American Violet and Me: Injustice and my Connection to Ronald Machen
Often, you hear about those who want to change the world. Generally, the ones who talk about it are upper-middle class or wealthy. More often than not, they carry a depth of idealism. Very seldom do you find men and women of their ilk that are really willing to promote change. I believe that to effect change, you have to begin with the world around you. I believe that those jobs are often monotonous and discouraging. There is very little glory involved, these lawyers and activists are the antithesis of the red carpet philanthropy that lines resumes of the social elite. Heroism is often anonymous. Philanthropy is often glorious. Very little gray area exists. These men represented the gray area, where money and true heroism seem to never collide.
American Violet is about the wrongful prosecution of the black citizens of a small Texas town and the fight of one of those citizens named Dee Roberts. She battled the charges but more importantly, she fought to change a judicial system based upon an accuse first, find evidence later mentality. She fought an unjust district attorney and his operation in a biased civil court. She won after she labored to find the real reason why she was prosecuted [Do not try this approach in the U.S. Coast Guard, questioning and transparency are not allowed]
The movie is based on a true story of a miscarriage of justice. The law firm, Wilmer Cutler Hale Pickering and Dorr, LLP joined the ACLU in remedying this story and ultimately finding justice like a needle in a haystack. Ronald Machen had a pivotal role in the deposition process, breaking down the star witness, District Attorney Calvin Beckett. Beckett is unapologetically bigoted. This fact showed and the plaintiffs won the civil case as Ms. Roberts criminal charges were dropped.
The Coast Guard’s lawyers filed a motion to close my November 10 hearing to family, friends, press and public. The appellate issue-at-hand has never been addressed in an open court. The press was shut out during that part of the court-martial, again at the Coast Guard’s Court of Appeals. When I received word that Wilmer Hale’s reply to the government’s motion was almost completely successful (see note) in quashing their attempt, I just smiled. Is this a little taste of what it feels like? With the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces’ decision to unseal my file (and civil case), my confidence in the idealism of an impartial court has grown. It leads me to believe that maybe, the truth will be known.
NOTE: RADM James Van Sice’s testimony to VADM Robert Papp has been removed from the appendix