Posted By:
boxingcardmanKenneth, that was funny stuff.
He got a proper sentence. Even at the end he could not admit he was wrong. Doing a "yes, but" with a judge is not the way to curry favor, regardless of context. "I am so sorry, I made a terrible decision, I hope you can find it in your heart to show me some mercy here" is about all a judge wants to hear. Ever.
As far as the L.A. case, my colleagues and I all called the not guilty the moment we heard the case was to be tried downtown instead of in Santa Monica. Different (at the time) jury pools; the case was over the moment it became South-Central and East LA's to decide. The result was total payback for the Rodney King verdicts. Unless you lived here, you just have no idea how racially polarized the whole city was at that point. Plus, watching Ito's feckless handling of the courtroom...my favorite was when he sanctioned Cochran $950. The law at the time provided that you did not have to report a sanction to the Bar if it was under $1,000; $950 was a popcorn fart to the $2 million defense--nothing but air.
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