Falsely Accused
by Marko Lampas
E-book $10.50

FALSELY ACCUSED

(SCREENPLAY)

By Marko Lampas

The Trial

EXT. CRIMINAL COURT, NEW CANAAN, CONN. - SNOWSTORM

Morning, mid-January -- bundled in winter coats and hats, hordes of reporters and townspeople along with ELENA SIDERIS and her son LUKE hurry inside.

INT. COURTROOM - FILLED TO CAPACITY

People in the gallery share accusatory whispers about the defendant, teacher THOMAS ROBSON, for the alleged molestation of his 13-year-old student, Luke Sideris.

Elena, a widow in her mid thirties, tall, slender, with shining long black hair and face of extraordinary beauty. Elegantly dressed in a light gray suit, with a colorful scarf around her shoulders. She walks toward the court room with her son.

Luke, a good-looking boy in his early teens with a face marred with scratches. He wears matching pants and a jacket with a tie. Fallows his mother.

Thomas Robson a teacher. Extremely attractive man in his late thirties, fit, tall, with thick blond hair and blue eyes. He sits next to his lawyers confident this farce will quickly be over.

The CLERK, seated at a table at the front of the courtroom, stands and addresses the packed courtroom.

CLERK

Silence! All stand, the honorable Judge Mariana Rossi presiding.

The Clerk remains standing while JUDGE ROSSI steps up to the bench and sits in a high-backed leather chair.

CLERK (CONT’D)

You may be seated.

JUDGE MARIANA ROSSI: Thin, handsome middle-aged woman, large almond-shaped fiery black eyes, and long dark hair. A no-nonsense judge, she stands erect looking around at all the spectators. She pounds her gavel once to establish order and glances from the defense table to the prosecution.

JUDGE ROSSI

This court is in session; the prosecution may call its first witness.

PATRICIA O'MALLEY, an accomplished prosecutor with the confidence of a criminal lawyer who's never lost a case. Attractive in her late thirties. Stands to call and question the witness.

O'MALLEY

The state calls DOROTHY JORDAN.

Dorothy Jordan a Spanish-born widow in her late fifties who speaks with an accent. Walking toward the witness seat, she glances nervously around, avoiding eye contact with next-door-neighbor Thomas Robson, and then sits stiffly in a wooden witness chair next to the bench.

O'MALLEY (CONT’D)

Mrs. Jordan, you've been sworn to tell the truth.

MRS. JORDAN

(timidly)

Yes, I have and I will...

O’MALLEY

Can you please tell us what you saw from your window the night in question?

MRS. JORDAN

I saw him, Mr. Robson, undressing the Sideris boy, and then he took off his clothes. Down to their underwear. I was horrified to think that he would do such thing...

ROBERT PATTERSON: Thomas' defense lawyer, tall attractive African American man well dress with glasses in his mid forties. Rises to object.

PATTERSON

Objection! Your Honor, I object to the rhetoric of this witness.

JUDGE ROSSI

Sustained. Mrs. Jordan, just tell us what you saw.

MRS. JORDAN

This is my first time as a witness, Your Honor. I am scared. Those cameras, the whole world is watching me.

O'MALLEY

Come, come, Mrs. Jordan, there is nothing to be afraid of. Just tell us what you saw after they took their clothes off. What did he do with the naked boy?

MRS. JORDAN

Well...

O'MALLEY

Speak up, Mrs. Jordan.

MRS. JORDAN

Well, they were not completely naked; they still had their shorts on, oh... I need a glass of water.

The Clerk hands her a glass of water.

Mrs. Jordan takes a series of small sips, and then looks at O'Malley.

MRS. JORDAN (CONT’D)

They hugged and kissed before they went upstairs. The moment they saw me they shut the lights off. I have no view of his bedroom. That's why I called Mrs. Laurence, to see if she could see them from her window.

O'MALLEY

Well, did Mrs. Laurence see them?

MRS. JORDAN

Yes, she told me that she did.

PATTERSON

Objection, Your Honor, that's hearsay.

JUDGE ROSSI

Sustained.

O'MALLEY

Thank you, Mrs. Jordan. I have no more questions.

Patterson, stares at Mrs. Jordan, and stands at the lawyers' podium.

PATTERSON

Mrs. Jordan, are you sure, the man and the boy you saw from your window were Mr. Robson and the Sideris boy?

MRS. JORDAN

Yes, I'm sure, I recognized the boy; I have seen him there before, in the late afternoons, but never at night...

PATTERSON

Do you see that young woman, back there, in the last row?

Patterson turns and gestures toward a woman near the courtroom exit door.

PATTERSON (CONT’D)

Can you describe the color of her hair and what she's wearing? It's a bit closer from your window to Mr. Robson's.

MRS. JORDAN

Yes, three years ago I took advantage of this new technology called, Eye-Perfection. That young girl has curly, shoulder-length black hair and she's wearing a dark blue sweater.

PATTERSON

Yes, and you're positive, the man and the boy you saw, were Mr. Robson and Luke Sideris?

MRS. JORDAN

Yes, I'm positive it was him and the Sideris boy

PATTERSON

I have nothing more for this witness, Your Honor.

Judge Rossi nods at Mrs. Jordan, who quickly descends the stand.

THE CLERK

Mrs. Lucille Laurence to the stand.

LUCILLE LAURENCE: A high society dame, tailored suit, expensive-looking jewelry, mid fifties, prime physical condition. Her confident walk bespeaks a self-awareness of her socially superior status. As she walks toward the witness seat, she stares unblinkingly at Thomas.

O'MALLEY

Mrs. Laurence, can you tell us what you saw from your window the night Mrs. Jordan called you?

MRS. LAURENCE

(pointing at Thomas)

Yes, I saw him, and the Sideris boy naked in front of his upstairs window. I called my husband to come and see this shameful scene. God! What a...

PATTERSON

Objection! Your Honor.

JUDGE ROSSI

Mrs. Laurence, just answer the question.

MRS. LAURENCE

Well, the moment he saw my husband and me, he turned off the lights.

That's when we called the police.

O'MALLEY

Thank you Mrs. Laurence. Your witness.

THOMAS

(leans toward his attorney)

They're lying. They're lying. If her husband tells the same story, I'm finished. I'll go to prison!

PATTERSON

(placed his hand on Thomas to calm him down and stood up)

Mrs. Laurence, are you positively sure you saw my client and the Sideris boy? We're dealing with a man's life here.

MRS. LAURENCE

Absolutely sure, who else could've been. The police found no evidence other than Mr. Robson and the boy.

PATTERSON

Nothing more Your Honor.

THE CLERK

Bryan Laurence to the stand.

BRYAN LAURENCE: The former two-term mayor of New Canaan, mid fifties, silver-gray hair, just under six feet, past the 250-pound mark. Scandalous second term, he was accused of being on the take by big developers and business.

O'MALLEY

Mr. Laurence, on the night in question, what did you see through the defendant's bedroom window?

MR. LAURENCE

I saw him, and the Sideris boy, kissing. I couldn't believe my eyes... it was shameful.

PATTERSON

Objection! Your Honor! Can we avoid personal opinions?

MR. LAURENCE

(with raised voice)

I say what I saw; I thought he was a decent man. He's a teacher, for heaven's sake. I have nothing against gay people, and what they do in private, but when they molest our youth that drives me mad. What is going on with our society? Have we lost our morals?

JUDGE ROSSI

Mr. Laurence! You know better than that! Don't make me hold you in contempt.

O'MALLEY

No more questions, Your Honor.

PATTERSON

I have no questions, Your Honor.

O'MALLEY

I call Mrs. Doris Branford to the stand.

DORIS BRANFORD, Thomas' former lover, is a slightly overweight in her early forties who lives four houses away from him. She walks confidently down the aisle, expensively attired looking straight ahead at the witness stand. She takes the stand ready to crucify this deceitful lover.

O'MALLEY (CONT’D)

Mrs. Branford, the defense lawyer claimed that you and Mr. Robson were together the night he was seen naked in his house with the Sideris boy. Is that true?

BRANFORD

No! It is not. I was not with this man that night. I remember it was snowing heavily. Terrible night for anyone to be out on the roads.

THOMAS

(livid)

What are you saying, Doris? Why in the hell are you lying? Please, tell the truth. IT'S MY LIFE!

JUDGE ROSSI

Order! Order! Silence! The defense will control his client.

PATTERSON

Thomas, get hold of yourself.

O'MALLEY

Thank you, Mrs. Branford. I have no more questions, Your Honor.

PATTERSON

(fuming himself)

Mrs. Branford, may I remind you, that you're under oath?

BRANFORD

Yes, I'm aware of that, sir.

PATTERSON

Are you denying the fact that the moment you saw my client passing in front of the salon the same afternoon you hurried after him and stopped him by the parking lot where you pleaded with him to pick you up at 7:10 from your estate? And the reason being, you had to warn him of someone who was planning to destroy his reputation.

As she opened her mouth to respond, Patterson lifted his hand to stop her.

PATTERSON (CONT’D)

I haven't finished, Mrs. Branford. That same evening, you hurried frantically to his car and asked him to drive you up to the lake. Why didn't you wait for him to pick you up from your estate as you had asked him? Why? What was so urgent that you entered his car as he was backing up from his driveway before he had a chance to stop? And when he reluctantly drove to the lake, you disclosed the person who was after my client and that person is none other than Lieutenant Governor Marsha Stanley, a former lover of my client and YOUR RIVAL. Isn't that so, Mrs. Branford?

BRANFORD

No! None of it is so. I was not with this man that night. I was home.

PATTERSON

Wasn't it your intention to find out if he was involved with Mrs. Sideris? And when he told you he wasn't, you tried to resume your affair with him.

BRANFORD

No! I would never want to have anything to do with this man ever again.

O'Malley stands up and angrily calls to the judge.

O'MALLEY

Your Honor, where is the defense going with this line of questioning? How many times does my witness have to deny that, she was not with the defendant that night?

JUDGE ROSSI

Overruled, I want to hear this.

PATTERSON

Thank you, Your Honor. And when he refused your advances, didn't you angrily ask him to take you to your friend's estate instead of your own, and to leave you a block away, where you rushed out of sight? Where did you go Mrs. Branford? Because your friends testified, they never saw you that night.

Doris glances at the prosecutor first and then at Marsha Stanley, who sits in the back of the courtroom, to assure them that she is not intimidated by this man.

BRANFORD

That's true; they never saw me, because I was home that night.

PATTERSON

Do you regret that he ended your affair?

BRANFORD

Yes, I did at first; it was one of my mistakes. He's a deceitful man, but that has no bearing on the night in question. I never saw him that night, period.

PATTERSON

Then you must loathe this man for leaving you, no? And didn't you and Ms. Stanley concoct this plot to get even with him?

BRANFORD

No! We did not! You don't know what the hell you're talking about.

O'MALLEY

Objection! Your Honor, Mrs. Branford answered the question concerning that night. Nothing else is pertinent to this case.

PATTERSON

No more questions, Your Honor. I don't want to hear any more lies.

Judge Rossi nods for her to get off the witness stand. She does that, but not before she sneers at Thomas.

O'MALLEY

I call Jim Branford Jr.

JIM BRANFORD JR., Doris Branford's younger son, is overweight with slightly crossed eyes. He nervously takes the witness stand with his head down.

O'MALLEY (CONT’D)

Jim, can you tell us if your mother was at home the night your teacher Mr. Robson claims she was with him? And then, what did you see at school after class?

JIM BRANFORD JR.

Yes, my mom was home that night. I remember, because it was snowing like crazy.

O'MALLEY

Tell us what you saw Mr. Robson and Luke Sideris doing at the school.

JIM BRANFORD JR.

Uh ... sometimes Mr. Robson asked Luke to stay after class and a couple of times I saw them hug, stuff like that.

O'MALLEY

You saw them hug in the classroom after class? How daring! No more questions. Your witness.

THOMAS

He's lying, Robert, he's lying, like all the others.

Falsely Accused
by Marko Lampas
E-book $10.50