Andy Thibault

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Cool Justice
Stuck in a Bizarre World
By ANDY THIBAULT
Law Tribune Contributing Writer
January 16, 2006
    
`I was lucky he let me be part of the team'

The rave reviews were for another guy:

"It was Benedict's summation that turned the tide … His closing argument was a tour de force." Time Magazine.

"Benedict did something utterly brilliant … he put up that transcript [of Michael Skakel], and he played the audiotapes and he put up Martha Moxley's dead body, and it was utterly chilling and riveting, and unforgettable … Jonathan Benedict gave one of the best summations I have ever heard, because he did what lawyers are supposed to do in summation. He took different parts of the evidence, brought it all together and made you see it in a new way." CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Chief State's Attorney Chris Morano was happy to be along for the ride, even in the back seat in a subordinate role. Along with appellate expert Susan Gill, Morano backed up Benedict in the successful prosecution of Michael Skakel.

"I was lucky he let me be part of the team," said Morano, who technically - to some degree anyhow - is Benedict's boss. "It was great. Everyone brought something to the table."

Benedict credits Morano with being a good sounding board and with bringing the high tech whiz from Boston, former prosecutor Brian Carney. Carney's company, WIN Interactive, put what little evidence there was in the Skakel case on a silver platter for the jury.

"That was useful in the closing," Benedict told me. "It was a lot more useful in the presentation of evidence. In arguing to the jury it was easier to point to the right on the screen and still look at the jurors."

I find it noteworthy that Morano is secure enough to take the back seat and support his team. He's in a strange spot. By statute, the chief state's attorney is the "administrative head" of all state's attorneys. In reality, the 13 state's attorneys are virtually autonomous dukes and duchesses. If, for example, particular state's attorneys choose to play golf all day and still fill out a time sheet as if they worked, neither the chief nor anyone else is in a position to do much about it.

"You have to be a diplomat," Morano said. "I want to be aggressive in some areas - like domestic violence and improving the process for eyewitness identification - while not upsetting the autonomy of the 13 state's attorneys. I want to be a little bit of John Bailey and a little bit of Austin McGuigan."

Bailey, Morano's predecessor, ran a low-key operation except for his press conferences. McGuigan, a firebrand, was fired for doing his job after successfully prosecuting two cabinet members of the O'Neill Administration. McGuigan also waged a turf war with the state police, raiding many good detectives to work for him as inspectors. Another predecessor, Jack Kelly, messed with the turf of his former colleagues.

"Any decision I make," Morano said, "is only after I get the input of the 13 state's attorneys. We don't always agree. But, it's not a matter of turf. It's a no-brainer. I just pick the brains of some very talented people."

Morano is up for reappointment in June. There are no good reasons not to reappoint him, and plenty of good reasons to have him around for five more years.

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