in the middle of trial this week. After a long, contentious morning (in which the public defender made such meaningful motions as a motion to disallow the prosecutor and/or her advisory witness from opening the door for jurors), we got through opening statements before lunch. It was not going well for the Defendant or his lawyer. She (the lawyer) was denied a continuance and almost cried in the courtroom. Then she opened the door to let me bring in all prior instances of the Defendant's violent conduct.
I called my first witness, the Defendant's grandmother. She was very feeble and frail and looked like she might die on the stand. The Defendant got very agitated and his lawyer asked the judge to let him take a minute in the hallway to collect himself. The judge gave him 2 minutes.
And then we sat. Old lady on the stand dozing off from time to time, jury getting bored, judge getting irritated. And the Defendant and his lawyer MIA. The phone rings and the judicial assistant answers and I hear her say "well I guess you should probably chase him down."
Yep, the Defendant ran. Out of the courthouse and down the street. I heard the defense lawyer kicked off her heels and chased after him in her bare feet but unfortunately I didn't get to see it. Judge sends the jury out so we can figure out what to do. We argue over whether to declare a mistrial (which the judge eventually does). And throughout it, my lung cancer witness is moaning and falling asleep in the witness stand.
I have one big problem with the decision to declare a mistrial - it rewarded the Defendant for his bad behavior and sends the message that if things aren't going well for you, just freak out, put on a show, and run away and you'll get a mistrial. He wasted the time of the court, the jury, the witnesses, and me. And ultimately his little tantrum got him a delay. But at least it was somewhat entertaining.
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