emerson harkness direct exam

Question 1

Q: Could Morning/Afternoon! Please state your name for the court.

Answer 1

A: My name is Emerson Harkness

Question 2

Q: How are you doing, Miss. Harkness?

Answer 2

A: Not too great. My pizzeria Ancient Apizza was shut down in mid-May when Dillon Hopyard bought the Ancient Apizza building and evicted me. Ancient Apizza was my life. I loved that place. When I opened it in the 90s, we started establishing ourselves as a great pizzeria that people of all ages could come by and enjoy themselves. When Hopyard evicted me and ordered me to get out by the end of May, I was heartbroken.

Question 3

Q: What is your occupation?

Answer 3

A: I was the owner of Ancient Apizza, but I am unemployed as of the end of May 2023.

Question 4

Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Answer 4

A: I’m originally from New Haven and grew up in the Wooster Square neighborhood. My parents worked for a friend in his restaurant and when I was younger, I would hang around local pizzerias and work jobs when I could. After high school, I moved to New York and worked in a variety of restaurants. I met my ex-wife, Pat in the city, and decided to get married. We are now divorced. After 10 years of living in NYC, I moved back to Connecticut and settled in Rocky Neck, where we opened a restaurant.

Question 5

Q: What were some of the restaurants on the square?

Answer 5

A: When we opened Ancient Apizza, a few other restaurants were on the square. There was Nick and Nat’s but they served Greek food. There were some sandwich shops here and there, and the odd deli or bar. Right next to us is Carley’s where they serve folks breakfast and lunch. A door over is Devil’s Hopyard Sicilian-Style Pizzeria, and Sam’s Black Rock Pizzeria and Tavern down the street.

Question 6

Q: Tell me about Ancient Apizza.

Answer 6

A: When I met my ex-wife, we moved to Rocky Neck, where we opened Ancient Apizza on the historic Hammonasset Square. We opened in the late 90s and made New Haven-style pizza. We had all the equipment to make it perfectly, and to give customers their desired New Haven-style pizza. It’s what they had come for, after all. Back then, the square was beaten up, but I thought the charm of the people made it perfect for Ancient Apizza to flourish. My only regret is never purchasing the Ancient Apizza building while I could. Everything was going well for decades until Hopyard came into town and started messing things up.

Question 7

Q: What is your relationship with Dillon Hopyard?

Answer 7

A: Hopyard owns Devil’s Hopyard, a Sicilian-style pizzeria, and since he got here in 2013, he immediately started trying to shut Sam and me down. He would do everything to steal our customers. Hopyard would discount everything, and there were fights there all the time.

Question 8

Q: Were you ever involved in these fights?

Answer 8

A: I had to interfere from time to time so that the fights didn’t spread over to my place. Devil’s Hopyard was a real trouble point. It was always insanely loud over there. I never got involved in the fights though, no. Fights would start inside Devil’s Hopyard and then out into the back alley. I only interfered so that it didn’t disturb my customers.

Question 9

Q: What makes Ancient Apizza different from others on the square?

Answer 9

A: For starters, we serve authentic New Haven-style pizza, while places like Sam’s and Devil’s Hopyard’s pizzas are more similar in taste and style. Our most famous dishes are our tomato pies and our white clam pizzas. We make sure that all our ingredients are fresh; farm-to-table, if you will.

Question 10

Q: Can you give us some examples of what Ancient Apizza serves?

Answer 10

A: Like I said earlier, we serve authentic New Haven-style pizza. Our pizzas are what helped us gain popularity among the Rocky Neck community. However, to keep up with trends and retain our flow of customers, we added some craft pies. It gave people the option to add abnormal toppings and make it special. I also ensure that my customers have various drink options, so I got an account with Sleeping Giant Brewery.

Question 11

Q: Can you tell us more about Sleeping Giant Brewery?

Answer 11

A: Sure. They’re a local company from Rocky Neck that serves a variety of beers. The head of the promotions department is Casey Mattatuck, the one I interact with most.

Question 12

Q: What is your relationship with Casey Mattatuck?

Answer 12

A: I’d say we’re good friends. As I stated earlier, we meet often to discuss business, and he helps me out, giving me promotions and whatnot when needed. Originally, the deal was just between SGB and me, but Hopyard pushed Mattatuck to split the account. Casey’s an open book though. He’ll tell you anything that could affect you.

Question 13

Q: Did Casey ever tell you anything?

Answer 13

A: Yeah. According to him, Hopyard was trying to get information out from him about my place and was CONSTANTLY trying to pull the rest of the SGB account to him.

Question 14

Q: Were you aware of what Casey told you?

Answer 14

A: In late 2022, we got a bunch of negative reviews on Yelp, and I tried to take them down. I couldn’t have them doing more damage after the pandemic.

Question 15

Q: Did anything happen after these reviews were left?

Answer 15

A: Unfortunately, the reviews did their damage. Business got bad, a barely-there crowd started thinning out, and I started to get behind on bills. Casey was kind with the beer tabs, but we had to get rid of some of our better products from SGB, as well as our expensive toppings for the craft pies. I even had to remove our White Clam pizza from the menu since the prices of the ingredients shot up drastically. That lost me even more business. Any worse than this and I would have lost it all right then and there.

Question 16

Q: Did you do anything to hold out against this loss of business?

Answer 16

A: After I was made aware of Hopyard’s doings, I fought back through my business. I dropped prices of beers on Thursdays to get the college crowd to come around. I put up flyers around town, and one of my waiters put some up in the back of Devil’s Hopyard. Thankfully, it worked, and a new buzz rose about Ancient Apizza.

Question 16

Q: How did these offers impact your business?

Answer 16

A: Thankfully, it worked. My business was growing back, but it pissed off Hopyard.

Question 16

Q: What happened after this altercation with Hopyard?

Answer 16

A: Sometime in February, I think that Hopard broke and set the flyers on fire on my deck. I had a suspicion it was him because he was already angry about me putting up the flyers in the first place. After that, he got lucky and won the lottery at the end of April.

Question 16

Q: Did Hopyard do anything with his winnings?

Answer 16

A: He bought the building that I rented for Ancient Apizza.

Question 17

Q: Can you describe what happened when you found out about this?

Answer 17

A: He came into Ancient Apizza and told me he bought the building, making him my new landlord. We discussed for a bit, but eventually, he said “Catch up on your rent or you’re out at the end of the month.” I was shocked. I knew I was screwed. Sure enough, 2 weeks later, Hopyard canceled my lease.

Question 18

Q: Could you tell us more about that day?

Answer 18

A: When I first found out, I went into his office to hand in my rent check. I tried to reason with him and tell him to just let me run my place. I told him that if he shut me down he wouldn’t get paid, et cetera. He didn’t budge. He was set in his decisions. 10 days after that meeting, on May 15th, Hopyard showed up in the middle of the day and told me that my lease was canceled after all. He said that he was going to be “gracious” and give me until the end of the month, then I had to leave. I had JUST turned in my rent, but he got around the law. My heart just about shattered at this news.

Question 19

Q: Tell me a little about Sam.

Answer 19

A: I wouldn’t trust him. He tries to push fancy stuff, and he serves Detroit-style pizza. He tries too hard to stand out, and it shows. His place is half empty, and I’ve heard he drinks away all the money he makes with the remaining half.

Question 20

Q: Did you ever have any conflicts with Sam?

Answer 20

A: Not until recently. Aspen Wadsworth said that Sam had our Yelp page up on his computers, and he had written multiple nasty comments about us. Aspen asked him about it, and he said “That place should get slammed. Hopefully, it’ll knock Harkness down a few pegs” he kept reading through, and was overall happy about it.

Question 21

Q: Did you have any other interactions with Sam?

Answer 21

A: After Hopyard became landlord, I went over to Sam’s. He’d already heard, and he said that he knew a dude named Willie who could help me repair things around the restaurant. What I didn’t know when I agreed to the meeting he set up between us, however, was that Willie was Willie Waramaug, the guy who was charged with killing a kid when he was a teenager. According to Sam, he’s like the “jack of all trades” and does handyman stuff. I thought he could fix my deck, so I could have more space available for Savor the Square.

Question 22

Q: Why didn’t you choose to repair your deck in the beginning?

Answer 22

A: It was super stressful for me. My landlord didn’t want to replace the deck, and their insurance only covered the cost to hire someone to fix it. However, I was only given some of the money, since he took the rest to make up for the rent payments I’ve missed. I was worried since the deck was a moneymaker for me during the summer, and I needed that money to keep up to date with bills. My parents were also not doing great at the time, and the stress and pressure from everything was overwhelming for me. It felt like the walls were closing in.

Question 23

Q: Did you ever set up a meeting with Willie?

Answer 23

A: I arranged a meeting, but Sam set it up.

Question 24

Q: But you withdrew twelve grand?

Answer 24

A: I had to work quickly to fix my deck, so I pulled what money I had from both accounts, and I brought the money in cash to my meeting with Willie, hoping to convince him to help me out.

Question 25

Q: What happened at your meeting with Willie?

Answer 25

A: We met at Sam’s, and I noticed a few other people there before I made my way to him. We started talking, and I asked him if he could fix things for me. He asked if I was close to filing for bankruptcy, and I said not yet. My hope was that if the deck was fixed by Savor the Square, I could have my last hurrah. He said he would do it soon, when there was an opening with no rain, so as to not mess up the construction.

Question 26

Q: Moving on, let’s talk about the weekend of May 19th. What was happening that weekend?

Answer 26

A: The Savor the Square. I was hoping to raise some money before summer and my eviction. My deck wasn’t fixed, so I tried calling him to get my money back. He never picked up. I even texted him! But, I had to focus on my last hurrah. This was my way to thank the people of Rocky Neck for having been there for me for over 20 years.

Question 27

Q: Can you describe what happened on May 19th?

Answer 27

A: While I was setting up my booth, Mattatuck came along and told me that Hopyard now had an exclusive deal with Sleeping Giant Brewery, and I couldn’t serve their beer. I wasn’t surprised seeing as Hopyard had tried to do this before. I was ruined.

Question 28

Q: What if anything did you do next?

Answer 28

A: I was in shock, I don’t recall the next events well. I believe I said something along the lines of “You killed me! You really killed me? My life and dreams are over!” That might not be it though.

Question 29

Q: What happened after the Savor the Square event?

Answer 29

A: I was in such a state of distress after the events, that I went home to stay with my family. I couldn’t stand to be in Rocky Neck. While I was away, I read of Hopyard’s death, but I was killed too, so it didn’t fully register. When I got back, I had to file for bankruptcy, since the remainder of my money in both accounts went towards Willie to fix my deck. Apparently, a new cop was wanting to talk to me, so I called him up. He asked if I had anything to do with Hopyard’s murder, or if I knew any info about it. I was shocked at the news that he was murdered! Sure, I hated him, but I wouldn’t kill the guy! He’s a human just like the rest of us.

Question 30

Q: Following your call with Detective Sherlock, what occurred?

Answer 30

A: It was quiet for a month, and then they arrested me?? For murder??? I was so confused, and I had no idea what they were talking about. They mentioned something about money and Willie and notes, and I’m certain I’m being framed. The money in question was to fix my deck!! However, I believe that what Hopyard got, God gave to him. I wasn’t the one to carry out his sentence. To be clear, I didn’t like Hopyard. Hated him, even. But I would never stoop so low as to kill him! Sure, I got angry at him in our altercations, but I never wanted him dead enough to end his life.