The C.S.I. Effect: Is Reality Losing to TV Fantasy?
The Sha of South Brooklyn’s Gowanus Projects was as cunning as they come. He patted me down every time before he sold me large quantities of pre-packaged street heroin. There was no way I could conceal the bulky body wire and conceal it from him. This time my undercover meeting with one of New York City’s toughest, most violent drug dealers, called for the purchase of an ounce of pure heroin, China White, for $9,000 with a potential street value, at the time (circa 1987), of $60,000. The amount was considerably larger than the previous handful of several hundred and thousand dollar buys so I knew he would be more cautious than ever. As usual, I was by myself with my back-up teams nearby but with no communication. Sha was cautious but always businesslike. He didn’t believe in spending too much time in conversation during a deal because of the stiff, often deadly competition. He was ever aware of the potential for a drive-by shooting, a rip off, or the cops.
After my usual pat-down and a brief conversation, another male arrived on the scene. His brother, Eddie, a violent street thug, and the enforcer for the drug gang walked right up to me. We were investigating his brother as a suspect in several drug related murders. Eddie’s hands were deep into his jacket pockets and he had a cold blank look on his face. Watching his hands, I started to reach for my gun, but Eddie beat me to it. He took out a brown paper from his left pocket and hastily handed it to me while he looked around for a potential rip off and cops. My failure to respond to his furtive actions and quickly draw my weapon lent itself to making a pinnacle drug. Realizing the deal was going smoother than I could have expected and that I was actually believable to these drug dealers as a drug dealer myself, I opened the bag and looked in. I smiled at the sight and understood that this buy just tied in the gang’s enforcer for a twenty-five to life stretch in prison. Happily, I handed Sha the cash and we parted ways.
The case culminated a few weeks later with another large buy of pure heroin with a street value of $250,000 from the Sha. He was arrested, along with me, to maintain my cover, but Eddie wasn’t there. My fellow narcotics unit detectives arrested him that night but never recovered any additional drugs. I faced them all in court several months later and Sha was convicted on all counts and received a lengthy sentence. During trial the defense attorney emphasized to the jury that we never recovered fingerprints on the drug package I received from Eddie on that night in 1987. The Prosecutor, on summation, explained to the jury that fingerprints and other forensic evidence is rare in most cases and more rare in drug cases. He emphasized my testimony of the hand to hand direct sale from Eddie but it was to no avail. After a few days, the jury decided to acquit Eddie of the A-1 Felony drug sales charge because they didn’t feel he knew what was in the brown paper bag since his fingerprints were not found on the plastic bag inside containing the heroin. I was disappointed but I knew jurors were uninformed and confused about the frequency and availability of obtainable forensic evidence. This was my first experience with what is now called The C.S.I. Effect.
“Not Guilty!” Prosecutors across the country are disappointingly hearing the negative verdict more frequently. Months of hard work preparing a case for trial after painstakingly thorough police work results in the arrest of an obviously guilty defendant can culminate in the anti-prosecution, “Not Guilty!” verdict. This has left some police officers confused and even more prosecutors angry. Has the overwhelming popularity of the sexy and exciting CBS Television series, C.S.I., influenced TV viewers everywhere that jurors are expecting forensic evidence to be introduced in every trial? And when such evidence is not presented, are these same jurors failing to convict guilty criminals?
I guess if you are so inclined, like I am, to watch television shows like Forensic Files, Real Detectives, Cold Case Files, FBI Files, and the ever popular and ever expanding CSI Miami, CSI New York, CSI Russia, CSI Baghdad, CSI Czechoslovakia, CSI Mars, CSI Saturn, and CSI Who Knows Where Else, you could believe that forensics evidence is available in every crime. Hollywood aside, TV fantasy has become a courtroom reality that has been causing the good guys to lose cases against the bad guys dating back well before there was a CSI TV show. Juries need to be better informed of reality and how very limited forensic evidence can be during most crimes.
As law enforcement officers, we need to be more thorough in our efforts to obtain Forensic evidence and show the jurors that we care about obtaining as much evidence as technologically possible. Prosecutors need to conduct a more detailed Voir Dire of the jurors to educate them on the real-life version of criminal investigation and forensic evidence. A well-informed juror, properly and efficiently informed of the truth, can be a prosecutor’s asset and a criminal’s worst nightmare. The CSI Effect is here to stay so we must be up to the challenge and learn more about the facts of Forensics and prepare ourselves to educate a jury beyond our usual testimony.
