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Folklaw 16 December
Well disguisedA 24-year-old shop assistant in the UK had to ask a ‘customer’ to repeat himself because she could not understand what he was saying. Nothing unusual, except that he was demanding…
Lawyers Weekly
Well disguised
Michaela Sobor said she only realised she was being held up when the man pushed behind the counter and pointed a gun at her. “I just thought he had wrapped himself up warm because of the cold weather,” she said. Once his intentions were clear, the man was able to get away with more than £1,000.
Look at that ass
It took police officers in the Greek town of Patras over an hour to catch a gang of teenage thieves, who led them through the town’s winding streets and narrow alleyways as they made their escape — on a cart pulled by a donkey. The chase, described by one witness as “unbelievable”, only ended when the boys came to a dead end. Police caught the trio, aged between 13 and 15, with a safe from the local hospital on the back of their cart.
Bit of a cock up
Browsing through The Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, one of your Folklaw correspondents read the page three story about the courageous Louise Yaxley, one of six Australian women road cyclists involved in a crash in Germany this year. Particularly touched by the anecdote that fiancé Mark Padgett had written inspirational phrases on a whiteboard in the couple’s kitchen to keep Yaxley’s spirits up, your ever-vigilant reporter turned to the accompanying picture of the aforementioned whiteboard.
Point one was nice — “what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger”. Point two was good — “you never fail unless you quit”. Number four indicated that pain was merely weakness leaving the body, but by the time we got to point number six, Yaxley had obviously decided to get her own back.
Fed up with inspiration, she took to the board with the words “Mark’s penis is this big”, with an indicative diagram to illustrate her point. And who said the media creates gross invasions of privacy?
The following quotes are from a
book called Disorder in the
American Courts, and record things
people actually said in Court, taken
down and now published word for
word by court reporters who had
the torment of staying calm while
these exchanges were actually
taking place.
ATTORNEY: Are you sexually
active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
ATTORNEY: What gear were you
in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and
Reeboks.
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia
gravis, does it affect your
memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways
does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you
give us an example of something
you forgot?
ATTORNEY: How old is your son,
the one living with you?
WITNESS: Thirty-eight or 35, I
can’t remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he
lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty-five years.
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the
individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium
height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or
a female?
ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been
involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
_____________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Now, doctor, isn’t it true that when a person
dies in his sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the
next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the Bar exam?
_____________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the 21-year old, how old
is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he’s 21.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was
August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh......
_____________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
______________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning
pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your
attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
_____________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have
you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead
people.
_____________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, okay?
What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
_____________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined
the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8.30 p.m.
TTORNEY: And Mr Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on a table wondering why I
was doing an autopsy on him!
_____________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh?
_____________________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy,
did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then, it is possible that the patient was
alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a
jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive
nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been
alive and practising law.
ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to
you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, “Where am I, Cathy?”
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan.
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was
taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question?
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
