Habeas Corpus Blog

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview - Week of May 10, 2010

No habeas cases to be argued this week.

This weekend, I was writing questions for this week's trivia contest* and it struck me that I hadn't seen too many movies/tv shows that had musical numbers that took place in a courtroom (or maybe this thought occurred to me when my wife and I were watching last weeks Family Guy, which focused on the shows musical numbers). 

*Every Wednesday there's a trivia contest at a Brooklyn bar called Pete's Candy Store.  There are rotating hosts for the event.  Some friends and I are one of the hosts and we host this Wednesday (May 12).

Granted, I haven't watched too many musicals, so I could be missing a whole bunch of legal musicals.  But only two popped into my mind:  Chicago and a classic scene from Roseanne.

First, here's the courtroom scene from Chicago where they perform the song "Razzle Dazzle":

But of course I am partial to this clip (actually, clips) from Roseanne, which I would probably rank as my favorite sitcom of all time.  During the second season in an episode called "Sweet Dreams," Roseanne wants to relax in the bathtub, but constant complaints from her family get in the way of her "me" time.  So she fantasizes about killing all of her family members and then ends up on trial for their murders.  The trial starts at 2:45 of this first clip.  And then the musical number begins at 8:55 of the first clip and carries over for most of the second.  Unfortunately, I was only able to find videos of the entire episode broken up into three parts.  Couple of things to keep an eye on: the kid in the tux is a young Stephen Dorf (who had about 5 minutes of real fame as an adult about 10 years ago) and the judge is the legendary Bert Parks.

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview - Week of May 3, 2010

No habeas cases to be heard this week.

I wish that there had been empty space to fill last week since I had a good hook.  So I'll just do it this week.  Last Sunday, HBO premiered a movie called "You Don't Know Jack" about Dr. Jack Kevorkian.  It starred Al Pacino as Dr. Kevorkian.

My favorite tv blogger, Alan Sepinwall, had a column about the movie and, more specifically, about Al Pacino.  The review focused on "the ongoing struggle between Pacino the actor and Pacino the ham."  He named Pacino's turn as a defense lawyer in "And Justice For All" as one of the hammier performances.

I have never seen that movie even though it has been sitting on the Roku for months.  Nevertheless, I did some research on the movie and a lot of people list it as a great legal movie.  I have now watched the climactic scene, and let me just say, I am with Sepinwall as to the level of pork in the performance.  And, if that scene is any indication, it is far from a great legal movie.  But, ironically, it did get two Oscar nominations: best actor and best original screenplay.

I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't tell you what happens.  The clip is below.  It's worth a few moments just to see the late '70's styles.  And it also stars the recently departed John Forsythe, as well as the criminally under-appreciated Craig T. Nelson.  Take a look:

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview - Week of April 19, 2010

No habeas cases to be heard this week.

In the empty space here, let's talk about movies.  More specifically, let's talk about movies about law school.  And I don't just mean movies that include a story about a law student (like the Pelican Brief -- I actually have never seen that movie, but it's just one of those movies where I don't need to see it to hate it).  I mean movies that actually are about the law school experience. 

I did some research on this and, considering how many lawyers there are out there, I was surprised to learn that there really haven't been too many.  And there only are a couple of note.  I won't throw up a list here (because it would have to include such soon-to-be classics as C.L.A.S.S. and Slip & Fall -- both in post-production). 

I'll just focus on the big three: The Paper Chase, Legally Blonde, and Soul Man.

I won't say much about them.  My biggest complaint though is this: Harvard Law School.  It's always Harvard Law School. 

And I'll just note one other thing: both The Paper Chase and Legally Blonde took on new lives in a new medium: The Paper Chase became a popular TV show while Legally Blonde became a gigantic broadway musical with its own reality show program.  And, of course, in our amazing world of cross-pollination, here's reality show people talking about Legally Blonde the musical. 

In other words, Hollywood take note -- making a movie about law school can often lead to franchising.  Which means that "Soul Man -- The Video Game" must be right around the corner.  I'd be first in line for that game.  It's a shame that this classic '80's movie has been overlooked for so long.

Let's get to the clips.  Here's a scene from The Paper Chase.  The sound isn't quite linked up with the visual, but it's the best-looking clip out of any I could find:

And here's the trailer for Legally Blonde.  From the trailer alone, you knew it was going to be a megahit:

And my favorite law school movie of all time, Soul Man.  This trailer shows you everything that you need to know about the movie.  Honestly, I cannot tell you how excited I am that I am getting a chance to talk about this movie here.  I must have seen this movie over twenty times on cable -- that is not an exaggeration.   It was so, so bad that it was great.  Really, really great:

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview - Week of April 5, 2010

No habeas cases to be argued this week.

In the empty space, I am going to revisit a movie that I talked about a couple of months ago, The Wronged Man. I hope Lifetime doesn't mind if I borrow this image (I don't see why they would, I am giving this movie some nice PR here):

I finally got around to watching it.  And it was not as bad as I expected it to be.  In fact, it was pretty good.  As both a drama and a legal movie. 

But that's not why I decided to talk about it again.  What compelled me to revisit the movie was the scene in which Julia Ormond laments that the Fifth Circuit denied them a "certificate of probable cause."  A certificate of probable cause!  Damn that took me by surprise.  For those who don't know, a certificate of probable cause was the precursor to the COA, a term created by the AEDPA.  For this reason alone, the movie was worth watching.  How many movies out there have actually discussed an obscure habeas-related term?  I'd say close to none. 

Focusing back on the movie itself, what I really liked about it was that it did not romanticize any of the characters (except for maybe Calvin Willis's mother).  Julia Ormond's character (Janet Prissy Gregory) allowed her work to get in the way of her personal life.  It caused deep rifts in the relationship with her son.  She made some other mistakes in her life as a result of her work on the case.  She was far from perfect.  I liked that.  And they held nothing back when showing how Willis acted towards Prissy and the members of his family.  At times, he was mean, crude, and ungrateful.  It felt very authentic.  Of course, some scenes (in particular, the final legal scene) were a bit ludicrous.  But overall the legal stuff was acceptable. 

I feel very comfortable recommending it.  And I wrote this post before I read a somewhat similar review of the movie here (and there's another positive review here).  

Hopefully, Lifetime will re-air it at some point.  Or go track it down when it comes out on DVD.

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview Week of March 15, 2010

No habeas cases to be heard this week.

In the empty space here, I'll talk about a great documentary called "After Innocence."  Here's the description from imdb.com:

A gripping, emotionally charged film that follows wrongfully convicted men freed by DNA evidence after decades in prison as they struggle to transition back into society.

I remember first seeing this at a Continuing Legal Education class at the City Bar.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the place.  It can be streamed instantly on Netflix.  Check it out if you have the chance.

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview Week of Feb. 22

No habeas cases calendared this week in the Second Circuit.

To fill up the empty space, I am going to include a clip from a movie scene that includes an appellate argument.  I have to say that there are not too many movies out there that focus on appeals.  Offhand, I could only think of three: Amistad, The People vs. Larry Flynt and Reversal of Fortune (though I haven't seen all of Reversal of Fortune -- it's a little tough to get past the fro and mustache that they have stuck on Ron Silver). 

I guess the deliberate appellate process does not quite lend itself to a dramatic representation on screen. That doesn't offend me.  I would get pretty bored watching how I drafted an appellate brief.  While the oral argument can be very dramatic, it is often pretty technical -- not quite riveting theater.

In the end, I chose to include a scene from Amistad because I like Anthony Hopkins.  The movie was okay.  I watched it expecting that it would be better that it actually was.  Here's a clip of Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams arguing the case before the Supreme Court.  Enjoy:

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview Week of February 15

No habeas cases calendared this week in the Second Circuit.

The empty space today will be filled with a courtroom scene from my favorite television show of all time, The Wire.  It's from the second season where Omar Little testifies against Bird, a soldier in Avon Barksdale's crew.  Omar identifies Bird as the man he saw shoot William Gant, a civilian who had testified against Avon's nephew, D'Angelo, in a separate murder case.

As much as I love The Wire, I have to say that I did not particularly care for this scene.  For a show whose stock in trade was its realism, this scene was not particularly realistic.  It had a gloss of authenticity.  But I don't think anything like this would ever happen in a real courtroom.  The direct examination was littered with leading questions that provided significant factual information, which is a typical problem in courtroom scenes in movies and television.  I have read elsewhere how some professors show this cross-examination to students to demonstrate different kinds of impeachment techniques.  I guess that's valid, in a general sense.  But if one of my students attempted to cross-examine a witness with that particular set of questions, he or she wouldn't pass.  Too many open-ended questions.  Argumentative and inflammatory questions.  The criminal history question was a total joke.  Keep in mind -- I love The Wire.  I mean really, really love it.  But this was disappointing. 

On the other hand, Omar is Omar.  He is the single most fascinating character to ever appear on television.  I'd watch any scene in which he appears, even if I thought it was disappointing. So here's 7 minutes of Omar:

 

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview - Week of Feb. 7, 2010

No habeas cases to be heard in the Second Circuit this week.

To fill up the empty space, I'll include a video of the farcical courtroom scene from Woody Allen's Bananas.  After rewatching it, it kind of reminded me of the courtroom scene from Airplane 2, only a little more highbrow.  But not by much.  Doing some research, I read that a majority of the scenes in Bananas were improvised.  I am guessing that doesn't apply to  the courtroom scene since there are just too many set-up/delivery one-liners.  But maybe it wasn't scripted and it just adds to the genius of the scene. In any event, enjoy:

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview Week of January 19, 2010

No habeas appeals to be argued this week.

Filling up the empty space, I wanted to draw everyone's attention to a movie tonight (Sunday) at 8:00 p.m. on Lifetime Movie Network.  It's called, "The Wronged Man."  It's about a woman's 22-year struggle to free an innocent prisoner.  It's based on the true story of Calvin Willis, a Louisiana man who was exonerated based on DNA evidence.

Of course, leave it to Lifetime to give the movie a title that sounds like a man who was betrayed by a lover.  Setting that aside for a second, the movie does appear to be worth checking out.  It stars one of my favorite actresses of all-time, Julia Ormond -- kind of a high-powered actress to appear in a Lifetime movie.  It suggests that there's something there.  And she also seems to truly believe in the message of the movie as she will appear in a Public Service Announcement about The Innocence Project after movie.  And, I have to say, the preview looks pretty interesting:

And here's a video that talks about the Calvin Willis case in the context of a reunion between two exonerees in Louisiana:

Habeas Corpus - Second Circuit Preview Week of Jan. 11, 2010

No habeas appeals to be heard this week in the Second Circuit.

To fill in the empty space, I thought I'd include this extended courtroom scene from Airplane 2: The Sequel.  I know, you are saying, "Airplane 2?!?!" Okay, so it's not a classic like the original.  But it does have it's moments.  And many of them occur during the courtroom scene.  Especially the classic exchange of puns that concludes with:  "Over Macho Grande? No, I don't think I'll ever get over Macho Grande."  And, of course, that is the one and only Perry Mason appearing as the judge.  Enjoy: