On shows like Law & Order, attorneys routinely make statements they know will be stricken from the record. Is that done in real trials and if so, how can judges truly expect juries to “disregard” the statement?
In: Other
prosecutor: are you guilty ?
defendant: yes, I am guilty of this crime
defense: objection
judge: jury will ignore the defandant’s statement
me: how?
I experienced this. I was on a jury where a man was suing his mother over property that was sold. The influence the journey, the mother‘s lawyer asked one witness about an incident where the man allegedly shot his gun at his neighbor, and there was one or two other zingers that he threw out during the trial that I forget, but they were all thrown away and we were instructed to ignore them. We did the best we could to forget that and ultimately we went in favor of the mother. The guy was a dirtbag, but he also had a shit case, and I think we would’ve gone with the mother even we not been given those throwaway statements.
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