Savage Grace - Natalie Robins (55 page)
MARCH 20, 1981: 12:00 A.M.–4:39 P.M.
Breakfast Menu, Rikers Island, March 20
,
1981
Bread and margarine
Stewed figs
Rice Krispies
Reconstituted milk
Coffee and tea
From the Transcript, The People of the State of New York Against Antony Baekeland, Defendant, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, March 20
,
1981
The Court Clerk:
Number 15, Antony Baekeland.
(Whereupon, both counsel—Sarah Hines, Esq., Assistant District Attorney [For the People] and Ronald M. Arrick, Esq. [For the Defendant]—approach the bench for an off-the-record discussion.)
The Court:
April 16th for Trial.
Counsel for the Defendant:
Your Honor, if I may be heard? Mr. Baekeland’s grandmother is in Court. She is eighty-eight years old. She is confined to a wheelchair. She has attempted to go to Rikers Island to visit the prisoner but has been advised that they have no facility for wheelchairs. She asked me to make an application to the Court for an in-Court visit with her grandson.
The Court:
Because she is the complaining witness in the case, because there have been statements made by you and your firm that she does not wish to proceed with the charges, because of the severity of the case and all the other special circumstances, I’m not going to permit a Courtroom visit in this case. April 16th for Trial.
Assistant District Attorney:
Judge, would you make a ruling on the Grand Jury Minutes?
The Court:
I have reviewed the Grand Jury Minutes and find them sufficient to warrant the indictment.
Assistant District Attorney:
I have received certain medical records from the defense, from England. I’ve not received the complete medical records as I expected.
The Court:
April 16th.
Cecelia Brebner
Nini had asked me if I would go with her to court and I went. Tony looked dreadful. When I had brought him back from London he had his Savile Row suit on and he looked very elegant, and now he was in rags, his hair tied back. He looked across the courtroom and said to Nini, “I love you, I love you, I’m sorry.”
Ronald Arrick
I know his mood in court that morning and it was fairly good. He talked to his grandmother—they both mouthed across the courtroom. As he was being taken out the door, he saw Grandma, she was sitting down near the back with her nurse or someone, and he went “I love you.” I had had a bench conference with the judge to see if he would grant Tony and Grandma a courtroom visit. I didn’t want them in a room alone together. What I wanted was for Tony to sit on one side of the rail, with guards, and Grandma on the other side—not within reaching distance of each other but three to five feet away where they could still talk to each other in a fairly low voice so as not to disrupt the court. Or even at a recess. But the lady D.A. was adamant against it. She didn’t want Tony having any contact with Grandma. One of the main reasons, I can only presume at, would be that it might influence her getting the verdict—the more contact they had, the less chance of Grandma testifying against Tony.
I don’t see how his sitting there handcuffed in a chair—or handcuffed
to
the chair, let’s say, if they wanted to go that far—five feet away from somebody, surrounded by, let’s say, two court officers—would have been endangering the old lady’s life. If it had been, I wouldn’t have asked for it.
When Tony was refused the visit, he accepted it, he accepted it fine. I don’t build up anybody’s hopes. There are no guarantees.
Judge Robert M. Haft
For humanitarian reasons I would allow a courtroom visit—a woman has to see her child or a man has to see his new baby, or somebody’s pregnant, or some case like that. But in Tony Baekeland’s case I just didn’t see that it warranted it. To see the complaining witness would not be proper.
From a Draft Document, Board of Correction, City of New York
Baekeland returned from court with a white plastic bag with red and blue lettering on it. He arrived back at quadrant 3 Lower at approximately 3:30 p.m. and requested to be locked in his cell.
John Rakis
He could have gone in the hallway or in the dayroom—inmates are entitled to be locked out for fourteen hours during the day. They’re also entitled to lock themselves into their cells when they want to be. It’s optional. Some people want to be in their cells and read or write, or they want to lie down, or they just don’t want to be bothered by anybody else.
From a Draft Document, Board of Correction, City of New York
Inmate John Lewis #346-80-2360 was the area suicide prevention aide on the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift.
John Rakis
Suicide prevention aides are an extra pair of eyes and ears for the officer, who may be busy entering something in the logbook or supervising food distribution or doing something to that effect. The aides get paid anywhere from thirty-five to fifty cents an hour—which is the highest rate of pay for inmate help. We test them to make sure they know what they’re doing, we give certificates for the training, and we do periodic inspections and evaluations of their work.
From a Draft Document, Board of Correction, City of New York
Inmate Lewis said that he spoke with Baekeland when he returned from court. Baekeland reportedly said that things had not gone well in court because he had hoped to be granted bail and that there had also been some talk he would be sent to a civil hospital, but instead he was remanded back to the Department.
John Rakis
Tony had told several inmates that he expected to be bailed out. It was poor judgment on his part to expect bail.
From a Draft Document, Board of Correction, City of New York
Correction Officer Patrick Raftery #2851 stated that he was assigned as the Lower 3 “B” Post Officer on the 3:27 p.m. to 11:58 p.m. tour. He arrived on his post at approximately 3:50 p.m. at which time he made a count. The Officer states that inmate Baekeland was sitting up on his bed at this time.
Again at 4:30 p.m., C.O. Raftery made his rounds. He reported that everything appeared normal. Baekeland was lying on his bed covered with a blanket: both feet and one hand were exposed. At 4:39 p.m., Nurse Mauretta Link entered the quadrant to dispense medication. She was accompanied on her rounds in the area by C.O. Raftery. After dispensing medication to two inmates, Nurse Link with C.O. Raftery approached Baekeland’s cell.
MARCH 20, 1981: 4:40 P.M.–11:59 P.M.
From a Draft Document, Board of Correction, City of New York
Baekeland did not respond to his name. C.O. Raftery rapped on the cell door, then opened the door and tapped his keys on the bed-frame, then rubbed Baekeland’s foot with the keys. When Baekeland still did not respond, C.O. Raftery pulled the blanket off the inmate and discovered that he had a red and white plastic bag over his head.
John Rakis
It was a plastic bag with one of those drawstrings, and the drawstring was pulled tight.
J. Victor Benson
I heard it was tied.
John Rakis
It was not tied. Just pulled tight.
From a Draft Document, Board of Correction, City of New York
C.O. Raftery went to remove the plastic bag from Baekeland’s head and Nurse Link called to the “A” Officer, C.O. George Forbes #1235, to send a manual resuscitator (ambubag). Nurse Link said at this point Baekeland had no pulse or respiration. C.O. Paul Jefferson #3076, the “B” Post Officer, responded with an ambubag which Nurse Link began to use immediately. C.O. Forbes notified the 4 Lower clinic of the emergency and the need for a doctor. Nurse Practitioner Gloria Howard-Mello responded immediately and instructed Officers Raftery and Jefferson to move the inmate from his bed to the floor of the 3 Lower corridor to provide more room to perform first aid. Nurse Link continued to use the ambubag and Nurse Howard-Mello applied external heart massage. Doctors Doyle and Jhaveri responded at approximately 4:43 p.m. and found the inmate without pulse or respiration and with fixed and dilated pupils. Baekeland was pronounced dead at 4:45 p.m. by Dr. Doyle, who then left the area. At approximately 4:52 p.m. Montefiore Hospital personnel (Dr. Nickerson, Registered Physician’s Assistant Ulrich, Nurse Johnson, and Nurse Minort) arrived in 3 Lower; they were not informed that Dr. Doyle had pronounced Baekeland dead, and recommenced cardiopulmonary resuscitation. During this procedure blood was observed spurting from the inmate’s nose and mouth. After Montefiore personnel had ceased their attempt to revive Baekeland, he was placed back in his bed.
Correction Officer John Hernandez
At the time of Baekeland’s suicide I was on the staff of the deputy warden, who investigates all matters pertaining to security. Right after it was discovered, the inmates on the quad were locked in. I then entered the cell to take pictures of Baekeland and the contents of the cell. I remember that there were some letters, some writing pads, a box of Ritz crackers, and not that much else. We preserved the cell for evidence, to rule out foul play, which
was
ruled out, almost immediately.
Record of Inmate Transfer, Department of Correction, City of New York
Name:
Baekeland, Antony #349-80-4228
Date:
3/20/81
Transferred to:
City Morgue D.O.A.
John Rakis
After the suicide, I talked to the staff and to other inmates. There was a mixed reaction among the inmates. Some acted as if nothing had happened and some acted concerned—“Yes. Too bad. He expected to be bailed out.” No one cried, no one was emotionally distraught. The general attitude was, another guy gone.
Tony didn’t leave a note behind. Only a small percentage of our suicides do leave notes—perhaps one out of ten. Sometimes they’ll underline a part of the Bible and the underlining is like a note.
From the Autopsy Report on Antony Baekeland
Case No.
BX 81-1146
External Description
The body is received clad in the following items of clothing: two sweater shirts, the outer of which is green with a zippered neck and reveals vomitus and a small amount of blood on its anterior surface. The inner is gray short-sleeved (the green is long-sleeved) with black, white, red, and gray piping. A pair of gray pants. A pair of jockey-type shorts. Also submitted with the deceased is what appears to be a piece of sheeting from an institutional-type bed on which are small quantities of blood. The plastic bag has not been received with the body.
Juan Martinez
Somebody in his family made the plastic that the bag was made out of—that’s why I think he did it like that.
From “Science and Industry,” a Lecture delivered by Leo Hendrik Baekeland, June 21, 1938
There is hardly any field, any branch of industry where plastics are not serving successfully in one form or another…. The whole fabric of modern civilization becomes every day more interwoven with the endless ramifications of applied chemistry. Ignorant people misjudge the value of chemical science and denounce its applications for war and other evils. Let us remind them that one of the most useful instruments ever invented, the knife, may, in the wrong hands, be used for evil, as well as for the best purposes.
Edward Hershey
The unusual thing about this was, of course, the method. We’ve never had anybody else suffocate himself with a plastic bag before.
Brooks Baekeland
I do not believe that Tony, who was the prince of hope, bravura, and challenge, as well as of self-expiation and despair, took his own life. We were to the very end in constant epistolary contact. Everyone who really knew him agrees that he would never have gone without a
big
announcement—not that hyperarticulate, dramatizing gent. And he died without a word to me or anyone.
I think he was murdered by his jailers. So easy to do. He had admitted his sexual relations with one of the guards in a letter to me. Maybe he threatened exposure, or retracted a promise of money? In both hands he held death: Who lives by the sword…But let it lie. Suicide or murder: Does it matter? Yes. But why and how much? Both he and his mother lived by violence and so they were bound to die by the same. I always knew it, and that was one of the reasons I had to get away from them.
Edward Hershey
It is almost routine in every suicide for people to start saying, you know, that it really wasn’t a suicide. For the family members in most instances, it’s so much more acceptable to have somebody be murdered than have them commit suicide. What a great guilt deflection that is.
J. Victor Benson
I was shocked to hear about Tony because I couldn’t believe that he had
that
kind of violence in him—toward himself, that is. He had never expressed suicidal thoughts. And also, it was not an impulsive act—it was very carefully done.
John Murray
I don’t think it’s possible that someone did Tony in. He told me he was going to kill himself because I didn’t love him. That’s what he told me. Unless he just said it to make me feel guilty. I believe sometimes someone kills themself because someone doesn’t love them, so I kind of think in a way he did kill himself for me a little bit. He was a very sentimental guy. It stands to reason—anyone gives out that much money is sentimental. I miss him tremendously. I miss him very much.
Ronald Arrick
I heard it on the news and I spent about four or five hours on the phone with Rikers trying to confirm it—you get a goddam runaround over there—and trying to get details, until I found the guard, who told me himself.
What I’m most interested in with Tony is what the hell happened at Rikers that he committed suicide—
if
he committed suicide. It’s my impression that he didn’t. It just doesn’t make sense, to commit suicide by suffocating yourself with a plastic bag. Swallowing pills or slashing your wrists or shooting yourself of course is fairly easy, you know—assuming you want to do it—and depending on how far you go with it, it’s irreversible. But something like this you can stop at any given time, and your normal impulse—I mean it would be involuntary even—would
be
to stop it.
Elizabeth Archer Baekeland
When I heard that Tony had committed suicide by putting a plastic bag over his head, I told a doctor friend that I thought it was extraordinary that he had the courage—I mean, it’s the most noble thing that Tony did in his
life
—and the doctor said it’s not difficult to do. He said you just breathe in your carbon monoxide and become euphoric. So later I thought, I’ll test that out. I took a plastic bag, and I couldn’t find any string so I took some telephone wire and wrapped it around, and I couldn’t believe it, within a matter of…you cannot measure time under those circumstances but very soon I was really feeling high, and good, and so I thought, Oh-oh, I’d better take it off—and I couldn’t find the end of the wire! Well, I finally found it and ripped it off—I mean, obviously.
Ronald Arrick
Go back another step. He was on a suicide watch at the time, so how come he had a plastic bag? Where did he get a plastic bag?
I’d seen him before court session, I’d seen him during court session, and I went back in after court session and we discussed how we were going to proceed and he seemed in a very good mood. I mean, look, maybe he knew he was going to commit suicide and that’s one of the reasons he was
in
the good mood. We’ll never know.
From a Draft Document, Board of Correction, City of New York
There is no evidence to suggest that Baekeland’s death was not suicide, as he was locked in his cell immediately after he returned from court. All other inmates in the area were also locked in from the time of the count (4:00 p.m.) through the discovery of the emergency, with the exception of inmate John Lewis, the suicide aide.
From the Financial Records of Antony Baekeland
To John Lewis—$2,000.00
John Rakis
It seems unlikely that if Tony was giving John Lewis money, John Lewis would do any harm to him or want him to die. Besides, there’s nothing a suicide prevention aide could do to another inmate that any other inmate couldn’t do, too.
Also, inmates don’t have any control over the keys. One of Correction’s biggest concerns is key control—they probably spend more time at the Academy teaching key control than suicide prevention. Keys are very carefully accounted for. The loss of a key would be tantamount to the loss of an inmate. It’s against procedures to even allow inmates to touch keys.
That door was locked. Officer Raftery had to open it with a key. And there were several witnesses to that.
Every time we see a suicide, the thought of homicide is always foremost in our minds, and the investigation is conducted with that in mind. And there was no indication whatsoever that there was any foul play in Tony Baekeland’s death.
Juan Martinez
It didn’t come as no surprise. Not really. Because he told me he was gonna kill himself. And I saw it. I saw everything. Everything. And I didn’t help. Forget it. Just forget it. I’m the only one to know the real truth. And the C.O.s know that I’m the only one that knows the real truth, too. It’s too many things. It’s too many things, man. It’s dangerous, you know? You see what I’m saying? You understand what I’m telling you? I was there. I
know
what happened. Somebody said, “Do it, Tony, or else!”
Howard Nabor
It was suicide, there’s no question about it. One of my officers took it very bad. You know, it was unusual that he got so upset about it. He felt, you know, that Tony was a very sensitive boy, and just to see somebody die like that really upset him. I think he even resigned from the job after that—if I remember right.
The type of suicide
was
unusual. I felt that somebody that did it that way really wanted to go. Some of the others, if they try to hang themselves, sometimes they’re doing it for show and then they accidentally kill themselves. But definitely—no question about it—Tony Baekeland wanted to go.
Edward Hershey
I remember it was a Friday evening when word came. We try to make sure the next of kin is notified before we inform the press. And in this instance, it became apparent that the next of kin was the very selfsame grandmother. I had a sense that the tragedy would be compounded if our minister and the correction officer assigned walked in on her and said, “Your grandson has just killed himself,” her having seen him in court that day. So I reached out for the assistant D.A., and I found her—I don’t know how I did it but I found her. It was a Friday night, she was visiting people in Jersey, and I said, “What do we do?” She knew the grandmother and she was concerned, and we were able to locate a tenant in the grandmother’s building so that she wasn’t alone when she was told the news.
Lena Richards