Disorder in the Court

June 29, 1992
Court legalese, often combined with malapropisms and slips of the tongue in exchanges between judges, lawyers, plaintiffs, defendants and eccentric jurors, is gleefully quoted here, complete with frequently profane and explicit language as drawn from sketches in San Diego lawyer Sevilla's Forum and Champion magazine column. For example, a psychiatrist, starting with a court assertion that ``we're not arguing truth here, we're arguing evidence,'' declares that ``I am not here using common sense, I am an expert.'' A defendant accused of drunken driving displays delightful candor by pleading ``guilty as hell.'' A team of three overzealous defense attorneys beats up a client to provide evidence of self-defense. Readers will undoubtedly cull their own favorites from this irreverent sampling of ``justice'' in action.