Heather

Although there are many sources in which you can receive information on the Alice Sebold Court Case,it seems logical that the most reliable source would be Alice herself. In this section, in order to best describe the trial, the following quotes will be taken directly from Alice's memoir __Lucky__. It will go in depth of her trial held on that stressful day, starting with the the testimony that took place on May 7th.

"We've got a closed courtroom." "What's that?" I asked. "It means Paquette is trying to do what he did in the lineup. He's closing the courtroom so you can't have family sit in." "I don't understand," my father said. "He wouldnt let Tricia stay in the lineup," I said to my dad. "I hate him," I said. "He's a slimy asshole." Murphy smiled. "How can he do that?" my father asked. “The defendant had the right to request a courtroom be closed if he thinks it will rob the witness of support,” Gail said. “Look on the bright side, Gregory’s father is here too. By closing the court, he won’t have his father there either.” “How could he support a rapist anyway?” “It’s his son,” Murphy said quietly. Gail walked back in the courtroom. “It might be easier for you without your father there,” Murphy offered. “Some of what you’ll have to say is harder in front of family.”

Proceeding this conversation, Alice is comforted and prepared to enter the courtroom. While waiting she sees Gregory and his father waiting as well. This is the moment that her father finally gets to see the man that raped his daughter that night in the park. *

The courtroom door opened. A bailiff stood in the open doorway and made eye contact with Murphy. “You’re up, Alice,” Murphy said. “Remember, don’t look at him. He’ll be sitting at the defense table. When you turn around, look for Bill Mastine.”….

I was frightened and shaking when I crossed the courtroom, passed the defense table, the judge and the podium, the prosecution table, and came to take the stand. I liked to think I was Madison’s worst nightmare, although he didn’t know it yet. I represented an eighteen-year-old virgin coed. I was dressed in red, white, and blue. A female bailiff, middle-aged and wearing wire-framed glasses, assisted me up onto the stand. I turned around. Gail was seated at the prosecution table. Mastine was standing. I was aware of other people, but I didn’t look at them. The bailiff held a Bible in front on me. “Place your hand on the Bible,” she said. And I repeated what I had seen on TV hundreds of times. “I swear to tell the truth…so help me, God.” “Be seated,” the judge said…..

In the proceeding section Mastine starts off by asking Alice the basic facts of the case. Things such as her name, address, where she was from. He continued by questioning her on where she was living in May of 1981, followed by the events that had taken place on May 7th and early May 8th, 1981.*

“Did he say anything to you by way of a threatening nature while you where screaming, and while the struggle was taking place?” “He said he would kill me if I didn’t do what he said.” Paquette stood. “I am sorry. I can’t hear.” I repeated myself: “He said that he would kill me if I did not do what he said.” A few minutes later, I began to stumble. Mastine had led me up and now into the amphitheater tunnel. “What happened there?” “He told me to---that he was---well, I figured out by that time that he was---didn’t want my money.”

It was a shaky start to the most important story I would ever tell. I began a sentence only to trail off and begin again. And this wasn’t because I was unaware of exactly what had happened in the tunnel. I was saying the words out loud, knowing it was how I said them that could win or lose the case. “…Then he made me lie down on the ground and he took his pants off and left his sweatshirt on, and he started fondling my breasts and kissing them and doing things like that, and he was very interested in the fact that I was a virgin. He kept asking me about it. So he used his hands in my vagina…”… Mastine did not want the fact of my virginity to go by unnoted.  “Stop for a second,” he said. “Had you ever had sexual intercourse with anyone at that time of your life?” I felt shame. “No,” I said, “I had not.” “Continue,” said Mastine, stepping back again.  I talked uninterrupted for nearly five minutes. I described the assault, the blow job, talked about how I was, detailed the robbery of $8 from my back pocket, his kiss good-bye, his apology. Our parting. “…and he said, ‘Hey, girl.’ I turned around. He said, ‘What is your name?’ I said ‘Alice’.”

Mastine needed specifics. He asked about he penetration. He asked how many times it had occurred if more than once. At this time Alice proceeded to tell the judge the details of the event. She stated that penetration had occurred about ten times because he kept “falling out.”. After this the subject of her injuries was brought to attention. This was when the photographs of her resulting injuries were shown to the judge, who seemed to be shocked. Not only of the injuries but the amount of change in Alice’s appearance.*

Alice soon begins crying as a result of the judges reaction and the reminder of her physical state at that previous time. Once stable she agrees to continue without a break. *

The next subject that was discussed as her clothing from that evening. She had not seen any of the articles of clothing in that bag since that horrible night. All of them covered in stains and blood. She was asked to state her recognition of the clothes in the tightly packed bag.*

Mastine finished up on the events of that day. He established that I had returned to Pennsylvania after failing to pick a photo out of the mug books at the Public Safety Building. We moved to the fall, noting my return day in September for the beginning of my sophomore year.  “I direct your attention now to October fifth, 1981, the afternoon of that day. Do you recall the events of that day, that afternoon?” “I recall on particular event, yes.” “Is the person who attacked you in Thorden Park, is he in the court here today?” “Yes, he is.” I did what I was warned not to. I focused my attention on Madison’s face. I stared at him. For a few seconds, I was unaware of Mastine or of Gail, or of the courtroom. 

Although this is not the entire selection on Alice’s trial, it gives you the idea of how stressful and intense the situation was. After the main facts were cleared up, Mastine continued to pressure her with question after question. He was truly being the essence of mean. Alice made it through the trial and its entirety strong and unwilling to back down. Before she knew it, the hours of hounding her with questions was over. They were able to leave and finally go home. As they waited for there flight Murphy came bearing great news.*

“Gail wanted to be the one to tell you,” he said, “but she couldn’t get away.” My father and I were in the carpeted lobby, our red American Tourister luggage waited nearby. “They got him,” he said joyfully. “Guilty on six counts. He was remanded to jail!” I went blank. My legs felt weak beneath me.  “Thank God,” my father said. He said this quietly, acknowledging an answered prayer. 


 * //these paragraphs are not excerpts from the memoir Lucky . They are simply a summary of the happenings that where skipped over while writing this page.//

This page was done by Heather Ward