ADMONISHED BY THE JUDGE - HOW SWEET IT IS!

Closing argument on a hopeless case - trying for anything that'll possibly stick. So go way out there - the DA objects! The judge comes down hard on me for "inviting the jury to indulge in "speculation" - heaven forbid! I'm thinking: "Good going Murray, you're really doing your job when you get the judge to interrupt the sacrosanct Closing Argument to "admonish" you (read "SCOLD"). Thank you, Your Lordship.

Where's the gun?

For some reason many of my clients and their mothers and their girlfriends firmly believe that if the police don't have the crime weapon - the GUN -"there's no evidence". I've been trying to figure out where this "urban legend" comes from. Is it CSI or Law & Order and the other shows? Don't think so, they don't watch those shows. I think it goes back to the primeval ooze when some guy beat his case because of something to do with a gun the cops didn't have - and ever since then the legend has spread out and taken root so that this is one of the "truths" my clients and their mothers and their girlfriends "know" about the legal system. Doesn't matter that the cops have a taped confession; eye witnesses; casings; et al. "Where's the gun? There's no evidence."  Maybe I'm missing something? 

HOW SWEET IT IS!(schadenfreude but what are you gonna do?)

Roosevelt Dorn, former judge, genuine arrogant asshole as a judge and now he sits like a regular defendant in our own little attorney lounge with his lawyer (one of the Big Guys but a nice guy) – accused of fanegling a loan for himself as the mayor of Inglewood. At least Phil Spector, who last year during his trial, spent every lunch hour in the lounge with his Entourage –brought in some good deli, once, which went a long way making him okay as far as I was concerned.

DAistic - i've just coined it - it means - "Oh I represent the PEOPLE and I'm one step from heaven."

In court to set trial date on a case with over 20 robbery counts. It's a new DA on the case. She asks me for my card. I give it to her. "What's your cell number?" she says. I give it to her. "What's your cell number?" I innocently ask. She looks at me a little surprised. "Oh I can't give you that."
These are the important moments in the CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

I’m waiting in court for my jury to come back with its guilty verdict when another case is called. It’s a Motion for New Trial. The lawyer for the convicted defendant is so angry. Amazed to see how he really goes over the edge with the judge. He’s actually being abusive to her. “Well you didn’t even read my brief.” “Yes I did, counsel and I don’t like your tone.” “It’s been sitting in front of you the whole morning and you never took a look at it. I was watching.” I’m very curious – how much shit is she going to take from this guy? His eyes are bulging. He looks like he hadn’t slept in days. Was he high? It ended without him being sent to lockup – which I thought it would. As he walks by I say to him - “I thought you were about to go join your client” and looked towards the lockup. “Well this is a serious case”, he says. I couldn’t believe he said that. Is he kidding? Like my case isn’t “serious”. Asshole.

This is the view from the attorney's lounge at the Foltz Criminal Justice Ctr aka CCB. I've spent alot of time in the lounge - which consists of a couple of tables, chairs and two sofas - looking out at that building I love. It used to be the Hall of Records, then a courthouse where they tried the Charlie Manson murders and then a jail and sheriff's HQ. Now - ever since the Northridge quake 1994 - only the pigeons use it.