Lawyer Breaks Down 30 Courtroom Scenes From Film & TV | WIRED

I didn't mean you don't know the X in your eyes hi my name is Lucy Liang Lucy Liang is a former prosecutor for the Manhattan DA's office and current executive director of the Institute for innovation in prosecution today I'll be breaking down clips from movies and film about the courtroom pleading the fifth The Good Wife roll clip did you and mr. Kimball travel to Washington DC I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me you're pleading the fifth the Fifth Amendment says that no one can be forced to say something against their own self-interests are you sure that's what you want to do either lawyers nor judges can compel people to violate that right yes yes I want to make sure I understand what you're saying the judge is out of line and continuing to question this witness your beliefs is not your place to ask my witness after she invokes the fifth and the lawyer is right to oppose the judge you are piercing the Fifth Amendment I shut up I don't know what I would do if a judge told me to shut up no sir especially when I was legally in the rice Cuse me I will not shut up objections how to get away with murder explain why your eviction suit against miss Morelli was dropped despite her inability to pay is it because her loss rent money was nothing compared to the millions you made once miss Stanley was out of your way feel her she's making a strong point you do not have the time to answer for who bore the real cost of your developing search the judge has to rule on the objections and she should know to stop talking when she hears an objection and wait for the judge to rule the thousands who were displaced in the name of lightning your caucus teacher continuing after a judge has asked you to stop is very bad practice please Your Honor objections since you d'lai through your teeth a better in any way wouldn't you objection mr. Evans isn't it true that your objection its rule of trial practice 101 that when a lawyer objects the other lawyer waits and lets the judge rule on the objection I just caught you in a lie objection your honor mr. Evans my next move is gonna be protections are being raised repeatedly and the judge doesn't rule on it at all Danny Griffith to the stand and she's gonna testify that you lied to her for years objection the most common objections are hearsay objection badgering rarely hear a badger the witness objection he's also gonna say that you were jealous of his mind Your Honor let me rephrase instead of ruling on the record the judge gives her a kind of hand gesture it does has to rule on the objection otherwise there's a record that there's been an objection and no rule objection objection objection that's what the judge is supposed to do mr. Specter is within his rights in the presence of royalty continuance liar liar how we doing this morning counsel continuance a continuance is just an adjournment so asking for a delay by a day or more this case has already been delayed realize that your honor but I would really really really like continuance he's asking for the continuance because there's something impeding him from the ability to do his job now I have to hear good cause counsel it's pretty accurate actually that he'd be asked to show good cause but he shouldn't be lying in furtherance of his job so he shouldn't get the continuance but she doesn't motion for continuance denied there is a lot more gavel banging in TV and film than there is in real life in fact I can't say I've ever had a judge bangs gavel at me defendant testifying law and order so whoever actually pulled the trigger would be the true slave to Allah and should be honored is that correct just like you're both enemies pretty sloppy defendants only testify on their own behalf in the minority of cases although they absolutely have the right to you keep denying it is that because you're scared to accept those consequences the prosecutor here is cross-examining the defendant and it's fairly true to life to how it would happen she was killed her unborn child where there was an outburst on the stand from a defendant or anyone else's choices we breathe in all likelihood the judge would intervene and tell the witness to manage their temper and probably strike the outbursts from the record for a classic witness outburst let's look at legally one you however had time to hide the gun didn't you techne after you shot your father I didn't mean to shoot him through the door Oh excellent cross-examination by miss woods my god she's asking leading questions didn't you check me although her questions are appropriately leaning wouldn't you have heard the gunshot and if in fact you had heard the gunshot their compound there's a lot of questions in one question you however had time to hide the gun didn't you techne after you shot your father I were the prosecutor I would have objected to those compound questions wouldn't somebody who's had safe right here she's talking directly to the jury and that is not allowed you however had time to hide the gun she actually manages to break the witness I didn't mean to shoot I've never seen that happen [Music] the classic witness outburst a few good men you don't have to answer that question I'll answer the question you want answers I think I'm entitled you want the truth you can't handle the truth the rules in court-martial proceedings are different from the rules in a standard criminal courtroom but it's unusual for a judge to allow an exchange between a lawyer and a witness to escalate to this level I don't give a damn if you judge rules that a witness doesn't have to answer a question don't have to answer that question the witness shouldn't answer the question I'll answer the question but I can't argue with this it's one of the great courtroom scenes of all time protesting the verdict the practice we find the defendant edward wicks not guilty it's hard for any lawyer to lose a case that's Hance but this is above and beyond what do you like the color of mr. Donald's time gamble should not have reacted that way in front of the jury save it for when you get back to your office aren't you unemployed brain-dead idiots in addition to possibly being held in contempt she could face ethical sanctions from the bar potentially lose her job I don't care judge that's it calendar call Roman Jay Israel Esquire what do you have one number 32 thanks Ann Bailey this is a very realistic scene of a routine calendar call when a judge has a lot of cases on that are all in a different posture the prosecutor is there with a banker's box full of Case Files which is very common and she's going to be reading from the materials with respect to each one of those cases five years that's as low as the people will go his name is Langston he's a high school junior in good standing many defense lawyers would use the kind of mitigating circumstances that mr. Israel sets out in trying to persuade a prosecutor to make a lower offer he is one Pryor minor offense each one of us is greater than the worst thing we've ever done I've never heard music in the background when they do it but otherwise it's very true to live team Valve's Hollywood loves to take a moral stance in a situation like this and so defense lawyers we just get it over with and shoot them that's the offer it's common for lawyers to negotiate a disposition during down time in court in situations like that talk to your clients and the only uncommon thing my conviction rates hundred percent is the prosecutor referring to her conviction rate which is just tacky effect approaching the bench philadelphia do you approach the bench wistfully a lawyer cannot approach the bench ex parte which means without the other lawyer everybody in this courtroom just thinking about sexual orientation this is a great film but this part is just not realistic explain this to me like I'm a two-year-old the point I'm approaching the bench is so that the rest of the courtroom doesn't hear you and you're speaking directly to the judge let's talk about what this case is really all about so this is inaccurate first but the other lawyer isn't there and second that everyone in the courtroom can hear our loathing our fear again with the poetic music somewheres might hear it in their head when they're talking but it's never happened to me expert witness my cousin Vinnie this witness is an expert in the field of automobiles and is being called to rebut the testimony of George Willborn an expert witness as compared to a fact witness what way are you qualified as a witness who is permitted based on their expertise to testify about their opinion rather than things that are simply facts I'd like to whadya this witness is to the extent of her expertise to water an expert witness about their qualification to be certified as an expert I would ask them questions about their background what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet they wouldn't pose a hypothetical like the lawyer does here with the 327 cubic inch engine to approach the witness stand a lawyer has to ask the judges permission first question it has to be for a good reason like to show them a piece of evidence or have them point to something does that mean that you can't answer this prosecutor is getting a bit out of line he's getting in her face nobody could answer that question speaking aggressively towards her you don't know the answer any answer a hypothetical question to be 20:17 come out 262 and it wasn't offered in the Bel Air with a four-barrel carb till 64 instead of a question about her expertise that's inappropriate well she's acceptable courtroom demonstration to kill a mockingbird Tom would you catch this please you can't use the body of someone who is not on the stand as a demonstration in court this is are you please catch it with your left hand I can't use my left hand at all that's not how the lawyer would make the point that the defendant can't use his left hand I got it caught in a cotton gin when I was 12 years old you would have had to call the defendant to the stand to testify about it or call a doctor or someone else who had first-hand experience about the defendants disability oh my muscles were told when a witness is on the stand you are only supposed to be questioning that witness not the defendant or anyone else in the courtroom I'm losing my memory Atticus Finch is a hero amongst American lawyers but he just doesn't get it quite right this time sure hostile witness the dark knight someone must have stepped up to run the so-called family could you identify him for us please it was me when your own witness unexpectedly contradicts your case it was me then you can ask for permission to treat them as hostile permission to treat the witness as hostile this is a pretty accurate depiction of the hostile witness Rostow up until when he pulls the gun and that the lawyer punches in courthouses have metal detectors you can't bring guns into the courtroom unless they're evidence violent witness primal fear he put you in front of a camera he made you take off your clothes and you don't think that that's another side no you know what I would do if someone did that to me I would kill a moment she's making it about herself I would have objected I wouldn't hesitate lawyers aren't allowed to talk about themselves while they're cross-examining a witness I would stab him 78 times with a butcher knife I would have objected right there I would chop off his fingers the judge would have interrupted her as soon as she started to hypothesize about what she would do I would slash his throat open a judge would ask the court officers to intervene as soon as it looked like things were getting violent I swear to god this is a terrifying movie and Laura Linney's character is way out of line but that's me sometimes lawyers do try to agitate a witness in order to get a reaction from them further questions your honor where the hell do you think you're going which seems to be what she's trying to do here and actually she does it's rare for a witness or defendant to get violent but it does happen and that's why there are armed court officers in every courtroom for criminal trials character witness Big Daddy Koufax is a good egg he was nice to that kid mr. Koufax is a really cool guy but he fights like a girl under the rules of evidence a character witness can only testify about something that's at issue wish my dad was as cool as him so where the issue is whether or not he's a good dad they could testify about his reputation as a good dad in the community but they can't testify in general about whether he's cool mr. Koufax is a really cool guy I can't go off topic you see my dad was a military man I'd rather live out on the streets than under his freaky-ass rules and also the plaintiff should definitely not be bribing the witness with McDonald's if OJ can get away with murder why can't Sonny have his kid jury selection the devil's advocate let's get rid of number four six and I'd say blues number 12 except the prosecutor is gonna up and do it for both sides have a set number of peremptory challenges they can use to strike potential jurors six you're kidding right she's been first choice they can both agree to strike anyone and that doesn't count against them and no one can strike a juror on the base of a protected category like race gender ethnicity or sexual orientation but beyond that it's no-holds-barred she wants on this jury somebody heard her and she wants revenge lawyers definitely try to psychoanalyze potential jurors based on what they're wearing and the way they comport themselves we're often pretty wrong how the hell do you know that in my experience most of the time people are trying to get out of jury duty so I'm not sure how he thinks he can tell that she wants to be on the jury I don't know people have all kinds of funny superstitions about who they won't let on jury none of this is based on science it's all basically guesswork and the bottom line is that you want a jury who can be fair all right here's the deal I lose with you a jury you do the explaining here's another example of jury selection the Rainmaker did you mr. Porto or did you not have a phone conversation a few days ago with mr. Rudy Baylor hell no I thought you gonna give me this is an example of our dear the lawyers questioning the jury about their ability to serve don't call me a lot there's an awful lot of jumping over the rail that seems to happen in film and TV I've never seen it happen in their life when something happens that can taint the whole jury pool often a lawyer will make an application to have the whole pool dismissed and a new pool abroad I'll dismiss a table here the judge probably would have granted that application denied film and TV love to show jury selection but painted frankly most lawyers hate us shoo little thing the judge sang out of order from justice for all something I judge would typically call for order in the court in a situation like that generally much earlier kind of language that he uses is totally inappropriate and then he turns on his own clients my lawyer is undermining his ethical obligation so your honor Hollywood loves to show emotional outbursts from lawyers these are pretty uncommon we do our best to control them we're gonna be seeing a lot of them today though removing the witness from daredevil I know what I did I know who I am and he's come back any any lowlife any maggot pieces did I put down a judgement reprimand any lawyer or witness who used bad language in the courtroom I did it because I thought most lawyers would work closely with the defendant before he took the stand in order to guard against those kind of emotional outbursts it's make bad Punisher court officers are trained to respond to a judge's orders immediately here the court officers do take him out as soon as the judge instructs them to most judges would respond more quickly to have that defendant removed from the courtroom that kind of scene is fairly uncommon settlement a civil action you can pee the jury has been impaneled and opening statements are about to begin but the lawyer sees the effect that seeing the plaintiff is having on one of the jurors and so that leads him to negotiate it's very common that plea negotiations would continue through a trial like this plea negotiations have to happen outside the awareness of the jury so if the jury were in the box like this and the parties were trying to negotiate post-its is exactly how they would do it jan schlichtmann for Paul Kearney Kevin Conway for mr. Carney Your Honor I'd start sweating too if I saw a juror respond like this it is far more likely for both criminal and civil cases to be resolved with a plea or settlement disposition parties involved to the green to acetylene going through to the conclusion of a trial courtroom attire the Simpsons I rest my case the phrase I rest my case is commonly used one mr. Hutz do you know you're not wearing any pants we usually wear pants to work the formality of courtroom attire has decreased in recent years right but not quite to that level that's why you're the judge and I'm the law talking guy the lawyer witness stripping Franklin and bash and how exactly did you book the mattress masters at my age injection Your Honor she's just roving to my knowledge there's nothing in the rules of evidence that says a witness can't take their clothes off the client wanted a model who could demand attempts Your Honor but it's against all rules of courtroom decorum who's Spencer where's advised witnesses to behave respectfully towards the court including dressing appropriately for choirs refrain from taking off your glass and not undressing in court delicious of all of the unrealistic things in this scene skews the most unrealistic is when the lawyer tells the witness to ignore that you just tell you it is to disregard my order that should never happen justice isn't why this is so dumb justice is all let's focus on what she had to say um I didn't get it there was a request for read back again I was distracted this sonographer really dropped the ball on her job if we were all distracted by miss Spencer in court what about the people operating heavy machinery on Sunset Boulevard this is made for TV alone film and TV love this where something happens in the courtroom and then the lawyer uses it to prove their case distracted that's not a real thing only things are in evidence get to be used to further an argument like that ever scares us applause in the gallery change lighting Walter Collins was brutally murdered that correct captain when a lawyer is questioning about something as dramatic as that everyone in the courtroom can feel the tenseness of the situation yes it is the lawyers the jury the audience everyone no further questions in the modern day applause is not allowed in the courtroom but before we had courtroom scenes on television and film people would go to court to watch proceedings as part of their entertainment and during that time sometimes there would be applause in the courtroom just like that contempt of court serial mom one beer with lunch is hardly drinking did you see that she just said you to me the lawyers antagonizing the witness so if the judge saw that she would have been reprimanded let the record show I am merely stating again it's all about the record so it's a stenographer didn't hear it it's like it didn't happen are you insane in Hollywood courtroom scenes are so emotional people are guilty of that judges are threatening to hold people in contempt all the time in reality I think I've probably only seen it happen once or twice midnight deadline Night Court unfortunately word got out that anyone not arraigned before midnight was set free Wow look at her hair we were so close that's it we're finished no we're not hold on Night Court arraignments really happen in New York City and all over the country prejudice they tend to be very busy and fast-paced but not this fast-paced no arraignment is the first time that someone who's charged with a crime here's the charges read formally against them York State New York violation 2 3 1 sometimes it happens in Night Court you have to drive the vehicle come when someone gets arraigned their lawyer says waive the reading not the rights and what happened in that case the defendant didn't want to waive the reading so that's why he was forced to read them all out defendant representing himself law abiding citizen and you've waived your right to counsel correct yes sir you sure you want to do that defendant has an absolute right to represent himself in court usually a defendant is assigned backup counsel who actually has legal training I find it highly prejudicial to keep me detained without bail when a defendant is representing himself he's granted more leeway than Alerus in terms of editorializing about what he thinks is happening in the courtroom the prosecution has not presented one single piece of evidence against me he's advocating for himself and he's entitled to do that it's a slippery slope Your Honor it's not inappropriate and I think it's fairly realistic I am actually inclined to agree with you mr. Shelton thank you indicted a dog from Perry Mason present or not a man is still responsible for what his dog does not criminally mr. Wright that depends upon a number of things perhaps the proper Criminal Procedure would have been an indictment of the dog council was joking of course not at all here the argument is about whether the person can be charged for something that an animal did a variety of animals have been accused legally indicted and tried in the past in the modern day animals can't be indicted in charge the last being a cow in 1740 however animals can be considered dangerous instruments for the purposes of a person committing an assault since this is the 20th and not the 15th century I'm going to rule that the complaint is sufficient setting bail fifty Shades freed does your client deny forcing entry into this penthouse he does not your honor however my client dearly wanted to confront the parties responsible for destroying his career I think he wanted to do more than confront them counselor however given his clean record the court will grant bail the basic options when a judge is making a decision about bail are releasing someone on their own reconnaissance which means counting on them to return on their own free will setting bail which means determing an amount of collateral that they will give over and that is likely to ensure that they return and remanding them which means that no amount of money or collateral will allow them to be released while the charges are pending set at $500,000 $500,000 bail is not unheard of depending on the gravity of the charges the defendants criminal history their community ties and their access your honor next case very often it has a result of meaning that someone can't make the bail and therefore stays in custody read-back intolerable cruelty because there's be if they want some bones where were we you want some bones does Elvita want some bones this is called read-back where a lawyer doesn't hear or loses track of what the response has been they can ask the stenographer back from the transcription does anyone any bones read back can happen during the child for a lawyer or a jury can ask for read back during their deliberations if there's something they don't remember hard crunchy bones right what's not accurate is that a dog would be in the courtroom on the stand with a witness unless it was a therapy dog how can she she should surprise witness the good fight thank you for testifying on such short notice miss Lockhart I didn't have much choice I was subpoenaed Your Honor again this is prosecution by ambush we are not prepared for this surprise witness that's just how that would happen the prosecution has to disclose their witnesses in advance of trial to permit the defense to appropriately prepare yes and as I you will have time if you need it please continue when something changes and her new witness comes to light the prosecutor might be permitted to call that witness but as the judge promises here the defense would then be granted plenty of time to be able to prepare to cross-examine that new witness yes and quite well Miranda rights Madea Goes to Jail apparently your honor our officers forgot to mirandize her I was waiting for Miranda to coming in nobody came and I was waiting for it that's right ain't nobody Miranda me Miranda wasn't even in the room oh no excuse me Miranda is the case that holds that officers have to read a defendant their rights before questioning that this is ridiculous what they're referring to here is that Madea made a statement to police officers and she did it without having been first read her Miranda warnings you forgot to mirandize that a woman got the strength any man when that happens the statement that's made gets suppressed as evidence which means it can't be used against the defendant I've got to let you go but it's not the case that the defendant then just gets like a conference and the judge's chambers the verdict all I want on this trial was a fair shake okay push me into court five days early I lose my star witness and I can't get a continuance and I don't care I'm going up there I'm gonna try it I'm gonna let the jury decide it's a TV and film trope that judges and lawyers are combative with each other they told me about you in general we're all professionals and we try to maintain standards of professionalism and decorum so you're a hard-ass you're a defendants judge I don't care seems like bad strategy to be leveling personal accusations at the judge while he has a case pending in front of him I said the hell with it out with it dismissing a case Miracle on 34th Street if the government of the United States can issue its currency barring a declaration of trust in God than the state of New York can accept and acknowledge that Santa Claus does exist and he exists in the purse no tell my kids but I don't think the existence of Santa Claus would stand up in court again with the gavel this is in New York and I haven't seen a judge in this courthouse do that summation or closing statement the night of what I normally do is plea my clients out because 95 percent of the time they did what they were charged with I'm just looking at them so I tell them don't be stupid take the deal summations can only be about the facts that are in evidence it's what we think anything about the lawyers personal contact with the defendant with the witnesses or their experience in general is totally outside the bounds of appropriate summation the first time I saw Nast he was sitting alone in a holding cell at the 21st precinct objection also not in evidence I didn't see what I see in my other clients John Turturro this is not about you what we don't have proof of is who committed the crime he's been charged with that last part of the summation where he's talking about the facts that are in evidence the circumstance and speculation that is the purpose of summation yeah that term a lot what does it really mean that for another example of summation let's watch a time to kill I'm gonna ask you all to close your eyes this is a story about a little girl I want you to picture this little girl two men jumped out and grabbed her they dragged her into a nearby field raping her this is really the appropriate time for a lawyer to get theatrical on summation and that's exactly what he does here I want you to picture a little barrel he lays out his view of the facts of the case and then makes a powerful argument about bias now imagine she's white this is exactly the appropriate use of a summation although it's awfully hard to watch the defense restroom conclusion at the end of the day I don't expect actors and directors to get every detail right I understand that writers like to make courtroom scenes seem more dramatic than they really are but they get it wrong and they're pretty fun to watch [Music]

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Keywords: lawyer, lawyer breaks down, lawyer courtroom scenes, law scenes, lawyer breaks down courtroom scenes, lawyer reviews, lawyer reviews courtroom scenes, lawyer reviews law scenes, lawyer technique critique, law technique critique, liar liar court scene, movie court scene, movies scenes, movie scene realism, how realistic, lawyer wired, wired technique critique, technique critique, law scene broken down, law scene breakdown, law expert, lawyer reacts, courtroom drama, wired

Id: we6qm0zXMYU

Length: 28min 9sec (1689 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Incredibly_Unpopular]

Unfortunate she didn’t have context.