Free Born to Lose by James G. Hollock

unconditionally as before, but if they didn’t it wasn’t her fault. It was the fault of Stanley Hoss, and she would face him, no matter what.
    . . .
    The grand jury convened on a Wednesday in the third week of May. Kathy was there by herself. No matter how much she steeled herself for the occasion, she later said it was like getting raped again. Grand jurors and other court functionaries asked her countless questions, more than a few embarrassing and humiliating for the young girl seated before this gallery of strangers, most of them men. When one asked if she was a virgin, Kathy answered seriously, “Not anymore,” which brought several muffled laughs.
    â€œDid you willingly remove your undergarments?”
    â€œWere you laughing and joking with your alleged attackers?”
    â€œWho suggested sex with the second man?”
    At times Kathy was reduced to tears, yet her bearing remained dignified, her replies simple and true.
    After several hours, Kathy received the news: “They believed me! In my life I never felt so relieved and vindicated.” The matter was bound over for court. Stanley Hoss would stand trial.
    At the close of the grand jury session, with everyone filing out, Kathy found herself standing beside Detective Sergeant Bill Jennings who said, “Congratulations, Kathy. You put on a good show up there. You’re quite the little actress.”
    . . .
    The scheduling of the trial was determined by the machinations of Hoss’s public defender, Barney Phillips, always chomping on his Marsh-Wheeling. According to the prosecution and the cops, Phillips was “judge pickin’,” using postponements to get the judge he wanted. The trial was again postponed as the criminal court was logjammed. Hoss had asked for a jury trial but there was no judge available.
    In the meantime, Hoss’s occasional partner in crime, Richard Zurka, had also been apprehended and charged in the Defino affair and in the armed robbery of Nancy Falconer. Zurka would be tried separately at a later date. A few days after the rape trial’s second postponement, Hoss and Zurka were taken from the county jail for a hearing on the Falconer case. Both registered pleas of not guilty and bonds of $10,000 each were continued. Hoss’s typical trickle of troubles was turning into a stream.
    Finally, on the morning of July 8, Kathy Defino trudged up the imposing steps of the courthouse—alone. Her family didn’t attend any of the proceedings.
    Before the trial’s 10:00 A.M. start, Kathy met again with the assistant DA handling her case. Daniel Lapansky was a middle-aged legal journeyman who, in Kathy’s eyes, appeared only mildly sympathetic to her cause. She had learned that her trial was to be heard not by a jury but by a sole arbiter, visiting judge George C. Eppinger of Franklin County, who’d been brought in to take on some of the case overload in Allegheny County.
    When Kathy entered the office of the assistant DA, Lapansky noticed how she was dressed and was not pleased. Her hair, parted in the middle and hanging to her shoulders, was moderately curled and adorned by a headband that matched the color of a simple cotton blouse. Her dark nylonscomplemented a navy blue skirt. But in Lapansky’s view, the skirt was too short. He went so far as to suggest that she quickly have some other outfit brought to her or even run into a store a block or two away to pick out more conservative attire. Lapansky was reaching for his wallet, saying he’d pay for it, when Kathy, with all the nerve the seventeen-year-old could muster, stated flatly, “I’m not changing. You always told me to act naturally, be myself. Well, I am.” Pointing to herself, Kathy’s voice cracked and tears showed. “This is how all my friends dress. I look like any one of them!”
    â€œI know, I know,” Lapansky soothed her. “It’s just that we don’t want you to appear