Lawyer Breaks Down 17 Courtroom Scenes From Film & TV | WIRED

I think these questions your honor hi I'm Lucy Lange Lucy's a former prosecutor for the Manhattan DA's office in the current director of the Institute for innovation prosecution at John Jay College of Criminal Justice today I'll be breaking down more clips from film and TV about the courtroom gag order damages his wallings personal emails detailing Affairs she had with Wall Street executives were included in the leak yes correct Jesus Christ call search Garrett I'm not scheduled a hearing misuse should be sanctioned and barred from speaking to the press there are various strategies that lawyers use to try to influence a jury or a judge outside of the four corners of the record of a trial her television appearance was a calculated and unfounded attack on my clients reputation I was simply answering questions it was a wide-ranging interview you called my client a rapist you can understand why the judge would be concerned about that leaking into the jury's impartiality I don't want this thing tried in the press I'm issuing a gag order there'll be no discussion to this case over the airwaves in print online anywhere a jury is not permitted to be influenced by outside inputs including the media no judge should want a case to be tried in the press this is similar to what a lawyer might do in the courtroom when they say something that they know is not permissible and the judge will strike from the record but the lawyer also knows that once the jury has heard it even if they're told to disregard it it'll be in the back of their mind I resent that so do I the gag order stands catching a witness and a lie Chicago justice I'd like to call your attention to the afternoon of July 11th were you in the Inglewood neighborhood that day could be specifically at the home of your cousin a boy named Andre Williams I don't remember but you do remember changing into some of Andres clothes around that time right but you do remember being there now I use all these questions every witness who takes a stand in a criminal case is under oath which means they're obligated to tell the truth I got a choice not uncommon in real life like in this clip for a witness to respond repeatedly by saying I don't know or I don't recall I'll remember can't say for sure judge I'd like to show the witness what's being offered as people's exhibit 1 all right you ever seen that particular gun before no with permission from the court a lawyer can give things that are in evidence to a witness on the stand and ask them to demonstrate however in the case of a firearm as a general matter it would be given to a courtroom bailiff who would be asked to make sure that it was unloaded or make sure that thing's not loaded and no circumstances would a witness on the stand be asked to do that and what about the magazine clips empty too now the magazine release on this gun it's inoperable but you knew that because this is your gun that's a pretty slick move from this lawyer that's why you had to smack the handle a few times to get the mag to release just like you did four months ago when you loaded this same gun open fire on a group of gang rivals killing a ten year old girl in the process you making all this stuff even if a witness were caught in a lie the lawyer would ultimately save that point for their summation rather than make that point during the examination of the witness you know what I'm out of here the people move to dismiss all charges against Chris Stackhouse it's not permissible for a witness at their own discretion to just get up and walk off the stand arrest this man for the murder of Laura Haley never seen it happen that in the course of a trial a lawyer moves in front of everyone in the courtroom to have someone on the stand arrested for new crimes sometimes you have to make a wrong turn before you find your way possible witness law and order SVU I don't want to do this Commission to treat the witness as hostile your honor permission granted proceed you must answer the question this miss Harper when a lawyers own witness isn't responding to questions the judge can grant that lawyer permission to treat the witness as hostile that means the lawyer has been given permission to ask leading questions of the witness as you would on cross-examination you heard the defendants voice in your house you said you heard his voice in your house that's why you're hesitant to identify him now because if you were wrong then you might be wrong again now leading questions though have to be in the form of a question if someone was there than that with me that means he killed her is that what you were about to say judge let me rephrase so this lawyer who's repeatedly making speculative statements that means he killed her is that what you were about to say is entitled to make those kind of inquiries but they have to be done in a form of a question is there a question anywhere here such as isn't it right that if he killed her then you killed her question mark role reversal Ghostbusters - so you were just trying to help out how about a friend who was bright who was a scare - objection - when you're scared jack shines no he goes there was no you won't and enormous action what is the witness doing here the lawyer should always be the one asking the questions where the person on the stand is feeding the questions or commentary to the witness the opposing counsel should definitely object objection your honor and the objection should be sustained save witness preparation Seinfeld on the afternoon of September 10th you received a phone call did you not phone call yes a phone call from who from me from you lawyers are permitted to prepare their witnesses before trial and in fact it's a best practice to give your witness adequate preparation it's endlessly surprising to me though that no matter how many times you prepare a witness there's no accounting for what someone remembers or says in the moment what was the question that said I think that Newman's reaction is a little bit over the top admissions on the stand from MADtv the defendant is a flight risk your honor I could be another country this afternoon if I wanted to I got friends who can create false passports one of the reasons that people who are charged with crimes are discouraged from speaking in court is because anything they say on the record can be used against them yapple mr. Henry right now you're only being charged with armed robbery even if it is an acknowledgement of other uncharged crimes like here motion to dismiss Erin Brokovich and I have here 84 motions to strike in both civil and criminal matters the parties have an opportunity to file a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the complaint itself is legally inadequate it is the order of this court that each of the 84 motions to strike and demers are denied once a motion to dismiss has been denied negotiations often start in earnest 20 million dollars is more money than these people have ever dreamed of see now that could be off first of all since the demur we have more than 400 plaintiffs and let's be honest we all know they're more out there 20 million dollars isn't when you split it between them before you come back here with another lame ass offer I want you to think real hard about what your spine is worth mr. Walker or what you might expect someone to pay you for your uterus miss Sanchez the majority of civil cases don't go to trial often they're resolved after negotiations with a plea so that everyone can cut their losses and go home rather than risk the very high stakes of a trial and ultimately a much greater settlement your calculator and you multiply that number by a hundred anything less than that is a waste of our time throwing the book at someone from crime story they probably planted it investigating tag least length to the KGB KGB well it's strictly speculation the word on the street is that that Lee is selling nuclear secrets to the Russians I mean I don't not true it is but your honor the man's a liar that is the complete lie your honor do I have to suffer these indignities right here in the halls of Justice the actor playing the lawyer is actually my dad you still got a child remember a lawyer is permitted to refer to a witness lying but not to call a witness a liar if a lawyer were to actually throw a book or anything else at a witness is a complete lie they would likely be held in contempt and if a witness were to throw anything back at a lawyer or anyone else in the courtroom proceedings would likely stop partager thank you your honor mandatory sentencing for the people this is happening all over the country low-level nonviolent crimes that trigger disproportionate mandatory minimum sentences and I'm part of the problem what is unusual is that the judge while he's pronouncing the sentence is speaking out in opposition to it this judge and for the people is reflecting a sentiment that is increasingly part of the criminal justice reform movement in this country which is that mandatory minimum sentencing is an outdated approach to crime reasonable doubt the practice you know that 90 something percent of all defendants are guilty think about it by the time they get the trial they've been judged guilty many times a lawyer is not permitted to offer statistics that are not in evidence closing statements are reserved for the facts and evidence and the law I think he's guilty but in this country we don't take away a man's freedom and the possibility of guilt you have to find guilt beyond all reasonable doubt while the lawyer is right that if the jury has any doubt they must acquit because his client is presumed innocent it is bad practice for him to bring in his own perspective on his clients guilt or innocence I'm sure it's how I'm not supposed to say that but I think he did it courtroom conduct Kramer vs Kramer we were married a year before the baby and then seven years after that so you were a failure at the one most important relationship in your life just overruled the witness's opinion on this is relevant it might be appropriate to ask a witness whether in their own view something had been a failure I was not a failure Oh what are you gonna do a success the marriage ended in divorce I think that this rather nasty line of inquiry is unfair the question about a relationship being a failure is kind of a subjective one are you a failure and it's not clear exactly why her view of who failed is what matters here I consider it less probably the line of inquiry would have been stopped earlier when it became clear that there was a difference of opinion about what it meant for the relationship to have been a failure her ex-husband in the courtroom trying to convey something subtly to her might sway her answer and a judge if they noticed it might respond by stopping their subtle communication custody hearings big little lies there's nothing preventing opposing parties from speaking to each other off the record during a custody hearing at the end of the day we are still family of course they should bear in mind that things that are said can be used by one party against the other this is awfully different from when we last saw Meryl Streep in a custody hearing and Kramer vs Kramer probably 30 years ago and in that case - she was communicating with someone off the record we're not family mary-louise irrelevant evidence Southpark ladies and gentlemen this is Chewbacca Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk he's using the Chewbacca defense why would it look an eight-foot-tall wookie want to live on Endor with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks that does not make sense but more importantly you have to ask yourself what does this have to do with this case nothing objection on the ground of relevance the evidence about Chewbacca here is entirely irrelevant if you're back on this on Endor you must acquit all evidence that is admitted at trial must be relevant look at me I'm a lawyer defending a major record company and I'm talking about Chewbacca does that make sense if at the time it's offered it is not yet relevant it can be admitted subject to connection and if Chewbacca for some reason later in the trial became relevant why am I talking about Chewbacca when a man's life is on the line it could at that time be introduced even though he had already displayed it and offered it subject to later connection the defense rests oh okay then Wow he's kid representing yourself fracture mr. Crawford you have been charged of section 6 64 slash 187 of the California Penal Code attempted murder do you wish to enter a plea at this time there's not but I also want to wait to console and represent myself in order for someone to be permitted to represent themselves they'll be questioned about whether or not they're doing so knowingly you wear that lack of counsel will not be grounds for an appeal I understand whether they understand the extent to which they're giving up the expertise of an attorney Your Honor if I could have a moment with my client not you can join people you and generally speaking they will be assigned backup counsel to assist and answer questions as they proceed with their own defense mr. Crawford you want to reconsider absolutely not it's gonna turn into a circus I appreciate your concern to the court double-oh-seven it could be argued that the courtroom is one of the last bastions of formality in modern American life but even there a coat entails is a little bit too much however I was surprised to hear the judge refer to the DA as double-oh-seven 87 usually that kind of joking commentary is reserved for off the record district attorney's office will assign another prosecutor no I like mr. Beecham while the defendant here has an absolute right to represent himself he doesn't have the right to choose who the prosecutor is on his case he likes you personal digs Boston Legal what better to satiate some pre-election hunger pangs than a belly full of media attention mr. district attorney my name is Pierre second on the ballot this November Ginsburg knows that that's why he's handling this case personally ouch closing statements are reserved for the facts and the law outside politics have no place in either party's closing statements he was starving [Music] when was the last time you starved I'm bow to you I know you're not starving except for a denture all of this lawyers inquiry about collateral issues like whether the jurors themselves have starved and what the status of the district attorney's future election is are entirely impermissible in court and the opposing counsel should have been on his feet objecting and the judge should have been sustaining all those objections it makes for great TV but it's not realistic tampering with the evidence Chicago mr. Kelly do you know the meaning of the word perjury you also know the crime it turns out that you knew that this Diary was a fake keep thinking you rotting away in prison for the next 10 years the lawyer is trying to accuse the other lawyer of having tampered with the evidence you're not suggesting that I tampered with evidence I save it for summation richard gere the appropriate way to do that would be for him to elicit the relevant facts from witnesses on the stand any idea who this mysterious benefactor might be know introduce the relevant material evidence into evidence and then on summation explain his theory to the jury not to do it while there's a witness on the stand the defense rests summation the People vs Larry Flynt I'm not trying to convince you that you should like what Larry Flynt does I don't like what Larry Flynt does but what I do like is that I live in a country where you and I can make that decision for ourselves but then ask yourselves if you want to make that decision for the rest of us because the freedom that everyone in this room enjoys objection up until this point Edward Norton is totally appropriately talking to the jury about the context of the case we live in a free country you and I can make that decision for ourselves but once he starts suggesting that the jury should have a role in setting policy for everyone and thinking about how this plays into the future of the country ask yourselves if you want to make that decision for the rest of us he's stepping beyond the bounds of an appropriate closing statement that's not freedom the American legal system is incredibly complex and no TV show or movie gets it exactly right that said it's a lot of fun to watch them try [Applause]

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Keywords: law, lawyer, technique critique, technique critique law, law technique critique interview, lawyer watches law scenes, lawyer reviews, lawyer reacts, lawyer reaction, wired technique critique, wired lawyer, lawyer reviews movies, lawyer review movies, lawyer movie review, laywer wired, wired courtroom, courtroom movie scenes, courtroom, courtroom lawyer, law review, rick and morty court, court scenes, movie court scenes, court movies, lawyer movies, wired

Id: n-KY0Olo628

Length: 17min 26sec (1046 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 24 2020