Prosecutor and War/Godfather Metaphors
February 16, 2006
Pardon my momentary lack of gravitas, but am I the only one laughing out loud at the prosecutor's outlandish closing arguments excerpted from Weaver v. Bowersox (here):
I know there's a movie, Patton, and in the movie, George Patton was talking to his troops because the next day they were going to go out in battle and they were scared as young soldiers. And he's explaining to them that I know that some of you are going to get killed and some of you are going to do some killing tomorrow morning. And they all knew that. And he was going to try to encourage them that sometimes you've got to kill and sometimes you've got to risk death because it's right. He said: But tomorrow when you reach over and put your hand in the pile of goo that a moment before was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do.
***
It strikes right at the heart of our system. You've got to look beyond William Weaver. This isn't personal. This is business. You've got to take these people to the mattresses.
Okay, I faked the last line, but the rest really was part of a prosecutor's closing argument in a death penalty case.