Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Disorder in the court



ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
...
ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
...
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 thirty-five, I can't remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty-five years.
...
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: 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 twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.
...
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question?
...
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: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
...
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: 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: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the 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 in a jar on my desk.
ATTORNEY: But nevertheless could the patient have still been alive?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practising law.

[I don't usually post jokes that circulate in email, I only have once in the past actually, but I thought this is cute...

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place. Fact!]

3 Comments:

Blogger Lu and Lochie the Wonder Dog said...

Good One!

I followed the link to your previous post about the complaint letter too - what a classic. when are companies going to learn that exceptionally bad service and rediculous call centres are just inexcusable, especially if there is no competition. I had a mind-bogglingly bad experience with one of our service providers two years ago and it left me highly traumatised - I'd rather swim with sharks than phone their call centre again. I can only imagine what it must be like for the elderly

2:05 AM  
Blogger Emmanuel.K.Bensah II said...

Good stuff!! had me in stitches!

===

Now Steph, my many apologies. This is what I wrote on my blog to Sissoula. Hope you can correct me:

====
sissoula, I am terribly sorry. I withdraw my statement, and will make amend accordingly.

I was not implying that your blog is about married life. My perception is that it is about the small things in life filtered through (the lens of) married life. At least, that is how I have been seeing it.

You are right that I should perhaps have asked more questions than I did, so please correct me.


============

I truly did not have any forethought of malice or any other hidden agenda. I wrote what I thought I was seeing. I am in a hurry to be rectified...

cheers,

11:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, don't worry about it. Just curious what you had in mind...

By the way I'm surprised you would think there's a specific theme to this blog. I thought it's a little bit all over the place...

7:25 AM  

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