The Bar Trial of Jack Thompson (part 4): Take Two Attorney Testifies Against Thompson
Background for today’s testimony: James Smith was one of two Blank Rome attorneys who testified against Jack Thompson in his November, 2007 Bar trial. Smith, along with Rebecca Ward, represented Take Two Interactive and other video game industry defendants in the $600 million Strickland vs Sony lawsuit which Thompson filed in Alabama.
It was upon a motion filed by Smith and Ward that Judge James Moore, in November, 2005 revoked Thompson’s pro hac vice (visiting) right to practice law in Alabama, essentially throwing him off the Strickland case, which alleged that a 2004 triple cop killing was prompted by the 18-year-old murderer’s play of Grand Theft Auto.
(Smith and Ward filed a Bar complaint against Thompson and were called to testify at his trial. In the excerpted transcripts, SMITH is Smith. JT is Thompson, TUMA is prosecutor Sheila Tuma and DT is Judge Dava Tunis, who is presiding over the case…)
TUMA: Explain to the Court why you filed your Bar complaint in this matter against Mr. Thompson.
SMITH: [Our complaint deals] with a history of the most offensive, abusive conduct that I have ever encountered in the 25 years or so that I have been a lawyer… I continue to get e-mails. I think I got one last week from Mr. Thompson. They have the same menacing tone, the same offensive quality to them. Nothing, in my view, has stopped him and I expect that when I leave here today that he will bombard me -
JT: Your Honor -
SMITH: -and my law firm with more e-mails -
JT: Your Honor, motion to -
SMITH: -because that’s what he does.
JT: Your Honor, motion to strike. That’s conjecture.
DT: Overruled.
JT: Overruled?
DT: Yes, overruled. Continue.
TUMA: Can you explain to the Court what effect Mr. Thompson’s conduct has had on you?
SMITH: Your Honor, I have never experienced anything like this before and I have been in some pretty tough fights… This is so far beyond the pale, it’s unimaginable. This man on a routine basis accuses me of participating in fraud, in the mental molestation of minors, in the most offensive, disgusting things that you could possibly imagine, and he does it all with absolute impunity… You can’t imagine what it’s like - well, I guess you can, because I hear he sued you, too - but it’s difficult to imagine that this could go on.
It had nothing to do with the practice of law. It’s horrible. It’s absolutely horrible. He makes reference to my mother and father. He makes reference to my partners. He just makes baseless, absolutely insane allegations, and he does it continually… We have a filter in our law firm now so that his e-mails only go to certain people.
JT: Your honor, move to strike because he was asked how it has affected him and then he went to using words that I’m insane, that I have sued you, and so forth. So I would ask that you move to strike his non-responsive answer. The question was, how did it affect him.
DT: Overruled.
(Thompson begins to cross-examine Smith…)
JT: Mr. Smith, let’s go to, if we may, your motion to revoke [my Alabama pro hac vice admission]… (Thompson reads from Smith’s motion) “Further, Thompson failed to fully inform the Court and the Alabama State Bar of the complete history of his disciplinary proceedings in his home state of Florida.” What did I fail to tell [Judge Moore’s] trial court and the Alabama State bar?
SMITH: Well, what we have alleged in the brief, sir… It reads: “…the true material facts regarding Thompson’s history of disciplinary complaints to the Florida Bar are far more complicated than set forth in Thompson’s carefully worded letter to this Court. Far from simply accepting a public [1992] reprimand for violations of Florida ethical rules, Thompson instead caused a Florida Judge and the Florida Bar to question his mental capacity, resisted efforts to hold disciplinary proceedings, engaged in abusive invective against anyone he saw as his opponent, including the Courts themselves, and attempted to absolve himself of his misconduct by casting himself as the defenseless victim of a nebulous and far reaching conspiracy headed by his political opponents.
(Thompson then focused on the mental health issue, reading several paragraphs from a letter to Judge Moore’s Court…)
JT: Now, why didn’t you put [what I just read] in your characterization of what I had done improperly that I was reprimanded for [in 1992]?
SMITH: Why didn’t I put it in?
JT: Yes. Since you wanted the Court, I guess, to fully understand what it was I had done 13 years prior; but you didn’t have anything, did you, in your motion -
SMITH: Mr. Thompson, I’m going to ask you to step back. Step back.
JT: I’ll step back when the court asks me to.
DT: Let’s do this. We have a podium that’s pushed over… Let’s have all parties utilize the podium.
SMITH: Thank you, Your Honor.
DT: All right.
JT: What were you afraid of, Mr. Smith?
DT: Okay. That’s inappropriate.
JT: No. It isn’t inappropriate, Judge. I don’t mean to argue with you, but I’d like to know what Mr. Smith is concerned about.
DT: Mr. Thompson, I’m going to ask you to please utilize the podium as it is -
JT: I’m going to utilize the podium, Judge, but I would like to know why Mr. Smith asked me to step back.
DT: I’m not going to require him to answer that question…
JT: I think the door was open on that because -
DT: There’s no door open. Please continue with the questioning.
JT: And just for the record, Judge… Mr. Smith says that this has all impacted him and it seems to me he’s afraid of me. So I wanted to ask him about that.
(there was much back-and-forth and numerous objections regarding Thompson’s past issues with shock radio personalities… Thompson wants to know if Smith learned of these issues in his research on Thompson’s 1992 issues with the Bar…)
JT: Did you find any evidence in any news reportage suggesting or indicating that the nature of - if there was, in fact - a series of death threats received by me and my wife?
SMITH: I don’t recall.
JT: Would you be surprised if that had happened?
TUMA: Objection, Your Honor.
DT: Overruled. Go ahead, sir. You can answer.
SMITH: Would I be surprised if there were death threats against you?
JT: Orchestrated by the talk show host.
SMITH: I don’t have the basis to have an opinion…
(followed by more sparring about what was contained in Smith’s pro hac vice revocation motion to Judge Moore…)
JT: Mr. Smith, you’re asserting, are you not, that the reason that I brought and sought certain federal relief was to forestall the disciplinary proceedings. You don’t know what was in my mind, do you?
SMITH: Well, it’s true that I don’t know what is in your mind, ever, Mr. Thompson. That is a true statement.
JT: That’s clever. Now answer the question.
SMITH: But I don’t. That was the question, “You don’t know what’s in my mind,” and I answered it.
JT: How do you know that my purpose of seeking the federal action was to forestall the disciplinary proceedings as opposed to getting federal relief for what I thought were inappropriate proceedings? You don’t know that.
SMITH: Because I have a brain.
JT: I beg your pardon?
SMITH: And because it’s exactly the pattern that you used here.
JT: What pattern here? Where?
SMITH: Running, suing everybody in sight who doesn’t agree with you, seeking -
JT: Oh, so you -
SMITH: You cut me off again.
JT: Okay, Mr. Smith. You go right ahead. I’ll give you as much rope as you want.
SMITH: Is that a question?
JT: No. You go right ahead, I said.
SMITH: Okay. It’s exactly what you’re doing here, Mr. Thompson. Exactly.
JT: Go right ahead.
SMITH: I’m finished.
(following this are numerous pages of back-and-forth about the circumstance which led Smith to file the pro hac vice revocation motion in Alabama… there is a discussion regarding one of Thompson’s television appearances, the 60 Minutes appearance with the late Ed Bradley which Thompson so often refers to…)
JT: So your position is that I violated the canons of ethics in Alabama by going on “60 Minutes” about this?
SMITH: No, Mr. Thompson… you violated [rule] 3.6 when you said what you said on “60 Minutes.” When you -
JT: That was my shorthand way of -
SMITH: When you went on “60 Minutes,” at that moment in time, you hadn’t opened your mouth yet. It’s when you opened you mouth and said the things you said -
JT: Mr. Smith, you’re -
SMITH: Excuse me. You’re cutting me off again.
DT: Let him finish…
JT: So your testimony is that my going on “60 Minutes” and saying what I said about the [Strickland vs. Sony] civil case was an ethics violation. Is that right?…
SMITH: To be more precise, your going on “60 Minutes” and saying what you said allowed us to present to the Court in Alabama that there was an ethical violation. It was the Court in Alabama that found that it was an ethical violation…
(after some legal arguments, Thompson moves on to Rockstar’s Bully…)
JT: Is it your position, Mr. Smith, that I shouldn’t communicate with the media about Take Two’s Bully game?
SMITH: It was my position - and still is my position, Mr. Thompson, that you, like every other officer of the Court, are required to discharge your duties in accordance with whatever rules are applicable. Therefore, I would need to know what it is you were contemplating saying about Bully and in what context. So in a vacuum, I can’t answer that question. Certainly - I’ll stop here.
JT: I’m not asking you that… Were any of the letters I wrote anybody about the Bully game - which in my opinion is a Columbine simulation made by your client, and there is litigation about that here in South Florida - that the letters you have regarding that violated the Canon of Ethics in Alabama?
SMITH: Mr. Thompson, we would need to go through the letters that are attached to the appendix so that I could refresh my recollection.
JT: Okay.
SMITH: Judge, I hope you can appreciate - I get eight, 10, 12 e-mails a day from this guy. I couldn’t keep track of them all.
JT: Come on. Eleven e-mails a day. Are you saying that under oath?
SMITH: Mr. Thompson, I want you to listen to me very carefully.
JT: I’m listening real carefully.
SMITH: I’m absolutely saying that under oath.
JT: Eleven e-mails a day.
SMITH: Well, I’m sure there was a day when I got 11. I didn’t count them all. They were so plentiful that our law firm had to engage in a system to screen them because you thought it was appropriate to enlist my partners in your cause.
JT: Well, if you were confronted with the situation where you thought somebody’s law firm was acting improperly, would you consider alerting the head of the firm to that?
SMITH: Mr. Thompson -
JT: Would you?
SMITH: The point is, there was no basis for you to make those scurrilous allegations.
JT: Why don’t you answer the question?
SMITH: They were scurrilous, false accusations…
JT: If you were confronted with a situation, Mr. Smith, in which a law firm you felt was involved - and I’m asking you this hypotheticaly - in unethical, illegal conduct, would it be appropriate to alert the head of the firm to that?
SMITH: It would depend if there was a factual basis to the concern… In this case there was none, as found by Judge Moore.
JT: Move to strike.
DT: overruled.
(as he did with Judge Moore, Thompson raises the issue of a parody website site for the the PSP game GTA: Vice City Stories. Smith seems unaware of it…)
JT: This is a letter to the Judge, Judge Moore. “Judge, I told you and I told Mr. Smith weeks ago, that his client, Take Two Rockstar, was and is still targeting me on its official website as supposedly the head of the decency organization called C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S., which is an acronym for Citizens United Negating Technology For Life and People’s Safety. How clever they are. Pornographers are smarter that the rest of us, far smarter than the people of Alabama, they think.” …Do you have an opinion as to whether or not your client had that posted at its corporate website?
SMITH: Yes…
JT: So did they post it?
SMITH: No.
JT: They didn’t have C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.?
SMITH: No, Mr. Thompson, this activity had nothing to do with me certainly, my law firm and certainly my client. I don’t know about these websites that you get on and you communicate with people and people communicate with you that go far beyond the control of the people that we were required to control…
JT: Are you telling me that this was not at http://www.rockstargames.com/?…
SMITH: …I will tell you that I have no knowledge that our client was involved in it and I have absolute knowledge that neither I nor any member of my law firm had anything to do with… this distasteful, disgusting word or acronym that appears here, despite the fact that you accused me of having been involved in it…
DT: The question is, did Rockstar. Is that a corporation?
JT: That’s a defendant in the case… Take Two is the parent company of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Rockstar… My question is whether or not you know even now whether or not this material was at your client’s website…
SMITH: I believe it was on a website. My best recollection, Judge - is that - and Miss Ward is going to be a witness and she’s more factual on all this information than I am; but my best recollection is that people were able to come on to the website and make entries and that our client was not involved in this…
JT: Do you know who Colin Powell is?
SMITH: I’ve heard the name.
TUMA: Objection, You Honor, to the relevancy.
(there ensues a discussion, the upshot of which is that Thompson reads into the record some of Colin Powell’s thoughts on the moral degradation of society, which leads Thompson to…)
JT: My question was… to Mr. Smith whether or not his parents would be proud of what he facilitates - that is, the distribution of this stuff to children. You took offense at that. Right?
TUMA: Objection
DT: …He doesn’t need to answer the question.
JT: You were offended by my referring to your parents -
TUMA: Objection…
DT: Sustained.
(there ensues more discussion about the Alabama case, broken up by an odd interaction with another attorney in the gallery…)
JT: Should I have gone into the mental health exam demand issue by the Florida Bar?
TUMA: Objection; asked and answered.
DT: Sustained. I’m sorry. I’m going to ask anyone that’s in the audience not to speak out loud.
JT: He’s not in the audience. He’s here assisting me. I apologize.
DT: He’s in the audience.
JT: He’s here to assist me.
DT: And he’s in the audience.
JT: Well, I -
DT: Sir, I’m going to have to have you removed from the courtroom, which I do not want to do…
JT: He won’t say anything.
DT: …Excuse me, Mr. -
JT: [Miles] Gopman…
GOPMAN: No, no, I’m leaving.
DT: Mr. Gopman, you are welcome to -
GOPMAN: I’ll leave, Your Honor. I’ve seen enough. I’ve seen enough. That’s okay…
DT: Let the record reflect that Mr. Miles Gopman has chosen to leave the courtroom and the Court was going to explain to him that he’s welcome to stay… as long as he does not speak out from the gallery, interrupting the proceedings.
JT: Let the record also reflect that Mr. Gopman left; and I like your bailiff, but your bailiff was moving towards him to remove him.
DT: And I told my bailiff… there’s no problem with Mr. Gopman sitting here, but he cannot speak out from the gallery.
JT: And, Your Honor, I’m not allowed to stand within 10 feet of Mr. Smith because of his concern… Mr. Gopman probably didn’t appreciate your bailiff, who is a very nice gentleman, coming forward… He’s also got his own harassment problems from the Florida Bar. So he left, for whatever reason.
(several more pages of argument ensue before Smith wraps up. As he is leaving…)
SMITH: I don’t know if it’s appropriate to ask this but I’m going to ask it anyway. Is there any way we could ask for relief to stop the e-mails, at least until this hearing is over? I don’t know if you have the power to order that?
JT: No, she doesn’t.
DT: Sir, I need to deal with one legal matter that’s in front of me at a time.
SMITH: I understand. I hope you can appreciate my -
JT: That’s a nice touch, Mr. Smith. I appreciate it. Are you going to take down from your client’s site the references to me as a bisexual -
DT: Mr. Thompson, stop, stop.
JT: No. Your Honor -
DT: This Court is going to be in recess for a lunch break.
JT: Your Honor, are they going to take their comments down about me being a bisexual pedophile on their client’s site?
(…but the session was over.)
March 21st, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Is it so wrong that I’m enjoying this slow motion train wreck?
March 21st, 2008 at 7:36 pm
The more I see of his activities, the more I am convinced that Jack Thompson is Wimp Lo (from Kung Pow). I was just joking before… but now I honestly believe he is.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:37 pm
“Because that’s what he does.”
Is this what you want to be remembered for, Jack? You’ve already shot down your image and reputation as a crusader for Christ and morals.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:42 pm
“JT: They didn’t have C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.?”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
March 21st, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Jack Thompson damn near killed an e-mail server!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
March 21st, 2008 at 7:45 pm
0_o
March 21st, 2008 at 7:45 pm
@sean
No. Everyone here is enjoying it, including me.
@Game Politics
Are you going to let Thompson comment on these stories?
GP: I offered him an opportunity to comment before the series ran. He declined. If he wants to post a comment, I will likely let it through, unless he starts threatening readers with legal action, ect.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Jack Thompson killing fax machines
and neutering email servers
March 21st, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Is this really how he wants to defend his right to be a lawyer?
I mean… REALLY?
March 21st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
i dont believe he knows what hes doing anymore
its knee jerk reaction after knee jerk reaction
March 21st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
i feel so sorry for this judge
March 21st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Well, well. I love how Jack Thompson is all for vigilante censorship of user contributions to corporate websites.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I feel like I’m reading a transcript of Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law.
MORE!
March 21st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
@ Aliasalpha
We so need to contract Gary’s Mode to remake this whole story!
“This man on a routine basis accuses me of participating in fraud, in the mental molestation of minors, in the most offensive, disgusting thing that you could possibly imagine, and he does it all with absolute impunity… You can’t imagine what it’s like - well, I guess you can, because I hear he sued you, too - but it’s difficult to imagine that this could go on.”
People have been telling the Florida bar this FOREVER and no one has done crap till now.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I can’t wait for him to finally be disbarred for incompetence
March 21st, 2008 at 7:53 pm
After reading all of this I’m going to be quite amazed if the Judge allows Thompson to keep his bar license. It seems like the Judge just really dislikes Thompson’s conduct and in a case like this, that’s pretty bad.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Jack Thompson’s Winning Strategy:
* Waste a lot of time
* Attack Witnesses
* Insult Presiding Judge
Obviously, he’s gonna win from this!
March 21st, 2008 at 7:53 pm
JT makes my head hurt.
Make the bad man go away.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:54 pm
First, Mr. Smith asks Jack to step back. Then, he tells him to step back. In my ‘hood, the third move involves a can o’ whupass.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:54 pm
egads… he’s giving me a headache with his line of ‘reasoning’.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:55 pm
It’s obvious that the Judge has become tired of Thompson’s antics. Her Ruling will be against him and his licence will be revoked. I propose that day to be the first holiday of the Church of the Gaming Gods. LAN parties and online gaming will abound! We shall revel in the joy of shared gaming! Praise the Gods, my brother gamers!
March 21st, 2008 at 7:57 pm
@Testocules
Everyone needs to get a copy of & play SOME Take-Two/Rockstar game. Preferably GTA or Bully would work.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:58 pm
This is comedy gold. Jack’s madness, with all his stalking of certain people like a jilted high school girl with his numerous emails, met with cold hard reality. The real world just hit Jack HARD.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Can someone please explain how anything Jack has done in any of this has fallen even remotely into the category of “Civility”, “Decency”, or even “Respect due to another human being”?
March 21st, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Man I love this Smith guy even more then moore, is it customary for judges to be so witty?
GP: Smith did give JT all he could handle… However, Smith is not a judge. He’s the lawyer for Take Two in the Alabama case…
March 21st, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Every new tidbit on this man makes him more and more distant from the “good Christian” he pretends to be.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:02 pm
@Jack Thompson:
You think if Mr. Smith had stepped to you, Miles woulda had ya back? I dunno. He seemed pretty quick to bail when that bailiff stepped to him. Sounds like he was his car and heading east on 836 before Judge Tunis got to, “Let the record reflect . . . .”
March 21st, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Did he REALLY pronounce the acronym C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S out loud IN the courtroom?
March 21st, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Is there anyway the complete transcripts will be made available?
March 21st, 2008 at 8:05 pm
If anyone is wondering what this whole Rockstar parody website/accusation that Thompson’s a bisexual pedophile, here is the link you need:
http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/87105.html
Not surprisingly, Thompson’s basis for his complaint stems from his seeming inability to comprehend what he reads.
What the site says:
“Only last week, I was using the internet to look up some information for my 15 year old niece, who is a keen water skier and state wide sailor. Trust me when I say this - searching under the subject matter “Teenage girls water sports” is not for the faint hearted.”
How Thompson interpreted it:
“When you click on the fake e-mail… you will find that JT (Jack Thompson) likes to surf the Internet for pictures depicting deviant sex acts by teenage girls.”
It’s been over two years and he still doesn’t get it.
Andrew Eisen
March 21st, 2008 at 8:05 pm
This is seriously like a freak train accident and I just can’t look away. Thompson has honestly mastered the art of hitting rock bottom and continuing to dig, and “I’m sure on some planet his style is very impressive, but his weak link is…this is Earth”.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:09 pm
@Jack Thompson:
You gotta admit, Jack, you do have a reputation for flapping your lips.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:11 pm
okay is it wrong that I’m almost falling out of my chair laughing at each of these posts? seriously, I’m on the edge of my seat reading this and by the end I’m laughing so hard I can barely see. Thanks for making my week better GP
March 21st, 2008 at 8:12 pm
@GP ah, I was aware of that but not thinking straight. He was super smooth about it too, Tunis didn’t have a single problem with any of smith’s zingers but JT was getting sustained objections up the Jack Thompson. I would like to formally request Jack Thompson be allowed to post here until he’s disbarred… at least within some reasonable limit, say 500 comments a week.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:14 pm
@GP:
Don’t you mean ‘Until’ he starts threatening legal action? (With him its more of a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’ … considering he’ll sue you if you look at him crosseyed — or even if you don’t.)
@cullarn:
Seconded, but maybe the muffin basket will make her(it is her, right?) feel better.
@Blackend619:
I had to go look at the story just to make sure that wasn’t made up/satire… I don’t know why I thought it ever would be. Maybe I forgot this is JT we’re dealing with, where we’ve long since said bon voyage to logic, reason, and ‘do unto others’, and has been replaced with ‘I CAN DO WHATEVER THE F*** I WANT AND F*** THE REST OF YOU.’
March 21st, 2008 at 8:14 pm
@Andrew Eisen:
That’s cool. He’s about to get it. Sometime between now and the 21st of next month. Oh, yeah. He’s gonna get it, alright.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:15 pm
GD, this is hilarious. I’m really hoping there’s a part 5… As someone mentioned in a previous entry, a re-enactment of the whole thing as a mini series would be genius comedy.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Help! I’ve busted my gut! Call 911!
March 21st, 2008 at 8:17 pm
@jab49
Yeah, but what would he do with the other 6 days, 23 hours, and 30 minutes?
GP: …and every time I relent, it inevitably deteriorates into calls to ban him and threats to have everyone sued or arrested.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:17 pm
@Testocules
We already have Winter-een-mas.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:19 pm
@DarkTetsuya
I’m waiting for the epic case of Jack Thompson vs. The World vs. Jack Thompson
March 21st, 2008 at 8:20 pm
@Xlorep Darkhelm
Try to find computers at the local library to continue posting from a different IP
March 21st, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Wow. WOW. He’s like a 10 year old harassing his sibling in the back seat of the car. “I’m not touching you! Not touching you!”
March 21st, 2008 at 8:20 pm
@JDKJ
More like flapping his
March 21st, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I’m still laughing my ass off at him actually using C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S. in a court of law, as serious as a heart attack.
God, nothing has brightened up my days this week like reading these updates. Thank you, Jack Thompson, for being such a crazy fuckwit that brings us endless entertainment, for free!
March 21st, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Now Class, can someone tell me what Mr. Thompson did wrong? Anyone? How was Mr. Thompson not doing things a grown up lawyer should?
March 21st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
@teh conspiracy
It might be easier to list the things Jack didn’t do wrong. I mean, the class DOES eventually want to get the opportunity to go home, eat dinner, and play with friends…
March 21st, 2008 at 8:23 pm
@Testocules
Turn it into a holiday, yes; a cult/church, no thanks… :p
I had to forward this article to many friends… You just can’t make this stuff up, and its just beautiful to see…
I’m still hoping for a re-enactment, or hopefully Stephen Colbert picks it up with Gary Cole for Harvey Birdman…, or maybe the Colbert Report… 8D
March 21st, 2008 at 8:25 pm
The part that isn’t so funny is:
I’m sure — without knowing a whit about the specifics — that Mr. McCauley’s Bar complaint (upon which no action was taken) doesn’t too much differ in essence from the conduct about which Judge Moore, Judge Friedman, Mr. Smith, et al., complained (but upon which the Florida Bar now sees fit to take action). Like what? If you ain’t a sitting judge or an attorney from some white shoe, silk stocking firm, you can’t get no relief.
Bishop, Your Honor!! Bishop!! Dis case is pear bishop!!
March 21st, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Wow… just, wow.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, there’s only one possible ending to this. Okay, two if you count the “big net and a straitjacket” option… but I think that’s more like wishful thinking on my part!
March 21st, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Did anyone else notice the bitter-sweet irony that Jack’s partially in trouble for . . . being on 60 Minutes with Ed Bradley?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
March 21st, 2008 at 8:32 pm
…WOW!
March 21st, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I’m gonna get a bunch of my buddies and parody highlights of this trial lol.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Wow not only is everybody aganst him, but hes acting like a total ass in court. What kind of lawyer is he?
March 21st, 2008 at 8:35 pm
@Japan-has-rape-games:
Parody? Who needs parody? Just assign parts and have ‘em read word-for-word from the transcript. There’s no way to improve on this stuff.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
@DuskDDR MASTER
One that seems to be very aware that his career is completely and irrevocably doomed, so might be trying to set up something else. Like being able to claim a kind of martyrdom for being a “Christian Activist”, or fighting the good fight against those evil video games.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:42 pm
What was Mr. Smith afraid of? I fucking lunatic, that’s what. I would quite literally be afraid that my life was in danger if I had Jack Thompson in my face, and it was clear that he was in a foul mood and that I was the target of that foul mood.
What indeed.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:43 pm
*A* lunatic, lol. Not me, him
March 21st, 2008 at 8:43 pm
JT reminds me of an incompetent Lionel Hutz.
JT: If I hear the words ‘objection’ and ’sustained’ one more time, I think I’m going to scream!
TUMA: Objection!
DT: Sustained!
JT: ARRGH!
March 21st, 2008 at 8:43 pm
damn, talk about getting pwned in the courtroom
March 21st, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Okay, I’ve got an idea how this is going to end.
The man’s a Froot Loop. I mean, it’s one thing to act that way outside the courtroom, but I had no idea he was just as nutty when speaking before a judge.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:44 pm
@Xlorep - I’m not convinced. I think Thompson is clueless that his career is in danger, I think this is fitting quite nicely into his persecution complex and that he feels that he’ll be able to demonstrate one day that the entire world is “out to get him”.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
@Cattleprod:
Well hopefully the Florida bar will “pull the car over and tan his hide”…..
… wait for it…. Figuratively speaking, of course.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
SMITH: Mr. Thompson, I want you to listen to me very carefully.
JT: I’m listening real carefully.
SMITH: I’m absolutely saying that under oath.
Best thing I’ve read all day.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
That transcript is full of zings.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:52 pm
@Takuan Daikon
I agree… but at the same time, I’m always wondering if Jack HONESTLY believes this crap he spouts from his second butthole.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:54 pm
If JT actually looses his license to practice law (which, to my understanding, is what’s at stake here) will there be a nationwide/worldwide party among gamers celebrating the event? I’d happily eat a piece of cake & some ice cream at the news that JT has been dis-barred.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:55 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iXC6rReZVc&feature=related
The song in that link is awesome. It is as awesome as the news of JT’s disbarment will be, therefore it is fitting.
Apologies if anyone takes offense at this post, I was listening to it and had a stroke of inspiration.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:55 pm
@BMTelle
Don’t forget to play some Take-Two or Rockstar game… like GTA or Bully while you are at it.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:56 pm
@Tyriku - I don’t think the writers for Harvey Birdman could come close to the comedy in these excerpts. I mean even Mentok couldn’t take JT’s mind because he’d get lost in there.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:57 pm
JT: How do you know that my purpose of seeking the federal action was to forestall the disciplinary proceedings as opposed to getting federal relief for what I thought were inappropriate proceedings? You don’t know that.
SMITH: Because I have a brain.
JT: I beg your pardon?
Firstly thats a great one liner from smith. Secondly, is it my imagination or did jack seem confused at the concept of a brain?
Much earlier in this saga I predicted that after the trail he’d be seen sprinting down the street, wearing a half secured straight jacket & pursued by mental health nurses whilst screaming “AHAHAHA VICTORY IS MINE, GAMES ARE DOOMED!”
At the time I was joking, now I’m not quite sure if I wasn’t prophetic…
March 21st, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Man, the way he’s getting shot down at every turn… I’m not sure if it’s funny or just plain sad.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
@ Khabi
what about
SMITH: You cut me off again.
JT: Okay, Mr. Smith. You go right ahead. I’ll give you as much rope as you want.
SMITH: Is that a question?
JT: No. You go right ahead, I said.
SMITH: Okay. It’s exactly what you’re doing here, Mr. Thompson. Exactly.
JT: Go right ahead.
SMITH: I’m finished.
That actually made me burst out laughing, quite a rarity on the internet
March 21st, 2008 at 9:04 pm
This is possibly the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.
“DT: Overruled.
JT: Overruled?
DT: Yes, overruled.”
Jackie got OWNED!
March 21st, 2008 at 9:05 pm
@Xlorep - “I agree… but at the same time, I’m always wondering if Jack HONESTLY believes this crap he spouts from his second butthole.”
He has to. No sane person could spout that stuff as fast and furious as he does without fundamentally deep problems.
I mean, with that kind of spontaneous and bizarre rhetoric, he could totally pwn the stand-up comedy circuit for decades if he knew it was B.S. He’d be rich enough to freakin’ BUY Rockstar.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:07 pm
“JT: They didn’t have C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.?”
LMFAO!!! I laughed myself to tears.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:07 pm
@Takuan Daikon
Well, I also believe the guy definitely has all the signs of a deep narcissistic disorder. Which would probably make him quite honestly think he’s “winning” in all of this.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:23 pm
“SMITH: Judge, I hope you can appreciate - I get eight, 10, 12 e-mails a day from this guy. I couldn’t keep track of them all.
JT: Come on. Eleven e-mails a day. Are you saying that under oath?
SMITH: Mr. Thompson, I want you to listen to me very carefully.
JT: I’m listening real carefully.
SMITH: I’m absolutely saying that under oath.”
Awesome
March 21st, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I could tell that Thompson isn’t getting an inch, and Thompson ain’t liking it.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Did anyone else notice the bitter-sweet irony that Jack’s partially in trouble for . . . being on 60 Minutes with Ed Bradley?
Yes, I noticed that. Hoist by his own petard I guess.
Personally I found this bit to be one of the best:
DT: Sustained. I’m sorry. I’m going to ask anyone that’s in the audience not to speak out loud.
JT: He’s not in the audience. He’s here assisting me. I apologize.
DT: He’s in the audience.
JT: He’s here to assist me.
DT: And he’s in the audience.
Also, I’ve got to wonder how close Jack was to Smith was he was asked to step back. It must have been fairly close for Smith to get that concerned. Then again, for all he seems less exhausted by Jack than the last two were, Smith does seem more certain than them, that Jack’s unhinged.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Wow JT and his friends are really scared of that bailiff. What, was he Pyramid Head or something?
March 21st, 2008 at 9:28 pm
JT: “They didn’t have C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.?”
Possibly the best thing Thompson will ever say. I’m still laughing!
March 21st, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Oh my god, he’s on one of those vidja-game-induced rampages! He’s taken down a fax machine, an email server, he’s yelling C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S. in the courtroom, and now he’s a bisexual pedophile!
May god have mercy on us all.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:36 pm
his depiction wouldn’t have started C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S. if he was a bisexual pedophile, as he accidentally stumbled upon CP while looking up Water-Polo, then decided to take out the Internet.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:36 pm
*falls over, laughing* Oh… Oh sweet zombie Christ. He really said all that with a completely straight face? That’s too much. He even argues with the judge about what she can and can’t do. LMAO
*wipes away tear* Dennis. Dude. You’ve gotta print all these entries up and have them bound or something. They’re comedy gold. XD I’d even PAY to have this in a softcover book or something.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Oh…my…God.
This is not funny anymore. Jack Thompson’s legal career is dying…and he is the one killing it. I’m surprised he was not held in contempt already.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:42 pm
*takes out headphones* Buh? Sorry, i was listening to the video Shadow Darkman posted.
In all seriousness, though… i think i can sum this whole thing up in one acronym. It’s overused, but hell, it works.
L.O.L.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Man I’m really enjoying this trial…
March 21st, 2008 at 9:43 pm
@Miles:
Yo, my man. You been already got yourself in trouble with the Florida Bar. You really think it’s smart to be hanging out with Jack-O? And end up a two-time loser? Cause it’s most certainly gonna hit the fan for Jack. Question is: do you wanna get splattered when it does?
March 21st, 2008 at 9:43 pm
So I assume it’s safe to say that Jack has them right where he wants them and victory is within reach.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Someday I do hope that the entire transcript of this trial becomes available. I absolutely understand why it isn’t now, but I hope someday to read all of it.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
To quote another fundie Jack:
“HAW HAW HAW!”
March 21st, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I am interested tho…Did he spell out “C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S” or did he saY “Cuntflaps”?
I am quoting here so if I am breaking any rules forgive me.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:52 pm
This is amusing beyond measure. First he destroyed a fax machine, and now he bombarded an email server to Timbukto.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:54 pm
hmm, am i the only one who feels a little bit sorry for ol jacko? i know this is exactly what he deserves, but it seems kinda like a drawn out death (i suppose thats what the legal system is though). ah well, i still enjoy it.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:54 pm
So far –and this is on the relatively small amount we’ve read so far — Jack’s manage to throw up an unnecessary “Go fuck yourself” and an unnecessary ” C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.” I fear there are more instances of the same sort.
Was he thinking that poor Dava Tunis would just grow weary of all his courtroom cussing and call his hearing to a premature conclusion? Not a altogether bad stratergy, now that I think of it.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
@JackDon’tKnowJack
I really admire Tunis’ patience and tolerance.
Thompson is really getting out of hand. Even in court, he’s in his little arrogant self. It just keep getting better and better. I think the reason he doesn’t post here is that he doesn’t have time for this right now.
First a fax machine, and now an email server. What now? Will he wreck judge Friedman’s mailbox or will he ruin Ward’s modem? Take your bet.
I really can see how it would happen the next time he steps in a church:
Priest: The Lord said…
JT: I’d like to add…
Priest (louder): The Lord said…
JT: I’d like to ass that I’m…
Priest: The Lord said shut up.
Audience: Amen.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Roflmao I loved the part about C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S. that made me die laughing. Jack Thompson is blissfully unaware of his stupidity, and it’s quite funny to me that he argues with the judge as well, something is likely NOT going to go well when it comes to the final ruling. JT is going down. Gamers will rejoice.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:10 pm
GOOD JOB JACK! ACT LIKE A DICK AND GET INTO ARGUMENTS WITH THE JUDGE! YOU’LL DEFINATELY WIN WITH THAT PLAN!
March 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Was it Jack who was saying his hearing “went well” and that Judge Tunis told he did a “great job?”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
March 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
They didn’t have C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.?
March 21st, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Dennis, sorry to be nitpicking, but for the record, it’s GTA: Liberty City Stories, not Vice City Stories, that has that mention of Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People’s Safety.
Now then, let me point out:
DT: Mr. Thompson, stop, stop.
JT: No.
Disregaring the judge’s command with such defiance. Oh, I’m CERTAIN you’ll get to keep your job that way, Jack…
March 21st, 2008 at 10:16 pm
@JDKJ:
It’s akin to dropping anchor right through the hull of the titanic after it hit the iceberg and started sinking…
March 21st, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Oh, man how much I wish that we could get a hold of a audio recording of this transcript. I could just see some one making a video of him rapping
C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S. and flashing up a picture of him every time he says it. Instant classic. I move that 24 hours after Dennis posts the news of Jack being disbarred, we all Toast his disbarrment by playing the murder simulator of your choice.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:18 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
This *huff* is sooo fucking FUNNY! I *huff* can’t *huff* breathe….
March 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
@Pierre-Olivier
Love the church scene.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Don’t you people get it? He’s got them right where he wants them! His master plan is coming together in beautiful harmony - a symphony of grace and poise, eloquence mixed with sheer baristarial tenacity. Yes my friends, Jack Thompson has it all. I have been to the future and not only has Mr. Thompson succeeded in maintaining his well deserved license but he’s managed to replace the entire supreme court. And just in time too! Over 3,000 youths nationwide planned to emulate the Columbine simulator “Bully” which would have resulted in untold billions of deaths had it not been for Justice Thompson’s unFLAPPABLE dedication to protecting the innocence of the children who would otherwise be swimming in a sea of virtual filth… and to think you filthy gamers would dare to discredit him…BAH - A POX ON YOUR HOUSE!
March 21st, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Can anyone explain to me why there was zero blow-by-blow media coverage of this hearing? Maybe it’s just my peculiar palate, but I can’t see how this wouldn’t sell newspapers. And plenty of them, at that.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Ahh, the more I read this the more I seriously think JT is toast. Completely and utterly toast. The lack of respect for the judge, his yammering and hostile behavior in court, and his seeming contempt for any common courteously is damming him by the minute.
That one little bit about the rope I think was the snapping point. The trial might be over his past antics, but the court’s getting a full dose of his antics Live right before them, showing that he hasn’t even recognize that there’s an issue with his behavior. If he manages to survive being a lawyer after this, I honestly CANNOT have much faith in the justice system.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:36 pm
This is highly entertaining. Keep it coming!
March 21st, 2008 at 10:39 pm
DT: Mr. Thompson, I’m going to ask you to please utilize the podium as it is -
Am I the only one imagining Jacko inching the podium closer and closer to the witness stand?
This is crying out for a dramatic reenactment.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
If it wasn’t obvious from the start of this series, it is now: Thompson will get disbarred by summer.
All because he was unable or unwilling to practice what he preaches about growing up and getting a life.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I’ve read every one of these articles…
I have no idea what his defense is. I’m not certain he’s even trying to defend himself. I wonder if maybe he’s just figuring he’ll get out of this by killing another fax machine.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
I’m loathe to do this, but it seems that Thompson was correct in his initial objection this time. Smith’s prediction DID fall into the realm of conjecture. That said, the rest is blatant lunacy on Jack’s behalf.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
You know.. at first, I found this stuff amusing… then I started to imagine what it must be like to be a person on the receiving end of JT’s level of garbage.
I really feel sorry for the lawyer on the stand, with all those emails and everything and now having to face the guy… JT seems abusive on levels far beyond anything I ever imagined.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:44 pm
@Gray17:
JUst wait ’til the part about Judge Friedman. If Jack had half a brain, he’d a stood up, said, “No questions for this witness,” and sat back down. But he doesn’t and I bet he didn’t. And I bet Friedman gored him.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:45 pm
@GP
we really.. really… REHIHIIILY need those full transcripts…
they’re lol worthy reading material
@JT
if you’re reading this, i have to tel you, as much of an annoyance you are, you’re a lol-tastic person… i wouldn’t be surprised if you’re a regular 4ch-er
but then again, you… “don’t make threats anonymously”
March 21st, 2008 at 10:50 pm
@WFern:
I agree, but only if he had FIRST raise the conjecture objection and THEN (assuming the court sustains) move to strike the conjectural testimony from the record. He can’t move to strike first. As a technical matter, Tunis was right to ding him.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:51 pm
He’s done. No more Jack Thompson.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I love the whole bit in the end where they get in an argument over what the record needs to show. Jack continues his pattern of eliciting testimony that makes him look bad.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Pierre-Ollivier
Best reference to “Dans une galaxie près de chez vous” ever! :p
March 21st, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I wonder if he’ll kill himself before the trial’s over and blame video games in his suicide note…
March 21st, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Dennis,
I have to apologize. I doubted that you could provide anything more entertaining than Jack killing a FAX machine. I was very, very wrong.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Truly, you can’t buy entertainment like this!
March 21st, 2008 at 11:11 pm
First a fax machine, now an email server? Jack is a technological serial murderer!
Figuratively speaking, of course.
At first I thought that Smith was kinda hurting his side, by denying the CUNTFLAPS link, but then I realized that he said he wasn’t aware of such a thing, that the other lawyer knew more.
Still, it’s just more of JT’s sad attempt to derail every line of questioning off topic. Delay, delay, deny, deny.
Jack, you’re just stalling the inevitable.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:11 pm
@Olvan
Thanks. I waited a log time to do it. Glad I’m not the only quebecer on GP.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I don’t care what anyone says. This case it practically decided already. It’s all entertainment now.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:15 pm
@GRIZZAM512
I doubt it. He is gonna be the drunk dude who lives in front of the local gamestop in a cardboard box, ranting and raving anytime someone even looks at the store. or the guy jumping in front of the camera, screaming, “VIDEO GAMES ARE SATAN!!!!” just before he gets tackled by five big bouncer type dudes on national television, making an even bigger ass out of him self. Jack needs to calm the heck down, get a hobby and shut up already.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I’d give anything to have an audio transcript of this (the highlights, anyway).
March 21st, 2008 at 11:18 pm
He still claims Bully is a Columbine simulator? How can he possibly claim that now that it’s out and we know what it’s all about? He just can’t accept that he was completely wrong about it in all ways possible. I can’t believe how stupid he is also that he can’t understand how uncomfortable it may before for someone to be standing practically in your face.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:23 pm
This has to be, by far, THE best of the four parts so far. I would love to see the whole transcript, but I’m sure it would be rediculously huge.
Big thanks to GP for making my day.
Oh, and is it just me or did GRIZZAM512’s comment @ 10:18 pm break the formatting on the page?
March 21st, 2008 at 11:29 pm
good lord.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:34 pm
What’s taking the judge so long to make her decision? Does she not have enough to can this guy?
GP: I can’t speak for Judge Tunis, obviously. But I know that she has to read every single document submitted regarding the complaint, and that includes all of JT’s e-mails submitted by 7 different witnesses. Plus everything submitted by JT himself. Plus, she apparently is working all of that around a full-time job on the criminal bench in Miami.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I love how he refers to Bully, a game which features no guns (the closest is a potato launcher, if I remember right), as a “Columbine Simulator”. I know he’s been calling it that for ages, but the game has been out for forever. Surely he would’ve played it by now.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Gotta love Dennis and GP. Where else can you find such hilarious reading material as the Jack Thompson disciplinary hearing? Comedy gold. I would say this is these stories are the funniest things I’ve read all day, but hell, I think these stories are the funniest things I’ve ever read. And they keep getting better! Did Dennis take my request to keep funny things in the articles to heart?
Jack is a moron, though. He’s on trial for acting like an ass in court (when it comes down to it that’s all this is about). So what does he do? He defends himself, all the while acting like an ass in court.
@ JDKJ
I think the problem is that Jack only has half a brain. I think they preformed a lobotomy on him years ago. Or maybe he had a stroke years ago and refused to have it treated. Either way, Jack is just a horrible human being and an even worse lawyer (and that should be saying something!).
So, to close:
C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.
(I couldn’t resist)
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:06 am
To the guy who said he looks more and more like Lionel Hutz, I think Hutz taught him everything he knows (or lack thereof) about practicing law
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:14 am
Remember all the times Jack-O threatened to sue GP and its posters? This courtroom brilliance was what we had to fear.
HA!!
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:19 am
GP should use this picture in the future when referring to everything Jack Thompson: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/trueneutral/Blog/JTCtrlAltDel.jpg
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:23 am
The day he get’s his license pulled, Jack Thompson is going to be like a little puddle of Goo on the sidewalk… figuratively speaking of course.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 am
@kyleJCrb:
But that’d just make his fallacies all the more ridiculous, if he knows for a fact there isn’t so much as a pellet gun anywhere in the game.
@Gameboy:
… I tried to come up with a witty reply but honestly, I think the well’s run dry on the whole thing. Although I wish I knew what the f***ing holdup was, only the judge knows for sure.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 am
By the way, when are you going to offere the whole transcript for download? I’d really love to read it all. (yes, i actually would)
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 am
This has go make you wonder just what it is that D.A.s and judges are doing to celebrate.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:54 am
Thompson: Slayer of fax machines. Harasser of innocents. Defender of broken logic.
What a mighty crusader he must think he is.
You realize that, if he is disbarred, he’ll cry martyr… …ugh.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 am
This is PERFECT. =D
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:04 am
I haven’t had this much fun since…well, actually, watching JT stumble over everything is hard to beat…
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:15 am
I think JT based his courtroom tactics on the “my nuts to your knee” style:P
@BMTelle
I will be celebrating his disbarment with champagne and GTA IV (alternatively San Andreas in case GTA IV isn’t out for PC yet) and i’m fairly certain i’m not alone in planning that:)
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:15 am
He may be a terrible lawyer, but the man’s a comic genius.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:17 am
@ DarkTetsuya
Well, it seems as thought the transcript for this is somewhere around 1,000 pages, so she probably has a lot of work on her plate.
Besides, she has to know, based on the testimony she is reviewing, that Jack will harass her when she comes to a final decision. Would you want to deal with that? Think of the fax machines!
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:19 am
Now, I don’t normally say this, in fact I pride myself on avoiding cursing whenever possible, however this is one of the few exceptions…
IS JACK THOMPSON THAT FUCKING STUPID???
As I read this I just did all I could not to sit and cry at how fucking immature Jack was acting like. I mean come on man, act like you actually passed the 3rd grade for Christ sake!
Until this day Jack I had seen stupidity, I had seen insanity, I had even seen maleviolent malice, but it was not until this day that I had seen YOU!
I need to go play some Team Fortress 2 now; work out my frustrations in a safe, virtual manor. That or wait until fencing tomorrow, but there I run the risk of bruising someone.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:19 am
Does anyone else get the distinct impression that alot of the witnesses/Tunis/everyone else is smugly enjoying JT’s making an ass of himself cause they know he’s burying himself. Everything Smith says just oozes with (deserved) smug superiority over JT.
GP: Smith, among all the witnesses, seemed to be toying with Thompson, leading him into little set-ups, etc. Smith’s law partner, Rachel Ward, has a very different tone in her testimony, which is even more fascinating that Smith’s. We will be running that one this weekend…
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:22 am
Going back through all the transcripts, I notice that, over and over again, Jack moves to strike testimony before obtaining a ruling that the testimony is somehow ojectionable.
@Jack:
A 2L in moot court knows better. Your incompetence is simply mind-boggling.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:27 am
Gameboy & DarkTetsuya:
There’s the 1000-page transcript on Dava’s desk. Towering beside and over it is the 30,000 pages of Jack’s faxs, e-mails, filings, letters, press releases, etc., admitted into evidence.
That the poor soul has to turn her Report around by April 21 belies Jack’s recent assertions that judges spend all their time flitting from charity dinner to charity dinner.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:29 am
JT: If you were confronted with a situation, Mr. Smith, in which a law firm you felt was involved - and I’m asking you this hypotheticaly - in unethical, illegal conduct, would it be appropriate to alert the head of the firm to that?
SMITH: It would depend if there was a factual basis to the concern… In this case there was none, as found by Judge Moore.
JT: Move to strike.
DT: overruled.
After that comment Jack made to Smith about letting him take as much rope as he wanted, I absolutely love this. He asked a question and didn’t get the answer he wanted, and the judge stuck him with it after he made his “Oh crap, cover!” motion to strike.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:33 am
@x(wai)x:
Once again, before raising any kind of objection. I missed that one. Thanks . . . I guess.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:38 am
@ JDKJ
You know, I’d think that after hearing the testimony of just Junkin, Moore, and Smith, she would know that Jack’s faxes, emails, etc should not pass “Go”, not collect two hundred dollars, but go straight to the shredder. Of course, this would result in Jack killing a helpless shredder.
IS NO OFFICE EQUIPMENT SAFE FROM THIS LUNATIC!?
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:39 am
Pencil sharpeners cringe when he walks in the room.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:48 am
@ JDKJ
Since you keep bringing it up, could the fact that Jack doesn’t follow proper procedure during this trial be used against him? I’m referring to his unprofessional behavior; arguing with the Judge, opposing counsel, and witnesses; talking to people in the audience; turning his back on the judge and talking to lawyers in the audience (refer to part 3); and of course not following (due to ignorance or otherwise) the proper procedure to have comments stricken from the record. Could the presiding judge consider these factors? He is on trial for this behavior, after all.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:51 am
I’d like to make a motion to send Mr. thompson to a mental ward on the basis of mass harasment, defective logic, relentless public and private baseless accusations and of course all known ass shattery that is his mentality which is strangely enough lower then a rock
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 am
@Gameboy
You make some good points, but I think what it really boils down to is that Tumis(?) will make this the most water-tight decision ever produced by a court in all of history. She’ll cover every single possible objection in clear and concise text that JT could possibly hope to use to have it thrown out.
In years to come this decision will be enshrined at law schools as the most brilliant piece of jurisprudence ever conceived. Entire courses will be devoted to it.
Mark my words.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 am
Comedy gold as it’s finest, as usual!!!
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:57 am
I HAVE A BRAIN!
Full of win on so many levels….
That’s making its way into a webcomic and forum sig somewhere as we speak….
SOmetimes I wonder if when the judge hands out the official ruling, if JT will go into a murderous rampage and then shout, “The video Games made me do it!!!!” But then I laugh becaus eI know JT’s too much of a B*&$# to do that. BEsides, violence in games is okay, real violence is never cool. Well, I guess it would be if it were inflicted onto Jack by the Baliff….
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:23 am
Something tells me Jacky will be hauled off to the crazy house.
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:27 am
“MITH: Yes…
JT: So did they post it?
SMITH: No.
JT: They didn’t have C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.?”
…holy. shit. I am crawling out of my skin waiting for this verdict.
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:28 am
@Gameboy:
Technically, no. Not in the current proceeding (although it could be the subject of a separate complaint and a whole new proceeding). Only Jack’s past conduct as specifically charged in the current complaint can be at issue.
Of course, on another level, it ain’t very wise I think to act the fool when you’re defending charges of having acted the fool.
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:35 am
Oh. My. God.
“JT: They didn’t have C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.?”
That is amazing.
-P
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:45 am
And I’m so thoroughly fixiated because I’m witnessing a blue moon that — despite what you may cynically think — doesn’t come out to shine too often in the legal profession: the infamous “lacks the requisite knowledge, competence, and skills”
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 am
Who was this Mr Gopman, that’s what i want to know. He was helping JT, what is his relation to the trial?
GP: As I understand it, Gopman has some issue of his own with the Bar (and JT referenced that in court). He and JT put their heads together at some point, although I’m not sure how long that lasted. I seem to recall that Gopman was mentioned in one of JT’s motions to the federal court late last year, but my recollection is a bit fuzzy on that one.
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:00 am
Anonymous:
He is a Florida-admitted attorney with a disciplinary history of his own. You can look him up on the Florida Bar’s webpage, if you care to. I suspect he may have his own axe to grind with the Bar, from the sound of things.
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:10 am
It sounds as if he was attempting to help Jack from beyond the sidelines. Perhaps he is Jack’s Lamaze coach?
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:53 am
Something tells me Mr Gopson’s USING JT to piss off the Florida Court.
Why make life a living hell for the Florida Bar when you can get some poor sap (JT) to do it for you?
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:03 am
JT: How do you know that my purpose of seeking the federal action was to forestall the disciplinary proceedings as opposed to getting federal relief for what I thought were inappropriate proceedings? You don’t know that.
SMITH: Because I have a brain.”
OH NO, HE DI’NT!
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:13 am
You know, I’ve gotta say that I’m really enjoying watching JT’s career crash and burn before my very eyes. After following this man’s career for the last 20 years and having to endure his antics that brought misery to so many of my favorite people without every being held accountable for it for so long; to see him finally get his comeuppance after all this time is truly a thing of beauty. It really brings a tear to my eye. It really does.
I also have to admire Mr. Smith’s self-restraint. If I were on that chair and Jack came that close to me, he wouldn’t have been standing, let alone breathing.
There’s something I feel I should say: we all joke about how crazy we think Jack is, how incompetent he is. We use words to describe him like “douchebag,” “fuckwad,” “asshat,” and all sort of rude adjectives, but I think that falls short of saying what he really is. Maybe some of us are afraid to say it, fearing that it may be too strong a word or that we may be oversimplifying things or that by using it it makes us no better than him. But I think the description is apt and what we’ve seen here definitely proves it: Jack Thompson is evil.
I’ve read a lot about heroes and villains and what it is that separates them. The thing is, while we think of villains as evil, the villains don’t see themselves that way. In fact, from their own point of view, they see themselves as doing good, even if how they’re doing it makes sense only to them. Evil people don’t get up in the morning and think, “I’m going to be evil today.” But their motivations and their actions define them that way.
I keep hearing it said that Jack has the courage of his convictions. That may be true, but whenever I hear it, it sounds as if it’s trying to somehow excuse his behavior or find a redeeming quality about him. Evil people have the courage of their convictions too. They’d have to be or else they wouldn’t be so driven to do what they do and therefore wouldn’t be so dangerous.
“But Jack has a family,” I hear. “He has a wife and a son.” Yeah, well Hitler loved animals and children and loved to paint. He liked Wagnerian opera and his favorite movies were Snow White & The Seven Dwarves and King Kong. It still doesn’t excuse what he did.
As for the whole religious angle, some of the most evil people were religious. Look at Jim Jones or David Koresh. And of course we all know about Fred Phelps. Thompson is just as bad as they were/are.
No, Thompson may not have killed anyone, but I don’t think you have to kill someone to be considered evil. I think the utter contempt Thompson has continually shown to his fellow man is enough proof. I used to think people like Thompson didn’t really exist except in TV melodramas and sitcoms; that maybe he was just misguided or a prude. No human being could be that blindly arrogant I thought, and that if he could be made to listen to reason he might change his mind. But as you’ve seen, that’s been tried and he’s returned it with even more hostility.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m enjoying JT’s downfall as much as the next person. But to laugh him off and dismiss him as a joke I think is not seeing the full picture of what he is. Maybe we’ve grown a bit too accustomed to seeing evil depicted as the latest Johnny-come-lately evil overlord, supervillain or James Bond-style megalomaniac. But to me, Jack Thompson has proven that there are other, more subtle forms of evil. And I’ll rest a lot better once he’s finally disbarred and no longer a threat to our freedoms.
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:16 am
RE: The judge is taking time to do ruling.
Frankly, if you’re dealing with JT, I’d take as much time as I could to prepare a completely thorough, concrete, absolutely inescapable argument that not a single person could argue with, filled with so many reasons for having him disbarred it would take till doomsday for him to worm out of all of them….
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:24 am
Incidently, I found a picture of the bailiff
http://www.clubdesmonstres.com/nemesis.jpg
Yeah, I’d run too
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:29 am
@Nail Head:
Nail Head, meet Black Manta.
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 am
My God. Jack Thompson is more of the lunatic I thought him to be.
I humbly await the next transcript.
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 am
Don’t pity Jack Thompson. Save that for a real tragic hero. He is evil. And is now receiving nothing more than exactly what he deserves.
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:45 am
Judge Tuma definitely deserves a cookie basket for putting up with JT’s nonsense. Its almost funny if it wasn’t so embarrassing to read someone acting like that in court.
I honestly expect the closing argument to consist of the “Wookie defense”
Thanks for keeping us informed on this Dennis, I know typing the transcripts can be a pain, but I appreciate it.
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:48 am
“They didn’t have C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.?”
Could someone please make the lolcat that just flashed before my eyes?
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 am
See, Jack s problem is that his legal style worked for a long time.
Now its not
And this fact is just not sinking in at all for the man. He only knows how to practice law in one way, and he’ll keep doing it, even though its the very thing thats sinking him
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 am
@ BaronJuJu
You mean the Chewbacca Defense?
“But, ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider!”
“Ladies and gentlemen…
This… is Chewbacca.”
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:58 am
Thank for posting these, GP!
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:06 am
Funny stuff.
It seems just about everyone involved is tired of his foolish antics, and rightfully so.
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:20 am
Maybe this has come up….I didnt read all the posts, just most of them….with a bit of amusement.
But, in this latest trasncript, JT refers to the bailiff as a ‘good gentleman’. But what is rather weird, coming from a self-proclaimed christian who’s against people for no apparent reason, he said this i nthe court:
“JT: Let the record also reflect that Mr. Gopman left; and I like your bailiff, but your bailiff was moving towards him to remove him.”
So….JT was hoping the interaction with the bailiff was for HIM and not Mr Gopman? Does that suggest he’s a closet homosexual? Heck, bailiffs usually have cuffs. Do I even have to suggest what THAT means, JT likes?
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:56 am
Okay, screw the movie, make this a mini-series! Hell, they could probably get an entire series out of all this.
But still, can’t wait for the ruling and Jack Thompson prevails!
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:53 am
can we get some dramatizations of this A-LA court TV with the added fun of a trumpet’s “Wah-wah-WAAAAAH” every time jacky get pwnt?
GP: Personally, I’d like to see a diorama of the proceedings crafted using Easter Peeps as characters. But that’s just me… Sort of like those courtroom artist sketches, but rendered in sugar-coated marshmallow.
March 22nd, 2008 at 7:46 am
I just wish there was an audio/video recording of the whole thing.
It’s just not as funny as it could be if John Bruce’s “petulant child” voice could be heard.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:00 am
DT: Mr. Thompson, stop, stop.
JT: No. Your Honor -
Right there, contempt of court. Why the hell don’t they nail him to a wall for it?
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:08 am
i never knew legal proceedings could be so much fun. i wish court tv (or whatever it is called now) would have this on the air
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:21 am
I never knew court proceedings were this entertaining!
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:21 am
SMITH: Because I have a brain.
JT: I beg your pardon?
Oh SNAP!
Smith 1 - JT 0
Ah, this trial is the best popcorn flick ever.
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 am
I think I can see something underlying that Smith implied but didn’t outright say
“Mr Thompson, I see your game and I am NOT playing it”
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:10 am
Did Tack get hugged enough as a child? Was he visually raped by a Virtual Boy? Did a NES game touch Tack in the wrong places? Find out Next time on Judge Tunis’s ruling!
Side note, I feel bade for Tunis, having to read EVERYTHING every document submitted regaurding Tack. That’s a crap load of emails. And I don’t even think God knows how many faxes, for gods sake he DESTROYED a fax machine without ever touching it!
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:12 am
@Ebonheart
And possibly crashed an email server or two.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:14 am
@Ghost Coin: IMO - They don’t punish him for it because it seems like the court system is Baiting jack. They are constantly letting jack put on the display of the “Jack’s lazer targetted defense systems” and in-so-doing are displaying for the court, the judge and the audience the reasons behind his disbarrment.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:32 am
Is it just me, or does the discussion about Jack’s patterns sound like someone describing a Terminator.
I can see it now, on the next season of Connor Chronicles. “He doesn’t sleep… he doesn’t stop… he can’t be bargained with… he can’t be reasoned with. He will continue to email you long until he is satisfied you are dead and gone! Why!? Because that is what he does! That is all that he does!”
We need to get a recording of Michael Biehn reading that like in terminator. All for effect.
Still though, I’ve been reading all of these coverage parts… and so far Jack hasn’t once justified a thing that he’s done. Looking at it from a neutral standpoint and ignoring the fact that I think he’s a weenie… Jack has yet to justify any of the actions he has took, and has infact only succeeded in making himself look worse. If JT is smart (and we all know the truth), he’ll cut his losses and walk away, fading into obscurity and eventually everyone will have forgotten him.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 am
@ZeroKasanshi
Course he hasn’t, he’s only been tryign ot make others look bad while managing the opposite.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am
@GP:
That could also be Reiser (sp?), Jack’s co-counsel (of stolen medical records fame).
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
I now recall a similar lawyer who made wild claims and accusations, rambled a lot, was disbarred, and ended up in a mental institution. A lot of his filings were collected and made into a comedy shrine/website. But the man’s name escapes me. Anyone know? I’m drawing definite parallels here.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:36 am
@ Kajex
Yup, thats the one!
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:42 am
@ JackDon’tKnowJack:
“stolen medical records fame”? Reiser? I’m intrigued.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 am
What kind of idiots have the name of an organization where it’s acronym spells out C.U.N.T.F.L.A.P.S.? Yes, the women of that organization do have those, but nobody uses them for anything.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
I’ve always been a fan of GP, but this stuff is off the scale. Thanks for the biggest laughs I’ve had in a while.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 am
@Mark Standridge:
http://justicebuilding.blogspot.com/2007/12/thompson-v-tunis.html
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 am
@Ken
I’m not sure if you’re serious or not, but that was from GTA:LCS or VCS, not a real organization.
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
@ GP
I personally want to