Law&Crime Sidebar - Top 6 Funniest Court Moments in High-Profile Trials

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

High-profile trials often have a serious tone given the gravity of a case at hand and the formal decorum of the judicial system. Occasionally, court proceedings take a comical turn, sometimes causing the entire courtroom to erupt in laughter. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber breaks down the top six funniest court moments during recent trials.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Go to https://zbiotics.com/SIDEBAR to get 15% off your first order when you use SIDEBAR at checkout!Hosts:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberAngenette Levy: https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Chris Hansen: https://twitter.com/chrishansenCheck out TruBlu: https://www.watchtrublu.com/Subscribe to Chris on YouTube: @ChrisHansen LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael Deininger Guest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. You poured yourself a megapint of red wine, correct? A megapint. I'm winging, Your Honor. Do you smoke before you came here today? I did not. I have no friend. I should have. Sometimes you just can't help laugh at absurd moments in court.

From attorneys to defendants, to witnesses, and even jurors, you just never know what someone is going to do or say. Here are just a few examples of the law's lighter moments. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. So I don't need to tell you that courtrooms are very serious places. It's where judges and judges. juries. They decide the fates of people accused of some of the worst crimes imaginable.

We hear some incredibly difficult testimony. We see some horrifying evidence. There's no denying that. But despite that, sometimes there are moments of levity. There are moments that are just funny. And they usually come out of nowhere. They're unexpected. So we wanted to do something a little bit different here. We wanted to recap six of some of the funniest courtroom moments from recent cases. And you can't talk about hilarious courtroom annex without talking about the case of Johnny Depp versus Amber Hurd. The week's long trial was full of quips and comebacks and jokes, especially from the man of the hour, actor Johnny Depp. I was in that courtroom out in Virginia for a large part of that trial. I was covering it for us here on Long Crime.

So I saw and heard some of this firsthand. Now, a little bit of a recap here. So Depp had sued his ex-wife, Amber Hurd, an actress, for defamation, after she wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post. claiming that she was a domestic abuse survivor. Depp argued that although he wasn't named in the article per se, the op-ed was clearly about him. He said that the false claims damaged his reputation, it cost him acting roles that would have furthered his career, and Hurd ended up countersuing Johnny Depp for statements that

were made on what she argued was his behalf by his attorney, Adam Waldman, statements like her claims were a total hoax. And so you have this back and forth between two Hollywood stars, and the question is, is, who do you believe? What happened? Now, I'm not going to lie to you. Even though we're dealing with serious subject matter, we're dealing with abuse claims, there were just moments that were comical. Like when a witness was brutally honest. You are a pretty big fan of Johnny Depp, aren't you? I am not. To be honest. Or when a witness gave a very blunt response. And Mr. Depp was trying to urinate in the foreyear, wasn't he?

No. Mr. Depp had his penis out of the pan. Objection. I think he would remember. Relevance. I'll love. Next question. Or when a witness that used to work at the front desk of a building where Depp and Heard lived

actually drove in his car and vapeed during his videotape deposition testimony. Never saw anything like that one before. And I'll tell you, his comments pretty funny. But in fact, you don't recall seeing Amber Heard on May 24th, correct? I don't remember. I don't even remember what I got for breakfast. They come down, they say, somebody tried to get into my unit, there's scratches on my door, and like, oh, I'm really sorry, but who will think is going to get into a unit

because they saw some crashes on the door, like, what, four inches above the door? Because the dog was crashing the door, was trying to get in. And they thought about someone trying to break into the unit. But during the trial, it seems that some of the more memorable comical moments came from when Johnny Depp took the stamp. And that's the moment that we want to focus on. Because his back and forth, particularly with Heard's defense attorney when he was being cross-examined, It brought out the laughter, including these wisecracks that were so quick. You really have to pay attention to what Johnny Depp was saying.

Take a listen to a combination of some of this back and forth. And you may have been, you may have been drunk in that video, correct? There's a possibility of that, yes, sir. You poured yourself a mega pint of red wine, correct? A megapoint. Yeah. I poured myself a large glass of wine. Right.

I thought it necessary. I once gave Marilyn Manson a pill so that he would stop talking so much. Yes, it's a stack of hit pieces. The first one is called them. Mr. Depp, we're going to try to get through this as quickly as possible. I'm just...

And the next article is an article from May 7th, 2016. It's entitled Johnny Depp, friends and family seriously concerned about him. Here's why. Yes. How did they know? The next article, May 25th, 2017, a year and a half before the op-ed was published, an article entitled, Where Did It All Go Wrong for Johnny Depp? After a string of flops and a ton of bad press.

Johnny Depp's star power looks as wobbly as Jack Sparrow on a plank. Did I read that right? You read that very, very well. The next one, Hollywood Reporter, May 27, 2017. Headline, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Diminishing Returns of Johnny Depp. Did I read that right? You certainly did.

Hollywood reporter were very nice to me. He asked for what she would like for him to cook. That's hearsay, I guess. Yes. I know, I just sure suffered for the truth of the matter asserted. He got it. Okay, all right. Well, then.

I'm learning. I got to say, it was pretty entertaining. And I don't know. It seems like the jurors, they like Depp on the stand. Because all comical moments aside, this was a trial about abuse. And in the end, jurors in Virginia agreed with Depp that herds' abuse claims were false and defamatory, although they did believe that one of Waldman's comments made on Johnny Depp's behalf was defamatory against Amber Hurd. So the jury awarded debt more than

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No questions asked. All right. Next up, we're in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where Dorel Brooks Jr. stood trial for driving an SUV into a Christmas parade back in 2021, killing six people, injuring dozens of others, horrible crime, changed the lives of so many people and also the community as a whole. Now, Brooks decided at one point in the case that he wanted to represent himself. And you know what they say, the man who represents himself as a fool for a client.

Brooks did a pretty good job of proving that. He didn't really understand most of the law. He argued with the judge. He threw fits in court. He even tried to call the entire state of Wisconsin as a witness. Throughout the trial between Brooks and the prosecution, there were reportedly more than 600 objections. and the prosecuting attorneys and the judge, they often clashed with the defendant. In fact, Judge Jennifer Darrow removed Brooks to a separate courtroom several times during the

course of the trial so that he wouldn't interrupt court proceedings. He could still monitor what was going on. And, you know, more shenanigans ensued with Brooks sometimes taking off his shirt, building a fort out of evidence boxes, waving his arms so he could be seen on camera, refusing to wear the headphones so he could hear what was going on. just incredible, just incredible. Brooks, I should tell you, also identified as a sovereign citizen, meaning he doesn't acknowledge regular U.S. law

as something that he's governed by, and several times he objected to even being called Dorel Brooks or Mr. Brooks. So with all that in mind, here's a sampling of some of his more ridiculous moments. I'm winging it, Your Honor. You can object. Your objections noted, but you need to let her state what she needs to state. I don't see the relevance to this your objection is noted it's overruled are you a

party to this matter in any way grounds irrelevant grounds sustained it's not relevant do you have a claim in this matter objection irrelevant sustained have you read the complaint in this matter objection grounds not relevant sustained action I did not consent to being called that name nor do I know any individual by objection hearsay and speculative it's neither one of those things can we address the subject matter jurisdiction before the juror comes up the jury comes out and is that a judicial determination that you're making not to address the subject matter jurisdiction what has yet to be proven at this point it has not

mr. Brooks please the jury's coming out come on now we got to cut that out you know you have to prove subject matter jurisdiction you know that i would like to provide the defendant and the court with so that had to be that had to be said so it was the defendant that's not how it was said that that was how said you want to run a record back mr brooks i'm the only one i got one i got one ear there working i heard that this is yeah shocker his legal arguments weren't that great and it also didn't help that you had photographs and video proof that he was the driver of the car, and also eyewitnesses, too. Literally, people on the stand saying, yeah, I saw him driving the red SUV.

Well, with all of his antics aside, Dorel Brooks was convicted on all 76 charges, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide. He was handed down six life sentences in prison plus 700 years, and he'll go down as being part of one of the more wild trials that we have covered on law and crime and sidebar. Next, we're going to head to South Florida, where an up-and-coming young rappers on trial for double murder. Jamel Demons goes by the stage name YNW Melly. Police believe Melly shot and killed two of his best friends inside of an SUV in 2018 as they were leaving a recording studio.

I'm talking about fellow YNW group rappers Christopher Thomas Jr., or YNW Juv, and Anthony Williams or YNW Sackjacer. Investigators allege that Melly and another friend then staged the shooting to look like a drive-by. And one of the things that prosecutors wanted to do was hear from other people who were at the recording studio that very night to try to pinpoint any issues, any conflict between Melly and Juvian sack chaser, as well as maybe any problems in Mellie's alibi, namely that he wasn't in the car when the shooting went down. And an important witness was Trayvion Glass, because he testified that Mellie changed his clothes from the time before the killings to when he saw him afterwards. very suspicious there. So at one point, Glass was being questioned under cross-examination by Mellie's attorney, and clearly they wanted to establish,

is he a reliable witness? But during his cross, Glass made a comment at the end of his testimony that definitely lighten the mood a bit in what, of course, was a very serious case. So you smoke a lot of marijuana, right? Possibly. You smoke it anytime you get a chance.

chance, I think, is how you freight. That's your answer, yeah. That was your answer? I smoke when I smoke. You smoke when you smoke? Yeah. And when's that? When I smoke.

And when with that? When I smoked. You didn't see any friction at a scooter that night of any magnitude. I did. You did? I did it. Okay, you did.

With respect to your daily marijuana Regiment, did you smoke before you came in here today? I did not. I have another. Thank you. I should. I wonder if a lot of people thought, I can't blame them.

Not easy-facing cross-examination. Maybe that would help a little bit. Look, it was an interesting case to file, and it had an even more interesting verdict. Because the jury couldn't come to a unanimous decision on the double murder charges, so a mistrial was declared by the... the court and a new trial for YNW. Melly has been scheduled for October 2023. Okay, as we recap some of the funniest moments that we have seen in our trials, moving right along to the trial of the now infamous Alec Murdoch. The once prominent

South Carolina lawyer was accused of shooting to death his wife, Maggie, and son Paul at their country estate back in 2021. Now, toward the end of this very lengthy trial before the jury got the case, the judge ended up dismissing a juror. And there were reports that this juror might have had conversations about the case outside of the courthouse. Not allowed. Clearly not allowed. So to be on the safe side, Judge Clifton Newman, let her go, replaced her with an alternate juror. Now, she's not identified or on camera in the clip that we're about to play, but just listen carefully to the very interesting item that she brought to court with her.

And in fairness to all the parties involved, we're going to replace you with one of the other. jewelers. Have you brought everything that you have outside of you left some stuff in there? What do you have in there? A dozen eggs. Say it again? A dozen eggs. Yeah. One of the other jurors brought in eggs for the body. Oh, okay. Eggs, my purse and not water. All right. Well, you're going to leave the eggs? You want to leave the eggs or take the eggs? You're going to take the eggs? So, Mr. Bailiff, can you retrieve from the jury room her dozen eggs, her purse, and what else, and a bottle of water?

You can get those things from the jury room. So they're going to get your things, and then once you're removed from the jury, you can't go back in the jury room. We'll have to tell them goodbye for you. Okay, all right. Well, thank you very much. there you can go thank you we get a lot of interesting things but now a dozen eggs

hey jury service is a tough business maybe she thought she'd get hungry maybe cook up some eggs in the jury room for everybody during deliberations that would be nice I am thinking though don't you have to refrigerate eggs you know that's a bit concerning now that I'm thinking about it Anyway, not easy being a juror, not easy being dismissed after hearing all this evidence,

and really not an easy case to hear, really said when you think about what happened here. And in the end, the jury that did stay on, the jury that did deliberate, they found Alec Murdoch guilty of the murders of his wife and son. All right. Sometimes it's the courtroom demonstrations that bring the levity to a trial. Let's go to California, where Robert Durst was at the center. of one of the most complicated crime stories in years. So in 2021, he went on trial for the murder of his friend, Susan Berman, who was found

shot to death in her home back in 2000. Prosecutors alleged that Robert Durs, the real estate heir, killed Berman so she wouldn't speak with police about what she perhaps knew regarding the disappearance of Dirst's first wife, Kathy Dirst, who went missing in the 1980s. Not to mention that at one point in Dirt's life, he shot and killed his neighbor Mortis Black when he lived out in Texas. Durst actually went to trial back in the day for the murder of Black. He was acquitted of the murder, argued he acted in self-defense,

but Durst pled guilty to tampering with evidence for chopping his body up. Yeah, stay with me because I know it's kind of hard to find humor in a case like this, but during his criminal trial in 2021, again, for the murder of Susan Berman, a very frail and sick and wheelchair-bound Durst sat on the witness stand as his attorneys reenacted what Durst says happened between him and Morris Black inside that home. And in a moment of what is really dark humor, Durst attorneys ended up on the floor during their reenactment, and the courtroom just erupted into laughter.

What happens then? The gun went off. What? The gun went off. Where was you and where was Morris Black when the gun went off? lying on the floor of a kitchen. So he fell backwards? Burr.

Mr. Chesnoff has done his best Hollywood falling back. Like still grasping the gun, finger on the trigger. How many years ago, I could get down. And we'll stipulate that Mr. DeGaron got down with him. Then he won't actually have to do it. Where's the television camera? This is my favorite part of the whole trial. I don't know who to root for here.

All right, Mr. Lewin, why are you describing it? I can't see it. So we've got Mr. Garman playing Mr. Black. No. No, Bob, I'm sorry, Bob is on the right side, and they are both... Well, don't I describe it. Okay? I'm not sure that I want to... I'm glad you.

I'm not going to ask you. All right, so we're both on the floor, my left elbow's on the floor, my right hand's on the gun. Your right hand, or Bob Barrett's right hand is on the gun, on the top of the gun. Morris Black has got his finger on the trigger. Is this when the gun goes off? Bob? Yes. Can we add that at the time the gun is going off, both Mr. Durst and Mr. Black are flat on the floor?

That's what was being reenacted. And would also be directly behind where Mr. Black was sitting. Okay, that's what they reenacted. No, it's in the door. Definitely a lighter And when the judge asked Dirst if the reenactment by his attorneys was accurate, Dirst said they are a full-service law firm. That is certainly true.

Like I said, a moment of comedy in a very twisted and sad case. And in the end, the jury convicted Robert Dirst of the murder of Susan Berman. and Durst died in prison shortly after. Well, we're going to finish up our conversation with Alex Jones. That's right. The InfoWor's founder and host faced some huge lawsuits from families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as well as an FBI agent. You see, Jones repeatedly claimed on his broadcast that the shooting was fake, that it was staged,

that it was a hoax, that the parents were crisis actors. So he was sued for various claims, including defamation. And Jones lost both lawsuits out in Texas and Connecticut through default judgments, meaning he refused to participate in court-ordered discovery during the case. You know when how each side is supposed to hand over the other side evidence? Well, Alex Jones, according to the court, really didn't do that. That's a big no-no. So the judges entered orders that he automatically lost these lawsuits.

So now it was a question for the juries in Connecticut and Texas. How much would Alex Jones owe the plaintiffs and damages? How much would he have to pay up? What would his punishment be for losing? Now, I will tell you, again, very sad cases when you think about what happened here, right? But with Alex Jones in these courtrooms, there was a fair share of ridiculous moments in court. Like when the judge out in Texas, the Honorable Maya Gamble, said he needed to spit out his gum, or was it gum? Spit your gum out, Mr. Jones.

It's not gone. What is it? Because you're not allowed food or gum of any kind in the program. I have my tooth pulled a week and a half ago and it's, I had some gauze in earlier and it's been causing, you know, have some pain. So you're chewing on your gauze? Would you like to show you? No, I just want you to answer my question. No, I was massaging a hole in my mouth with my tongue.

I'm here, right here. I don't want to see the inside of your mouth. Oh no, there's no gum. Hold. Sit down. You can't make this stuff up. I do want to highlight, though, one particularly light moment. I do have to give you a little bit of context here.

So Norm Patis, who was Alex Jones's attorney out in Connecticut, he was quite loud and vocal during the course of that trial. And Judge Barbara Bellis, who is the judge overseeing this case, she would get into these screaming matches with him, telling him not to interrupt and to quiet down. he's not an expert and so what one does isn't what we're here to show what he did right but that's a different attorney patis attorney patis attorney patis how many times do I have to say when I'm speaking you stop I'm not going to have the comments anymore I'm not going to have it

I'm not going to have it you expect me to lay silently when they're directed at me but inappropriately do you expect me to let roll over for my client it's not going to happen okay now with that in mine. Jones himself got on the stand, but he had trouble hearing Pattis's objections as he was being questioned by the plaintiff's attorney, so Judge Bellis ends up making requests that she never thought she would. After Billenberg and after Judge Bellis, who's next? Objections. I mean, I guess if somebody's on national TV, I'm sorry.

Again, no, Mr. Thomas. The hand, no, we're objected. and I sustain it's too warm and you still answered. Okay, I'm not hearing him. Can you be louder? I never thought I would say this attorney, Patis? Yes, Judge, I could be louder. How's that?

A little secret is I have serious, sorry damage. Okay. So your client cannot hear you. So. Sorry, I'm serious, I can't hear you, normal. Yeah, the Jones trials full of characters. And thanks to different lawsuits against Alex Jones, he's now been ordered to pay more than a billion dollars for spreading lies and bizarre theories about what was

a very real and serious and deadly tragedy. You know, looking back, you have to think that there is so much built up tension and pressure in these cases that these lighthearted moments, they can be a good thing at times. It allows everybody just to exhale for a second. Courtrooms, they're filled with real people and real situations and sometimes just laughter ensues. who knows what unexpected, candid, and comical moments will happen next, but we will make sure to cover them for you here.

All right, everybody, that's all we have for you here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.