Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Judicial Misconduct


There are two things I see in courtrooms regularly that are, to me, "judicial misconduct." The first is any attorney, having gotten a "yes or no" answer out of a witness, cuts him/her off, saying, "Thank you, that'll be all," not allowing the witness to complete his/her answer. Witnesses should be allowed to give a full and complete answer to any question, and any judge who allows an attorney to do this is as guilty of judicial misconduct as is the attorney. Another example is a judge who disallows the use of a specific defense by the defense, OR the use of a specific prosecution by a prosecutor. A defendant, OR the State, should be allowed to use ANY defense or offense he/she deems necessary. I have seen innocent people convicted and put to death because a judge would not allow him/her to use the only defense that could possibly prove him/her not guilty. The same is true sometimes when the judge disallows the prosecution's case. This is not legal advice. It is how it should go in court and what such actions constitute in my opinion. (Just common sense)

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