Thursday, October 31, 2013

Jose Baez: Deception and Publicity

Jose Baez tripped, stumbled, and fell into the Casey Anthony verdict in spite of his lack of talent and inability to be truthful, or even to keep track of his deceptive answers.  He is now back in the news and, as before, he struggles to remember one statement to the next, giving Statement Analysis students a chance to study him again.  She didn't say a "negative thing", said Baez, of his 12 year old client.

Let's see if he is telling the truth.

 Jose Baez, the Florida attorney who is representing the 12-year-old girl accused of bullying Rebecca Sedwick, told CBS News' Crimesider his client "never said a single negative thing to Rebecca" and claims she is being "vilified" through the sheriff making his "media rounds."
"I think he is going beyond the scope of his job as a law enforcement officer. His job is to investigate and make arrests," Baez told Crimesider.
One might wonder why "make arrests" is in the vocabulary of a defense attorney in this context. 
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who presided over the investigation into the case, told Crimesider last week thathe believes Baez, who famously won an acquittal for Casey Anthony, took on the Sedwick case for publicity reasons.
Baez shot down those accusations, saying, "I really don't care what Sheriff Judd has to say. I don't need publicity. This case is smaller than other cases I've handled before."

Note that he only "really" does not care, making care sensitive. 
Note the importance of what one says in the negative:  here, publicity, the lifeblood of his profession, is not needed. 
Note, interestingly enough, that this case is smaller than other "cases", in the plural, that he has handled.  Note "handled" and not "tried" nor clients represented. 
"I represent people accused of crimes as well as victims of crimes. She falls under both categories," Baez said of his 12-year-old client. "My client has been the victim of bullying in the past and she is currently being bullied by the system."
Baez's client and a 14-year-old girl were arrested Oct. 21 and charged with felony aggravated stalking of Sedwick, who authorities say climbed a tower at an abandoned concrete plant and hurled herself to her death Sept. 9. Both pleaded not guilty Friday.

Judd said that he charged the 12-year-old and 14-year-old with stalking because what they did to Sedwick went beyond bullying into harassment and intimidation.
The two girls allegedly encouraged others to fight Sedwick, and sent her electronic messages encouraging her to kill herself.
The department released Facebook chat logs of the two suspects after Rebecca's death.
Baez's client, the 12-year-old, wrote, "I feel like Rebecca's dead because of me. If only I could say I'm sorry."
Later she said, "I deserve to die. I wish it was me and not her."

Baez says he doesn't think his client should be charged with a crime and says his client "never said a single negative thing" to Rebecca. However, Sheriff Judd has publicly claimed authorities have obtained pages of Facebook conversations in which the 12-year-old admits to bullying Rebecca at school and online, according to CBS affiliate WTSP.

Here we have only a partial quote.  Baez apparently claimed that the girl did not say a single "negative thing."  Was it "said", versus "written"?  This is why complete quotes are best.  Was it not "said" but "written" to Rebecca?
Note that "never" does not mean "did not";
note the additional word "single" to add emphasis.  

Baez is familiar with linguistic gymnastics from his previous experience with Casey Anthony.  Please note that Baez did not deny having a romantic relationship with Casey Anthony.  If he was unable or unwilling to deny it, we shall not deny it for him. 

The Sheriff was not pleased and spoke out: 
"Mr. Baez, here's my message to you: Get over trying to show she didn't do something she did and start trying to help that child," Judd said in a news conference last week.
One might question the wisdom of Judd saying this in public rather than allowing it to be said in court. 
Baez told Crimesider it's unfair that his client is being blamed for someone else taking their life.
"It's very difficult. She's in a grieving process and has been grieving since she heard the news," Baez said. "It's no secret she has been extremely remorseful." Indeed, Sheriff Judd has told multiple media outlets that Baez's client and her parents have shown remorse.
Why would his client be "remorseful" if she said "nothing negative"?
Yet, the client's remorse is made sensitive by the additional word "extremely";
This is an example of Baez inability to follow thought. 
Baez says that instead of looking to blame someone for the situation, people need to learn from it.
"What I plan on doing in this case is move away from shifting the blame and actually help people learn from this experience," he said. "At the end of the day, all parties' goals are to turn this horrible tragedy into something positive."

Missing Fiona: French-English Translation

In the previous post, we asked for body language analysis of the mother; in particular, her head shaking and her looking around at the reporters. Here we have a translation of the interview. In using a translation, we step back a bit, and look at the broader picture, knowing we might lose something in translation, therefore, we generalize.


Mère : Je lance un appel à tout le monde pour… à tous les Clermontois, tous ceux qui peuvent nous aider. C’est vraiment un appel au secours… et pis ben… voilà… c’est le but, c’est de retrouver Fiona, c’est tout… et que… qu’on a vraiment besoin d’un soutien, d’aide… C’est vraiment la seule chose que je peux dire.
Mother: I send out a call to everyone...all the Clermontois (people who live in Clermontois), all who can help us.  It is truly a call for help.. XX .. XX..it is the goal, it is to find Fiona, that's it...and that.. that one really needs some support, some help...It is truly the only thing that I can say.

We take careful note of the need to use "truly" as added. Also, the stated purpose is to find Fiona. Why would a mother have the need to state the obvious unless the mother had a need to state the obvious. This is sensitive.

Note "really" and "truly" as unnecessary emphasis added to the statement.


Journaliste : Que vous disent les enquêteurs actuellement ?
What did you actually say to the investigators?


Avocat : ben les enquêteurs, on n’a plus affaire avec les enquêteurs, hein… on a affaire aux juges. C’est la raison pour laquelle on est là aujourd’hui. On n’a plus affaire aux enquêteurs. On a affaire aux 2 juges qui ont été désignés pour régler cette affaire, voilà… les enquêteurs… on n’est plus témoin hein, on est partie civile, voilà…
Lawyer:  Well the investigators, we are no longer dealing with the investigators, XX.. we are dealing with judges.  That's the reason we are here (for which we are there) today.  We are no longer dealing with investigators.  We are dealing with two judges who were designated to rule this affaire, there... the investigators... we no longer witness eh, it is a civil plaintiff, that ...

Pronouns are critical. This mother should be using "I" and not "we"; note the use of "we" as well as the repetition of the negative, "no longer dealing with investigators"


Journaliste : Que pensez-vous de toute la mobilisation sur facebook, dans la vie ?
Journalist:  What do you think of the mobilzation on Facebook, in the life?


Mère : Au niveau de la mobilisation, c’est vraiment… bon, c’est bien, c’est une bonne chose… J’espère, on espère vraiment que bon… ça peut aider parce que… ben on est face quand même… impuissant… et ben voilà, on espère vraiment que toutes les recherches… on  essaie d’avoir confiance en la justice.
Mother:  As far as mobilization, it's truly... well, it's good, it is a good thing... I hope, one truly hopes that good... that will be able to help because... well one is faced nevertheless...powerless.. and there, one truly hopes that all research (all the searching)... one tries to have trust in the justice system (trust in justice).

Again, notice the need to emphasis with "truly"
note also the need to explain why help is needed when a child is missing is unnecessary therefore making it critical.


Avocat : mais vous avez confiance en la justice ! Si vous êtes partie civile aujourd’hui, c’est que vous pensez que c’est à la justice de faire son travail et voilà…
but you have confidence in the justice system!  If you are a civil party today, that's what you think that the justice system does it's work and there it is...
Journaliste : Vous ne comprenez pas ce qui a pu se passer ce dimanche après-midi ?
Journalist:  You don't understand what happened this Sunday afternoon?


Mère : Non, je suis vraiment…
Mother:  No, I am truly...
"truly" is an additional word meant to persuade

Avocat : vous vous êtes assoupie, alors expliquez un petit peu quand même…
Lawyer:  you were asleep, but explain a little just the same...


Mère : oui ben voilà… en m’étant assoupie… et puis après c’est, ben c’est à mon réveil, ben voilà j’ai… il manquait ma fille. Il manquait ma fille.
Mother:  Yes.. well  as for me being asleep.. and then after it's, well it's upon my awakening,well I have... he was missing my daughter.  He was missing my daughter.

Something lost in translation; it may be some missing info, here, however, "then, after..."


Journaliste : Vous lancez un appel aux éventuels ravisseurs ?
Journalist:  Are you sending out an appeal to potential kidnappers?


Mère : Bien sûr, bien sûr ! De toute façon, n’importe qui qui voit Fiona, n’importe qui qui a Fiona, et ben voilà… qu’il me la ramène, qu’il nous la ramène, c’est tout.
Mother:  Of course, of course!  Anyway ( in any event), no matter who sees Fiona, no matter who who has Fiona, and well.. that he brings her back to me, that he brings her back to us, that's all.


"of course" is meant to be accepted without question.  The repetition makes it sensitive, but so does the fact that one might have a need to have something so obvious as this expected.  
Note the change from "brings her back to me" to "us" along with another use of "that's all."

"That's all" would mean the end of things once she is brought back home.  Is there no call for justice?


Journaliste : Vous étiez à quel endroit dans le parc ?
Journalist:  You were in what spot in the park? (What spot in the park were you?)


Mère : ben on était derrière, côté « La Glacière »
Mother:  Well we were behind, next to "La Glaciere" (the Glacier)


Journaliste : Côté « la Glacière », C’est dans les sous-bois, vers le sud…
Journalist:  Next to "The Glacier", that's in the south woods, toward the south...


Mère : voilà, voilà, c’est ça…
Mother:  That's it, that's it...


Journaliste : c’est un petit chemin qui part…
Journalist:  it's a small path which goes...


Mère : Voilà…
Mother:  That's it...


Journaliste : Et quand vous vous reposez, vous lui donnez quelques consignes, qu’est-ce qui s’est passé ?
Journalist:  And when you are resting, you give (him) her some guidelines, what is it that happened


Journaliste : Il n’y a rien qui a attiré votre attention ce jour-là ?
Journalist:  There isn't anything that caught your attention on this day?


Avocat : Bon on va peut-être avancer là… on avance un peu, on chemine… oui ?
Lawyer:  Good we are perhaps going to go there... we are making headway, we are walking... yes?


Journaliste : non, je lui demandais s’il n’y avait rien qui avait attiré son attention ce jour-là particulièrement ou si vous aviez remarqué quelqu’un ou quelque chose ?
Journalist:  no, I asked him if there wasn't anything that attracted his attention on this particular day or if you noticed some one or something?


Mère : ben non justement, j’ai rien remarqué du tout. Pis bon déjà, vu mon état, en étant beaucoup fatiguée, j’aurais jamais imaginé que ben… qu’il se serait passé ça, et du coup ben, quand on est face à ça, on comprend rien à ce qui se passe… et voilà… la seule chose c’est récupérer Fiona, c’est tout, après le reste… y a pas d’importance… y a à la retrouver.
Mother: well not exactly, I noticed nothing at all.  XXXX already, saw my state, and being very tired, I would never have imagined that well, that it would have happened that, and in some blows (or suddenly) well???, when one is faced with that, one understands nothing about what is happening...and there it is... the only thing is to bring back Fiona, that's all, after the rest... there is nothing important... there is to find her.


Journaliste : Est-ce que c’est une petite fille qui a pu faire une imprudence, suivre un inconnu ?
Journalist:  Is it that a little girl who was able to be careless, and to follow a stranger? --> Could a little girl be careless and follow a stranger?


Avocat : On m’a dit des choses là-dessus qui sont importantes, que vous pouvez…
Lawyer:  They told me such things could be important, you may...


Journaliste : est-ce qu’elle avait le contact facile ?
Journalist: Is she easy to connect with?


Mère : oui, bien sûr, bien sûr… ben c’est une fille qui aime la vie, qui aime les gens, qui est sociable, qui euh… ben elle a pas de soucis quoi, elle est… on peut demander à n’importe qui, elle est toujours souriante. Même quelqu’un qui lui dit bonjour, elle répond, elle… voilà… c’est… c’est une petite fille pleine de vie, pleine de vie… une petite fille de 5 ans.
Mother: yes, of course, of course... well it's a girl who loves life, who loves people, who is sociable, who uh... well there are no worries that, she is... one can ask anyone, she is always smiling.  Even someone who says hello to her, she replies, she...well...that's a little girl full of life, full of life...a little 5 year old girl.  


Journaliste : Et vous, comment allez-vous, Comment vous sentez-vous ?
Journalist: And you, how are you, how are you feeling?


Mère : ben c’est très, très dur… après du coup, ben par rapport à ma grossesse et puis… ben mon autre fille, on n’a pas trop le choix, ben de faire en sorte de continuer un peu une vie… surtout pour la petite et puis pour mon bébé parce que j’ai quand même maintenant beaucoup de contractions, j’ai pas envie non plus de faire une fausse-couche ou quoi que ce soit donc… mais faut gérer tout ça, c’est vraiment pas facile.
Mother: well it's very, very hard/difficult...after a blow (some blows), well compared to my pregnancy and then... well my other daughter, one has no choice, well to ensure to continue life a little... especially for the little one (girl) and for my baby because just the same I still have lots of contractions, I don't want to have a miscarriage or anything  so...but must deal with it, it's truly not easy.

Note that "one" or in English, "you", rather than "I", which is then changed to the pronoun "I" later in the statement, regarding contractions. 

Note that "continue life" is a very strange use of "life" when speaking of a missing child and not a dead child.

the emphasis again with "truly"

Who’s Cécile Bourgeon
She’s a 25-year-old mother from Clermont-Ferrand in central France.
Why is she in the news this week?
Bourgeon has been in the French news throughout the summer, appearing in tears in front of cameras back in May, launching a desperate appeal for help in finding her five-year-old daughter Fiona, who she claimed had gone missing while playing in the park.
This week, after four months of painstaking searches by police and volunteers, hundreds of false leads, repeated interviews with Bourgeon and her family, and an enormous groundswell of sympathy from the French people, the mother made a shocking confession.
Late on Wednesday night, after two days of intense grilling from police in the south-western city of Perpignan, where she now lives, Bourgeon appears to have finally cracked, and began telling investigators what appears to be the truth.
Her daughter Fiona never in fact went missing. That fateful trip to the park never even took place and Bourgeon never had any hope of finding her, because Fiona was dead, and she hid her body herself.

Five-year-old Fiona. Photo: AFP/Clermont-Ferrand police.
What happened to Fiona?
As of Thursday we still don’t know, because the little girl’s body hasn’t been found yet. According to her lawyer, Bourgeon told interrogators that her boyfriend, Berkane Maklouf, had beaten Fiona to death in a drunken rage.
But Maklouf has offered a different version of events. He says the pair had woken one morning in May to find that Fiona had choked on her own vomit.
According to lawyers both Bourgeon and Maklouf admit they found Fiona dead in her bed one morning and that, panicking, disposed of her body.
Bourgeon reportedly told police this week that the couple had stuffed Fiona’s naked body into a leather bag, which they placed in the boot of their car.
With Fiona’s baby sister Eva in the back seat, the couple drove out to a wooded area on the outskirts of Clermont-Ferrand.
When they arrived there, Bourgeon claims she stayed in the vehicle with Eva, while Maklouf carried Fiona’s corpse to a spot on the fringes of the forest, dug a hole, and buried her naked body there.
What did Bourgeon do next?
In short, she lied and carried on lying. At 6.45pm on Sunday, May 12th, Bourgeon reported Fiona missing. She told them she had been at Montjuzet park in Clermont-Ferrand, with her two daughters.
She claimed she had fallen asleep on a park bench for 15 minutes, and when she awoke, Fiona was gone.
"She was pretty tired because she’s six months pregnant,” said local prosecutor Pierre Sennes at the time.
Police helped Bourgeon launch a massive public appeal for information, including a dedicated phone number, and dozens of police officers, soldiers and firemen combed the 26-hectare park for clues, while a helicopter fitted with a thermal imaging camera circled above them.
It was all to no avail.

While she waited in the car, Bourgeon's boyfriend buried Fiona naked in a forest. Bourgeon then launched an emotional appeal for help and a nationwide search. Photo: Yuki Akachan/Youtube
How has Bourgeon behaved in public?
She’s been really persuasive, to be honest. Which is one of the main reasons why there has been such a flood of hatred and anger towards her in the last 24 hours.
On May 16th, Bourgeon appeared before French media, tearfully asking the French nation for help in finding her daughter.
“I think about everything and nothing in particular. This is very hard, psychologically," she said in a separate interview. Here is a short video of first national television appearance (in French.)
When investigators formally concluded that Fiona had been abducted, and changed their line of inquiry to one of “kidnapping and false imprisonment,”Bourgeon received an outpouring of sympathy from members of the public all over France.
Hundreds of local volunteers and well-wishers handed out missing person posters and canvassed all over Clermont-Ferrand, in an effort to speed the search for Fiona to a happy ending.
In August, after three months without developments, Bourgeon reappeared for an interview with local newspaper La Montagne, which has followed the case particularly closely since the beginning.
The mother, knowing her daughter was dead, and having arranged for her burial in a forest, actually complained about how frustrating it was to not have any clues as to her whereabouts.
“Three months have already passed and still no good news,” she said. “We’re still waiting for a solid lead. It’s very hard, but I have to keep fighting.”
“Where I’ve been disappointed is that there have been so many testimonies which have led nowhere. But if someone does have information, they must come forward.”

Hundreds of well-wishers and supporters took to the streets of Clermont-Ferrand to help speed the search for Fiona to a happy ending. Photo: Thierry Zoccolan/AFP
What happens now?
On Thursday evening, Bourgeon told investigators she would lead them to the spot where Fiona was buried, in a forest next to Lac d’Aydat near Clermont-Ferrand.
The search proved fruitless, however, and was soon suspended. Once more police have been left frustrated by Bourgeon and unable to bring the entire episode to a resolution.
The French public, meanwhile, have been left in disgust, trying to comprehend how Cécile Bourgeon and Berkane Maklouf did what they did.
Stéphane Pozzo, who started a Facebook group in support of Bourgeon’s search for Fiona, summed up the emotions of many in France on Thursday, speaking to Europe 1 radio.

“What they have done is despicable. It’s horrible, indefinable and inhuman.”