MA atty fears his client won't get a fair trial

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SutterKane

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2014
297
1,891
41
I tell people this kind of thing all the time. You have to be aware that altering your physical appearance can have drastic consequences. It's your right to do whatever you want to yourself as a consenting adult, in the same way that other people are free to draw conclusions about you from what you show them. If you don't want people thinking your a nut job then you would have never tat'd a triple 6 in the middle of your forehead to begin with.

I have a close friend I tried to get on at my job (I do installations for security systems) and my boss wouldn't hire him because he has visible tattoos on both arms. He didn't think the older customers whom we have to interact with when we do the installations inside their homes would be comfortable with it. Guy is nice as can be with a clean record and good references but image is everything and I couldn't get him hired. I was letdown but I couldn't really argue with his logic.

His lawyer is right, If I saw a guy who looked like that walking my direction I'd automatically think he's a degenerate. That's what he looks like, he went out of his way to cultivate that image & get that reaction when he did all that.That shouldn't allow him any special privileges though, it's not as if it were something that was done to him, or some kind of birth defect he was born with, he made those choices, he should have to sit in the court room and face the jury the same way any other defendant would, and if the "Crazed Escaped Mental Patient" look hurts his cause, it's a consequence of his own actions.
 

Lily Sawyer

B-ReadAndWed
Jun 27, 2009
6,625
15,016
South Carolina
I tell people this kind of thing all the time. You have to be aware that altering your physical appearance can have drastic consequences. It's your right to do whatever you want to yourself as a consenting adult, in the same way that other people are free to draw conclusions about you from what you show them. If you don't want people thinking your a nut job then you would have never tat'd a triple 6 in the middle of your forehead to begin with.

I have a close friend I tried to get on at my job (I do installations for security systems) and my boss wouldn't hire him because he has visible tattoos on both arms. He didn't think the older customers whom we have to interact with when we do the installations inside their homes would be comfortable with it. Guy is nice as can be with a clean record and good references but image is everything and I couldn't get him hired. I was letdown but I couldn't really argue with his logic.

His lawyer is right, If I saw a guy who looked like that walking my direction I'd automatically think he's a degenerate. That's what he looks like, he went out of his way to cultivate that image & get that reaction when he did all that.That shouldn't allow him any special privileges though, it's not as if it were something that was done to him, or some kind of birth defect he was born with, he made those choices, he should have to sit in the court room and face the jury the same way any other defendant would, and if the "Crazed Escaped Mental Patient" look hurts his cause, it's a consequence of his own actions.
I totally agree. He cultivated it (even though I truly don't care what he looks like), and if the jurors respond to him as a possible Menace 2 SoCyetteT, then it *is* his fault.

Then again, he shouldn't have been playing with the Creepy Evil Mean Kids, either.
 

Grandpa

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
9,724
53,642
Colorado
If I were the judge, I'd be saying, "So Counsel, you're telling me that if a recidivist wants to evade consequences, all he need do is get dramatic facial alterations so that anyone looking at him must therefore be biased. Well, I'm not in the habit of handing out a free pass to people who don't want to live with the consequences of their acts."
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
....I'll pay good money to see the jury of HIS peers....and this kinda stuff doesn't even shock me anymore...it's just sad and hum-drum to me....we had a dude in the prison system that was overjoyed, that he was given Inmate # 666-666....me?....I'd rather be on the street, lookin' for a 7-11.....
 

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
7,068
29,564
Other
....I'll pay good money to see the jury of HIS peers....and this kinda stuff doesn't even shock me anymore...it's just sad and hum-drum to me....we had a dude in the prison system that was overjoyed, that he was given Inmate # 666-666....me?....I'd rather be on the street, lookin' for a 7-11.....

I'm actually surprised they would use that number. Buildings skip the 13th floor.
 

Mr Nobody

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2008
3,306
9,050
Walsall, England
Have to say if I saw that guy walking down the street, I'd expect trouble. If he knocked on the door, I'd wouldn't be opening it - at least, not without grabbing a nice big knife first, just in case.
If I was to sit on a jury...I wouldn't automatically assume he had committed the crime of which he was accused, I just wouldn't be very surprised.
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
Maybe he's guilty as sin and will accept a plea before the case ever goes to trial. But yeah...be curious to see the jury file in, an even mix of men and women, take their seats, those in the courtroom all look them over...all of them with an assortment of lumps, bumps, and horns. Perhaps they all have notebooks and they all adjust themselves in their seats...is it fair now? I think most people who've lived any amount of time know there's jackasses in the world and are able to give them the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. Lose the facial jewelry, wear clean clothing, sit up straight and act like things matter...that or plead.