Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 25, 2009
I Swear...
Candor cracks up courtroom
Vic Fleming
The defendant was charged with speeding. He was pro se, which means that he was representing himself, acting as his own attorney.
The trial was set for a Thursday morning. As are virtually all cases in which defendants are pro se.
Experience taught me long ago that pro se defendants, unless they are lawyers or law students, simply cannot grasp the nuances of trial practice. They do not know, and cannot learn on the spot, the rules of evidence, procedure and decorum.
Thus, I employ what I call the “Informal Trial,” or IT, for short.
The witnesses are sworn, but I take the testimony informally, a la Judge Wapner’s original “People’s Court.”
The participation of the prosecutor is kept to a minimum in the interest of leveling the playing field, so to speak.
The defendant is offered the chance to go first. He or she may allow the prosecution to go first.
The defendant in front of me this particular Thursday, a month ago or so, opted to go first.
“I was going the speed limit,” he began and was approaching the traffic light, which was green. “It turned yellow when I was close to the intersection, and I knew I had to get on my brake or get on the gas.”
I interrupted, “Why only two choices?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why couldn’t you just have maintained your speed? If it was unsafe to stop, and was OK to go through the intersection, why couldn’t you just have maintained your speed?”
(I’ve learned that a huge chunk of the population operate off the notion that, where red lights are concerned, if you can somehow zip through the entire intersection before the light changes color from amber to red, then the law has not been violated.)
The defendant paused, looked over to the prosecutor’s table and then said, “Actually, Judge, I was just hoping that the police officer would not show up today. I see that he’s here. I’m guilty.”
I laughed.
The prosecutor and the police officer laughed.
Everyone in the courtroom laughed.
The defendant himself fell in with the laughter.
The punishment was kept to a minimum.
And life went on.
Vic Fleming is a district court judge in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he also teaches at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Contact him at judgevic@comcast.net.
© Vic Fleming
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