Over in Williamson County, Tennessee — just north of my home — prosecutors actually filed a motion asking the court to order a defense attorney to stop calling them “the government” in open court. Yes, that’s right — in my home state, it’s apparently now a slur to call the government by its name. In its motion, prosecutors claimed:
“The State has noticed in the past few years that it has become commonplace during trials for attorneys for defendants, and especially Mr. Justice, to refer to State’s attorneys as ‘the Government,’ ” [prosecutors wrote.] “The State believes that such a reference is used in a derogatory way and is meant to make the State’s attorney seem oppressive and to inflame the jury.”
This is a great little story by itself, but then the defense attorney, Drew Justice, went and committed an act of pure awesomeness. He filed a motion with his own request:
He demanded his client no longer be referred to as “the Defendant,” but instead be called “Mister,” “the Citizen Accused” or “that innocent man” — since all defendants are presumed innocent until a judge or jury finds them guilty. As for himself, clearly “lawyer” or “defense attorney” wouldn’t do him, well, justice.
Hat Tip: SR
If the shoe fits…………..
Whenever something sucks and gets a bad reputation, you have to change the name.
Da gubmint sucks anyway.
I’ll call them the pissheads in guberment then.
They have a valid point, every time I refer to “the government” it is intended to be a derogatory remark.
Kudos, Captain Justice!
“is meant to make the State’s attorney seem oppressive and to inflame the jury.”
Yes! It goddamn should!
Govt is such a distasteful word I prefer not to write it out, plus I refuse to trouble myself to add an an apostrophe for the contraction. Yes, I know I am being petty but it amuses me nevertheless. (-:
The names Hitler and Nazi meant nothing to nobody till they did fucking horrendous shit. So our government is now ashamed that its citizens are referring to the government as the government? What a curious coincidence.
BTW, I thought this sounded familiar. The story appeared almost two years ago in the Volokh Conspiracy and other places.
Oops, I must have messed up the href.
http://volokh.com/2013/10/30/designation-innocent-man-also-acceptable
This is a great story and was happy to see it again!
The Obama… Same thing….a shithole….
If you don’t like the FACT that the term the government is thought of and referred to in negative terms, THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF GOVERNMENT AND GET A REAL JOB!!
Ass.
Still love “Captain Justice”. Don’t care the age of the story.
🙂
Fuck the jackbooted government! Your honorless.
“The State” sounds even more ominous. The Gummint’s permanent Bureaucrat Class doesn’t like it that we citizens are catching onto their scam.
Government has thin skin.