National Jurist - November 2008 - (Page 6) ENTERTAINMENT Best books From bestiality and cheating carpool lane laws, to billion dollar bill counterfeits and belligerent Easter bunnies, “Guilty By Reason of Stupidity” explores many of the outright comical and downright bizarre cases shaking the judicial branch in recent years. Aided by his lengthy background in law, Joel Seidemann provides a laugh-out-loud, witty commentary on the state of the legal system today. Currently a district attorney, Seidemann also spent time as an adjunct professor at Pace University School of Law. He invites you to sit back in the jury box, put your feet up on the railing and start reading about the main actors of our justice system: plaintiffs, defendants, lawyers and judges. [From Guilty by Reason of Stupidity. Copyright 2008, by Joel J. Seidemann. Reprinted by permission of Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC.] of speech. Was t he fa r t i ng juror merely exercising the right to express his feelings about the case in an unorthodox manner? On the other hand, the Constitution also prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment.” Was the farting juror subjecting the other eleven jurors to cruel and unusual punishment by farting in the small and uncomfortable jury room? Finally there was the issue of discrimination. The Supreme Court prohibits lawyers from excluding jurors based upon race, religion, or gender. Would the Brooklyn court expand the rule to prohibit the exclusion of jurors based upon the affliction of being a serial farter? Was flatulence a disease to be afforded protection by the Americans with Disabilities Act? In the end, the court, apparently never having suffered from a flatulent judge cutting the cheese under the robes, said that the lower court made a big boo-boo by not interviewing the farting juror “to determine the exact nature of the problem and whether it could be remedied without unduly delaying the trial.” It was a classic example of yet another ivory tower judicial panel unaware of the fact that farters are not capable of being rehabilitated. What would this panel of five judges do if an attorney, arguing before them, cut the cheese in the middle of his argument? He would likely be held in contempt and disbarred. The five judges would never ask him, “Why did you fart? Are you perhaps ill? Do you have a medical condition?” The jury was entirely correct in asking the judge to relieve the farter before he relieved himself. Will the juror who cut the cheese please rise? A man was convicted in Brooklyn of attempted robbery and appealed his conviction. His lawyers looked for a mistake made by the court that would entitle the mugger to a new trial. They came up with a doozie: The trial judge had bounced a sworn juror because the other jurors had com- plained the juror smelled bad and was farting. The appeals court was faced with the unprecedented legal question of whether the defendant’s attempted robbery conviction should be overturned because a sworn juror was discharged by the judge after other jurors complained that the juror had a foul body odor and was flatulent. This was a thorny issue. The First Amendment does guarantee freedom Globalization: Will You Be Ready to Represent a Nation of Immigrants? Immigration reform has been front-page news, and the issue continues to simmer as we await a newly elected administration in Washington, D.C. The immigration debate is always a hot issue and will have a huge impact on the practice of law in a cross-section of areas. Now is the time to familiarize yourself with immigration laws that must be followed whether your specialty will be criminal law, business law, or any other area of practice that is seemingly unrelated to immigration. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) can put you ahead of the curve when it comes to representing foreign-born individuals. Even the government looks to AILA for resources for their officials. With a low membership fee of $50/year for law students, you can’t afford NOT to join the association that is committed to educating legal professionals in all aspects of representing a foreign-born client regardless of your chosen practice area. For more information on AILA and the multitude of resources available, visit us at www.aila.org/lawstudents. THE AILA ADVANTAGE FOR LAW STUDENTS Student Listserve Cutting-edge/Up-to-the minute News and Information Publications (discount off all AILA Publications) Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook Essentials of Immigration Law Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity AILA’s Asylum Primer In-Person Conferences Immigration Fundamentals Conference Registration Audio Conference/Webinars w/Membership Yes Yes % off member rates $125 $35 $55 $55 Reduced rates $200 off Member rate w/o Membership No No % off regular rates $265 $46 $90 $76 Reduced rates $100 off Regular rate Counterfeiter with a problem: The bill looked great but . . . Who says the Feds can’t catch criminals? On March 15, 2006, U.S. Customs agents stopped a counterfeiter dead in his tracks. It wasn’t the quality of the counterfeit. It looked real enough. There was one tiny flaw: The counterfeiter had created a one-billion-dollar bill. Guess what? There is no such thing. Tekle Zigetta was charged with this genius crime. The burning question remains, Where was he going to use it? Was he going to pull up to the drive-though window at a McDonald’s and ask, “Can you break this? I don’t got anything smaller.” 6 THE NATIONAL JURIST November 2008 http://www.aila.org/lawstudents http://www.aila.org/lawstudents
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