A/N: Chapters 14 and 15 are excerpts from the testimony presented at Neal's probation hearing. Most of the witnesses are in Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 is for Peter and Neal. If you don't want to read the testimony, skip to Chapter 16 and see how things wrap up :-)
IN RE: Probation hearing of Neal George Caffrey
Hearing Board: Amanda Cabot (Chair), Lionel Jefferson, Walton Biggs
Witness List (alphabetical order): Laszlo Alphonse, Diana Berrigan, Elizabeth Burke, Peter Burke, June Ellington, Sara Ellis, Clinton Jones. The offices of the U.S. Attorney, and the New York State Attorney, reserved the right to present evidence but did not provide witnesses.
Additional Testimony: Certified testimony from the FBI files concerning the actions of Philip Kramer has been reviewed and will be taken into consideration. Victim statements from FBI files have been accepted as evidence. Written statements were accepted from Special Agent in Charge Reese Hughes and former FBI agent Garrett Fowler.
Question before the Board: Is there substantial mitigating evidence to justify a departure from the standard sentencing guidelines and allow the respondent, Neal George Caffrey, to retain his probationary arrangement with the FBI.
The following excerpts are from testimony presented at this hearing. The full transcript has been filed with the Department of Justice, Probation Division.
Board: State your name for the record.
N. Caffrey: Neal George Caffrey
Board: Mr. Caffrey, do you understand why you are appearing before the Board today?
NC: I do. I violated the terms of my probation agreement by disabling the electronic monitoring anklet I was assigned and fleeing the jurisdiction. Under the terms of that agreement, these actions could result in my return to prison, potentially for the rest of my life. While taking no official position on the matter, the U.S. Attorney's office has allowed a petition to be filed on my behalf, requesting that possible mitigating evidence be presented to the Board.
Board: Were you advised that, given the potential adverse outcome of this hearing, you are entitled to legal representation?
NC: I was. I have elected to not have a lawyer present.
Board: And you are freely admitting to the charges related to fleeing the jurisdiction?
NC: Yes, ma'am. I cut the anklet, and I left the country.
Board: Mr. Caffrey, approximately three months ago you first appeared before this Board. At the time, the question was whether you had earned a commutation of your sentence. That option is no longer on the table. Do you understand that?
NC: I do.
Board: Over the next few days, the Board will hear testimony from the witnesses submitted. At the end of that time, you will be permitted to make a final statement before we make our decision. Do you have any questions?
NC: No, ma'am. I understand fully. I'm just grateful for this opportunity.
*s*s*
Board: State your name for the record.
J. Ellington: June Ellington
Board: Mrs. Ellington, from your previous testimony, you are Mr. Caffrey's landlady?
JE: That is how we met, yes. I'd like to think that sharing the same address is secondary now to the friendship we have developed.
Board: You are aware that Mr. Caffrey is facing a new criminal charge of escape and fleeing the jurisdiction?
JE: I am aware of that, yes.
Board: Since Mr. Caffrey has admitted to the facts of this newest charge, we take the escape charge as proven. This is, then, the third criminal charge of which he has been found guilty. That doesn't worry you when it comes to having him reside under your roof?
JE: Not at all. Let me make one thing very clear. I am not some doddering old fool who was hoodwinked by a nice smile and big blue eyes. I may reside on Riverside Drive now, but that's not where I started. I worked my way up from the streets. I've seen con artists my entire life, both the good and the bad. Neal Caffrey may have charmed his way into my home, but he did not con his way in. He never lied about who or what he was to me.
My late husband was also a convicted felon. As a younger man, he also ran some cons, and managed an illegal gambling operation. But I could see through the surface swagger, and I knew that underneath he had a good heart. Ultimately, that's the path he chose. We raised three beautiful daughters together, and he got to be a doting grandfather to five grandchildren before he passed. In many ways, Neal is a lot like Byron.
Board: In what way are they alike?
JE: The good heart. I've had many a late night chat with Neal, over a glass of wine or brandy. Times when he's relaxed, and not trying to put on any mask. He wants the same things we all do – a place to belong, friends, family. He had thought for a long time that those were things he wasn't destined to have in his life, but more recently he had started to believe in them, and actively strive for them.
Board: In your opinion, is Mr. Caffrey capable of making that change for real, to become a functioning member of society and not a habitual criminal?
JE: Absolutely! I've seen the change in him from the time he first came to live in that apartment until now. As I said the last time, I consider Neal to be as good as a son to me. He is family.
I would never allow anyone near my grandchildren if I thought there was any danger. If we were talking about a killer, an armed robber, a rapist… well, that would be totally different. But Neal is none of those things. He'll talk himself out of a tight situation in preference to violence.
Board: If this Board determines that Mr. Caffrey should be given one more chance to stay out of prison, would you be willing to keep him on as a tenant?
JE: Oh, of course! I've kept the guest suite just as he left it, in the hope that he would be back.
Let me just say that Neal Caffrey has never been anything but kind and respectful to me. To lock him up again, especially under these circumstances, would be a tragedy.
Board: Thank you, Mrs. Ellington. Your testimony has been very helpful.
*s*s*
Board: State your name for the record.
E. Burke: Elizabeth Burke
Board: And your relationship to Mr. Caffrey?
EB: My husband, Peter Burke, has been Neal's partner at the FBI. Beyond that, Neal is also a personal friend.
Board: Ms. Burke, referring back to your testimony the last time this Board was reviewing Mr. Caffrey's status, it seems that you do have some hesitation about being able to trust him. I believe you mentioned not wanting him to date your sister.
EB: You know, after those words came out, I thought more about it, and realized I was wrong. If either of my sisters was single, I wouldn't worry at all about one of them dating Neal.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I'd still warn her about that smile of his! And not because I think he's going to try and steal her life's savings, or drag her into a plot to steal a Monet or something. It would more be a case of wanting her to take her time, to get to know the real Neal. And I think she'd like him.
Board: Do you feel that you know the real Mr. Caffrey?
EB: I do. Neal is a very complex man and yet, at the heart of it all, he wants simple things. I think it took him a while to realize that – that it wasn't the thrill of a con that would really make him happy.
Board: What is it that you think Mr. Caffrey wants?
EB: A place to belong. Friends. Family.
Working with my husband has shown Neal a real life that he once dreamed of, but had thought he could never have. Now he knows it's not so far out of reach as he thought.
It's not all one-sided though. Working with Neal has changed my husband too, in good ways. Seeing things through a set of eyes that haven't been through Quantico has made Peter a better agent. And even in our personal life, Peter has become more spontaneous. He's even learned to flirt.
Board: You consider your husband flirting to be a positive change?
EB: As long as he's flirting with me, absolutely!
Board: If this Board does find cause to set aside the recommended sentencing guidelines, and reinstate Mr. Caffrey's probation, he would again be your husband's partner with the FBI. From your testimony, it appears you would have no objection to this.
EB: Absolutely no objection. In fact, I would consider that the best outcome for both Peter and Neal.
Peter and Neal work well together. I can't even tell you how many late nights they've spent at our dining room table, tossing around the facts of a case over a beer. They each bring something special to the table, and when they make a breakthrough, well, it's fun to watch. They get as excited as kids sometimes.
And, as I told you before, there is no doubt in my mind that when it counts, Neal will come through. This whole hearing is only happening because he voluntarily came back to New York to help my husband. Neal knew what the consequences could be for him, and he still came. How could you ask anything more of a partner, and a friend?
Board: Thank you, Ms. Burke. Your testimony has been very helpful.
*s*s*
Board: State your name for the record.
S. Ellis: Sara Ellis.
Board: And your relationship to Mr. Caffrey?
SE: [LAUGHS] Wow, that's a good question. Friends. Yes, we're friends.
Board: How did you meet Mr. Caffrey?
SE: We first met in person shortly after he was arrested by Agent Burke over six years ago now. I arranged an interview to question him about a missing Raphael painting that my company insured. But I knew of him prior to that, when Agent Burke first told me that Neal was a suspect in the theft.
Board: When this Board met previously you indicated that the painting in question had been recovered. Did you establish if Mr. Caffrey was, in fact, the original thief?
SE: As I told you previously, six years ago, when I believed Neal was the thief, I went after him with everything I had to try and prove it. He was acquitted by a jury, and I don't know of any other suspects, so I'm not sure we'll ever know all of the details about the original theft. But I can tell you that Neal authenticated the painting for Sterling-Bosch when we recovered it. Mr. Bosch was quite thrilled to have a Raphael expert of Neal's caliber available. In fact, when Neal's obligation to the FBI is finished, Mr. Bosch is interested in offering him a position.
Board: So you're saying that the fact that Mr. Caffrey was acquitted allowed you to move past your initial antagonistic association and enter into a romantic relationship with him?
SE: Well, what really allowed that to happen is that Neal changed. When I met him again, nearly five years later, it was through a case that tied in with both Sterling-Bosch and the FBI. Neal was an integral part of solving that case.
What I found out later was that he had recently suffered a very deep personal loss. It turned out that there were things we could both do to help each other and, well, I realized that spending time with him wasn't really so bad after all. In fact, he was funny, charming, intelligent. Eventually, we became more than just friends.
Board: That relationship had ended, however, before your last appearance here, had it not?
SE: Yes, we were no longer seeing each other in a dating sense. But we had recently worked together on another case, and we were talking again. That's why I agreed to testify on his behalf in the first place. And before you ask, there was no pressure on his part for me to do that. In fact, Neal didn't even tell me about the hearing, Peter Burke did.
Board: One of the things this Board will consider is whether Mr. Caffrey has sufficient support around him to make it unlikely that he would revert to a life of crime. Do you see yourself remaining a part of his life?
SE: I hope so. I don't know what role it would be – friend, or something more. But I do know for a fact that I would miss him if he was no longer a part of my life at all.
Board: Thank you, Ms. Ellis. Your testimony was very helpful.
*s*s*
Board: State your name for the record.
C. Jones: Clinton Jones.
Board: And how is it that you know Mr. Caffrey?
CJ: I'm an agent with the White Collar division in the New York FBI office. I report directly to Agent Burke. Neal is a colleague on that team.
Board: Is it difficult, as a trained federal agent, to work with someone of Mr. Caffrey's background?
CJ: I'll admit, at first it was a little strange. But I was there from the very first case he worked with us, and even then, he brought something new to the table. And he is smart. Between him and Agent Burke, well, they make all of us raise our game. I guess, after a while, he just became part of the team. I mean, it's not like we forget he's not an agent. It's something we always have to keep in mind.
Board: Does that have a negative impact on how you do your job?
CJ: Not at all. It just means that we have to plan a little different. Neal is not an agent, he doesn't have the same training for certain situations that the rest of us have, and he doesn't carry a gun. We factor that in when we plan an undercover mission for him. Like, we know that if a meet goes bad, we have an unarmed civilian in there as well as the suspects.
Board: It seems like that would make your job more dangerous.
CJ: Not if things are planned right, and Agent Burke makes sure of that. And I'll tell you, Neal is no coward. He isn't going to panic, which is where things could really get dangerous.
As a matter of fact, if Neal was a coward or given to panic, I wouldn't even be here today. We had a case where he was going undercover to set up a sting to grab a guy who'd stolen sixty million. The rest of the team was in place where the arrest was supposed to go down, but I was tailing Neal in case he needed help. Except it turned out I was the one that needed help. Neal saved my life by literally stepping between me and a loaded gun held by a panicky suspect. Then he improvised, got me free, and saved the case.
Board: And yet in your previous testimony you recommended against the commutation of his sentence.
CJ: I did. Regardless of his motivation at the time, he did escape from prison. I considered the additional four year sentence he got for that to be justice, and I thought he should serve it out.
Board: What if the decision at that time had, in fact, been to commute Mr. Caffrey's sentence and set him free?
CJ: Well, I also told you I considered him a friend. I still do. I would have been happy for my friend. And the thing is, I had to think long and hard about what I was going to say to you. Like I said, he saved my life. Maybe law school and Quantico just ingrained the idea of paying your debts in me a little bit stronger.
Board: In your opinion, Agent Jones, what represents justice under the current circumstances?
CJ: I can tell you that sending Neal to prison for the rest of his life would definitely not feel like justice. Not with everything we know about why he ran, and all of the people who had a hand in that.
Board: So his first escape was not justified, but his second was?
CJ: I don't even want to talk about justified. When Neal ran a few months ago, his hand was forced by a senior FBI official who way overstepped his authority and, in fact, wanted to use Neal to complete a crime that was started over thirty years ago. Neal shouldn't have to pay with his life for that.
So what do I think would be justice? Neal should still serve out the remaining time he had on the first escape sentence. Reinstate his probation with the Bureau. That's justice enough for me.
Board: Thank you, Agent Jones. Your testimony has been very helpful.
*s*s*
Board: State your name for the record.
D. Berrigan: Diana Berrigan.
Board: And your relationship to Mr. Caffrey?
DB: I'm a member of Peter Burke's team at the FBI. The same team Neal is a part of.
Board: It's interesting that you still refer to Mr. Caffrey as a part of that team. Has he not, in fact, been gone for approximately three months as a result of his escape?
DB: There's a saying about being gone but not forgotten. Neal may not physically have been here, but his presence was felt.
Board: Can you elaborate?
DB: Neal just brings something new to the table. I guess it's because of his background. When he looks at a case, he doesn't automatically wonder how it would be categorized at Quantico. We have plenty of agents who can do that. After working with him for so many months, not having him there was very strange. Many times we'd find ourselves wondering what Neal would do, or trying to take on his role to come up with out of the box solutions. And actually, no one will even take his desk. It's still referred to as Neal's desk and even the new probies know that means it's off limits.
Board: So Mr. Caffrey's contributions to the FBI were positive, in your opinion?
DB: Mostly, yes. Oh, sometimes he could be frustrating as hell. But when a case was on the line, way more often than not, he came through.
Actually, some of the frustration might have been because he did offer so much, so many skills. It would have been nice if he had applied them to the right side of the law from the beginning.
Board: Did you work with Mr. Caffrey during his entire time with the FBI?
DB: No. I was actually there for his very first case. He was fresh out of prison, still facing four years after escaping. He didn't know any of the procedures, and, honestly, not everyone on the team thought that having him there was a good idea.
Board: What about you?
DB: To be honest, I wasn't sure. But I trusted Agent Burke's judgment. We were after a forger – had been after him for quite a while. Neal quickly brought in some new leads, allowing us to close the case. It was actually fun seeing how he worked, and I was almost sorry to leave. But I had had a transfer to the DC office in the works for some time already at that point.
Board: But you came back to New York at some point?
DB: Yes, Agent Burke asked me to come back about seven months later. I liked DC, but there was a lot to recommend working for Agent Burke as well. And it was a good move to come back.
Board: You're certainly aware that the new charges of escape and fleeing the jurisdiction leave Mr. Caffrey potentially subject to a life sentence, and also that this Board has the authority to recommend an alternate sentence if warranted. We asked your colleague, Agent Jones, what he would consider justice in this case, and that question is now directed to you.
DB: Neal has made some mistakes. Maybe a lot of mistakes. But he has also helped a lot of people. I think that should be what you focus on. Locking him away doesn't benefit anyone that I can see. And it would hurt his friends, colleagues, and all of the victims he would be able to assist by coming back to the FBI.
Last time, I said he should finish out his two years. That still makes sense to me.
Board: Thank you, Agent Berrigan. Your testimony has been very helpful.
*s*s*
Board: State your name for the record.
L. Alphonse: Laszlo Alphonse.
Board: And your relationship with Mr. Caffrey?
LA: I'm an agent with the Fugitive Retrieval unit of the FBI. I was sent to find Neal Caffrey about three months ago after he fled the jurisdiction.
I'm also the agent who wouldn't be sitting here today if Neal Caffrey hadn't saved my life.
Board: Please elaborate.
LA: There was a rumor Caffrey might be in Belize, so I went to check it out. While I was there, I got a tip that he might be on one of the small islands off the coast. Except that island turned out to be a drug runner's hideout, and I got caught in a shootout. I was wounded, don't think I could have made it back to my boat by myself. That's when Caffrey showed up.
Board: So was he, in fact, living on that island?
LA: No. He'd heard that I got sent out there, and he came to try and stop me. I'd already been shot by the time he got there though. He came in while I was under fire. Caffrey returned fire, got the other guys to take cover, and then got me out of there.
Board: You said Mr. Caffrey returned fire. He was armed?
LA: He had my gun.
Board: Mr. Caffrey stole your gun?
LA: No. He used my gun to get us both out of there alive.
Board: Was your weapon returned?
LA: Apparently it fell overboard during our escape. My handcuffs too.
Board: And you accept that as what happened?
LA: I have no evidence to the contrary.
Board: Did Mr. Caffrey know who you were, and why you were in Belize, at the time?
LA: Yes, he did. And believe me, I was a little curious why he'd risk his life coming in after me, instead of just running.
Board: Presumably you asked?
LA: He said a dead agent didn't fit with his plans or his conscience.
Look, the fact is, Caffrey saved my life. He walked into a dangerous situation and pulled me out. Then he made sure I had medical care. And, yeah, he made sure I was out of the way for a few days while he left the country, but from what I hear, he just came back here anyway.
And there's something else. Caffrey's case never made sense to me. He wasn't a violent criminal, and usually the only white collar guys we get sent after are the major Ponzi scheme ones who made off with millions and left hundreds of victims. Caffrey didn't meet the usual criteria for my unit to be called in. But I guess I'm used to just taking the cases I'm assigned without asking too many questions. When he left me in safe hands to recover, he also left me some reading material, about what was going on. I guess I learned a lesson, to listen to my gut instincts when a case doesn't feel right. And sometimes, your quarry can turn out to be more honorable than the man who sent you on the hunt.
Board: Agent Alphonse, this Board is determining whether mitigating factors should override the presumed life sentence Mr. Caffrey could receive. What would your recommendation be?
LA: Ma'am, I had no evidence at all that Caffrey was in Belize, just a rumor. If I had wound up dead, or just plain missing, no one could have tied it to him. He knew that, and he still risked his life for me. Now I'm usually a pretty strict law and order guy, but I just don't see how it would be justice to lock a man like that up for the rest of his life.
Board: Thank you, Agent Alphonse. Your testimony has been very helpful.