Not Like On TV…
Real courtroom drama is hard to translate onto the screen. I mean REAL courtroom drama. Not Law & Order (and you all know I love a good Law & Order episode). We, lawyers, know that watching real court on television is NOTHING like being in court to see and hear it in real-time. Maybe I am partial because I am a litigator. But I have always had the comment that if people, the public, want to know or have a pulse on the issues and themes permeating their community, a good way to obtain that is to just go and sit in court.
I felt moved to write about this topic this week because of two experiences I had: 1) Tuning into some of the Depp v. Heard, Virginia State Civil Case number, CL-2019-2911, courtroom fiasco after the verdict, and 2) a comment from a client after our visit to court that what they saw of court was riveting. I often times wish the public at large really saw what types of conduct and behavior goes on in court. How do we as attorneys keep our composure and maintain a sense of reality when we bear witness to much of what occurs in court? I cannot tell you how many moments, I have been a witness to in court that was not only shocking and alarming but downright disturbing. How are we as attorneys affected by these instances of what almost seems like fantasy or fiction playing out right before our very eyes while we work? How much or how little of what it was really like came through in the televised broadcast?
People don’t realize that what they see of court on TV, looks and feels very different when you are actually in the courtroom and actually a part of the proceedings. We as attorneys aren’t supposed to be adversely affected or affected at all regarding the things we hear and see in court. I don’t think the true drama of the courtroom ever really translates via television.
Case in point: one of my favorite and most intriguing stories of seeing drama in court not translating to real life is the testimony of the murderer of Cherica Adams, the former girlfriend of former NFL football player, Rae Carruth. I distinctly remember seeing the footage of the testimony of the man who physically killed Ms. Adams, while pregnant, on orders from Rae Carruth. I remember in this man’s testimony, he all of a sudden called Mr. Carruth a bitch. Everyone was confused when he said it. The attorney that was examining him was confused as to whom this man was referring, and when the attorney asked this man to whom he was referring, the man pointed his finger right at Mr. Carruth and said something to the effect of “That bitch right there, Rae Carruth.” I can only imagine what that was like for everyone, including that attorney, in that courtroom.
When it comes to court and how it is for us attorneys practicing in court, it’s not always like what you see on television; even the REAL live footage. For this post, I chose to view some of the Depp v. Heard proceedings as additional evidence of my premise, which was accurate. The things that occurred or were said in that courtroom, probably could not be palpably felt by the viewer just engaging with those images on a television screen. Perhaps that is part of what draws us, litigators, to the courtroom time and time again. But there is always a cost. One in which we who witness such things in court must bear and carry with us if and when we return
Rae Carruth was a whole entire bitch——dude was right. Even though he was a hired killer, I couldn’t dislike him——he was raw and uncut.