THE ROBING ROOM

Judge Sprizzo is clearly intelligent and can show excellent command of the law on occassion, however, his disrespect for attorneys, defendants, plaintiffs and even witnesses is extremely troublesome. He thinks nothing of begining a jury trial two hours late and then taking three hours for lunch. The end result of course, is the extension of trials by as much as a week. In addition, his erratic behavior on the bench towards attorneys that have somehow irratated him is legandary. Unfortunatley, this beratting of an attorney is often demeaning, has no relationship to the law or fact and is carried out in front of a jury which may well impact the outcome of a trial. This belittlement is also directed towards witnesses. I have seen him take over questioning from the attorney both on direct and cross and either destroy the witness or telegraph to the jury an inappropriate value to the witness. However this erractic behavior seems to be directed at either side depending on the day and does not appear to be a prejudice to or against plaintiffs.