With all this posting, I feel I should say something...

Silence is golden?

No? Then you’ve have to settle for a legal tale.

One of the Style Editor’s comrades of yore is now an assistant DA, protecting the fair and fortunate citizens of her area with her razzle–dazzle legal skills and not inconsiderable common sense. Occasionally, as a sort of public service and exubernatcelebration of th efact that she is no longer in private practice, she shares the occasional tale, such as the following:

The Beauty of Having Nothing Left

This is another one of my "why I love my job" moments. I had a pro se motion hearing yesterday with a guy named Louis. Louis was representing himself because he was dissatisfied with the mediocre representation he had been receiving these past five years. While I still don't have a clue as to what specifically Louis was asking the Court to do for him, like most prisoners I deal with, at the end of the day he was generally just hoping that we were going to change our mind about things and send him home.

About 15 minutes into the hearing (and about an hour after I first started trying to figure out what it was he wanted and 30 minutes after I first realized he was perhaps the dumbest man I have ever met), Louis finally began to realize that we weren't changing our minds and that he was in fact going to have to finish serving the balance of his prison term. It was at that moment that he realized that, since he was already maxing out, he had nothing left to lose. He looked up at the Judge and with a great deal of sincerity and passion stated, "I would like the record to reflect that the Commonwealth can KISS MY ASS."

I must admit it was a beautiful moment. I am also pleased to report that Louis still has approximately 12 months left to relive that glory out at the local pen.