:thumbsup
Funny article about boorish D.A. Sneddon! :yuk
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...us_050602153304
Tension mounts in courtroom as Jackson trial nears the end
Thu Jun 2,11:33 AM ET
SANTA MARIA, California (AFP) - As Michael Jackson's marathon child sex trial nears its end, tension is bubbling to the surface, at times threatening the veneer of civility the trial judge has sought to maintain.
On Wednesday, chief prosecutor Tom Sneddon openly voiced his dislike for a colleague who had briefly joined him in court to help with the preparation of instructions Judge Rodney Melville eventually gave to the jurors.
"I got him here to carry my briefcase," Sneddon told the judge who inquired as to why Gerry Franklin had joined the prosecution team on Tuesday but not the following day.
On Tuesday, Sneddon was overheard snapping at his colleague after Melville rejected a change to jury instructions suggested by the prosecution.
"I don't think you thought this thing through before you opened your mouth," Sneddon whispered, evidently not realizing he was talking into a microphone. "We just got screwed," he added.
It was not the first time the district attorney of California's Santa Barbara county's private remarks could be overheard by the entire courtroom, earning him the nickname "the hoarse whisperer."
On another occasion, he appeared delighted as a defense witness broke down in tears, whispering out loud that it would make his cross-examination easier.
He also once told a witness outright that she was being "rude."
For most of the trial, Melville has done his best to help keep tempers down, often forcing the rival lawyers to keep still for a few minutes, a trick he says works wonders with the horses he trains.
But the usually unflappable judge on Wednesday appeared to have grown a little weary of lengthy and often confusing arguments some of the lawyers have delivered to the court.
Melville stopped himself in the middle of a somewhat muddled sentence, and told defense lawyer Robert Sanger: "I'm beginning to think like you, I'm beginning to explain all the side stuff."
The jab was not lost on Sanger who when allowed to speak starting by saying: "At my own peril."
Melville left little doubt that three months of often tedious testimony was taking a heavy toll on his patience.
"I need a drink," he said at one stage on Wednesday.
But looking sadly at his glass of water, the abstinent Melville added: "But not this."
:sneddoncrybaby
