Crime

After Murder Conviction, Defendant Punches Lawyer During Courtroom Brawl

Everybody seems okay though... well, except for the convicted murderers.

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Based on, like, every prison movie or television show ever, I have been led to believe that convicted felons often blame their lawyers for their predicament. Not the cops who literally put them behind bars, not the prosecutors who viciously attacked them at trial, and not the judges who probably denied countless motions that could have helped them. Instead, they blame their criminal defense lawyers, who have been their only advocate throughout the whole process.

Like I said, that’s what happens in the movies. In real life, I kind of assumed that your average convicted or soon-to-be-convicted felon does a better job of knowing who their friends are. Even a bad criminal defense lawyer is more a friend than any prosecutor. The defendants know that, right?

A Florida courtroom (OF COURSE IT WAS FLORIDA) erupted into minor fracas on Friday after Travis Jamaar Davis and three co-defendants were convicted of felony murder. Davis, the alleged trigger man in some kind of robbery gone wrong, threw the first punch.

There’s video. The guy getting repeatedly punched in the back of the head is their attorney, Daniel Hernandez.

Everybody got Tased because… well, that’s probably a fair use of the Taser and I’m not going to complain about it.

For his part, Hernandez didn’t really complain about it very much either. From the ABA Journal:

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“I got about five punches to the back and the side of my head, forehead. I got a few bumps and bruises, some scratches,” Hernandez said. “I’ve been trying cases for almost 40 years, and I’d never been struck by a defendant before.”

I love criminal defense lawyers. I mean, I could never do what they do because they represent violent people who need to be kept away from my family. But damn, do we need these people to be willing to stand up there and take an occasional punch.

After jury convicts him, man punches his lawyer and a courtroom brawl breaks out [ABA Journal]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.

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