Judge T. S. Ellis III had dismissed the jury for the day, but he was not quite finished opining about what he saw as irrelevant and repetitive questioning of a witness in the financial fraud trial of Paul Manafort.
Standing up so as to loom even larger over the courtroom, he angrily confronted Greg D. Andres, the lead prosecutor.
“Look at me,” the judge demanded, slamming his hand on the wooden ledge. “When you look down, it’s as if to say, you know, that’s B.S., I don’t want to listen to any more from you.”
“Don’t look down. Don’t roll your eyes,” he told Mr. Andres.
And so for the second time that afternoon, the prosecutor had to try to convince the judge that he only looked down because otherwise, he said, he would “be yelled at again by the Court” for his facial expression when “I’m not doing anything wrong, but trying my case.”
...
[Ellis] has routinely broken in on questioning, limited admission of evidence and exhorted lawyers to “expedite” — all the while entertaining spectators with humorous asides about his age, his wife, his Navy past, his lack of an email address, the jury’s lunch menu, split infinitives and the noise produced by a machine intended to keep bench conferences from being overheard (like “the sound of waves crashing”).
...he has pushed the customary limits of judicial intervention so far that Mr. Andres at one point seemed to suggest the prosecution had grounds to appeal. After the prosecutor complained Monday about the number of times “your honor stops us and asks us to move on,” the judge declared that he would stand by the record.
“I will stand by the record, as well,” Mr. Andres responded.
“Then you will lose,” Judge Ellis said.
...
...some lawyers question whether he is so controlling that he unfairly restricts how both defenders and prosecutors can operate. He loves the law, some lawyers who have been before him say sardonically, almost as much as he loves himself.
“He can be very dominating,” said Jim Brosnahan, a California trial lawyer who defended John Walker Lindh in the American Taliban case before Judge Ellis. “The interesting question is: Is it aimed fairly at both sides, or is it particularly at one side?”
“I am a Caesar in my own Rome,” he said [in another case].
...
To the jurors, the judge could not be more solicitous, joking about the plain lunch menu (“You won’t find baked alaska”).
How many times have I seen that done? Too many to count. Always groveling to the jury; always acting as "Caesar in my own Rome" once the testimony begins.
...
He has clearly reveled in his captive audience.
...
Even if the spectators had come only for the Manafort case, he said, he was glad they got a chance to see the criminal justice system at work.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
...
“Judges should be patient — they made a mistake when they confirmed me,” he said to Mr. Andres on Wednesday.
You got that right, Bubba!
“I’m not patient. So don’t try my patience.”
...
“I’m never patient, but you must be,” Judge Ellis warned the prosecutor last week.
“No comment,” Mr. Andres said.
“That was a comment,” the judge said. “I have a long memory.”
When Mr. Andres was looking for a document, Judge Ellis suggested he was several steps ahead of him. “I didn’t need to have it. At least not as much as you do.”
I have never been so proud of the judges, in two different jurisdictions, that I practice before as I am now. And thankful that I have never been before a Caeser manque like T.S. Ellis.
Standing up so as to loom even larger over the courtroom, he angrily confronted Greg D. Andres, the lead prosecutor.
“Look at me,” the judge demanded, slamming his hand on the wooden ledge. “When you look down, it’s as if to say, you know, that’s B.S., I don’t want to listen to any more from you.”
“Don’t look down. Don’t roll your eyes,” he told Mr. Andres.
And so for the second time that afternoon, the prosecutor had to try to convince the judge that he only looked down because otherwise, he said, he would “be yelled at again by the Court” for his facial expression when “I’m not doing anything wrong, but trying my case.”
...
[Ellis] has routinely broken in on questioning, limited admission of evidence and exhorted lawyers to “expedite” — all the while entertaining spectators with humorous asides about his age, his wife, his Navy past, his lack of an email address, the jury’s lunch menu, split infinitives and the noise produced by a machine intended to keep bench conferences from being overheard (like “the sound of waves crashing”).
...he has pushed the customary limits of judicial intervention so far that Mr. Andres at one point seemed to suggest the prosecution had grounds to appeal. After the prosecutor complained Monday about the number of times “your honor stops us and asks us to move on,” the judge declared that he would stand by the record.
“I will stand by the record, as well,” Mr. Andres responded.
“Then you will lose,” Judge Ellis said.
...
...some lawyers question whether he is so controlling that he unfairly restricts how both defenders and prosecutors can operate. He loves the law, some lawyers who have been before him say sardonically, almost as much as he loves himself.
“He can be very dominating,” said Jim Brosnahan, a California trial lawyer who defended John Walker Lindh in the American Taliban case before Judge Ellis. “The interesting question is: Is it aimed fairly at both sides, or is it particularly at one side?”
“I am a Caesar in my own Rome,” he said [in another case].
...
To the jurors, the judge could not be more solicitous, joking about the plain lunch menu (“You won’t find baked alaska”).
How many times have I seen that done? Too many to count. Always groveling to the jury; always acting as "Caesar in my own Rome" once the testimony begins.
...
He has clearly reveled in his captive audience.
...
Even if the spectators had come only for the Manafort case, he said, he was glad they got a chance to see the criminal justice system at work.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
...
“Judges should be patient — they made a mistake when they confirmed me,” he said to Mr. Andres on Wednesday.
You got that right, Bubba!
“I’m not patient. So don’t try my patience.”
...
“I’m never patient, but you must be,” Judge Ellis warned the prosecutor last week.
“No comment,” Mr. Andres said.
“That was a comment,” the judge said. “I have a long memory.”
When Mr. Andres was looking for a document, Judge Ellis suggested he was several steps ahead of him. “I didn’t need to have it. At least not as much as you do.”
I have never been so proud of the judges, in two different jurisdictions, that I practice before as I am now. And thankful that I have never been before a Caeser manque like T.S. Ellis.
