title: Disorder in the Court: Great Fractured Moments in Courtroom History
author:  Charles M. Sevilla 
description: Court legalese, often combined with malapropisms and slips of the tongue in exchanges between judges, lawyers, plaintiffs, defendants and eccentric jurors, is gleefully quoted here, complete with frequently profane and explicit language as drawn from sketches in San Diego lawyer Sevilla's Forum and Champion magazine column. For example, a psychiatrist, starting with a court assertion that "we're not arguing truth here, we're arguing evidence," declares that "I am not here using common sense, I am an expert." A defendant accused of drunken driving displays delightful candor by pleading "guilty as hell." A team of three overzealous defense attorneys beats up a client to provide evidence of self-defense. Readers will undoubtedly cull their own favorites from this irreverent sampling of "justice" in action. <br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  ## CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  
  THEY STOPPED WHISPERING at the door, turned right, and ascended to the bench,
  bearing themselves like images in a procession, Ruiz first, then himself and
  then Janiver. They turned to the screen so that the public whom they served
  might see the faces of the judges, and then sat down. The court crier began
  his chant. They could almost feel the tension in the courtroom. Yves Janiver
  whispered to them:
  
  "They all know about it."
  
  As soon as the crier had stopped, Max Fane approached the bench, his face
  blankly expressionless.
  
  "Your Honors, I am ashamed to have reported that the defendant, Leonard
  Kellogg, cannot be produced in court. He is dead; he committed suicide in his
  cell last night. While in my custody," he added bitterly.
  
  The stir that went through the courtroom was not shocked surprise, it was a
  sigh of fulfilled expectation. They all knew about it.
  
  "How did this happen,