Shakespeare was a little harsh.
He suggested that the world would be a better place without attorneys.
"The first thing we do," said the character in Henry VI is "kill all the lawyers."
I disagree on a couple of levels.
First, my girlfriend is a lawyer.
And my world wouldn’t be better off without her by a long shot.
Second, lawyers are (sorry, G) a lot like insurance agents.
We want nothing to do with them whatsoever.
Until we need them.
Then, all is forgiven. Immediately.
So, I think it’s fair to say that it’s unfair to lump all lawyers into a group deserving our ridicule and/or scorn and/or disdain.
Let’s put all that hostility and contempt where it belongs
Politicians.
Oh…and the folks who offer us FREE things provided we pay the processing, shipping and handling fees.
And admit that lawyers deserve to be judged (pun unintended, but who am I to look a gift horse…), as we all wish to be judged, as individuals and in our individual circumstances.
Take a second to read this story and see if you can’t tell where I’m going with this.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A college student who branded a date's body with a scalding piece of metal as payback for never calling her after they had sex was sentenced to five years in prison Friday.
Kristina Caban, 23, had no comment as state Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus sentenced her for what he called a crime that was "not remotely justifiable."
Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told Obus that Caban was the "mastermind behind the plan" to sear the torso of Samir "Sammy" Sara, then 23, for having sex with her once in 2004 and never calling her again.
Caban enlisted new boyfriend Robert Testagrossa to help brand a four-inch-high "R" on Samir's abdomen in October 2006, the prosecutor said. She said Caban lured the former lover to a hotel room, where Testagrossa and another man grabbed him.
Blumberg said the men used a Taser to immobilize Sara in a room at the Chelsea Inn while Caban laughed at his distress and kicked him while he was down.
The branding "iron" was actually a length of metal wire fashioned into a "R" -- heated, and applied to Samir's torso, said Tracy Golden of the Manhattan district attorney's office. She said prosecutors did not know what the "R" stood for.
Caban and Testagrossa, 27, pleaded guilty to assault in August 2007 in exchange for five-year sentences. Testagrossa was sentenced in February and Caban, a photography student, was allowed to graduate from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan before going to prison.
Blumberg said the third assailant remains at large.
He said Sara will have a permanent, tragic memento of his encounter with Caban.
Caban's lawyer, James Friedman said, "She's a good kid, despite the picture painted of her, who exercised poor judgment and got herself into a bad situation. She is not the monster the prosecution made her out to be."
What’s my point?
Take your time.
Okay.
Time’s up.
Let’s revisit that last little legal lament.
“…..Caban's lawyer, James Friedman said, "She's a good kid, despite the picture painted of her, who exercised poor judgment and got herself into a bad situation. She is not the monster the prosecution made her out to be…..”
If, by “poor judgement”, the lawyer is talking about the girl having sex with a guy who was pretty likely loser material to begin with, then I think we can all agree with his point of view.
That goes for “bad situation”, as well.
If, on the other hand, the counselor defining the assault on a fellow human being with a branding iron as “poor judgement and a bad situation”, then I think we can all more easily begin to see this guy through Shakespeare’s eyes.
Obviously, we have no way of knowing whether the girl is a “good kid” or not.
I wont speak for you, but as a parent and grandparent, I would be inclined to have trouble seeing anybody capable of that kind of cruelty being given the “good kid” label to wear.
You know, like, “those boys….Eric and Dylan……they were really good kids who just exercised poor judgement and got themselves into a bad situation… taking out their frustrations by killing all those other good kids at Columbine….”
So, feel free to make up your own mind about whether this girl is a “good kid” or not.
But, based on what this lawyer said, I think we can all agree on one thing.
Shakespeare had it right at least some of the time
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