Michele Ann Case, the registered nurse who was convicted by a jury in March of third-degree grand larceny, maintains she never stood a chance at real justice.
This was the overarching message written in a single-spaced, one-page letter the Bergen resident (or former Bergen resident) read before being sentenced this afternoon in Genesee County Court to four months of intermittent jail time and five years probation.
The matter of restitution was held over until next Wednesday morning.
Case was found guilty of submitting inflated mileage claims and fraudulent "call-in" claims whereby $14,650 was diverted from her employer, a hospice care agency. The claims were submitted from January 2009 through January 2011.
Before imposing sentence, Judge Robert C. Noonan noted that the court received a total of 11 letters in support of Case and a slew of emails, too. He said there were also a number of emails showing communications between the emailers and Case.
"Maybe she's convinced herself that she's not guilty, and she's apparently convinced others she's not guilty, but a unanimous jury of 12 found her guilty and she continues to refuse to take responsibility for what she's done," District Attorney Lawrence Friedman told the court.
Public Defender Gary Horton told Noonan he studied the evidence thoroughly and deemed the particulars difficult to understand and likewise the basis on which the claims were made. Horton said his client is "merciful" and has a "history of dedication" and disagreed with portions of the pre-sentencing report.
"I see nothing in Michele Case that indicates she doesn't understand right from wrong -- her sense of right and wrong is highly developed," Horton said, adding that it's not true she that has no conscience, she has a highly developed conscience.
"I do not believe Michele Case had an intention to defraud," Horton said, "...I do not see her as a criminal."
With the exception of a DWI conviction, she has a clean record, Horton said, and in this matter, she misunderstood what she was entitled to claim and the requirements of logging mileage.
When it came time for her to say something on her own behalf, she held forth, detailing all the ways in which she had been wronged.
Wearing brown polyester slacks and a short-sleeved floral knit top, the stout nurse took no prisoners.
In her opinion everyone from Noonan himself, whom she claims ruled inappropriately on a motion and "denied" her defense, and Mr. Friedman "who had it in for me," to the blackballing work supervisor and the "clouded judgment" of Det. Charles F. Dudek of the Batavia Police Department -- each played a role in denying her true justice. Furthermore, the matter was filed purposely in Genesee County because the likelihood she would be convicted here was greater, thanks in no small part to "assumptions" by Dudek and Friedman.
Her letter detailed what "didn't come out at trial": how she stepped up to the challenge of working 70 hours a week when staff was short and the turnover rate was high; how her children's absent father made false statements about her on the record; how she was in an auto accident and yet she was not compensated for the eight days she was absent, moreover, how she was subsequently forced to work for 20 hours despite her injuries; "how hospice really works" and how the organization inflated its findings against her.
As for the record keeping "a real forensic audit was warranted because a computer does not lie."
But in the end "the court only cares about convictions," she said, adding that her's ought to be overturned and a mistrial declared. She indicated she hopes to raise the funds to appeal.
This was a case for the State Labor Board and it should have been left to the State Labor Board, according to Case.
Still, she can take comfort in the many cards and letters from patients and supporters who she said "are dear to my heart."
"I was wrongfully accused of a crime I didn't commit," she told the court, and in the wake she can't find a job, is losing her house, suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and her two children, ages 10 and 15, are devastated. "I cannot move on with my life."
When she finally finished, Noonan said he would first specify what this case is not about.
"It's not about your nursing skills, or your strong work ethic, as evidenced by the letters and emails," Noonan said. "You should sit back and ask yourself how of all the people responsible for your conviction, there's only one person who has not had a hand in it and that's Michele Case.
"The evidence clearly, clearly indicates you were enhancing your income by the documents submitted. You pumped up the documentation. Perhaps you needed more income. You should reflect on that."
And so the judge decided "some incarceration is appropriate" but "because of the children," it should be intermittent in 48-hour intervals, beginning this Friday at 6 p.m. Case was also told of four orders of protection against her and told that during her probation she cannot hold a job or otherwise be in a position to exercise fiduciary responsibility.
