September 15, 2017
In Blog FINKELSTEIN V.VULTURE LAWYERS: ALL UPDATES
[This is Part 2 of The Cross-Examination That Never Was. For Part 1, click here: ]
Finkelstein comments: Attorneys Michael Chetkof and Allyson Burger (the puppeteers) and Azimoon Baldeo (the puppet) colluded to frame Dr Rudolph Baldeo. They churned out hundreds of pages of official Court papers depicting Dr Baldeo as a sado-psychopath. They calculated that they could steamroll and slander him by exploiting pernicious stereotypes of violent dark-hued immigrant Muslim males. They also figured he was a pushover because he’s slight of stature and a geek. In the eyes of these greedy vultures, Dr Baldeo was an easy prey: A Little Indian Boy. But they got so carried away in their lies, and they’re so innately stupid and inept, that nearly every statement in their Court papers was contradicted by another statement in these same papers. Unfortunately, there was never a cross-examination: unbearable pressure was exerted on Dr Baldeo to settle the case before he had his day in court. In this excerpt from my forthcoming article, I enact the cross-examination that never was. The excerpt is meticulously and scrupulously based on the Court record, which I perused in full. (The forthcoming article will include footnoted references to the quotes cited here.) This excerpt was presented to Chetkof, Burger and Azimoon Baldeo for comment. They did not contest any of the facts or interpretations presented herein. If you are as outraged as I am by this frame-up, you should make your voice heard.
DEFEND DEFENSELESS IMMIGRANTS!
FIGHT LYING RACIST LAWYERS!
***
The family law attorney must recognize that, in all likelihood, he or she stands a far better chance of facing disciplinary action for a client’s perjury than the client stands to be punished for committing the perjury.
-Robert P. Dickerson, PERJURY IN OUR FAMILY COURTS: Family Lawyers BEWARE!
The Cross-Examination of Azimoon Baldeo (Part 2)
I’d like to take a close look at the principal incidents of “unspeakable abuse” that you described in Court papers and your sworn Court testimony. Unfortunately, you didn’t provide specific dates and couldn’t remember what triggered most of the alleged incidents. Let’s, however, look at the alleged incidents where you did provide some details.
Let’s start with what you described as “[t]he first time Defendant became physically abusive to me.” You referred to this same incident many times in your Court papers and in your sworn Court testimony. Is it correct that you have a clear memory of this incident?
Azimoon Baldeo: Yes.
Good. Now allow me to quote how described the incident:
I was pregnant with our eldest Child. I was twenty-one and was talking on the telephone with my brother. I recall that Defendant wanted to use the phone, grabbed the phone from me while I was talking to my brother, and started beating me violently. I was so badly beaten that I had to call the police for help. Defendant was arrested.
Is this correct?
Azimoon Baldeo: Yes, that’s what happened.
So, you were pregnant with your oldest son, you were on the phone, Dr Baldeo grabbed the phone and started to beat you violently, you called the police and he was arrested. It’s hard to forget when you are pregnant with your first child, isn’t it?
Azimoon Baldeo [smiling]: You never forget your first pregnancy.
Great. Now here’s a second description of the same incident that you told the Court on the first day of your testimony:
We moved from his sister’s home into an apartment. And his younger sister moved in with us also . . . . His mom came over and they were in the bedroom, it was my husband, his sister Patricia, my mother-in-law and my son, they were in the bedroom.
I was in the living room sitting on a futon talking with my brother in Florida and my husband came to me and said I need the phone. I told him I’m talking to my brother in Florida. He grabbed the phone away from me and started hitting me and that’s when I called the cops . . . .
The cops came and they took him away . . . .
And here’s your description in a Court paper you submitted:
During that particularly painful and dehumanizing event our nine-month-old son was not even in the bedroom. My husband cannot excuse inflicting physical harm upon me to “prevent [my child] from falling off” the bed . . . . The truth of the matter is that my husband and his family wanted to use the telephone while I was on the phone speaking to my brother in Florida. When I wouldn’t hang up the phone, he attacked me brutally in his sister and mother’s presence. His family stood and watched, but did nothing. That is why the police asked my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to leave when Defendant was placed in jail.
My question is this. In the first version of this incident, you had a very clear memory that you were pregnant with your oldest child, while in the second version of this incident you had a very clear memory that your oldest child was already born. So, which was it: Were you pregnant with your oldest child or was your oldest child already born?
Azimoon Baldeo: [Silence]
In fact, we already know the answer to that question, don’t we? Your oldest child was born in March 1992, and the alleged incident happened in March 1993—the day of the “Storm of the Century”—so your oldest child was one-year-old. Isn’t that correct?
Azimoon Baldeo: I guess so.
I think Dr Baldeo will explain in his own testimony the significance of the fact that you weren’t pregnant with your oldest child but he was a one-year-old infant, so let’s move on. [Dr Baldeo never got to testify]
Can you now describe what happened after Dr Baldeo returned from jail?
Azimoon Baldeo: We had a reconciliation.
Good. Now I have another question. In all your submissions to the Court and in all of your sworn Court testimony, including just a moment ago, you have never alleged that Dr Baldeo retaliated against you after you called the police and he was arrested. For example, Dr Baldeo never said something like, “Don’t you dare ever call the police again!” So, I am wondering, if this was the very first incident, and Dr Baldeo did not retaliate against you after you called the police, why didn’t you call the police ever again after 1993 when he inflicted “countless” acts of “unspeakable violence”?
Azimoon Baldeo: [Silence]
I’d now like to turn to the alleged incident when Dr Baldeo gave you a black eye and your coworkers commented on it. You also refer to this alleged incident many times in your Court submissions and sworn Court testimony. Here are a couple of your many descriptions of this alleged incident:
My husband once hit me to the point where my eyes were black and blue and my arms were severely swollen. I told my coworkers that I hit my face with a cabinet door in the kitchen.
When I had the black and blue eyes, my co-workers asked me what happened and I told them I hit a cabinet door.
Is this correct?
Azimoon Baldeo: Yes.
You stated that this alleged incident happened “a few years ago.” So I wonder if you might tell the Court the names of the coworkers who commented on your black eye?
Azimoon Baldeo: I don’t remember.
I would also like to quote an exchange you had with your attorney Allyson Burger on your first day of sworn Court testimony:
Allyson Burger: I wanted to know how many times did you go into work with visible markings and bruises?
You: It was once.
Now I wonder if you might explain this to the Court: If you worked steadily for 25 years, and Dr Baldeo inflicted “countless” acts of “unspeakable violence” on you, how did it come to pass that you only once bore any visible signs of this “unspeakable violence” at your workplace?
Azimoon Baldeo: [Silence]
I’d now like to look at one other alleged incident in Christmas 2014 or Christmas 2015—you mention either year in your various Court papers and sworn Court testimony. Although you testified that your oldest son allegedly intervened before Dr Baldeo could strike you, I’d still like to ask you a few questions. You stated on your first and second day of testimony that Dr Baldeo prevented you from going out for brunch with your friend Sharon, and that after this incident you and Dr Baldeo never spoke again. Here’s what you said on your second day of sworn Court testimony:
It was December of 2014, when I was getting ready to go out with my friend, that was the last incident, because after that we haven’t spoke to each other. We were living in the same house and we haven’t spoken to each other.
I’d like to explore why Dr Baldeo stopped talking to you. I wonder if you can tell the Court what “antiman” means in the Guyanese dialect? To help you along, here’s how a Guyanese dictionary defines it:
antiman (an-tee-man): fag
Azimoon Baldeo: Yeah, I guess so.
Isn’t antiman the worst insult you can hurl at a man in Guyanese culture?
Azimoon Baldeo: I don’t know.
Your lawyer, Allyson Burger, might be able to assist you, as she’s an expert on LGBT rights. Now, do you happen to remember calling Dr Baldeo an “antiman” to your friend Sharon during this 2014 incident? In fact, haven’t you and your sister Sally repeatedly called Dr Baldeo an “antiman” in front of your children and Dr Baldeo’s family? Please remember that you are testifying under oath.
Azimoon Baldeo: [Silence]
I want now to look at the sequence of events in April 2016 that in rapid succession climaxed in these divorce proceedings. They are, first, the loss of your job on 12 April 2016, next, the Order of Protection that you filed on 25 April 2016, and, last, the Summons with Notice and Complaint for Divorce that you filed on 27 April 2016.
In your submissions to the Court, you have repeatedly alleged that your employer linked your poor work performance with your personal life. For example, you stated:
The bank terminated my employment after having confronted me several times about my personal life affecting my performance at work.
Can you name the person at the bank who confronted you several times, and can you tell the Court exactly how this person allegedly linked your performance at the bank with your personal life—for example, did he state that your poor performance resulted from your physical abuse at home?
Azimoon Baldeo: I can’t remember.
In your submissions to the Court and your sworn Court testimony, you yourself have repeatedly linked the loss of your job in 2016 with the “countless” acts of “unspeakable violence” Dr Baldeo inflicted on you. For example, in three separate Court submissions you, respectively, stated:
As a result of the trauma I have endured, I was laid off from my loan clerk position at a Dime Savings Branch.
I had historically earned a very modest income as a loan clerk at Dime Savings Bank before losing my job, based upon my inability to cope at work following a period of extended abuse at Defendant’s hands.
I was let go from my job as a bank teller nearly one year ago because the emotional and physical beatings took their toll and interfered with my ability to perform my work.
My question is this. You have stated that the last act of physical abuse occurred in December 2013. If you managed to perform at the bank despite Dr Baldeo’s “countless” acts of “unspeakable violence” for 25 years, why were you suddenly unable to perform at the bank in 2016—three years after the last alleged act of physical violence inflicted on you in 2013?
Azimoon Baldeo: [Silence]
Let’s now look at the 2016 Order of Protection. You have repeatedly stated that the last act of physical violence Dr Baldeo inflicted on you occurred in 2013. I wonder, then, why you sought an Order of Protection in 2016?
Azimoon Baldeo: [Silence]
On your Order of Protection, point 3 reads, “The Respondent committed the following family offense(s) against me and /or my children.” There then follows options such as “Harassment,” and “Assault.” If Dr Baldeo inflicted “countless” acts of “unspeakable violence” on you for the duration of your marriage, can you tell the Court why you didn’t check these boxes?
Azimoon Baldeo: I don’t know.
In your Order of Protection, you checked the box that states, “The Respondent has acted in a way I consider dangerous or threatening to me.” My question is this. You have already told the Court that the last act of physical violence inflicted by Dr Baldeo occurred in 2013, and that you and Dr Baldeo stopped speaking entirely in 2014. Indeed, you have repeatedly stated in Court papers that by 2016 you and Dr Baldeo didn’t communicate at all; you were “living in the same house” but living separate lives. Can you tell the Court how Dr Baldeo was “threatening” you in 2016 when you filed for an Order of Protection if he didn’t physically abuse you in fully three years and you two didn’t even speak a word to each other in fully two years?
Azimoon Baldeo: [Silence]
In a Court submission you stated:
The final breaking point was our daughter’s Sweet 16 Party on April 16, 2016 . . . . He did not even speak to me once for the duration of the party.
My question is this. If the “final breaking point” [emphasis added] was Dr Baldeo’s refusal to speak to you on April 16, 2016, why did you state in your request for an Order of Protection on 25 April 2016 that Dr. Baldeo was “threatening” you?
Azimoon Baldeo: [Silence]
In your second day of sworn Court testimony, you and your lawyer had this exchange:
You: We weren’t speaking, but we would sleep in the same bed and in the middle of the night, if I moved my feet or arms or whatever, he would just kick my foot away, or push me down to the corner of the bed.
Allyson Burger: So it came to be that an order of protection was issued by Judge Dane.
My question is this. You and Dr Baldeo stopped speaking in December 2014. He apparently stopped speaking to you after you called him an “antiman” to your friend. You and Dr Baldeo continued to share the same bed, but he rejected any physical contact with you. So you filed for an Order of Protection. Is it correct, then, that you filed for an Order of Protection because Dr Baldeo rejected physical contact with you after you called him an “antiman”?
Azimoon Baldeo: [Silence]
I have only one more question. In your Summons with Notice and Complaint for Divorce, you filed for divorce on the no fault ground of the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. You could have alleged cruel and inhuman treatment pursuant to subsection 1 of DRL 170. If Dr Baldeo inflicted “countless” acts of “unspeakable violence” on you for the duration of your marriage, why didn’t you file for divorce on the ground that you suffered cruel and inhuman treatment?
Azimoon Baldeo: I don’t know. Ask my lawyers.
Thank you. That will be all.