- And I think he did it.
- I gotta answer all these questions?
- Your Honor, if I could have a moment alone with my client.
- Look at me, I'm a lawyer!
- The defense rests!
- Hi, I'm Lucy Lang.
[ding]
- [Narrator] Lucy is a former prosecutor
for the Manhattan DA's office and the current director
of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution
at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
- Today, I'll be breaking down more clips
from film and TV about the courtroom.
[slow dramatic music] - Gag order, Damages.
- [Man] Miss Walling's personal emails,
detailing affairs she had with Wall Street executives,
were included in the leak.
- Yes, correct.
- Jesus Christ.
Call Judge Gearheart.
I'm gonna schedule a hearing.
Ms. Hewes should be sanctioned and barred
from speaking to the press.
- There are various strategies
that lawyers use to try to influence a jury or a judge
outside of the four corners of the record of a trial.
- Her television appearance was a calculated
and unfounded attack on my client's reputation.
- I was simply answering questions.
It was a wide-ranging interview.
- You called my client a rapist.
- You can understand why the judge would be concerned
about that leaking into the jury's impartiality.
- I don't want this thing tried in the press.
I'm issuing a gag order.
There will be no discussion of this case
over the airwaves, in print, online, anywhere.
- A jury's not permitted to be influenced
by outside inputs, including the media.
No judge should want a case to be tried in the press.
This is similar to what a lawyer might do
in the courtroom when they say something
that they know is not permissible,
and the judge will strike from the record.
But the lawyer also knows that once the jury has heard it,
even if they're told to disregard it,
it'll be in the back of their mind.
- I resent that.
- So do I.
The gag order stands.
[soft dramatic music] - Catching in a witness
in a lie, Chicago Justice.
- I'd like to call your attention
to the afternoon of July 11th.
Were you in the Inglewood neighborhood that day?
- Could be.
- Specifically at the home of your cousin,
a boy named Andre Williams?
- I don't remember.
- But you do remember changing
into some of Andre's clothes around that time, right?
- [laughs] He's littler than me!
- But you do remember being there now?
- I gotta answer all these questions?
- Every witness who takes the stand
in a criminal case is under oath,
which means they're obligated to tell the truth.
- Do I got a choice?
- It's not uncommon in real life
like in this clip for a witness
to respond repeatedly by saying I don't know
or I don't recall.
- I don't remember.
I can't say for sure.
- Judge, I'd like to show the witness
what's being offered as people's exhibit one.
- All right.
- You ever seen that particular gun before?
- No.
- With permission from the court,
a lawyer can give things that are in evidence
to a witness on the stand and ask them to demonstrate.
However, in the case of a firearm,
as a general matter, it would be given
to a courtroom bailiff who would be asked
to make sure that it was unloaded.
- You wanna make sure that thing's not loaded?
- In no circumstances would a witness
on the stand be asked to do that.
- And what about the magazine?
[gun clicking loudly]
- Clip's empty, too.
[gun clicking loudly]
- Now the magazine release on this gun, it's inoperable.
But you knew that because this is your gun.
- That's a pretty slick move from this lawyer.
- That's why you had to smack the handle a few times
to get the mag to release, just like you did four months ago
when you loaded this same gun, opened fire on a group
of gang rivals, killing a 10-year-old girl in the process!
- Man, you makin' all this up!
- Even if a witness were caught in a lie,
the lawyer would ultimately save that point
for their summation rather than make that point
during the examination of the witness.
- You know what?
I'm outta here.
- The people move to dismiss all charges
against Chris Stackhouse.
- It's not permissible for a witness at their own discretion
to just get up and walk off the stand.
- [Peter] Arrest this man for the murder of Laura Haley.
- Hey! - Let go!
- I have never seen it happen that,
in the course of a trial, a lawyer moves
in front of everyone in the courtroom
to have someone on the stand arrested for new crimes.
- Sometimes, you have to make a wrong turn
before you find your way.
[soft dramatic music]
- Hostile witness, Law & Order: SVU.
- I don't wanna do this.
- Permission to treat the witness as hostile, Your Honor.
- Permission granted, proceed.
You must answer the questions, Miss Harper.
- When a lawyer's own witness isn't responding
to questions, the judge can grant that lawyer permission
to treat the witness as hostile.
That means the lawyer has been given permission
to ask leading questions of the witness
as you would on cross examination.
- You heard the defendant's voice in your house.
You said you heard his voice in your house.
That's why you're hesitant to identify him now
because if were wrong then, you might be wrong again now.
- Leading questions, though, have to be
in the form of a question.
- If Sean was there, then that would mean that--
- That means he killed her.
Is that what you were about to say?
- Objection! - Let me rephrase.
- So this lawyer,
who's repeatedly making speculative statements,
- That means he killed her.
Is that what you were about to say?
- is entitled to make those kind of inquiries,
but they have to be done in the form of a question.
- Is there a question anywhere here?
- Such as isn't it right that if he killed her,
then you killed her, question mark.
[soft dramatic music]
Role reversal, Ghostbusters II.
- So you were just trying to help
- Help out a friend. - out a friend.
- Who was frightened. - Who was a-scared of what
- Objection. - was happening to her
when you scared, what? [muffled speaking]
- Objection.
- There was no evil intended. - There was no evil intended,
no-- - Objection.
What is the witness doing here?
The lawyer should always be the one asking the questions.
Where the person on the stand is feeding the questions
or commentary to the witness,
the opposing counsel should definitely object,
- Objection, Your Honor.
- and the objection should be sustained.
- Sustained!
[soft dramatic music] - Witness preparation,
Seinfeld.
- On the afternoon of September 10th,
you received a phone call, did you not?
- Phone call?
[audience laughs]
- Yes, a phone call!
- From who?
[audience laughing]
- From me.
- From you?
- Yes, from me, from me!
I called you, remember?
- Lawyers are permitted to prepare their witnesses
before a trial, and, in fact, it's a best practice
to give your witness adequate preparation.
- What's the matter with you, you jerk?
We had it all worked out! [Kramer cries out]
- It's endlessly surprising to me, though,
that no matter how many times you prepare a witness,
there's no accounting for what someone remembers
or says in the moment.
- What was the question?
- That said, I think that Newman's reaction
is a little bit over the top.
- Your Honor, Mr. Kramer's obviously very distraught.
- I'm distraught?
- You shut up! - Ooh ooh ooh ooh!
[soft dramatic music] - Admissions
on the stand from MADtv.
- The defendant is a flight risk, Your Honor.
- If I was a flight risk, I wouldn't even be here.
I could be in another country this afternoon
if I wanted to.
I got friends who can create false passports.
This is-- - One of the reasons
that people who are charged with crimes are discouraged
from speaking in court is because anything they say
on the record can be used against them.
- Careful, Mr. Henry.
Right now, you're only being charged with armed robbery.
- Even if it is an acknowledgement
of other uncharged crimes.
- I don't need the money, I'm a drug dealer!
- Like here. [laughs]
[soft dramatic music] Motion to dismiss,
Erin Brockovich.
- And I have here 84 motions to strike.
- In both civil and criminal matters,
the parties have an opportunity
to file a motion to dismiss on the grounds
that the complaint itself is legally inadequate.
- It is the order of this court that each
of the 84 motions to strike and demurs are denied.
- Once a motion to dismiss has been denied,
negotiations often start in earnest.
- $20 million dollars is more money
than these people have ever dreamed of.
- Oh, see, now that [beep] me off.
First of all, since the demur,
we have more than 400 plaintiffs.
And let's be honest, we all know there are more out there.
$20 million isn't [beep] when you split it between them.
- Erin.
- Before you come back here with another lame ass offer,
I want you to think real hard about
what your spine is worth, Mr. Walker,
or what you might expect someone
to pay you for your uterus, Miss Sanchez.
- The majority of civil cases don't go to trial.
Often, they are resolved after negotiations with the plea
so that everyone can cut their losses and go home
rather than risk the very high stakes
of a trial and, ultimately, a much greater settlement.
- Take out your calculator,
and you multiply that number by 100.
Anything less than that is a waste of our time.
[soft dramatic music] - Throwing the book
at someone from Crime Story.
- They probably planted it investigating Tagley's link
to the KGB.
- KGB?
- Well, it's strictly speculation,
but word on is that Tagley
is selling nuclear secrets to the Russians.
I don't know how true it is, but--
- Your Honor, the man's a liar!
That is a complete lie!
[book thuds]
- Your Honor, do I have to suffer these indignities
right here in the halls of justice?
- The actor playing the lawyer is actually my dad.
[ding]
- We still got a trial, remember?
- A lawyer is permitted to refer to a witness lying
but not to call a witness a liar.
- Your Honor, the man's a liar!
- If a lawyer were to actually throw a book
or anything else at a witness,
- That is a complete lie! [book thuds twice]
- they would likely be held in contempt.
And if a witness were to throw anything back
at the lawyer or anyone else in the courtroom,
proceedings would likely stop.
[gavel bangs] - Court adjourned.
- [Witness] Thank you, Your Honor.
[soft dramatic music] Mandatory sentencing,
For the People.
- This is happening all over the country,
low-level, nonviolent crimes
that trigger disproportionate mandatory minimum sentences,
[slow sad piano music]
and I'm part of the problem.
- What is unusual is that the judge,
while he's pronouncing the sentence,
is speaking out in opposition to it.
- [Nicholas] My hands are reluctantly
and unwillingly tied in this situation.
- This judge in For the People
is reflecting a sentiment that is increasingly part
of the criminal justice reform movement in this country,
which is that mandatory minimum sentencing
is an outdated approach to crime.
- I have no choice but to sentence you,
Mr. Punte, to 10 years in federal prison.
[soft dramatic music] - Reasonable doubt,
The Practice.
- You know that 90-something percent
of all defendants are guilty?
Think about it.
By the time they get the trial,
they've been judged guilty many times.
- A lawyer is not permitted to offer statistics
that are not in evidence.
Closing statements are reserved
for the facts in evidence and the law.
- I think he's guilty!
But in this country, we don't take away a man's freedom
on the possibility of guilt.
You have to find guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.
- While the lawyer is right, that if the jury has any doubt,
they must acquit because his client is presumed innocent,
it is bad practice for him to bring in his own perspective
on his client's guilt or innocence.
- I'm sure as hell not supposed to say that,
but I think he did it!
[soft dramatic music] Courtroom conduct,
Kramer Vs. Kramer.
- We were married a year before the baby
and then seven years after that.
- So you were a failure
at the one most important relationship in your life.
- Objection. - Overruled.
The witness's opinion on this is relevant.
- It might be appropriate to ask a witness whether,
in their own view, something had been a failure.
- I was not a failure.
- Oh?
What do you call it then, a success?
The marriage ended in divorce.
- I think that this rather nasty line of inquiry is unfair.
The question about a relationship being a failure
is a subjective one.
- Were you a failure--
- And it's not clear exactly why her view
of who failed is what matters here.
- I consider less my failure than his.
- Probably the line of inquiry
would have been stopped earlier when it became clear
that there was a difference of opinion about
what it meant for the relationship to have been a failure.
- [John] Were you!
- Her ex-husband in the courtroom trying
to convey something subtly to her might sway her answer,
and a judge, if they noticed it,
might respond by stopping their subtle communication.
[soft dramatic music] Custody hearings,
Big Little Lies.
- I just want you to know how sorry I am
that it's come to this.
- There's nothing preventing opposing parties
from speaking to each other off the record
during a custody hearing.
- But at the end of the day, we are still family.
- Of course, they should bear in mind
that things that are said can be used
by one party against the other.
This is awfully different from when we last saw Meryl Streep
in a custody hearing in Kramer Vs. Kramer,
probably 30 years go.
And probably in that case, too,
she was communicating with someone off the record.
- We're not family, Mary Louise.
[soft dramatic music] Irrelevant evidence,
South Park.
- Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca.
Chewbacca is a wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk.
- He's using the Chewbacca defense.
- Why would a wookiee, an eight-foot-tall wookiee,
want to live on Endor with a bunch
of two-foot-tall Ewoks?
That does not make sense!
But more importantly, you have to ask yourself,
what does this have to do with this case?
Nothing.
- Objection on the ground of relevance.
The evidence about Chewbacca here
is entirely irrelevant.
- If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit!
- All evidence that is admitted at trial must be relevant.
- Look at me, I'm a lawyer defending a major record company,
and I'm talking about Chewbacca.
Does that make sense?
- If, at the time it's offered, it is not yet relevant,
it can be admitted subject to connection.
And if Chewbacca, for some reason later in the trial,
became relevant,
- Why am I talking about Chewbacca
when a man's life is on the line?
- it could, at that time, be introduced,
even though he had already displayed it
and offered it subject to later connection.
- The defense rests.
- Okay then.
- Wow, he's good.
[soft dramatic music] - Representing yourself,
Fracture. - Mr. Crawford,
you have been charged with Section 664/187
of the California penal code, attempted murder.
Do you wish to enter a plea at this time?
- It's not guilty, but I also want
to waive my right to counsel and represent myself.
- In order for someone to be permitted
to represent themself, they'll be questioned
about whether or not they're doing so knowingly.
- You aware that lack of counsel
will not be grounds for an appeal.
- Oh, I understand.
- Whether they understand the extent
to which they're giving up the expertise of an attorney.
- Your Honor, if I could have a moment with my client.
- I'm not client, try and keep up, will you?
- And generally speaking,
they will be assigned backup counsel
to assist and answer questions
as they proceed with their own defense.
- Mr. Crawford, you wanna reconsider?
- Absolutely not.
- It's gonna turn into a circus.
- I appreciate your concern with the dignity
of the court, 007.
It could be argued that the courtroom
is one of the last bastions of formality
in modern American life, but even there,
a coat and tails is a little bit too much.
However, I was surprised
to hear the judge refer to the DA as 007.
- 007.
- Usually, that kind of joking commentary
is reserved for off the record.
- [Judge] District attorney's office
will assign another prosecutor.
- No, I like Mr. Beachum.
- While the defendant here has an absolute right
to represent himself, he doesn't have the right
to choose who the prosecutor is on his case.
- He likes you.
[people chuckle quietly and murmur]
[soft dramatic music] - Personal digs, Boston Legal.
- What better to satiate some pre-election hunger pangs
than a belly full of media attention?
Mr. District Attorney, my name appears second
on the ballad this November.
Ginsberg knows that.
That's why he's handling this case personally.
- Ouch.
Closing statements are reserved
for the facts and the law.
Outside politics have no place
in either party's closing statements.
- He was starving.
[slow dramatic tense music]
When was the last time you starved?
How 'bout you?
I know you're not starving except for attention.
- All of this lawyer's inquiry about collateral issues,
like whether the jurors themselves
have starved and what the status
of the district attorney's future election is
are entirely impermissible in court,
and the opposing counsel should have been
on his feet, objecting, and the judge should
have been sustaining all those objections.
It makes for great TV, but it's not realistic.
[soft dramatic music] Tampering with the evidence,
Chicago. - Miss Kelly,
do you know the meaning of the word perjury?
- Yes, I do.
- [Billy] You also know that it's a crime?
- [Velma] Yes.
- As it turns out that you knew
that this diary was a fake.
I hate to think of you rotting away
in prison for the next 10 years.
- All I know is what I was told.
- The lawyer is trying to accuse the other lawyer
of having tampered with the evidence.
- Are you not suggesting that I tampered
with evidence, are you?
- No, no, no, no, no, no, utterly absurd.
[fast-tempo jazz drums and tap dancing]
But now that you mention it, you obviously had a sample
of my client's handwriting.
Mr. Harrison, didn't you ask Roxy
to write out a confession for you?
- Your Honor, this is outrageous!
- It's outrageous!
- Save it for summation, Richard Gere.
The appropriate way to do that
would be for him to elicit the relevant facts
from witnesses on the stand.
- Any idea who this mysterious benefactor might be?
- No.
- Introduce the relevant material evidence
into evidence and then, on summation,
explain his theory to the jury,
not to do it while there's a witness on the stand.
- The defense rests!
[soft dramatic music] - Summation,
The People Vs. Larry Flynt.
- I am not trying to convince you
that you should like what Larry Flynt does.
I don't like what Larry Flynt does.
But what I do like is that I live in a country
where you and I can make that decision for ourselves.
But then ask yourselves if you wanna make that decision
for the rest of us because the freedom
that everyone in this room enjoys--
- Objection.
Up until this point, Edward Norton
is totally appropriately talking
to the jury about the context of the case.
- We live in a free country.
You and I can make that decision for ourselves.
- But once he starts suggesting
that the jury should have a role
in setting policy for everyone
and thinking about how this plays
into the future of the country,
- Ask yourselves if you wanna make that decision
for the rest of us.
- he's stepping beyond the bounds
of an appropriate closing statement.
- And that's not freedom.
[ding]
The American legal system is incredibly complex,
and no TV show or movie gets it exactly right.
That said, it's a lot of fun to watch them try.
[people clapping] [chuckles]