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Edward KocheEdward Koche
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Session:         Page of 617

yes, we'll do it. But what's the story?” I tell him the story. He says, “Well, let's book him for robbery.” So I said, “Listen, I don't want to make a federal case out of this thing. He threatened me. Let it go at that.” He said, “No, we should book him...” I said, “No, I don't want him booked for robbery.” In the first place, robbery is the forcible taking of money. So it takes another 40 minutes to book him there. They have the same questions they had at the 6th Precinct, the same cards I'm sure, the same business, and I have to sit there and they're rushing me through. I was thinking to myself, “If they weren't rushing me, when would I get out of here?”

So now it's about 8 o'clock, and we go upstairs and there's another assistant DA. He (says to me, “Congressman, it's a waste of your time. Why don't you just drop it?” I said, “No, I'm not going to drop it.” And he comes back a little bit later and he says, “Listen, the guy's agreed to plead guilty to harassment.” I said, “That's okay.” Harassment isn't even a crime, you have to understand. Harassment is an offence. There are three things: offense, misdemeanor, felony. Harassment is like spitting on the sidewalk. You can be fined for it; you can even go to jail for it -- but you are not given a criminal sentence or record. That's okay with me.

So then I say to him, “But I want to say something to the judge. I want to make a statement.” And the assistant DA says,





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