Stumpy v The World - Trial: Day 1

Stumpy called me at 2:30p pacific this afternoon to report.

The defense tried various motions in limine to exclude evidence. One of the motions was to keep the jury from hearing that the defendant used the F-bomb in the context of the attack on Stumpy. Also Stumpy brought to the Court's attention that some of the exhibits on the defendant's exhibit list had already been stricken at the motions in limine that had been heard months ago. Stumpy won all of these motions.

The next part of the procedure was to voir dire the jurors. She struck some jurors that expressed that they had close friends or relatives that were public officials. Some jurors were stricken by the defense when they voiced an opinion that they were intolerant of foul language. Win some, lose some. There was one guy who complained that his back hurt and that he was mad that he even had to be there, and the judge struck that juror for cause. Overall, there were some jurors she would have like to have that were stricken, but overall, she was satisfied.

She said her opening statement went well. No objections from the other side as to its content, so I guess the time we spent together on it last night was a success.

She called the defendant up to the stand and pretty much established that she did not know, did not remember, did not recall much of anything, except she did admit to using the F-bomb and that her use of the F-bomb was unprofessional. Our contention is that the defendant said, "I don't have to answer any of your f-ing questions." The defendant testified that she said, "This is not your f-ing show."

Also, the defendant admitted that she did not know what a demand for a bill of particulars was, that she told the judge at the hearing immediately following the assault that she did not have a duty to answer any of Stumpy's (f-ing) questions, and that the judge had in fact ordered her to answer Stumpy's (f-ing) questions. Stumpy tried to impeach her testimony to show inconsistencies with her prior testimony at the deposition, but she is not as adept at that as I am, and she was not satisfied with her own performance. I'll bet she did better than she thought she did.

There were a couple of objections made by the defense attorney where the judge just looked at him as if he were a boob (wonder why) and just before the judge opened his mouth to overrule the objection, the attorney withdrew it.

Next, the bailiff who was present in the conference room testified that he was not in there all the time and that he did not hear the use of the F-bomb, did not see that Stumpy had jumped out of her seat and bolted to the door of the conference room, or that the defendant had yelled, "Put her in the box." OK, so it doesn't help us, but it also doesn't help them. On cross, the defense attorney asked whether he would have remembered if any of those things had happened, and the bailiff testified that he would have, but on re-direct, Stumpy got him to admit that he may have not been in the conference room at the time those events took place.

Then Stumpy's mom got on the stand to establish that she heard a commotion in the conference room, that Stumpy ran out of the room and was upset (if not hysterical), had told her that the defendant swore at her (not hearsay because it was an excited utterance), and that she heard the defendant direct the bailiff to "put her in the box." She testified that these things caused fear and hysteria in Stumpy and that she only later calmed down for her court appearance.

Stumpy then got on the stand and related her story: That she and the defendant had a discussion about the demand for bill of particulars, that the defendant became agitated and angry and lunged across the conference table at her, bashing her fists on the table, and exclaiming that she did not have to answer any of Stumpy's f-ing questions. Stumpy testified as to her fear of being hit by the defendant and that she jumped out of her seat and bolted to the door and sought refuge at her mother's side. That the defendant had repeatedly shouted, "Put her in the box," and that she had been afraid that the bailiff would arrest her for some unknown reason, and incarcerate her in some kind of holding cell.

Stumpy testified that she this incident had caused her to fear ever being alone in a room with a public official and that she would never go into a room alone with a public official ever again. She testified that she had trouble sleeping for a while due to this incident and that she would be unable to trust any other public official without a friendly witness present.

The prosecution rested and the court adjourned for the day. I think it went pretty well.

Stumpy is now taking a rest and we will probably get back together later tonite to discuss the expected motion by the defendant for a directed verdict, the defense's attempts to make a person who wasn't present for any of the incident relevant (presumably for character), the defense's case in chief, closing arguments, and jury instructions.