At least THIS judge is doing his job against Trump world
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is one of the Federal judges based out of Washington, DC. He was appointed to the DC bench by President Obama in 2014. As such he’s been overseeing criminal proceedings for some of the Oath Keepers following the January 6 terrorist attack. Some of these proceedings are causing headaches for Judge Mehta and not helping the Oath Keeper defendents.
First, there was “Oaf” Keeper Stuart Rhodes, who likely saw what Orange Florida Man (OFM) was doing and filed his own request for a special master with Mehta ahead of his trial. Basically, Mehta’s response was basically what the fornicate do you need a special master for? Naturally, that request was rejected. Rhodes failed to grasp OFM’s request was granted by a Branch Trumpvidian who will get overturned, and that Mehta is not a Branch Trumpvidian like Judge Cannon.
Then, there was Juli Haller – who is representing “Oaf” Keeper Kelly Meggs – getting into a shouting match with Mehta over text messages Meggs deleted from his phone after the attack. Mehta was not happy that Haller was raising an advice of counsel defense 10 days before trial while Haller knew about the “advice” months ago. Mehta was frustrated enough to yell at her. Haller shouted back at Mehta while all prosecutors could do was shake their heads and wish they had some popcorn.
Haller forgot the lesson drilled into the heads of every law student during their first year (as it was with me). You may disagree with the judge. You may disagree with opposing counsel. But you cannot take their bait even if they are screaming at you. Getting into a shouting match with either a judge or opposing counsel makes you look unprofessional and does not help your clients. Remaining calm and professional gets you so much further.
