Alton Maddox in Poughkeepsie

Reprints of excerpts from OTP’s 44-page Evidence Concealed, Now Revealed award-winning feature published in 1998 About the Tawana Brawley case, resumes with “A DETECTIVE’S STORY” by Graham B. Weatherspoon Pt IV

At what point in this investigation, if you were investigating this, going by Tawana’s statements and the physical evidence, the death of Harry Crist, at what point would you say, “I’ve got to ring somebody’s bell.” At what point would you start looking for people?

Way back in December 1987. Not in 1998. First of all, this case should have gone to the Southern District as a civil rights violation. It’s ironic because, in the Dutchess County District Attorney’s office, the chief Assistant DA William O’Neill is a former FBI agent who handled civil rights cases back in North Carolina in the 1960s. So he knows what constitutes a civil rights violation. When this case came into that office, it should have been immediately apparent to William O’Neill that this was a Federal crime. It was a bias crime.

It was a case that should have been given to the Federal authorities. As I mentioned before, we did have an FBI agent, Hilda Kolgut, present at the interview at Tawana’s house. But It turns out Hilda Kolgut was a very close friend of Steven Pagones, and had been for a number of years. She knew him, knew his fiancée, had been to his house, they had gone to various social functions together. A problem further existed in the fact that when Steven Pagones’ name came up in the case, this caused a conflict of interest on the Federal level. Fact: no agent can, shall, or will, conduct an investigation relative to a target that they have a relationship with. Major conflict of interest. How thoroughly can you investigate a good friend? But she (agent Kolgut) would have the jury believe that her integrity is that great that she would do whatever had to be done to conduct a proper investigation relative to Steven Pagones. She also went as far as to say that she mentioned to her supervisor that she and Steven were good friends and her supervisor did not pull her off the case. That has to be a lie. The supervisor would be putting himself and the Bureau in jeopardy. The integrity of the Bureau would be challenged from every direction.
And I don’t think that the National Director would appreciate knowing that one of his agents was conducting an investigation of a friend in a matter as egregious as this, with the permission of a supervisor.
Alton Maddox made a statement that the jury said was NOT defamatory. He said, “He was one of the attackers, yes. If I didn’t have direct evidence I wouldn’t be sitting here saying that.”

What evidence did he have that would cause the jury to say that was not defamatory?
Steven Pagones said he was with Harry Crist on various days relative to the abduction of Tawana Brawley. He said he had gone with Harry Crist on the 28th of November, to Danbury, Connecticut and they had spent the entire day together. He chronicles the hours that he was with Harry Crist. And if he was with Harry Crist, he had to be involved in the abduction of Tawana Brawley.

Why?
Because of the time sequence. Steven Pagones was setting up an alibi before anybody started to ask him about it. If a man is dead, and you say you were with this man on such and such a date, at such and such a time, and the victim sees a picture of this dead man and says, “That’s the man who did it.” And you’re saying you were with him at that time, then there’s a problem here.

You’re saying you were with the guy and she says that WAS the guy.
So who’s the fool? Who is the fool? The sheriff’s office of Dutchess County had Steven Pagones as a suspect early on in this case. Before Alton Maddox got involved in the case.

Who made him a suspect?
Steven Pagones, at the time of Harry Crist’s death, talked with the New York State Police. And made some statements, which he has refused to release to this court, the grand jury, or anybody. And if that statement were not incriminating, he wouldn’t have a problem releasing the statement. He refused to take a polygraph under any circumstances. He refused to be interviewed by the FBI under any circumstances. He went out and handed $20,000 to an attorney that he said was a spokesperson because he knew that Mason, Maddox, and Sharpton were going to be coming after him. And this was before they got involved in the case.

They hadn’t even gotten involved at that point?
Precisely. Now why would you retain an attorney, who you call a spokesperson? Why would you hand a man $20,000 to be your spokesperson? For what? Steven Pagones wasn’t involved in anything he needed a spokesperson for. He wasn’t handling a felony case. He wasn’t doing much of anything in the Dutchess County District Attorney’s office that we can show. As a matter of fact, on the days that Tawana was missing, Steven Pagones was not even at work.

He was not at work?
He was not at work. He appeared for two minutes to pick up a paycheck. Two minutes. And that, he even lied about the deposit of that paycheck. He said that he had his wife Nikki deposit his check and that was a bald-faced lie.
Because Steven Pagones’ annual salary in 1987 as a fledgling in the District Attorney’s office, his salary was $25,000. The check that he purports to have deposited in the bank, and he brought in quote /unquote “the deposit slip”. The check was for $1,700. Now if you multiply $1,700 by twenty-six, you come up with $46,000 some odd dollars. And this is after taxes. His annual salary was only $25,000. There’s no way in the world that he could have deposited a paycheck for $1,700. Neither he nor Nikki.

Another question the jury did not find defamatory was when C. Vernon Mason said, “What we have here is an official, an officially sanctioned conspiracy to obstruct and prevent justice in the case of Tawana Brawley.” What evidence did C. Vernon Mason have such that the jury would not find that statement reckless and defamatory?
Well, the fact that the autopsy report determined that Harry Crist was not a victim of a suicide, but of a gunshot wound that was not self-inflicted.
Secondly, the fact that neither the District Attorney nor any of his assistants ever went to the hospital and got the medical records, or read them to determine whether or not there was any credibility to Tawana’s allegation. The sheriff’s department never pursued any other information relative to the suspects other than, the “white cop”, with sandy blond hair and with mustache. The fact that when the District Attorney sought to recuse himself from the case, he stated “a conflict of interest.” That conflict of interest was identified by Judge Judith Hillery of Dutchess County as Steven A. Pagones.

This was before Mason, Maddox, and Sharpton got involved?
Most certainly. Justice Hillery reported it. The New York Times printed it. Newsday printed it.

That Pagones was a suspect?
That’s right. When the Governor appointed Robert Abrams as a special prosecutor, it was seen as a problem, that Robert Abrams had no experience as a criminal investigator. He was only a civil attorney. How thorough an investigation could be done here? And that’s not saying the Attorney General does any personal investigating, but he ought to be able to oversee it and be able to recognize any errors he sees in the investigation. When I worked on cases, my sergeant, my lieutenant and my commanding officer, captain, inspector, whoever it was, read my case folder. If there was anything that I failed to do in the course of that investigation, they were supposed to bring it to my attention. You can’t bring to the attention of an investigator his failure to do one thing or the other or note an impropriety if you don’t know anything about criminal investigations. You can’t guide people to a place you’ve never been.
Ralph King and his family initially cooperated. Then they realized that the information that they were giving to the authorities was winding up in the hands of other people. And it was at that point that Alton Maddox suggested that they cease any cooperation with the people because they were facilitating the position of the opposing side. It was a week before Marjorie Smith even got back to Tawana Brawley. More than a week. Marjorie Smith is a sex crimes Assistant District Attorney. She is the State’s advocate for this child.

After her first interview, she didn’t speak to her for a week? What happened? Did anybody speak with her during that week?
No.

Were they all busily doing something on the case?
They were busy doing something. Look, Tawana had indicated that she had difficulty walking, they said she was feigning it. But the psychologist also felt that it was due to the sexual assault, a posttraumatic shock syndrome that she was going through. They tried to say that she was trying to fake illness and that other people had seen her walking with a cane, without a cane. Or she was seen walking into the treatment center without it, and then complaining that she couldn’t walk once she got in. The reality is, it takes about five years for a woman to get over a rape if she’s lucky. There are many physical, physiological, and psychological, that affect a woman. Rape is the only crime that is committed within the human body. And your threat level is extremely high in rape. The only thing worse than rape is homicide. But in that instance, the victim is gone. In rape, a person comes to you, sexually penetrates your body, and does all sorts of demeaning things to you, well that’s the ultimate trauma that you can go through as a victim of a crime. That experience is long affecting. Long affecting. And it might have a different effect on a young girl than an older woman.

Have you ever investigated a rape where the victim did not testify? How does that work? Does the victim have to testify?
It can be very difficult for the victim because the victim is put on trial. The attitude of, “Well she was asking for it.” “Look at what she was wearing. “Do you normally walk around looking promiscuous?” “How sexually active are you?” For example, Tawana was a fifteen-year-old. They tried to say that she was a prostitute in Newburgh. They had nothing to substantiate that. The people in Newburgh didn’t even know her. None of the people on the street could say they ever saw her or knew her. That was investigated. There was a fellow who said he had all these tapes. A bunch of tapes that he had to expose this scandal, or “Hoax”. And when he brought them in, it turned out all of his tapes were blank. He had tapes to “expose” Sharpton and Maddox and Mason and Tawana. All blank. And you know who produced that witness? Rudy Giuliani.
Not our esteemed Mayor? I can’t believe this. Explain those tapes again.

Part V next Week