Which of the Defendants Will Be “Auffed”?
In the knotted legal tangle that is the Robert Wone case, the following will go down as little more than a drop stitch. We don’t presume it’s anything else. But from these few threads we feel there’s something here worth hand finishing.
In the September 11th defense motion for in camera review of redacted documents – see previous posts Game Changer and “Isn’t He Our Friend?” – the defense asked for un-redacted notes from the government of interviews with the defendants and other relevant documents. They state, somewhat incredulously:
“The government produced nine pages from the note pads and stated these are all the notes that the government can find. Of these nine pages, the government has redacted numerous pages, some almost in their entirety.”
Project Runway Season 3
First, from the outside it does seem odd that only nine pages – including those previously referenced – can be produced by the government. Nine pages is all? Seems rather shiny at the elbows.
Regardless, we’ve previously looked at Det. Bryan Waid’s post-incident interview notes and Officer Diane Durham’s statement, attachments A and C, respectively. Easily overlooked – and with a potential error – is attachment B.
While not specified, attachment B seems to be from the notepad of one Det. Milton Norris. (This judged not by the order of court documents, which may in fact be out of order, but from the photocopies of the documents. Det. Norris’ notepad has 15 hole-punches at the top, while all other photocopied notepads are from 20 hole-punch note-pads. (Not that we’re counting.)
Frustratingly, there’s one lone page of crytpic notes. In their entirety, they are:
Durham, D.
#596
—————————–
Price, Joe
10:30 End of last week
watching Project runwayAlarm
Door lock
—————————–Dillion
First, we assume this is a secondary interview with first responder Durham. Key notes in her mind? Alarm, door lock, and “Dillion,” the first reference of Dylan Ward by name.
Detective Milton Norris Spiral Pad Notes p2
The alarm and door lock make sense as central elements of the “intruder” story – but “Dillion”? He was asleep, upstairs, completely unaware of what was happening. What so stuck out in Durham’s mind to make Dylan a key point – and for Norris to do likewise? We have concerns.
Then there’s the comment “…end of last week, watching Project runway.” As in perhaps the gayest program, ever, on television. From the archives:
“Project Runway, Season 3, Episode 4: ‘Reap What You Sew.’ The first episode of the season that featured teams of three, tasked with creating a three-piece outfit. Mehmet Tangoren, Heidi Klum, Vera Wang, and Nina Garcia judges. First aired August 2nd, 2006.”
Fans know Wednesday nights were Runway nights on Bravo, with the previous episode airing at 9 and the new one at 10. We might not have guessed the Swann housemates were fashion mavens, but Runway had charms beyond just fabric.
It’s not surprising they had been watching Runway that night just before Robert arrived; it’s barely even notable at least one of them were fans. What’s just plain creepy is the title of that evening’s episode, featuring threesomes working – not always smoothly – on a common goal to “make it work.”
We do note, however, that this particular episode featured an unusual double elimination, and a surprise winner no-one expected. Fierce!
–posted by Doug
The name “Dillion” under the line may have implied that the officers initially thought that Mr. Price and Mr. Ward were separate and unequal entities.
The telegraphic reference to Project Runway is just another “ricocheting irony” (a Dylanism from his Simmons College catalog rave) in this case of too many ricocheting ironies. I just wish Robert Wone was here to savor these hearty laughs!
I wonder what “end of last week” means. Does it refer to the show?
10:30 or thereabouts would have been Robert’s arrival time at the Swann. So, Robert’s arrival interrupted Joe’s viewing of “Reap What You Sew?”
Where were their televisions at 1509 Swann? Or, was Joe watching Runway on his computer?
The incongruity of Joe Price watching Project Runway, then parading around in his tighty whiteys an hour and a half later with the police is almost too much to process.
But if the defense team’s motion can be believed, and only 9 pages of notes can be found from nearly 25 hours of interrogation that evening, then there are serious and systemic failures at the MPD.
Not recording or losing the videotapes of the questioning is bad enough, but the wholesale loss of these notes is a shocking bit of news.
And these are not rookie cop mistakes of misplacing notepads. These were seasoned detectives and investigators of the Violent Crimes Branch.
Do you think that Joe was actually watching that show, or was the reference to Project Runway yet another rococo embellishment, added and then subtracted on the fly, to the developing intruder(s) theory?
In the nine pages of notes, why was there only one explicit mention of Mr. Ward — a misspelling of his name? These sole surviving notes create the same situation as if one was working in ancient or medieval history, fields in which much of the documentary evidence has not survived. But this happened in the twenty-first century, not in the thirteenth. Sigh!
My guess – and it’s only a guess – is that there are pages of police reports. These discovery requests went to hand-written notes. Most cops go back and fill out formal reports – or so I think.
So, wait, Joe and Victor were in bed asleep when they heard the low moans and went downstairs or they were watching TV, which is it?
Joe said what to which police officers about what he was supposedly doing? I have lost track.
If one meshes Mr. Price’s own narrative threads/lies together, Joe apparently did not see the scintillating end of “Reap What You Sew” because he had retired early with wife Victor to bed, as any good citizen would … but not before sharing a glass of water with old friend Robert and sidekick “Dillion.” The low, breathy grunts and scream happened after the double elimination round. When did Joe have time for the spider on the light? Is the Brooklyn Bridge still for sale?
Not to forget the chime!
If he was watching TV couldn’t he say “I heard the chime right when Heidi Klum put on her “ew” face and said that she didn’t like the ruffles on the shoulder of the bugle bead ensemble…” couldn’t he? That would give a very exact time, just like on a TV show (or some sort of gay sensibilities stereotype hall of mirrors) wouldn’t it?
“you ahhhh ENN or you ahhh owt”
Joe you are owt.
Auf Wiedersehen
LOL! My favorite line from Project Runway was when judge Michael Kors described an outfit as “slutty, slutty, slutty” during Season 5. Those words could have also described Joe, before his second move to McLean, of course. That outfit did not win, needless to say, and Mr. Price will not win either!
“I would NEVER call you a hooker; I said you had hooker STYLE. Go down to the docks, look at what the girls there are wearing, and AVOID that look. What did you think it was going to be like, darling? Standing around with an umbrella drink in your hand and everyone telling you how faaaaabulous you are?”
Ricochet, ricochet….
“America’s Next Top Model,” of course….
LOL! Well, given his current weight and age, I do not think that Joe will ever become even America’s Topping from the Bottom Model; his homemade erotica, found on both his home and work computers, may not be sufficient for any future career in front of the camera.
Clio – That outburst by Kors was one of the great moments in broadcast history.
I agree: Kors’ enunciations of both syllables of “slutty,” coordinated with his hand and finger movements, were unforgettable, even if the get-up that he was critiquing quickly fell into the dustbin of history.
One only hopes that the prosecution has its rhetoric, timing, costumes, and props ready for May’s debut. The understudy should not be the lead, of course, as he was in this month’s preview.
Maybe some of the Wone case watchers here want Judge Weisberg of Project Swann Street to channel Michael Kors and announce “Guilty, Guilty, Guilty.”
Or, better yet, for these three probable traitors — Joe, Vic, and Dyl — to the Stonewall/gay liberation ideals of transparency, integration, and social justice, most case watchers may like to see the entire prosecution team to channel the virtues of LGBT characters, fictional and real, past and present, in order to win; modeling the efficiency of Miss Jane Hathaway, for example, would be a start!
Oh man, that would be classic! I’d love to see these weasels even try to go up against the brass balls of Bayard Rustin!
Superb reference, Mike. Let’s add Audre Lorde’s insight and Abraham Lincoln’s oratory to the proposed channeling, and the prosecution may have a fighting chance against the Four Horsemen. Glenn and Cathy, yes, we can!