Has reality TV come into the American courtroom?

I’ve worked as a criminal defense lawyer and “have seen it all.”  Those who work with me often laugh and say, “you couldn’t put these characters in reality TV casting—it’s too real.  No one would believe it!”

Certainly, I’ve seen pain, tragedy, hopelessness, and sorrow, but there are hilarious things also.  Here are some of the stories I remember.

1.  The judge who heard misdemeanor (less serious) trials.  After he’d listened to all the evidence from the prosecutor and the defense, he’d duck down behind hi raised bench.  Within a few minutes, the judge’s hands would pop-up over the top—but his head and body remained hidden.  On each hand, he wore a puppet, one green, one red.  If the verdict was guilty, the red puppet would chirp, “Guilty.”  If innocent, the green puppet would say, “Not Guilty.”

2.  Here’s a case that TV programmers could not use as a reality TV example.  The government had filed a child protection case against my client, the parent, for creating a “dangerous living environment” in their home, seeking to remove the children.  The family lived in a large, three-story home in Minneapolis.  An uncle, Jimmy, lived upstairs and rarely came down except for an occasional meal.  The family knew Jimmy was selling drugs out of the house because strangers would come over and go upstairs to buy from Jimmy.  The family didn’t mind.  But that wasn’t why the government wanted to remove the kids.

One day, the family reported to the police that they hadn’t seen Jimmy come down for a while.  They recalled a week earlier a man had gone upstairs.  One of the kids reported hearing a “popping” sound up there.  Since the family missed Jimmy for supper, they finally went upstairs and found him in his room shot to death—he’d been dead for a week.

3.  TV viewers complain that reality TV is dumbing down the quality but how about this case?

I represented a young man named Arnold who was a failed car thief.  He decided to go big-time and steal jewelry.  He went out to a local shopping mall, went into the store with a hammer and a black plastic garbage bag.  After smashing open a glass case, he grabbed the jewelry and ran.  The police were able to catch him easily.  He stood outside the mall, holding a black plastic bag while waiting for his get-away vehicle—the city bus.

At his trial, Arnold noticed the prosecutor had some color photos of him taken in the store by the cameras.  Since he hadn’t worn a disguise, it clearly showed his face and the big cowboy hat he wore.  He asked the prosecutor, “Can I have some copies of that?”

“Sure,” said the prosecutor.  “Why?”

“That’s the best picture I’ve seen of myself and I’d like to give copies to my family,” Arnold said.

Would it be surprising to learn that Arnold went on to host a local reality TV show of his own?