Another update on the Orange County gang rape case — this time on the victim’s cross-examination by Joe Cavallo, seemingly the most repugnant of the defense attorneys.
R. Scott Moxley, the reporter, reminds me in style of Mencken at the Scopes trial, back in the days when bias was expected from reporters. Unlike the folks from the L.A. Times and the other dailies, Moxley’s free to toss aside objectivity and report things as he sees them — in this case, coated with a thick layer of disgust.
2 thoughts on “another oc gang rape folo”
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Ugh. I’m a litigator, but I don’t handle any criminal matters. This seems like a REALLY extreme defense strategy to me. I don’t know why the judge is allowing all of these insulting questions; maybe the prosecution isn’t objecting that much during the cross-examination. It’s also possible that the prosecution knows Cavallo’s out of control and are content to let him dig his own grave. It’s hard to tell — the reports I’ve seen don’t mention the composition or reactions of the jury. If this was any other state than California I’d say that Cavallo was ensuring that his clients will get the maximum sentence (which would be good), but juries out here are unpredictable, to say the least. But, man, this guy is really a scumbag and I hope the defendants get what they deserve. For once.
I’ve been morbidly following this case since you first brought it up, and it’s been making me nauseated every time I read about it. If this is America, then I want to crawl into a hole somewhere. (I know, I know, I live in Canada, but the tide of crap doesn’t stop at the border, you know…)
There just seems to be so many conflicts-of-interest, and the defense lawyers disobeying the judge’s instructions (and just the rules of common decency) that I’m amazed the whole thing is still shambling along.
Even if these guys are convicted, the defense lawyers are going to get rich for behaving like complete scumbags. That sucks.