10 February 9-15, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | News | letters | coNteNts | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | in several difficult death-penalty cases. Be- fore his death at 89 in 2019, he’d go on to achieve near-legendary status within the Mi- ami legal community. During the ensuing five months, Carlton worked with Laster and Bryant while they awaited trial in the county jail. Laster never spoke with Bryant during that period because they were kept on separate floors, but Carlton met with them individually. Their trial date was eventually set for Monday, January 6, 1964. Four days before the trial, Laster’s luck ran out. At a hearing on January 2, Carlton asked Judge James Kehoe to separate his clients’ trials so that Laster’s confession wouldn’t prejudice the jury against Bryant, who had not confessed. The judge agreed and ap- pointed Laster a new attorney. Then in a sur- prise move, the judge scheduled Laster’s trial ahead of Bryant’s, giv- ing Laster’s new attorney only those four days to prepare. While there’s nothing unusual about last-minute motions to sever the trials of codefendants, it’s highly un- usual that a newly appointed attorney would proceed to trial on such short notice. Most criminal lawyers would ask for a continuance to prepare the case. Some judges, however, appreci- ate lawyers who are always ready for trial whether they’re prepared or not, so they can clear their dockets faster. Michael Zarowny was one of those always-ready lawyers. A 48-year-old former Miami Beach cop, Zarowny cut an imposing figure in the courtroom. He was six feet tall and weighed 250 pounds, with a shaved head and loud voice. But his stature didn’t translate into success for his clients, according to people who remember him. “[He] did not enjoy a good reputa- tion as an able defense lawyer,” re- calls a longtime South Florida attorney who spoke on the condition that his name not be published . “I didn’t know him personally, but my impression was that he was a poor lawyer who lost practically all his cases. Zarowny was well-known for doing very little work on his cases.” A second lawyer, who had tried a case with Zarowny and who also provided information on background, says, “I was never impressed by him at all.” Old news articles paint a curious picture of Zarowny’s life and career. On the one hand, they show that Zarowny was elected head of the Florida Criminal Defense Attorneys Association in 1967. On the other, they show that he was arrested three times for reckless driving while drunk and had to be subdued during two of the incidents because of his “violent behavior.” Another article, titled “Zarowny’s Career Here Marked by Turbulence,” noted that the former football player was arrested for the “brutal beating” of a 66-year-old parking lot attendant while he was an assistant county solicitor. Zarowny was acquitted at trial for lack of evidence. He was later accused of “pushing around” a deputy sheriff. Laster recalls that Zarowny met with him only once before his trial: “He told me we’d be going to court pretty soon. I said, ‘Pretty soon? You don’t know nothin’ about my case.’” “I know a lot about your case,” Zarowny purportedly responded. “That was it,” Laster says. “I didn’t see him no more until I went to trial.” The jury consisted of 11 men and one woman. All were white. Worse for Laster, the state prosecutor was Gerald Kogan, a former national college debate champion who’d won nearly all his cases since joining the Homicide and Capital Crimes Division four years earlier. In fact, the year before Laster’s trial, Kogan’s division won all 31 cases it prosecuted. Kogan would later rise to division chief and, eventu- ally, attain the state’s highest legal office: chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court. Kogan wasn’t just good, he was practically unbeatable. THE TRIAL If there’s a transcript of Boast Laster’s trial, it’s not on file at the court clerk’s office. The judge, the prosecutor, and Zarowny are dead. Additionally, the few newspaper reports about Laster’s case conflict with existing court records and police statements, including the times of the attack and Laster’s arrest. Some news accounts erroneously reported that Nicholas was beaten unconscious. Others identified Laster as a farmworker. One claimed Laster was part of an anti-integration, Black Muslim group whose members swore to “kill a white man — preferably a policeman.” Laster insists he was never part of any group and was never a Muslim. As proof, he points to a faded Star of David tattoo on his arm. George Newman, who was a young re- porter in 1963 at the now-defunct Miami News, wrote the very first story about Laster, three days after the rock pit attack. Newman doesn’t remember the case but recalls that such stories usually came to the newspaper via a phone call from police. “If they made an arrest down in the Homestead or Florida City area and they wanted to get credit in the press,” he says, “they’d call and say, ‘We’ve got an arrest down here,’ and I’d put on my head- set and write the story.” A rape case involving two ordinary citi- zens would not have justified a trip by Miami reporters down to Florida City to interview witnesses or family members. The police ver- sion of events was often the only version available. That changed, however, once Last- er’s trial began. Reporters from the Miami News and the Herald attended the proceed- ings and produced eight short articles about the trial. By cross-checking Laster’s recollec- tions with those articles and available court documents, it’s possible to reconstruct key events from the proceedings. Two facts become clear in the picture that emerges: There was no physical evidence on which to convict Laster, and no potentially exonerating evidence was introduced. OTHER SUSPECTS The problems began with the identification of the suspects. According to police reports, Mia said her attackers were both roughly five feet ten inches to five feet 11 inches tall and weighed 175 pounds. Laster was six feet two inches tall and weighed 150 pounds. Bryant’s height and weight were not officially recorded, but Laster says he “was real short.” Two witnesses who knew Bryant and saw him at the Lucy Street bar described him to police as a dark-complexioned man who stood just five feet tall and weighed between 100 and 120 pounds. Reports show that Mia described her attackers’ car as a white over chocolate brown four-door with a Continental kit, (an upright, externally mounted spare tire behind the trunk). Bryant drove a white over pink two-door ‘54 Ford Victoria with no Continental kit. The driver, Mia told police, wore a white- and-red-striped shirt and (“possibly”) dark brown pants. Bryant wore a gray suit and white shirt that night. The man in the back seat, Mia said, wore a white shirt and (“possi- bly”) black pants. When police arrested him, Laster was wearing a green shirt and green- and-brown-striped pants. Despite the discrepancies, Laster says, de- tectives told him during his interrogation that the victims had identified him and Bryant from mug shots. Two early news reports at the time claimed Mia also had identified them in a lineup. Yet police files contain no evidence that Mia ever identified her attack- ers. In fact, at a pretrial hearing on August 6, 1963 (17 days after the attack), she was unable to point them out. And at trial, on January 6, 1964, she reiterated that she couldn’t identify them because she wasn’t wearing her glasses at the time of the attack. She did, however, notice that one of her attackers had a scar nearly an inch and a half long under his right eye, according to a statement she made soon after the attack. Police re- ports mention no such scar on either Laster or Bryant, and none is visible in their mug shots. At that same pretrial hearing, ac- cording to the Herald, Mia’s husband was adamant that Laster and Bryant were the attackers. When asked to identify the suspects, Nicholas pointed a finger at them and shouted, “Both of those two right there! I could never forget those two faces as long as I live.” Later, at trial, he pointed at Laster and said, “Without a doubt, that’s the man. He knows in his heart he’s guilty.” Yet police reports show that just a day after the attack, Nicholas impli- cated two different men. Shown a lineup of five young Black men, he first picked out a 17-year-old Home- stead youth. His signed statement reads, “I identify Wes Mitchell Daven- port by face and voice as one of the ne- gro men who attacked my wife and I.” Next, he chose an 18-year-old Florida City man: “I also think there is a good possibility that Thaddeus Servinne Burns is also the other man who attacked us.” The following day, July 22, Nicholas se- lected Laster and Bryant from a new lineup. Mia viewed the same lineup and selected two entirely different men. (Laster does not recall being placed in that lineup). Those four other suspects were not the only ones. Nathan Graham, a 29-year-old airman at Homestead Air Force Base, was seen two nights before the attack, driving with “an os- cillating red light similar to the ones used in detective units,” according to police files. Graham’s car was a 1956 Studebaker that fit Mia’s description of her attackers’ car, which was a cream over chocolate brown four-door with a Continental kit. Graham was taken in for questioning the day after the attack and charged with impersonating a police officer. Mia was brought to see his car and immediately identified it as the No Way Out from p9 >> p12 Boast “Bo” Laster: A digitally enhanced mug shot from 1963 and a recent photo Miami-Dade police file photo/photo by Terence Cantarella
