The Trial Wheel

Got to go with my old clinic partner who was pressed into service following our slightly nutso setting of 61 cases for trial and the splintering of our division to judges who could take our trial cases.  (We literally had witnesses lined up out the door.)

I had a trial case shifted in front of another judge, bade my other guys farewell (and happy resets due to my non-fungibeness) and off we went. 

I'm happy to say that so soon after bitching about it I finally got to do a non-reactive voir dire.  I should bitch more comprehensively on the blog from now on. 

My former (now currentest?) partner was brilliant, and we ended up with a not guilty about 20 minutes after the jury retired.  But the impressive thing it was 20 minutes after pizza had been delivered to the jury room at the 5 minute mark.  Well, maybe it was a bit longer - all I know is that when I stopped stuffing myself the jury came back with the verdict shortly thereafter.

I think we made a good pair.  According to the jury I was "very calm" and "everyone understood what I said."  They thought my trial partner was "aggressive" to the point where it was a criticism - but he was on cross and had to be.  I thought he was fantastic - and it's hard to argue the results.