Tenn. lawyer demands to be called 'Captain Justice'

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**d-usa**

Via USA Today:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When prosecutors in Williamson County tried to ban a defense attorney from referring to them as "the government" in court, defense attorney Drew Justice had a demand of his own:

From now on, call me "Captain Justice."

A war of words broke out in an attempted aggravated burglary case in Williamson County Circuit Court between prosecutors and Justice, who is defending one of two people in the case. In May, fed up with Justice referring to prosecutors as "the government," Assistant District Attorney Tammy Rettig filed a motion to ban Justice from using the term in trial.

"The State has noticed in the past few years that it has become commonplace during trials for attorneys for defendants, and especially Mr. Justice, to refer to State's attorneys as 'the Government,' " she wrote in her motion. "The State believes that such a reference is used in a derogatory way and is meant to make the State's attorney seem oppressive and to inflame the jury."

Choosing titles

Justice fired off his own motion in response. It included conventional references to case law, the First Amendment — technical stuff that one would expect in a court filing.

And then he got creative.

If the court sided with Rettig, he demanded his client no longer be referred to as "the Defendant," but instead be called "Mister," "the Citizen Accused" or "that innocent man" — since all defendants are presumed innocent until a judge or jury finds them guilty. As for himself, clearly "lawyer" or "defense attorney" wouldn't do him, well, justice.

"Rather, counsel for the Citizen Accused should be referred to primarily as the 'Defender of the Innocent.' … Alternatively, counsel would also accept the designation 'Guardian of the Realm,' " Justice wrote.

And since prosecutors are often referred to formally as "General" in court, Justice, in an effort to be flexible, offered up a military title of his own.

"Whenever addressed by name, the name 'Captain Justice' will be appropriate."

Gathering steam, he went on to say that even "the defense" wasn't adequate and that "the Resistance" would be far more appropriate.

He then concluded his motion, returning to the formal language of court documents — sort of.

"WHEREFORE, Captain Justice, Guardian of the Realm and Leader of the Resistance, primarily asks that the Court deny the State's motion, as lacking legal basis."

Prosecutors 'disappointed'

Rettig couldn't be reached to comment on her motion or Justice's response because she was in court Thursday.Her boss, Williamson County District Attorney Kim Helper, said her prosecutor was just trying to make sure the focus stayed on the facts of the case.

"We're a little disappointed at the response that talked about 'Captain Justice, Defender of the Realm,' " Helper said. "From my perspective, it seemed a little bit — I don't know what the right word would be. The response did not appear to be in good faith."

Justice didn't want to talk about the specifics of the case but said the judge recently tossed out Rettig's motion in court.

"He said the word 'government' wasn't derogatory," he said.

All in a day's work for Captain Justice.

**Frazzled**

I love this guy!

**FirePainter**

Frazzled wrote:
I love the Guardian of the Realm!

Fixed that for you

**Frazzled**

PLus Guardian of the Realm won his motion!

**Manchu**

This douchebag gives all of us a bad name.

**mr_bruno**

Manchu wrote:
This douchebag gives all of us a bad name.

Extrapolate, please? Not following your pronouns here. Us as in Americans? Tennessee natives? Lawyers (they don't need help)?

**whembly**

That's just epically awesome.

**hotsauceman1**

He could Legally Change His Name to it if he wants

**Frazzled**

Manchu wrote:
This douchebag gives all of us a bad name.

Yes the state prosecutor gave you a bad name. Captain Justice, Defender of the Realm however proved his point and can keep calling the government lawyers government lawyers. Fraqnkly the feds got their panties in a wad, went crying to mamma and get smacked for it.

Captain Justice, Defender of the Realm, leader of the Resistance...he's dreamy.

Strike a blow for...The Resistance!

**Manchu**

mr_bruno wrote:
Us as in [...] ?

Attorneys. The guy is leaning pretty hard on the rhetoric.

**mr_bruno**

Manchu wrote:
mr_bruno wrote:
Us as in [...] ?
Attorneys. The guy is leaning pretty hard on the rhetoric.

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarity.

**Manchu**

Frazzled wrote:
[blah blah blah]!

The only question is, did Frazzled copy Captain Justice or did Captain Justice copy Frazzled?

**streamdragon**

Frazzled wrote:
Manchu wrote:
This douchebag gives all of us a bad name.

Yes the state prosecutor gave you a bad name. Captain Justice, Defender of the Realm however proved his point and can keep calling the government lawyers government lawyers. Fraqnkly the feds got their panties in a wad, went crying to mamma and get smacked for it.

Captain Justice, Defender of the Realm, leader of the Resistance...he's dreamy.

Strike a blow for...The Resistance!

The feds? I thought the article was talking about a state/county attorney.

**Frazzled**

Manchu wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
[blah blah blah]!
The only question is, did Frazzled copy Captain Justice or did Captain Justice copy Frazzled?

Actually the over the top scorn works well, else the judge might start thinking of the Government's request as legitimate.

"When the Defender of the Realm goes to work every day, he brings a punchbowl spoon, because he serves great heaping spoons of Justice!"

Automatically Appended Next Post:

streamdragon wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
Manchu wrote:
This douchebag gives all of us a bad name.

Yes the state prosecutor gave you a bad name. Captain Justice, Defender of the Realm however proved his point and can keep calling the government lawyers government lawyers. Fraqnkly the feds got their panties in a wad, went crying to mamma and get smacked for it.

Captain Justice, Defender of the Realm, leader of the Resistance...he's dreamy.

Strike a blow for...The Resistance!
The feds? I thought the article was talking about a state/county attorney.

Oops my bad. In that case The Man is more appropriate.

**Aerethan**

This just put a cherry on my already nice day. I love it when lawyers don't suck.

**streamdragon**

While I can appreciate his clever response (and certainly Defender of the Realm is a cooler title than defense attorney), I guess I do not understand praising the actual use of biasing language that is not actually pertinent to the case. In that way, I suppose I agree with the DA who said something about keeping a case focused on the facts of the case.

That said, it was a dumb move on the prosecutor's part to actually file a motion. All it did was add fuel the to the fire, so to speak.

**Frazzled**

Its not biasing language. Its accurate. The Man can deal.

**Kilkrazy**

Typical teenager histrionics.

Give him a few years and he will grow out of it.

**Kanluwen**

Frazzled wrote:
Its not biasing language. Its accurate. The Man can deal.

It most certainly is biasing language, if you know that there are individuals in the jury with anti-federal prejudices.

And there's a reason why they are objecting to the prosecution being referred to as "the government" in these circumstances.

**Frazzled**

Its accurate. They are the government's attorneys. The state. Truth is not biased.

Or as he noted, the Defendant should be called "the innocent" as he is innocent until proven guilty.

I still like "The Man" better. Hopefully he pronounces it "guvment"

**LordofHats**

It's accurate but it is biased. It conflates the interests of the prosecutor with those of the 'air quotes' government, which is attempt to draw the jury to conclusions that aren't necessarily sound. hence the term loaded language. The defense is using the basic assumptions in our culture about 'government' to relate it to the prosecutions case playing off common social fears.

**Frazzled**

As the government is with using the term "defendant"

**LordofHats**

Frazzled wrote:
As the government is with using the term "defendant"

Forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm not a lawyer. But defendant is a standard term. The standard term for the prosecutor is the prosecution, not the government.

**Kilkrazy**

To speak absolutely correctly, the prosecution is "The People versus XXX (defendant)".

The judge should order the guy to settle down and hand him a contempt of court penalty if he doesn't.

**Ouze**

My favorite was the demand to refer to the defendant as "That Innocent Man".

**Grey Templar**

Ouze wrote:
My favorite was the demand to refer to the defendant as "That Innocent Man".

Wouldn't that also be technically correct.

Innocent till proven Guilty and all

**Ouze**

Grey Templar wrote:
Wouldn't that also be technically correct.

And that is the very best kind of correct.

**Frazzled**

Kilkrazy wrote:
To speak absolutely correctly, the prosecution is "The People versus XXX (defendant)".

The judge should order the guy to settle down and hand him a contempt of court penalty if he doesn't.

Considering he won, he was right. It was the Government Lawyer that was in the wrong.

**KalashnikovMarine**

Captain Justice saving the day!

**Dreadclaw69**

What I want to know is does he have a superhero outfit that he wears to court