Sidebar: code of silence objection

📄 Sidebar: code of silence objection — Tuesday, September 19, 1995

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\SEP\19\SIDEBAR-CODE-OF-SILENCE-OBJECT.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 157 of 167

◀ Cross-examination of Philip Vannatter (part 1) Cross-examination of Philip Vannatter (part 2) ▶

Date: Tuesday, September 19, 1995 • Utterances: 10

Judge Ito admonished prosecutor Kelberg at the bench for approaching the forbidden 'code of silence' and police conspiracy topics, ordering him to stay away from them and get directly to the relevant statement. Defense attorney Shapiro immediately attempted to exploit the moment by arguing Kelberg had 'opened the door' to Larry Ragle statements, but Ito denied the request without discussion.

# 1 (The following proceedings were held at the bench:)

# 2 THE COURT:

Mr. Kelberg, the court's ruling regarding code of silence, police conspiracy, was pretty clear, I had thought.

# 3 MR. KELBERG:

I understand, your Honor.

# 4 MR. COCHRAN:

Let him finish.

# 5 THE COURT:

Stay away from it. Move on.

KEY QUOTE

# 6 MR. KELBERG:

My concern was to put in context the statement that I think--

# 7 THE COURT:

Then let's get to the statement.

# 8 MR. SHAPIRO:

Your Honor, also, we would suggest now that Mr. Kelberg has opened the door for us to bring in the Larry Ragle statements.

KEY QUOTE

# 9 THE COURT:

Denied.

# 10 MR. SHAPIRO:

Thank you.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (3)

Lance A. Ito

Stay away from it. Move on.

Blunt judicial directive reinforcing a prior ruling on code of silence/police conspiracy — Ito's terse style on full display.

Robert Shapiro

Your Honor, also, we would suggest now that Mr. Kelberg has opened the door for us to bring in the Larry Ragle statements.

Classic 'opening the door' opportunism — the defense immediately tried to capitalize on the prosecution's misstep to introduce otherwise-excluded evidence.

Lance A. Ito

Denied.

Single-word ruling; Ito gave no ground to the defense's gambit.

Evidence (1)

Informal

Larry Ragle statements (unspecified prior statements by criminalist/evidence expert Larry Ragle)

defense sought admission; denied by court

Notable Exchanges (2)

Robert Shapiro•Lance A. Ito

Shapiro argued Kelberg opened the door to Larry Ragle statements; Ito denied it in a single word with no argument entertained.

strategic, swiftly shut down

Lance A. Ito•Brian Kelberg

Ito warned Kelberg away from code of silence and police conspiracy territory; Kelberg tried to explain contextual intent but was cut off.

firm/corrective

Objections

1 objections (0 sustained, 0 overruled)

Proceeding 7759 • 10 utterances

Criminal Trial

Department 103