September 1992 - Death

From Tom Mills of Dallas (Mills & Presby), this excerpt from a recent trial before Judge Sue Lykes of Dallas (303rd Family District Court)

Q. Did you go over to their home?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you tell them you were there to see Steve?

A. I said, "I'm going upstairs to see Steve." They said, "Fine."

Q. What did you observe upstairs?

A. The nurse was in the room folding some clothes. I said to her, "He doesn't look well at all to me, Mary."

Q. What did she say?

A. Well, he's dead!
- posted by State Bar of Texas @ 6/18/2013

 
April 2007 - The Sound of Silence
This contribution is from Randy Wilson of Abilene, who writes that several years ago in the 326th District Court in Taylor County, preceding a custody trial, before Judge Aleta Hacker, a novice attorney was conducting a closed end voir dire by asking questions of the panel such as:

Q. How many of you are married? Please signify by raising your hand.

Q. How many of you have children? Please signify by raising your hand.

Q. How many of you have been divorced? Please signify by raising your hand.

Q. How many of you have been involved in some way in a child custody case? Please signify by raising your hand.

And this continues for what seems like an hour. Finally, the novice attorney asked:

Q. How many of you have been involved in an extramarital affair? Please signify by raising your hand.
The sound of silence was deafening and there was not even the “blink of an eye.”
- posted by State Bar of Texas @ 6/17/2013

 
April 1996 - But Is The Defendant Credible?
From Tom Hamilton of Dallas (Tom is an Assistant U.S. Attorney), this excerpt from a court order in a criminal case:

3. The defendant is a glib witness when it suits his interest to be such; otherwise he is unworthy of belief in his responsive testimony and maddeningly evasive. ... Furthermore, the defendant's memory is both self-serving and selective. For a man as intelligent as the defendant obviously is, he has a terrible memory for any embarrassing details. The only two witnesses I have observed in over 13 years on the bench with worse memories were self-acknowledged as brain damaged (one from alcohol abuse).
- posted by State Bar of Texas @ 6/14/2013

 
June 1998 - Timely Objections
From Steven C. James of El Paso, this excerpt from a deposition he took in a case involving "the collapse of a huge rock wall being built on a hillside between several El Paso homes." Steven is questioning the defendant builder about the cause of the wall failure.

Q. Based on your experience in building rock walls, Mr. Cuevas, what caused this one to fall down?

Mr. Myers (objecting): Lack of foundation.
____

From Michael A. Miller of Dallas (Martin, Farr, Miller, etc.), these marvelous objections made by David Gest of Austin, who represented the witness being deposed.

Mr. Gest: We are going to be here forever, Mr. Engel. Just answer the guy's question. Make Miller work for the answer.

A. I don't recall what their opinions were on that.

Mr. Gest. Good. Period.

Mr. Miller: If you have an objection, please state it.

Mr. Gest: I object to my witness running at the mouth. Just answer his question and then shut up so we can get out of here before midnight, please. Go ahead.
- posted by State Bar of Texas @ 6/13/2013

 
September 1992 - Death
From Tom Mills of Dallas (Mills & Presby), this excerpt from a recent trial before Judge Sue Lykes of Dallas (303rd Family District Court)

Q. Did you go over to their home?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you tell them you were there to see Steve?

A. I said, "I'm going upstairs to see Steve." They said, "Fine."

Q. What did you observe upstairs?

A. The nurse was in the room folding some clothes. I said to her, "He doesn't look well at all to me, Mary."

Q. What did she say?

A. Well, he's dead!
- posted by State Bar of Texas @ 6/12/2013