Originally published at: Parkland shooter judge chews out his defense team after they unexpectedly rest their case: "I've never experienced this level of unprofessionalism in my career" | Boing Boing
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According to lawyer and legal commentator Ken White (known by his Twitter handle @Popehat) there are certain circumstances in which getting a judge to yell at you can actually help your side at trial. I wonder if Cruz’s defense team was intentionally trying that strategy as a Hail Mary.
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That probably applies at times when the jury is in the room and you want them to feel sorry for you, but they weren’t present in this case.
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Yeah I’m not sure what the play would be here, since he plead guilty and this is just a sentencing trial. Although…maybe trying to get the judge to feel softer towards the defendant because he has such rude, shitty lawyers? It’s a thought. He’s either getting life in prison or the death penalty. And he’s not exactly a sympathetic defendant. Anything that might soften the judge’s opinion at all couldn’t hurt.
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Could be. I had thought at first from the judge’s “chess” reference that she felt the defense lawyers were trying to force the prosecution to put on its rebuttal without preparation. In a long trial, each side typically has to give advance notice of what witnesses they will call on each trial day, to give the other side and also the judge a chance to focus and prepare, and so the jury’s time is not wasted by surprises that need to be sorted out before the trial can continue. The judge and prosecution may have been expecting the defense to put on mitigation witnesses they had already identified, but with the defense unexpectedly resting, the judge had to adjourn to give the prosecution time to prepare, and send the jury home, wasting a day. Just my take on reading the article - could certainly be trying to generate sympathy also.
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Seems easy enough. She should hold the defense lawyers in contempt and refer them for disbarment. I suspect she’s waiting for the end of the trial for these.
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If she did so then it would probably result in a mistrial and they’d have to start the whole thing all over again. Not a good outcome for anyone except maybe Cruz.
Even if they were held in contempt after the conclusion of the trial (which I’m not sure is even a thing) then he’d have a pretty rock-solid basis for an appeal.
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This piece of garbage Cruz chose an appropriate attorney for himself.
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So, are the defense arguing abolition or ayahuasca?
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“Nobody panic! We can still go with the ‘get the judge to yell at us’ plan, but we’re going to have to make sure she yells really, really loudly!”
(They could totally use that in the next season of She-Hulk.)
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Maybe that would work, but when she’s specifically yelling “how dare you waste the jurors’ time like this, don’t you know they have better things to do!?” that might cut the wrong direction.
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Empty G might have been appropriate (knowing that she has absolutely no capacity for legal acumen). /s
ETA: That eyelid flutter. That’s a sign something bad is about to happen.
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When I read about the defendant Cruz, I couldn’t picture anyone other than smug little Cancun Cruz. As much as I hate hate having Ted’s visage in my head, this is good. Not knowing the names of mass murderers is how things should be.
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Since I brought him up it looks like Ken White (who has worked as both a Federal prosecutor and a defense attorney) doesn’t seem to think this particular judge’s response was professional or appropriate to the circumstances.
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It seems like the same strategy commonly used by others on the wrong side of justice (e.g. trump, jones, etc) when there is no defense: just create as much delay, chaos, confusion as possible, and hope that something helpful emerges from the constant disruptions that can be latched onto later, or maybe evoke a response that would cause a mistrial. From the judge’s comments, it sounds like the lawyer has been continuously goading, insulting, and provoking her for a while.
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I have sometimes pondered the dilemma of being an attorney and being in charge of defending someone as evil as Cruz. Our justice system does require that all defendants are entitled to a vigorous defense.
Having the duty to defend evil presents some serious moral challenges to resolve. Any less than a competent defense would be wrong as would be defending evil.
Given the guilty plea the only thing at stake in this trial is whether or not the defendant will be put to death. And as someone who believes that state-sponsored execution is wrong in all circumstances, presenting whatever mitigating factors might prevent the defendant’s execution doesn’t really seem like a “serious moral challenge,” at least in my eyes. He’s never going to get out of jail. Let him live with the consequences of his actions and die with a whimper rather than a bang.
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True. The problem here is that the attorney confused “vigorous” with “let’s throw random things at the wall and see what sticks”.
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Ken White kind of is being an asshole about this case considering his previous defense of other judges getting mad on the stand.
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My read of that post is less as a defense of other judges getting mad so much as an acknowledgement that it isn’t uncommon and often isn’t an important indication of which way any given case is going to go.
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