Constitutional Vanguard: Some Legal War Stories
Today I have some war stories about my experiences with a lawyer who will soon not be a lawyer anymore — because he just pled guilty to conspiracy and perjury charges and will soon have to retire from the legal profession.
My stories are for the paid subscribers. This is one of the more personal posts I have done — and frankly, it’s not one I would want to put out to the general public. But I think it will be entertaining for the elite. Here is a taste: a side note I provide about objections:
A note about my objections: the shooter was wearing long sleeves. [The lawyer] should not have been able to ask these questions about the appearance of the skin on the shooter’s forearms, without first establishing that the witness had the ability to see the skin on the shooter’s forearms. In such cases, “lack of foundation” is a valid objection. Because judges often don’t understand foundational objections unless you spell out what is lacking, in my objections I sometimes specifically describe the foundation that is lacking. Technically, this is a “speaking objection” (an objection that conveys more to the jury than a dry “Objection! Foundation!” would), and such objections annoy some judges more than others. As a lawyer, you have to make a judgment call, and balance your confidence (or lack thereof) that the judge will understand your foundation objection against the judge’s likely annoyance at the speaking objection.
Elite subscribers may access the post here. You may become a member of the elite here.
Hope you enjoy these. It’s a small insight into what it is like to be a prosecutor trying cases against an unscrupulous attorney.
Patterico (d3d5c1) — 2/21/2022 @ 8:46 amIf a person is disbarred from the practice of law in California, can he/she resume practice in another state?
I guess I’m trying to get sense of how hard the wrist gets slapped for conspiring to perjure.
pouncer (6c33cf) — 2/21/2022 @ 10:11 amUsually, one state follows the other, I think.
The really expert unethical lawyers get the prosecution to call their perjuring witnesses.
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/21/2022 @ 10:39 amGood stuff, Patterico!
nk (1d9030) — 2/21/2022 @ 1:50 pmThank you for this, Patterico. Interesting and informative and infuriating all at once.
Really enjoyed it.
Simon Jester (96aafe) — 2/22/2022 @ 5:43 amWhat do you do when the unscrupulous attorney is the Los Angeles county DA?
Edoc118 (de80f8) — 2/22/2022 @ 11:29 amGood stuff, Patterico. Like I mentioned in your substack, it’s a little confounding that judges gave Fletcher so many passes for his conduct in court, because I suspect that the legal professionals in the criminal justice community are not a big club, that everyone knows each other.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/22/2022 @ 11:43 am