panic defense,

or they just think

they can brush it under the rug,

and people will pay no mind to it.

Can you actually speak a little bit more

to this panic defense?

The panic defense? Well, they didn't know

she was a trans woman.

There was a case back in '97,

Fitzgerald case.

Picked up this person in a gay bar,

male gay bar,

and took them home.

In court, he didn't know

she was a trans woman.

The person was stabbed multiple times,

and he got off.

Pleaded panic defense.

Just like now, in the Nettles case.

He claimed he panicked.

That's his defense.

[news anchor] The West Side Highway

is due for a fix-up.

It's been a long time coming.

There are concerns

about uprooting some people there.

The homeless will be asked to move

tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m.

The plans call for

the Hudson River Boulevard,

trees, traffic for seven lanes

and paths for bikers, joggers and skaters.

The homeless will have to pack up

their few possessions and get out.

There's a sense of anger

and desperation here

for about 30 homeless people

who call Pier 54 their home.

What about going to a shelter, or getting

some of the services that are available?

Is that not an option for you?

The city shelters are not safe.

-Do you feel like it's safer here?

-Yes.

It's called a sweep.

Not even a f***ing eviction.

A sweep. Like we're trash.

There's so many f***ing buildings

in this f***ing Manhattan,

and they can't give up

a f***ing building to f***ing...

maybe 15 people that will go in

and try to re-renovate it?

Marsha and I did it back in the '70s

on our own.

Yeah, I'm crazy,

because the world has made me crazy.

Don't be going in my house!

Excuse me, don't be going in my house!

[grunts]

Well, Marsha, we tried.

That's all I can say.

[sighs]

[cell phone ringing]

-[Victoria] Hi, Ms. Henry.

-[Henry] A package was mailed out to you.

[Victoria] Okay, so you mailed us

the autopsy report.

[Henry] I mailed you

whatever I was able to put together, okay?

[Victoria] So, we'll be receiving it

in the near future?

-[Henry] Yes.

-[Victoria] Okay.

Thank you. You've been most helpful.

-Hi, Eddie. Come on in.

-Hi.

-Did you bring the report?

-Yeah.

Okay, Ms. Henry said it was only partial.

Is it a big envelope?

It's kind of heavy.

This looks flimsy.

"Office of the Medical Examiner,

City of New York,

have performed an autopsy

on the body of Malcolm Michaels

on the 7th day of July, 1992,

at 1:
30 p.m."

But they classified it

as drowning at first,

but then they circled "possible homicide."

Like, here.

It looks like they found

a lot of discoloration,

but no evidence of trauma.

-Does that sound right?

-No trauma on the skull. Yeah.

"There is a sub... Uh..."

[sighs]

I don't know what the f*** this word is.

Maybe we should look at

another examiner's look at them.

-Or get... Right, get somebody--

-Have a professional look at this autopsy.

-Dr. Kildare.

-Doctor... Who's that?

[chuckles] He was before your time.

"Images of photos on CD."

Okay. [sighs]

[Eddie breathes deeply]

Oh, God. [clicks tongue]

Oh. [sighs]

[Dr. Michael Baden] What we have here

is an unwitnessed drowning.

She went into the water

while still alive and breathing.

It wasn't a situation where

death occurred someplace else,

by whatever means...

and then put in the water.

Whether she's pushed in,

whether she's being chased

and falls accidentally,

we can't tell from the autopsy.

That depends on the police investigation.

Could you rule out a violent assault?

Yes, there's no evidence there

of violent assault.

There was no injury, no impact injury,

to any part of her body.

There was no fracture of the skull,

there was no damage to the brain at all.

[Victoria] What about

the hole in the head?

Well, the body gets injured after death...

-Okay.

-...by floating debris and all that.

And the body starts breaking apart faster

in warmer water.

So what looks like

a gash on the left side,

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