Graham: How would you respond if a judge says something unkind?

We know this to be true:

Every advocate, every politician, every person who is trying to persuade has choices.

What to say, how and when?

The question here in today’s column is what to do if confronted by an antagonistic opponent or player in the system; in this example, a judge, who, for whatever reason, decides to say the worse possible thing to you and your client after you have requested something from the court.

So it is not so much persuasion, but how to react to a dagger from a judge when you are trying to persuade?

The premise in this example is not valid if what you asked for is unreasonable.

In this instance the defense attorney is up at the bench with a client, 18 years old, first offense, and has quietly moved the court to take him off of pretrial house arrest because of the costs and that the client has to care for a disabled brother, aged 14. This is a poor family.

Without getting into the weeds, all the reasons for this were logical and supported by evidence, mainly a deposition of the only witness who made absolutely no sense, and it appeared the case was going to be dismissed.

Unfortunately, the prosecutor on the case was not convinced, but this was most likely because the deposition had not been transcribed.

The court heard both sides and said this: “Well, I can just put him back in jail?”

Now, this is where you must control your response and your speech. Trust me on this, this exercise is as old as dirt, and can be found in many religious texts in one form or another.

When we speak, it is a three-
part process.

First, you think of what so say, THOUGHT; then it comes to your lips, SPEECH; then it is said, ACTION.

Thought, speech and action.

At each stage you must be smart, controlled and decent, otherwise, you will fail and bring more negative responses, or “energy” if I may.

If you want to say in this example, “Well, that is pretty Outrageous, Your Honor,”—your THOUGHT—do not say it. Don’t even let it come to your lips.

The next stage, SPEECH, is something less tendentious, “Why would say that, Your Honor?” But the third is from the actual story I heard from the attorney who shared this with me.

The attorney, with 20 years experience at the time, leaned forward to get as close to the microphone as possible, and said as politely as could be mustered in a soft voice:

“That wasn’t a very nice thing to say.”

The judge, I am told, put his head down and took a recess.

Thanks for reading my gentle reader.•

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Roy Graham is a criminal and family lawyer in Bloomington. Opinions expressed are those of the author.