Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-03-14 (Friday)

On Mar 15, 2025 at 1:32:23 PM PDT, "Arthur Lipscomb"
<arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

Law & Order - "Crossing Lines" - Season 24, episode 15 - A woman is
prosecuted for murder, but her defense attorney (Maggie Siff) is
sleeping with the DA, and she intends to use that relationship to her
advantage.

Once again, they're already at trial, a jury is seated, and opening statements
have begun when the defense attorney without warning stipulates to the fact
that her client committed the homicide but did so in self-defense.

You. Just. Can't. Do. That.

The defense has to give the court and prosecutor notice of any affirmative
defense *well* in advance of trial. Any lawyer who did what Maggie Siff did
here would be reported to the bar for sanctions. Not to mention the witness
tampering she did later in the case.

Law & Oder: SVU - "Undertow" - Season 26, episode 15 - Team SVU goes
after a 20 something female teacher for the statutory rape of a teenage
boy, who she thought was over 18 when she saw him drinking at a bar.
There are a few things I could say about this episode, but I'll move on.

This whole thing was so full of nonsense that I barely know where to start.
I'll only say that the kid could have put the brakes on the whole thing by
just denying they had sex from the beginning. He could have told the detective
that he lied to his new stepmom and was just trying to piss her off for
invading his privacy and that no actual sex occurred.

And later, when he was testifying, he could have worked with the defense
team-- since they would have had the right to depose him in discovery-- to
torpedo the prosecution's case. When your 'victim' is unwilling and actually
sympathetic to the defense, as a prosecutor, you have to just cut your losses
and move on.