60. Interview with Samuel Silverstein: Part 1

Samuel Silverstein is currently a partner at the Manhattan, New York law firm Morton, Schuster, and Silverstein. He was formerly a public service attorney in Leon County, and was the defense lawyer in Earl Bishop’s trial. He meets out of his office in New York which overlooks Manhattan’s Central Park

11 July 2011

– Thank you. It is comfortable in here.

– Yes. Earl Bishop.

– Not very much to tell, sir. I can speculate and conceive of scenarios, but the fact is that I’m still under lawyer-client privilege jurisdiction until Mr. Bishop gives me permission to speak with you, or turns up dead.

– [Mr. Silverstein shrugs] Nothing wrong with a little innocent speculation.

– In my honest opinion? I wouldn’t be surprised if Bishop was definitely more than just an innocent bystander.

– There was no need for me to tell him that. You see, you have to understand. Earl was one hell of a struggle from a legal standpoint.

– The evidence against him was overwhelming. Unidentified bodies, eyewitnesses, a complete written accessory confession. Later, he claimed his missing friend set the fire by accident while they were snooping in the house, just messing around. Then he recanted that admission. Then he brought it back and claimed they had set the fire, but they hadn’t known there were any bodies in the place, that it was dark in the house and they didn’t see anything. Then he claimed he knew the bodies were there, but they’d already set the fire by time they saw them. Then he finally claimed that he and his friend had stolen the bodies from the school’s science department as a prank, and that he didn’t know where his friend was at the time of his arrest.

– He claimed and claimed and claimed and—from a strictly speculative viewpoint—it was all bullshit bullshit bullshit. The kid was trying hard to get one over on us all, and I admire his resolve. But our legal system would have twisted him into a pretzel if I hadn’t stepped in. [Mr. Silverstein leans back in his chair and smirks] All considering, he’s lucky all he got was two years, what with him not knowing how to just keep his mouth shut.

– And—again, purely speculation—it was all bullshit. Pure bullshit, all of it. That, I tell you, that was obvious to me. [Mr. Silverstein places his hands flat on his desk, spreading his fingers] But, you see, my job isn’t to sniff out the bullshit. It’s to manufacture it, sell it to a jury of your peers. You look at my bus stop bench ads, they aren’t pictures of me pointing a finger, no. They’re pictures of me with my arms open [Mr. Silverstein opens his arms to demonstrate] Welcoming you into my world. The world of freedom.

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